has anyone ever tried to convert an old stacker of any size to a 4-line kite with brake lines?
i remember reading quite a while ago that while very fast, they didn't turn very well and figured that the addition of a brake bridle and lines could help with that aspect.
how well do they go out to the edges of the window when used normally? how's their relative wind ranges compared to their various sizes?
would a project like this even be worthwhile?
thanks for any input, andddd happy holidays, brothers! (and sisters!)
tom

Hey Tom,

I actually made a Speedfoil 6 back in 2018. I found it to be a rather difficult kite to build because it is a series of very small foil cells but stuck with it and finished it. It was imperfect for sure, and I didn't want to spring for the rather expensive spar so I made one (as recommended in the various plans out) from a cheap War-Mart fishing poles. I also made one from some cheap electrical "fish"tape, doubling up the stiffer middle spars to create the right shape as best I could. I just dug the kite out and looked at it - I saw you no place where I tried to put on extra brake lines. As I recall it doesn't have a great window and you need a pretty decent amount of wind to fly it. Basically, you really work the kite in a looping fashion and it can pull a lot for it size. The idea is mainly to get it flying really fast. Relaunching was hard unless you had a lot of wind as well. I don't how well mine compared to the actual Flexfoil Stacker - perhaps not very well. But I learned a lot in building it but decided not to pursue that design again. Given the nature of this kite design, I kind of doubt that adding brake lines would help. If flies off of 2 lines only with no bridles, so the shape is really intended to fly w/o any brake tension.

I no longer have the spars but if you would like the kite and figure out how to build your own spars you are welcome to it gratis. PM me if would like to pursue it. The link below shows the plans I built it from. There are other plans on that site some for the flexfoil stacker (or close copy) which might give you insight into what you are wondering about. They are all listed under the 2 line power kite section.

https://www.kiteplans.org/pln_596/

Even though I'm not here often, logged in anyway, the community I find here keeps me coming back. Randy:P

randy sent me a few kites which showed up yesterday.thanks! bobalooie sent me a couple of kites a few weeks ago. another thanks! i almost put up bob's 1.4 beamer yesterday but remembered all-too-well the spanking that i got last time i had 60mph gusts with a little 1.2 sting. the 2m beamer he sent will likely see some airtime today in the forecast 15-25 wind. if any local kids show up, his old (but actually quite new) 1.4 will definitely put a smile on their faces.
i did get in a couple of hours with my riffclowned hq symphony 1.8 which is a snick over 1 square meter. it did straighten out my arms a bunch of times but since it isn't made to be an engine like my other kites, i didn't feel like i was going to be lofted or pulled over at all.
today might also be a great day to test the randy-stacker!
tom