nasa delta para-wing kite

Hi,
Will I been thinking about this for a lone time. Took a brake from working on my kites shop and made a bar for "golden girl".






I could Have got by with one brake line, but I put 2 there just to be safe. the brake line can be adjusted for what kite you are flying. The NPW are very touchy about their brakes. I going to put ends on the bar for the line set.
renny:frog:

Quote: Originally posted by PHREERIDER

great stuff guys , man i'm diggin' that tracked descender!

What do you do with it? Use it with a kite or by itself?

A couple of projects I just finished and my current one. Except for the small white kite (.7m), these are all about as big as I can make from one yard of fabric ~1 meter or a bit more depending on the design.

Quote: Originally posted by bigE123

Nice vid Randy, really like the look of that single keel :D Are you flying it purely as a two line kite?

Thanks. Yes - 2 line. The JC design was as a 2 line and my earlier versions followed his plan. Bill from 2E5.com suggested doubling the keel line (half connecting to the right and half to the left wing) to eliminate the carbon tube in JC's plan, which I implemented here. Now, he also suggested adding two lines to the brakes to make it quad which I might try as well (sort of like the v- z-bridle idea.) I think it would help on the turning so I'm probably going to try that.

Nearing completion of 1.25 m NPW 21 sail. More to follow.

Quote: Originally posted by soliver

Randy, I'm curious how the pull is on the single keel?... Wondering what it might be like in a bigger size; like 3m maybe?!?!

It seems comparable to the other small NASA's I've made, which all seemed better than the larger (1.2m) Snapshot. My 1.8 has more pull than I feel comfortable using in much wind. I'm thinking of going bigger. I've got a really nice 4 meter, so I'm thinking 2-3 at some point. The single keel also seemed to have good pull near the edge of the wind window.

Quote: Originally posted by bigE123

I use a Singapore based kite shop "passion for kites", at the moment my favourite is the Mirai rip-stop at 48g/m2 comes in one piece as well for bigger builds. The feel of the fabric is spot on.

I've seen their web page but was a little reluctant to order overseas (though the Chinese outfit worked out well.)

Does shipping cost much? Does it take long to get it?

BTW - their stuff looks like a bargain - Singapore $ = .8 of US$ as well.

Yes, it must be nice to have good weather to fly in, it is -3 here but sunny.

Spencer,

Since I'm still a novice at this, perhaps I should not chime in, but I can tell based on recent memory my impressions pretty well.


http://www.kiteplans.org/cat_3/sub_34/

The best resource to start with is kiteplans.org. They have lots of NASA plans, but most are 5's or 9's. Bear in mind - these are mainly "plans" - not really "instructions." The Tom White NPW9 calculator is much more detailed in terms of how to build one and is by far the best resource. That said, it concentrates on cascade bridles (which is a lot to start off with) and the 9 is not the first kite I would build. I'll discuss why later. His NPW5 calculator is very good as well - just not nearly as detailed. No matter what you do - take a very long look at Tom White's NPW 9 calculator.

The one you choose, depends a bit on what your reasons for doing it are. If you want something simple to start with, to perhaps engage the kids with then, then I would go with the .7 M smiley face kite. It is very simple (21 bridles), can be built with one yard of cloth and its small enough for the kids to fly in light wind. Plus, on a day with a ton of wind - its a lot of fun to fly. The plans have to be translated, but by looking at the Tom White calculators, and using the bridling it will be fine.)

Now, if your reasoning is to build your own performance kite to pull your buggy, then I'd still start with a NPW5, but follow Tom White's calculator to get started. After building that - then you could decide if you want to go on to the 9 or 21. That said - unless you have a lot of spare time (which I think you don't) having Susan make one for you would be a much better option. Her prices are very reasonable and her work is excellent. More expensive would be the NS series from Born, also great kites. My first build probably took 30-40 hours and it used lots of shortcuts - including almost no sewing.

I think that at present the 9 is still the "gold standard" for a performance NPW kite. It is also the most challenging to fly, and pretty difficult to build. The main issue, for me, was the number of bridles. Its got 48 and it took me hours (probably 12-16) to do the 36 on my first NPW 5. (Now I can do the same thing in probably less than 4-5.) I've built 2 NPW9's now.

The 21 is not nearly as far along on the development process. Ian and other experts are working at refining it, but its still a work in progress. I've built two of them now. The first one from web plans and the second one with Ian's help, which flies well. Its a bit more complex to build and probably has the same wind window as the 9, but perhaps not as much pull. It not as challenging to fly as the 9s. I think its a good compromise between performance and flight characteristics.

I like the single keel - but I don't think its what you are looking for, if performance is the goal, and there are only "plans" available, not "instructions", per se. It is the easiest of the bunch to build and I like to fly it.

I've built 14 NPW's now - and they have all flown, and for the most part pretty well. If you look at my youtube page, you can see all of them except my latest 9b (the footage I got wasn't very good). My learning curve pretty much had to go this route - trial and error, teach myself to sew etc, and I've enjoyed it a lot. All of the various experts have been extremely helpful and willing to answer my emails and make helpful suggestions and provide encouragement. Its been a lot of fun. So go for it.

To Spencer or anybody that want to build ss delta kites,


http://www.powerkiteforum.com/files.php?pid=279922&aid=8...


http://www.powerkiteforum.com/files.php?pid=279922&aid=8...

here is the first one I made. I am making the lines for it there.

Here all the info that you need to build one, of any size.

https://www.mediafire.com/?1fxm7d05f2n3d1i

Just download this file and unzip it.
start building

Great advice Randy, I'll probably try to make one sooner than later... Just have a few other things to do first. I may try to do a 5 later this spring if I can. I've got your number if I need help

:D It's one thing getting addicted to kites, getting in to building and flying your own lifts it to a whole new level of addiction! I've just spent 4 weeks working away from home, the result? A new 5m2 build, no idea what they must have thought at the hotel as the room was transformed in to a sewing room!


Figures for this one is a 5m2, AR - 4.2, 16 bridles done another 88 to do!

Still keeping my hand in the NPW21 side, tried a new profile out on my 3m but it seemed to suffer in lower wind, looking at the profile I think I reduced the AoA too much, re-calculated the profile with a higher AoA so will report back if it's any better than the original NASA profile.

I just found this in my 'other' folder, under messages on my FB page. A photographer had snapped it while I was riding at Southwick in the fall of 2013! She was looking at photo's tagged with Southwick, and came across some of my Southwick photo's and sent me the pic! Riding with power flying my 2.4M NPW5 (HQ).

Quote: Originally posted by soliver

looking for a mac friendly NPW calculator... saw the post earlier from sad sack but thats just a calculator app, not a NPW specific calculator. This looks like a simple NPW5 plan giving you the capability to manually calculate measurements http://freedom2000.free.fr/NPW_plans_eng.html but curious about different plans. thoughts?

A quick look at the results shows the dimensions and bridles are about the same as the other calculators I've seen, including Tom White's. There are quite a few around but I don't know which work on Mac. The Art and Flyworks plan (also on kiteplans.org) is very similar but gives some detail on how to go about building the kite.

This plan is in French (which I can read a little) and it helped me understand how to do the bridles better than the rest - its very simple - just tie a knot. The other plans mainly use cascade bridling, knotless loops, fids and other things that made my eyes glaze over at the time. Some of the plans out there are for people who are already experts.

http://www.kiteplans.org/planos/nasa6/nasa6.html

Tell what size you want and I will send all the stuff you need







This is for a 3 foot high 5
let me know
renny

Quote: Originally posted by bigE123

With the right plans you don't need to do any math, you just plug the height in and it calculates everything else and gives you the resultant area. The only math you need to do is..... how do I get enough honey points to swing in time to build and fly :D

I know, which is why I'd like to find a Mac friendly calculator... Hopefully that one you sent me will work.... Maybe I'll start with a 21 after all :D

Honestly guys I got pretty pumped about all this working on sewing up some single line stuff for the kite making class I'm teaching Thursday, but I may not have the time til I get a few things knocked off the honey-do list.

@ Renny, I'm thinking 4m... And I think if I know the A measurement I can figure out the rest pretty easily... I know the plan shows a kite that's rough 2.7m, which might just be fine.

We'll see.

Here you go, this is the same size as golden girl
4M2






This is a very easy and fun kite to make. It as pulled me on snow and skateboard.

Quote: Originally posted by bigE123

Well done! Depending on the line you are using the key is keeping a constant tension as you do each line. What I do is as I connect each bridle line to the kite check it against the previous one to make sure the difference is correct. It's better taking the time at that point, rather than when it's in the air and trying to see if there is a uniform tension across the kite. I also mark each line with it's number as I measure it to save any mix-ups. Good luck :D

What's up with the Nasa flag.....

This NASA flag?



Nothing wrong with it, it's a low wind summer kite, fitted with keels and a de-power system. I just had a break from NPWs and ventured in to a new style to see what they are all about. Learnt some new things which lead to upgrading my NPW fleet.

You mean like this bigE

Here we go, not a NASA but I'm sure the design can be traced back somehow :D

5m2 single skin with 116m of bridling and now it flies!
The third in my "Hammer" series a slightly lower AR of 4.2, first flight yesterday was in far more wind than I would have wanted, @15mph, nearly ripped my arms out and lifted me a couple of inches up trying to find a place to park. Today the wind dropped so went out to try and get the brakes tuned, laid the kite out.... no wind it just sat nose in the wet grass, couple of steps back and up it went, the wind also started to increase, figure of 8s, edge to edge travelled really well, wind still kept increasing to the point the lines were singing with tension and the power zone needed to be avoided. Still needs the brake tension sorting as I need to hold the handles like a NPW but like the others it really packs a punch.

Congrats Ian, that is an awesome looking kite.

First lazy day flying! (Before a forecast of 5 days of rain) Wind was a paltry 0 to 5mph, managed a flight to tune the 5m before the wind dropped to @3mph and it just tumbled to the ground. Stepped up to the 7.2m had a bit of low wind lazy loops etc. No vid Tried using my phone but ended up with out of focus kite or just blue sky with the odd kite tip going across the bottom of the vid. I know must do better :D

We've been having some great windy days lately around ATL haven't we... &*#%!!! I miss flying kites

:D Keep the experiments going It's a real adventure once you step on the build road and don't "just" build from a plan, but try different things out. What you may find is that as you have gone wider you only have a very narrow tolerance for the "sweet spot" on the brakes, going two line you have fixed it but loose the extra control the brake lines give.

Just out of curiosity: What was it doing in 4 line that made it un-flyable?

I've had some strange effects I was not expecting but it sometimes comes down to a little tweak somewhere else to compensate. You may also find when fully powered up you can go four line but it won't back stall as easy, at least that's what I found going wide on the 21, an extra brake line on the wing cured that.

Did you find any difference in the size of the window going wider than the standard?

@soliver, the lions head is a 6m NPW21 which I pushed the centre panel width from the NASA standard of 51.72% (that's the top width as a % of the height) to 110%, whislt it flies like all the others it has a reduced window, I did try an extra bridle set down the centre panle to reduce the "hump" but that reduces the power and window. I guess that's why the Nasa stars extra bridle set is relatively close to the wing/centre panel. I still think the Lion will fly better with a bridle change but I have my new set of Hammers now so it would be just as an experiment. Video of the Hammer is on the things to do list, especially as I've just found my camera! :D

@Randy the 9b HA is not as bad as it looks, it's a standard 9b build with an extra panel.

Here is my 10m NPW 9b HA made out of parachute material so it flies in a whisper of wind, I did re-bridle on a low AoA but still could not get the window size increase, like I said before I think there is something fundamental that holds it back.


and here is the 3m 9b HA, this is a worst case of how it flies powered up and trying to buggy with it...... I rest my case for traction.
I was trying to go up a slope but even so when you loop it it just wants to reverse as the power builds. Great for static as it is so agile.
http://vid1263.photobucket.com/albums/ii623/Dogz-n-Mutz/Firs...