Thanks everyone, time to put the sewing machine to one side for awhile and do more flying, spring has arrived!!!

Still snow and cold here, But this week looks nice, maybe 50dec. F or more.

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

Sometimes I think that bringing a camera along (or trying to do pictures or videos) is the best way to make sure something goes wrong. Or everything goes wrong.....More than once I have video'd 20 minutes of action only to find the camera was facing the wrong direction.....Or the battery in the camera died. Or I erased all the stuff I saved. The GoPro on the water has the uncanny ability to get a big ugly drop of water right on the middle of the field of view. Not to mention all the times the wind died, or the kite didn't fly right. But don't give up - making kites is far more difficult than using a camera.

Join the club

My latest NPW - single keel, but uses a wider wing planform. (50 degrees v. conventional 45.) Took the plan directly from the NASA report, except for a bridle correction from 2e5.com. Today at the lake - plenty of good wind. Flew it for only a few minutes yesterday and discovered a measurement error in the lowest bridles. Once fixed it flew great today. Friday the 13th was my lucky day!

Nice work Randy :D

Really like the looks of that single keel in the air, Good job!

Nice Randy. The wind must have been cranking pretty good?

Thanks guys. I put in the picture of the water to give an idea of the wind. It was reported to be 10-21 ish, I'd say it was ~15 ish. I was using short lines (25 foot). I actually didn't expect to use the mountainboard, since the parking lot fills up in the afternoon, but the lousy weather kept people away. I was hoping just to fly 2.5 M, but as luck would have it - things all fell into place. Conditions and timing haven't been right for landboarding since November, I think. Now 2 days in row.

Nice Randy, what size was that wing, about 2M2? hopefully I will have some photo this week.
renny

Its 2.5 M. Biggest thing I've built.

Yes, I use my 2.5M2 alot on short line in some cases no lines at all. But if you are off pavement, most of the time you need a bigger kite. The 2.5M2 works very will with my skates.
renny

Randy, still have not flew your like yet, good wind today but worked. Went to Det. downtown airport for the day. Will try tomorrow to fly.
renny

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

My Camo Stealth- NPW5 - Xtra Wide. 1.45M2 Pretty much an experiment in use of strange materials, lazy man's noe job fewer than normal bridles and an extra wide (75%) keel. Might have gone a little too far with this one. Could not even get it to fly 4 line, but strangely, it flew with 2 lines. Loves to figure 8 - more than any NPW I've flown. But, making it and the video was fun. I think I can tweak it some as well.

: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?

bigE123 - thanks for your comments. I believe the reason it wouldn't fly was that I simply had too much brake. It just wouldn't take off. In fact - it did fly upside down at the least brake position I could manage - ergo too much brake. I recalled your comment about v-bridles moving the brake point so I tried two line and it flew.

This iteration has a 75% width v 66.7% for the previous one and the wind window, suffered a lot. While the previous model had a very nice window (which I think is close to, if not equal to my 9b) this one may not even be equal to the stock NPW5.

What it does do well is figure 8 - and oddly it seemed you could go to the edge of the window, and figure 8 your way further out. The material is a bit stiffer and heavier than normal (though only about 5 grams heavier than the not so good ripstop I can get locally). It sews wonderfully - nicest sewing I've ever done. And you can take it camping and sleep under it....

To me, one of the most fascinating things about these NPW's is how differently they all fly. While the NPW-5P-Wide is very stable, it is a bit slow to respond - almost pondering. This thing is responds very quickly and turns on a dime - even with two line.

I have made new brake lines which are longer and have more knots in them so perhaps I can find the sweet spot for four line and fix what ails it. If not, I still has some more ideas to try.....

When going wider, the thing I have found is the slower response, I think that is down to the fact the single brake point (A11/A12) has a lesser impact on the TE as it is now wider, that's the reason I went to a mid wing single brake point on the TE only as well, I have my wing brake slightly slack while flying normal then adding brake not only acts on the centre panel but on the wing as well and it turns it on a dime.

If your looking around at different plans I would avoid the 9b HA it flies like a stunt kite, has less window and will reverse fly when using for traction it's a real handful unless you just use it for static flying. I spent hours on trying to tame my 3m and trying to get more window out of the 10m I built. Sadly they now live in a bag just in-case some inspiration enters my brain. I've moved on leaps and bounds since then so I have a feeling they will be there some time as the other models and the new style I've built are so much better that it seems a waste to keep trying to solve something that fundamentally was not a good idea.
Going really wide on the NPW21 resulted in the same window decrease as the 9b HA I do have a feeling the profile / AoA may be a way around it but that is for a rainy day.
I've had two weeks off sewing since my last build, I'm under orders to give it break for a while, but already I'm suffering withdrawal symptoms, better weather and more flying may just fix that :D

Ian, is the yellow, blue and white model with the lion's head the 10m you were referring to?... I remember when you posted about it after you finished it a while back that it had a higher AR than others you've built.

Just curious...

BTW, would LOVE to see some footage of you flying one of you "Hammers"

Ian,

I've haven't tried the 9HA. Everytime I look at the plan, my eyes glaze over, and that's before I even start to count the darts and bridles. I'll probably get to that one after I do all twenty? of the other NPW plans from the wind tunnel tests, not to mention a few of my own....:D (Likely only after I've forgotten your comments.)

@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...

bigE I'm back on my feet now. If you're having a cheeky lunchtime session in my neck of the woods anytime soon give me a shout, I'll happily oblige as cameraman!

Also welcome to use my rattly old buggy if you want 3 wheels!

Ian - glad to see you finally found your camera!

Cheers robinsonpr, I did actually have a flight after work on Tues/Wed dodged the circus, wind was really low, tried my board with the 7m, but the wind was a bit too low and as is normal there all over the place. I'm down again the week after next, glad the knee is back in action!

Here we go a bit of test vid, 5m "Hammer" a bit under powered, wind gusty and some dead spots due to the wind coming over trees behind me.
http://vid1263.photobucket.com/albums/ii623/Dogz-n-Mutz/Sing...

And yes next time make sure the sun is not there :D

I enjoy that, the kite moved fast and turned fast.

awesome bige, you guys that make your own kites take the hobby to whole different level. Is that your property? Looks like a cool spot.

Nice work Ian. Enjoyed the video, sunspots and all! Flying a kite you built is great - using it to pull your buggy or board, even better - capturing on film - priceless!

Very Cool!!! Looks like it flies a lot like a foil.