That NPW21 looks awesome. I'm curious about the design of the leading edge (nose?). Have you installed bungee cords in the nose?

Thanks, with the nose I have used some bridle line, it's knotted to allow me to be able to change the tie length. I have found that the nose/kite performs better if the nose tie length is increased from standard.

The bungee nose tie idea had crossed my mind before but have not got round to trying it out.

Thought I'd make this build fairly standard, but just had this nagging in my head...... so I've put a "C" bridle on as well :D
Give a much better wing profile. IMHO

Well it's been awhile since the sewing machine has been out and I've been thinking about how wide the NPW21 can go without losing it's character as being a very stable kite with no nose collapse.

So hot off the machine is my new venture a 6.8m2 NPW 21 higher aspect kite. For this I'm going to bridle it with an extra set of lines to the center panel as it's over twice the standard width. Fingers crossed, I'll update when it's finished and had a test flight.

cool! i hope it will fly !

BigE, how do you do your graphics? Is it screen printed on or additional fabric,... I can't quite tell????

It's applique i.e additional fabric, compared to a straight forward build it's a lot more time consuming, but I think it's worth the effort ;-)

I love that graphic!
Nice Job!!

Thanx for the comments

Had my first test flight yesterday...... First off it didn't fly, after 1/2 hr of altering some line lengths it lifted to @ 10ft and sat back down. Lengthened the brake lines and up it went. First impression was it needs the handles held like a foil (power line between fingers), it flies with no brake input at all!! Which I assume is down to the wider body panel, there's still some tuning to do but now that it flies it proves the concept works :D
From my initial flight the kite is very stable, nose is well formed, it turns well either on one line pulled, brake input or both together.
To get the kite flying I disconnected a brake line I had on the TE middle of the wing panel, this resulted in some TE flutter on the wing and center panel which is obviously also due to the fact that it was flying with no brake input.

A bit more tinkering and I'll post up some pics and get a bit of vid. Looks very promising!

I would love to see more pictures and vid of the kite. Keep em coming.

Susan (npw goddess)

Cheers Susan, had another little test today, wind was a bit lumpy and light 3-6mph but it still flew. I need to get pics so that I can see how the bridles are tensioned. Wing flutter is sorted just need a steady wind, when it did pick-up it had that good old NPW power so nothing lost :D

And it flies!!! Big smug grin :D

Just a couple of tweaks needed and I'm sure there's a bridle caught on the picture.



Now just waiting for some new line so that I can get rid of the temporary lines with lots of knots for adjusting.

Hi, first post here.

I'm building my first 3.7m NPW, which is also my first kite build, but am a little stuck on the bridling. A few questions:

-Can anyone post a detailed picture of the way the bridling is attached to the kite? Is it just knotted through a hole or sewed into the join?

-Do you recommend normal bridling or cascade?

-Where can I buy dyneema bridling line in the uk and what strength? I weigh 92kg so that might play a factor.

Thanks
Ian

Anything smaller than a 3 meter can have the classic bridles but anything over use the cascade.

What plans are you looking at for the kite and how do they attach the bridle lines.

Susan (npw goddess)

If it's your first build at that size I'd go for classic bridling, if you give us more information on what model / plans you are going to use then we may be able to offer more help.

I use climax bridle line Bridle line
It's very good quality, as a rule for cascade I use 35daN for secondaries and 60daN for primaries. For classic I use 60daN all round.
I terms of connecting to the kite, that's really a matter of choice and experience, the three ways I know of are:
1. a line run in the seam, then the bridle line or an attachment point is threaded though the seam and back out (straddling the line in the seam.
2. Sew tags on when you do the seams, the bridle can then attach to the tag.
3. My way is to sew a webbing strip in the seam and hot cut a small hole through it, I then make an attachment point.

Also don't forget that the force is spread across the bridle, depending on the NPW you are going to build you will have upwards of 18 bridles per side, so your 92kg weight is effectively split 36 ways. What I'm trying to say is that the bridle spec will always be lower than your flying lines

Thanks to both replies. I'm building a Teega using the following link: http://freedom2000.free.fr/NPW_Teega_plans_eng.html

I'm building it pretty much to that site but would appreciate any advise to improve or make bridling easier, as this is the bit I'm most concerned about.

What advantage does cascade have over standard? Just less line?

Thanks
Ian

The cascade bridle is 1/3 less bridle lines. It cuts down on weight and drag.

Susan (npw goddess)

You'll also see on the Teega that it has leech lines in the trailing Edges (TE). These allow you to "trim" the kite once you have built it and flown a couple of times.

So, I'm like, totally new to kite making. And more or less, on a whim, I've decided to try my hand at it. I've decided to go with a Teega (4 m^2) like the guy up above. My main question is about reinforcement and bridle lines, and possibly flight lines (though probably not)

So...I happen to already have several thousand feet of braided nylon cord of 0.9mm and 1.4mm diameters. The 1.4mm claims 70+ lbs breaking strength, at knot. They're linked to some ebay auctions of similar stuff.

I use it for gear making and decorative knot tying. Is it too weak to use as seam reinforcement line? I would think it should be alright for that. But how about for a cascaded bridle? In this case, as well as generally, would I want smaller lines for secondary, or just same size for both?
I figured it wouldn't be strong enough for flying lines...
Just thought I'd ask...figured if I could save money (a fair amount from what i've seen) I might as well. Aside from having so much of it I don't know what to do!

Ohh, and I tested the 1.4mm, and with it hitched to two rounded supports, I've supported my 165# on a single strand. But that was a slow, easing on to it, no bouncing. Obviously, the .9mm snapped...but I don't know how much weight was on it

thread veer but I notice when opening this thread today that it was started FIVE YEARS ago:
Happy Birthday Thread, Happy Birthday to you, ...

now back you your regularly scheduled discussions of the best old school kite form out there, YEA NPWs

The problem with braided nylon is stretch, it'll stretch with the load, that's why bridle line is more expensive it is a static line (very very low stretch) and the breaking loads stated are a minimum where as nylon etc is max load after stretch. With no stretch on the bridle lines you will get a much better profile and control.
As for the seam reinforcement, I use webbing 12mm if I can get it, 15mm is widely available, I roll the seam around the webbing, the seam becomes a bit wider but it does give a very stable edge. The breaking strain for webbing is @270Kg, obviously there is a slight trade-off in weight, but I much prefer the stability it gives and it means any holes put through the material for the bridle points goes through the webbing so there is no tension on just the material.

Thanks for the quick reply! I think I'm going to try a slightly smaller kite first, and work out the kinks.
I did think about the nylon stretch after the fact.
Do you use the webbing on the sail/wing seams as well?
Do you think the 1.4mm line would be okay for seam reinforcements atleast? I'd love to be able to have another use for the slightly ridiculous amount of cord I have The point of the line in the seam is to bear most of the strain from bridle lines right? So it wouldn't all be on the sail material? Has anyone tried a hybrid of line-reinforced seams, with inch-ish long ribbon/webbing located at just bridle points? Or does that result in an uneven look in the sail? Is that what you meant when you said "tags" in your above post?
Would it be just as much work to sew loops into the seams that protrude from the seams?
I've also already hot-cut all my pieces to allow for a 1cm seam...so I'd have to find 9 or 10 mm webbing/ribbon...
While I'm looking around and comparing, what's a decent price for bridling line? And can I use it for flying lines? I can't seem to find a clear answer to that..I keep seeing stuff about sleeveing.
Mind you, I've not yet gotten into buggying or anything really. I'm just a guy who likes kites, and my penchant for activities might take me into buggy or boarding or what have you...
Sorry for all the noob questions, I tried looking through the main forum, but there was alot there. Wish there was a DIY subforum in here...

Thanks for any help ya'll can give me! I'd rather be annoying than blindly use what i happen to have just to see it all go horribly wrong!

The webbing I use on all seams that have a bridle on

Do I think the 1.4 mm line would be okay?... tough one, I would say at a guess yes.
Yes the line is to spread the load across the seam rather than the material taking the strain.
When I used the term "tags" what I do is burn a hole through the seam and thread a piece of 60 daN bridle through and make a loop with a stopper knot this gives me a point to connect the lines to.

My first build I did sew loops into the seams for the bridles, do a search on the net for NASA parawing building there are some good techniques on building.
If you already have cut everything out I'd do loops into the seams.
Bridling line is just that, not for use as flying lines it's not as supple as flying line.

Good luck

Well this build certainly caused me some problems! Just could not get the kite to fly up to the zenith, there was something holding it back, after many minor mods, just could not crack it. So with a final throw of the dice removed my extra bridles and went back to basics and rechecked all my calcs etc. The upshot appears that an NPW does not like it's profile flattening out, it needs that classic "hump". Shortened my A/B bridles and made a modification to the nose and hey presto a reformed higher aspect NPW 21.

Fantastic pics E!!!! Glad it's flying good.

Cheers 3shot, good wind, sunny day and my wife came out with me to get some pics for me. They really help when checking what is going on.

And finally:
Here is my modified "NASA" NPW21, it's 11.8m and now sports a 5 point bridle keel, reducing the centre panel bridling from 10 to 5 lines, a modified profile and a depower system.
I initially had some problems with nose collapse on low AoA but that is now sorted out by modifying my de-power system.

Could this be the final mod? The window on this kite is the best of my NPW quiver, it will sit absolutely dead overhead right on the edge of over flying on it's low AoA. May re-visit the wings by altering the AoA on them as well, as I keep them fixed to stop any wing flutter but for now this puppy is ready to use again.

Looks like a darn fine kite to me. Well done!