well here is my Golden Girl first flight.



She is 4.5 M2 and pulls very hard. The wind is only 3 to 4 MPH and it pulls me all over the beach. The guy that taking the movies left the camera running and it fill up the men. card. This is all I got.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5RrT7bRWrY&feature=yout...

This sail is a power kite, it flew very nice once I a justed the lines some.
Going to try for some more photo.
renny

Golden girl?... So is the silhouette in the middle of Bea Arthur? Rue McClanahan? Betty White? Or maybe Estelle Getty?

Looks good Renny, love to see a good close up pic of the kite... Good work!

Ones I adjusted the lines it flew great. I may not be able to show a close up, she is nude. 4 MPH wind and it was pulling me around the beach. This will work well with my snow blades.:frog:

No wonder the artwork took longer.

Hey Renny, keep up the good work!

I flew for 3hours today, here is my girl



























:frog:

Nice pictures. Keep us posted.

I've flown the 1.0 maybe 8-10 times now, in winds ranging from very light to 20+. I've used it to pull me on my landboard downwind on pavement in 20 MPH+ or so, crashed it into the lake, drug it through mud to get it out, and generally abused it as much as possible. I pretty much use it whenever I go to fly as my "wind dummy" to try to figure out how much wind there is. So far - no signs that the material or duct taping is showing any signs of wear, other than being a bit dirty now. I'm working on a new video just showing flight. Originally, I thought if it just flies its a success - and now its well exceeded that.

Work on the 1.8 m NPW9 is progressing pretty well. I used the Bill Painter method on making the sail from his website, and, of course, Tom White's calculator program. I've done everything except (only - ha!) cut half the bridles and attached them all. I did the darts in more or less the conventional manner using hot cutting and sewing the seam. The tarp material seems to hot cut the same as nylon - it ends up tacked together, which makes the sewing a lot easier. Here's a picture of the two kites at present.

Nice Randy, I flew for 3 hours today and I was wiped out. Hard work, but some one have to do it.

Here is the movie from today.






:alien:

Nice camera work.

I have no made up my mind on what is next. I want to start a new kite this week. I am going lay around for today, have to recover from yesterday.
renny

Nice footage Renny :D

Still plodding on with my build, only 5 seams left before the kite is finished ready to bridle.

Wing tip to centre panel on one side complete, four panels to go to complete the other side:

Finished the NPW9b 1.8 m this morning and took it out for the first flights. It was 7-16 or so, and gusty and it was pretty amazing how much pull this thing has. Flew for a while and took it home to make sure its holding up. So far looks like it is.

:D nothing better than flying a kite you have built. Well done!

very nice Randy

Thanks for the comments. Here's a picture not flying. Thinking of putting one of these on as a theme. (Dollar tree helium balloon - made of mylar, I think.) I'm leaning to Elmo but it might just be a bit below my age bracket (62 in a matter of weeks.)



Just got back from flying another hour and half. Pretty windy maybe 5- to 20+. This thing really can pull. Flies quite a bit different from the 1.0 NPW 5 (which is much quicker and much more responsive, but probably that is just a matter of it being much smaller and me more used to it.)

Randy , I am 70, so don't feel bad. I love making and flying kites. I been a pilot all my life, my dad was a pilot in ww2 and had a small crop dusting co. I been flying all my life. Never flew a kite when I was a kid. I enjoy flying kite better than flying aircraft now.

A new kite is born :D Ready for bridling:



Projected area 5.95m2 with a projected AR of 3.46

Now for some bridles erm @ 116 of them!

Looks really interesting. 116 bridles! And I thought I had bridle fatigue after "only 48." Keep us posted. Love to see how it turns out.

Here's a very short video of my 1.8. I've got lots more (and better footage, but will try to post it later.)



After watching this - I think I should paint it black and make it look like a B2 Stealth.

Hi Randy, difficult to tell from the video but if you don't have a "Z" bridle fitted you need to fly an NPW with the power lines above your top finger it helps keep the brake pressure on.

I don't know how much more of this I can take before I try making one. Especially using Randy's no sew inexpensive option.

Inevitable that a comparison will be invited between bigE123's new kite and the Peak. Will be difficult without physically doing side by side comparison.

(The comparison between it and NPW, no problem obviously)

Wont have the 'fixed curl' leading edge of Peak, I'm guessing, for one thing(or might it?)....and no built in edge stiffeners....

Hi skimtwashington, the build I'm doing has the fixed LE curl, the pic I took the kite is upside down (hanging by the TE) and you can see the curl which have the stiffeners in-place. You're right it would be interesting to see how it compares with a Peak. Once finished I'm going to do a side-by-side with one of my 6m NPWs and a 4.9m blade as that's the closest size foil I have to it. If it's creating much more power than the blade (which I reckon it will) I'll try it against my 8.5 blade.

Quote: Originally posted by bigE123

Hi Randy, difficult to tell from the video but if you don't have a "Z" bridle fitted you need to fly an NPW with the power lines above your top finger it helps keep the brake pressure on.

Don't have the z=bridle, but do fly with the line above my top finger. I do feel like the kite "slides" around a bit though. Do you think I need to adjust the brake? I can do that.

I am interested in the z-bridle - seen the drawings for them. Not clear to me how long the "z-lines" need to be. Any guidance?

bigE123 I would like to learn more about z bridle, do you have any photo of one. I just don't see how it works from the plan I have seen. My brain is not as good as it was at one time.

Renny,

Here is what I've found. http://www.kiteplans.org/planos/nasa4/nasa.htm Shows the idea, I think. Not clear how long those lines should be. Also - I'm wondering does it just make the kite a two line kite with an emergency brake - or can you turn off the brakes, etc.

Here is my latest project. A single keel parawing. http://users.telenet.be/claeskites/page6.htm Can fly single or dual line. Here is where I am now. Did some actual seems on the sewing machine to hold the panels together and sew the leech line in the keel. Not the greatest job on that, but it will probably be stronger than taping the panels. Since its 1.45 M, I am satisfied to tape the perimeter, as I've had no problems yet with the 1.0 or 1.8. (And I tire quickly of sewing.) Only about 20 bridles on this one. Can go either single, or dual line.

@Renny the link that Randy has posted is the "Z" bridle, in essence with one fitted, when you release the brakes fully the Z bridle keeps the brake tension on and prevents nose collapse, as you apply the brakes for turning / back stalling they act the same.

I add an adjustment on the brake bridle attachment end so that I can trim the brake length, there is quite a small margin of adjustment from back-stalling to nose collapsing, mine are usually @ +2cm.  This effectively adds length to the brake bridle side. As for how long the lines themselves are I'd go for 30cm.

Hope that makes sense.

@bigE123 - thanks. Will give it a try.

Randy, fly the kite first to make sure you're happy with it then add a Z bridle that way all you need to think about is getting the brake "sweet spot".... Good luck :D

Nice Randy I got my kite going today too. it is a 5.5M2 about 6 feet high and 11 feet wide.:puzzled: