Figured I'd start a new thread on home brewed kites...

If you can sew and have lots of patience, you can make a foil.

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Originally posted by kitejumping Cool, My main kite for the past 4 years mountainboarding has been the Junkie S50... Its been like 2 years since I updated that site, but has construction pictures and pics of the finished kite. I'd say my current wind range with it is about 12-29mph, only thing is to get good jumps with a mountainboard you have to move REALLY fast, and then constantly redirect it in the air. Its a blast to fly though and speed wobble isn't that bad if you fly it at a higher angle and let the kite hold some of your weight. Do you have any pictures of your kites posted? (specifically the junkie)

I use a low end MBS board (an Ambush Warrior) and found that when I replaced the rubber bushings with a firmer rubber from a skateboard shop the speed wobble went away.

Never took any of the Junkie (a 2m). The few people who I talked to that did make the Junkies have loved them. My all time favorite low wind kite is an 8m Gual that I fly on a cross-over bar. Have a couple things that I need to fix, then going to start a 5m gual (have all the templates trimmed and ready to go). The tribals are higher aspect like the Junkies and can really get moving and have quite a bit of lift, I just prefer to use plans in Surfplan instead of Foilmaker as I like the interface and how it prints better.

I know there's a few others out there that make foils and other styles of power kites (like the NPW's). I've seen pics of some that are plain and simple, and others with incredible graphics. Anyone else out there have pics they wanna share or a sewing machine that's ready for some ripstop?

Here's one way to make bridle loops easy and exact
Bridle Loop Jig


3m Tribal


4.5 Tribal and a flowform


6.5 Gual


8m Gual

So those are kites you made? My buddy would love the Texas one, cuz he's from the Corpus Christi area.

those are so cool! I like the one with the eyes on it. I've been thinking about making a Gual myself, but somehow life just seems to take up too much time these days...

Very nice Taper!

Taper, what kind of material cost do you end up with (kite only)? I presume you're using some form of ripstop?

wow taper, you have some really cool looking kites. Do you sew different colored ripstop together or use white ripstop and paint it somehow?

Anyways, here is some history...
I have made the following growing up as a kid over the years:

When i was 12-14 years old, lol used to ride my bike to the parachute shop to buy scrap material, and material by the yard for different kites:
giant genki kite, and then nasa parawing esp mod 2


14-15ish?
enlarged sceptre mk2 (lol the disclaimer at the bottom was added after he saw pics of me jumping with the kite).

At this time I had never heard of power kiting, and thought I was the only one in the world making kites this big and powerful, you can imagine the look on a kids (my) face after being lifted by something which took so much work to build.

16: At some point I discovered foilmaker and the sport of powerkiting.

17:
The Junkie S50

Also got an MBS core 16 at this time which I still use.

17-21: (i'm 21 now)
following kites were made with all the extra scrap from the junkie s50:
5m lei (flown from homemade wooden bar)



vortex modded and shrunk down to 1.5m to test out valves (valves worked really well and I once did a jump with the 1.5m in 40-45mph winds by doing a double kiteloop with it...

At some point in this time period I was going to build a kite for kitesurfing, but the raw price of dacron and ripstop cost more than a used 12m 05 cabrihna nitro...

That cabrihna kite was the first and only commerical kite I have flown, and first time I flew it was like flying a giant cloud (those things are SUPER stable compared to my junkie s50, and the depower was huge... could fly it in my sleep). The bladder popped shortly after (was twisted during inflation) and I have not gotten around to repairing it yet (have been having too much fun with the junkie s50 on land with my mountainboard, and haven't made the move to water yet)...

While kite making is a lot of fun, it can be VERY time consuming (especially if the kite has dribs and a ton of cells), this summer during my internship when I make some money I plan on buying a flysurfer and kiteboard and getting into kitesurfing. It is always fun though when people ask you about the sport and you tell them about how you made the kite... LEI's take a lot less time to make than foils, and foils with less cells and no d-ribs can be made fairly quickly.

Your quite the kite junky! Those are some cool builds,couldn't see myself doing that.

Thanks for the time line.. that was cool

I use .75oz ripstop. Each color is a different piece of fabric... no paint.

I started flying power kites and then making them about three years ago, other than kiteboarding... never saw any other foil kite flyers... then I attended a Thanksgiving kite event which made me want a buggy and got to meet some great people who are all very passionate about kiting.

Definetly time consuming to make a foil. Usually takes me a couple months from the time I print the first page of the plans before the kite is ready for air. Smaller kites are quicker... one day I'll make a NPW, just like the challenge of a foil. For the cost of materials and lines/handles I could just about buy a Chinese brand that's ready to fly... guess what inspired me to make my own foils was a 4m Junkie with a Marvin the Martian on it. A guy in Canada made it. Figure if your going to spend that much time on a project, might as well make it fun.

I hear ya on the bladders... that's what led me to switch to Peter Lynn kite's.

Have fun

You might be a kite addict if....;-) sweet by the way.

I still like Taper's kites, looks like he's getting pretty good at it! My wife was curiouse about the gaul 6.5 and 8m. Is gaul the name of a blueprint, or why they have the same name?

Don't get me wrong kitejumper you have skills too! I like your LEI even if it's the kites second time around

Here is my 5.5m NPW9b I made, god I love that kite, was my first power kite, well not the first I had flown, but first I owned.







Here is my half finished ARC *crosses fingers*

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I use .75oz ripstop. Each color is a different piece of fabric... no paint.

That is amazing... :wow:

Anybody got a good resource for NPW plans and materials? I want to try to build a big one!

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Originally posted by dman Anybody got a good resource for NPW plans and materials? I want to try to build a big one!

Here is a site you might want to check out for NPW plans...
http://members.shaw.ca/kiteman/

He is one awesome guy, and he will help ou soooo much. If it wasn't for this guy I wouln't have ever gotten it done. Some quick tips:
For the reinforcement line inbetween the panels use paracord, very easy to sew. For the bridles use the cascade bridle system, less drag, less weight, and less time. And make the NPW9b, thats the best one out there now.

Dman: His plans let you go up to 99.99m!!! U should do it man! :P

Here's another NPW variant as well...

http://freedom2000.free.fr/NPW_Teega_plans_eng.html

In all seriousness has anyone ever tried making a LEI NPW9b? Like that rolled nose portion is so prone to collapse, I wonder if a bladder would fix that. And then like a small struts down each side of the center panel.