From: egc@daimi.aau.dk (Esben Gorm Collstrup) Subject: List of stunt kite construction plans and books Message-ID: <1993Feb6.082944.22360@daimi.aau.dk> Organization: DAIMI: Computer Science Department, Aarhus University, Denmark Date: Sat, 6 Feb 93 03:29:44 EST Here is an updated list of sources for stunt kite construction plans. The list has been expanded with 6 plans and 3 books since the previous posting. First a list of plans found in various kite magazines: "Gale Master" KiteLines, Vol.8, No.1 (Summer '90) (minor correction in Vol.8, No.2) A parachute stunter for high winds. Diameter 122 cm (48 inch) "Wind Shot" KiteLines, Vol.8, No.3 (Spring '91) An ultralight delta with a lot of battens and scalloped tailing edge. 228 x 97 cm (90 x 38 inch) "GX-3" KiteLines, Vol.9, No.4 (Winter '92-93) Looks like an Action Kites Moon Dart with cambered wing. 203 x 79 cm (80 x 31 inch) "Hornet" The Kiteflier, No.47 (April '91) (The Kite Society of Great Britains magazine) Sort of 3/4 Spin-Off. 193 x 63 cm (76 x 25 inch) "Radido" The Kiteflier, No.50 (January '92) Looks like a cross between a 3/4 Hawaiian Team Kite and a Team High Fly Pro/Am. Very brief instruction. 220 x 57 cm (87 x 23 inch) "Kite for kids" The Kiteflier, No.52 (July '92) Sort of Speedwing. 134 x 41 cm (53 x 16 inch) "Lenkdelta" Drachen Magazin, No.1 (September '89) Sort of Skynasaur Aerobat. 122 x 85 cm (48 x 33 inch) "High-Tech" Drachen Magazin, No.2 (Nov/Dec. '89) Looks like a 2/3 Spin-Off with a hint of dart-shaped tailing edge. 176 x 85 cm (69 x 33 inch) "Jet-Stream, 2fast4U" Drachen Magazin, No.6 (Nov/Dec/Jan. 1990/91) A delta with a low scalloped tailing edge. "Fast like a Taifun/Hawk (German kites), turns like a Fire Dart, pulls like a Hawaiian Team Kite, good-natured (?) like an Aerobat." 265 x 100 cm (104 x 39 inch) "Hunter" Drachen Magazin, No.10 (Nov/Dec/Jan. 1991/92) Looks like an Action Kites Action 8.2 with scalloped tailing edge. 160 x 85 cm (63 x 33 inch) "Tango" Drachen Magazin, issue 1/92 (Feb/March/Apr. 1992) Looks like a high aspect ratio 3/4 Hawaiian Team Kite with scalloped tailing edge. 210 x 78 cm (83 x 31 inch) "Success" Drachen Magazin, issue 1/92 (Feb/March/Apr. 1992) A low aspect ratio delta with battens and scalloped tailing edge. 160 x 90 cm (63 x 35 inch) "Moskito 0.8/1.0" Drachen Magazin, issue 1/92 (Feb/March/Apr. 1992) Sort of 1/2 - 2/3 Spin-Offs, made of polyethylene film (trash bags), fiberglass rods, ramin dowels and bamboo. 134 x 68 cm/168 x 86 cm (53 x 27 inch/66 x 34 inch) "Delta Force" Drachen Magazin, issue 2/92 (May/June/July 1992) A delta without spine, but two battens and scalloped tailing edge. 180 x 60 cm (71 x 24 inch) "Bat" Drachen Magazin, issue 2/92 (May/June/July 1992) A quadline kite shaped like the Batman logo. 187 x 92 cm (74 x 36 inch) "WS25" Drachen Magazin, issue 3/92 (Aug/Sept/Oct 1992) A mini delta with scalloped tailing edge. Spars are made of 2 mm (5/64 inch) carbonfiber rods. 46 x 15 cm (18 x 6 inch) "Silent Dart" Drachen Magazin, issue 3/92 (Aug/Sept/Oct 1992) Sort of Action Kites Super Sky Dart with tension cord in the tailing edge. 260 x 91 cm (94 x 36 inch) "Antigrav" Drachen Magazin, issue 3/92 (Aug/Sept/Oct 1992) Looks like a high aspect ratio 3/4 Spin-Off with battens near the wingtips. 180 x 66 cm (71 x 26 inch) "Calypso" Drachen Magazin, issue 4/92 (Nov/Dec/Jan. 1992/93) A delta with a low scalloped tailing edge. Higher aspect ratio than the Jet- Stream. 250 x 81 cm (99 x 32 inch) "Kalipso mini" Drachen Magazin, issue 1/93 (Feb/Mar/Apr. 1993) A smaller version of the Calypso. 165 x 52 cm (65 x 21 inch) "Ex-Pow" Drachen Magazin, issue 1/93 (Feb/Mar/Apr. 1993) A large delta with double scalloped tailing edge, and a wide wind range: Beaufort 1.5 - 8. Spars are made of 10 mm carbonfiber tubes. 312 x 132 cm (123 x 52 inch) "XXL II Cedo Null 1" (what a name!) Drachen Magazin, issue 1/93 (Feb/Mar/Apr. 1993) Sort of large Hawaiian Team Kite. Spars are made of 10 mm carbonfiber tubes. 324 x 150 cm (128 x 59 inch) "Stuckwerk" (?) Sort of 42 panel Team High Fly Pro/Am. 270 x 82 cm (106 x 32 inch) "Dart 135T" Dragesnoren, issue 7/91 (The Danish Kite Clubs magazine) Looks like a 4/5 Team High Fly Pro/Am, but with a lower aspect ratio. Designed as a team kite. 230 x 87 cm (91 x 34 inch) "Quadro Star" Dragesnoren, issue 12/92 A Rev II with curved edges. Includes the dimensions for the handles. 187 x 58 cm (74 x 23 inch) The quoted dimensions are flat measures, so the wingspan of the assembled kite is 10-15 0.000000e+00ss. All the plans in Drachen Magazin are in German and easy to follow, and most of the drawings are pretty easy to understand. I think "American Kite" distributes Drachen Magazin in USA and the price is US$ 5, or you can contact them directly (they do understand English :-)) for back-issues: Drachen Magazin Drachenverlag Axel Voss Brahmsallee 8 D-2000 Hamburg 13 Germany Phone: 040/418624, Fax: 040/440561 E-mail: DrachenMagazin@wi.maus.de (Internet, I think) Maus WI 2:242/2.6 (Fido Net) Back issues of "The Kiteflier" can be bought from: The Kite Store 48 Neal Street London WC2H 9PA England Phone: 071 836 1666, Fax: 071 836 2510 or The Kite Society of Great Britain 31 Grange Road Ilford Essex IG1 1EU England If you are interested in the plans for the Dart 135T (I have an English translation) or you are having troubles getting back-issues of the other magazines, just drop me a line. And now a list of books which contains plans for stunt kites. Most of the following books can be bought from KiteLines, and I think The Kite Store sells most of the English titled books too. "Lenkdrachen, bauen und fliegen" by Wolfgang Schimmelpfennig In German, with very instructive drawings. Contains plans for: various diamonds (including a Peter Powell), a Aerobat-type kite with some modifications, a Sky Dart, a Hawaiian Team Kite, a Spin-Off and a Paraflex. At least the plans for the Hawaiian Team Kite and the Spin-Off are slightly different from the commercial versions. I think this book has recently been translated to English with the title "Making and Flying Stunt Kites", but I am not sure. You can buy this book from KiteLines, price $13.95, or Drachendompteur, price DM 19.80. "Skywork Experience" by Christiane Schertel In German. Nice book with watercolour paintings instead of photos, but it contains a couple of wrong dimensions, the sweetpoint on some of the bridles are missing and the instructions are a little brief. These flaws could be a bit of a problem if you have never made a stunt kite before, but after making one or two stunt kites, this shouldn't give any problems. The book include plans for: a Speed Revolution (Rev II), a Bantam, a Spin-Off, a Hawaiian Team Kite, a Fire Dart, a Sky Dart, a Razor Blade, a Jet and a Hawk 150. As far as I can see the plans are exact copies of the commercial designs (except for some of spars used). You can buy this book from KiteLines, price $14.95, or from: Wolkenstumer Hansastr.52 D-2000 Hamburg 13 Germany Phone: 040/454971 price is about DM 20. "Stuntvliegers, Bouwen en Besturen" (original Dutch title) "Stunt Kites to Make and Fly" by Servaas van der Horst & Nop Velthuizen The original is in Dutch, but it has recently been translated to English. I have not read this book, so I have taken the liberty to include what Joost (joost@paramount.nikhefk.nikhef.nl (Joost Wesseling)) wrote about it: ---start of included message--- The book mentioned above was published in Holland in may 1991 and is, as far as I know, not available in english. It starts of with an extensive overview of materials to use for building kites, discusses techniques like sewing etc. It furthermore discusses flying stuntkites. The "build it yourself" section contains detailed plans of 9 types of stunt kites: 1) Shuttle, a diamond type of kite, quite like an Ace or Acroracer, easy to build and fly, 2) Speedwing, the well-known german stunter, 3) Teamlight, an ultralight Hawaiian, 4) Spin-off, well known, 5) Kwat, a peculiar design that consists of two adjacent diamonds. It is flown with four lines, cheap and easy to build, 6) Cicade/Gizmo, they resemble the Phantom, VERY fast and accurate. The Cicade is somewhat larger than the Gizmo. I have build a Gizmo and it is one of the best stunters that I know, 7) Speedfoil, a very fast cousin of the Flexifoil, 8) Spoetnik I and II, two parafoil-type models, I is used when you kneed a lot of "pull" while II will fly without many problems in a storm (I tried one in windforce 7), 9) Dykehopper, a Dutch design which seems to be know as "the beast" because it is very hard to build, harder to tune properly and even harder to fly. Given its reputation I never tried building one. Many people in Holland use this book, together with the german book by Schimmelpfennig, as guideline when building their own kites. I have never spoken to anyone who was disappointed. Success, Joost. ---end of included message--- You can buy this book from KiteLines, price $21.95 "Swept Wing Stunt Kites" by Mark Cottrell I have not read this one either, but from postings and various reviews I understand that it is quite a technical book, and it includes plans for one or more stunt kites in the LiteFlite family. I guess this means it is not exactly a beginners book. You can buy this book from KiteLines, price $10.95, or from The Kite Store, price GBP 3.95 "Kites - A Practical Handbook for the Modern Kite Flyer" by Ron Moulton & Pat Lloyd I have not read this book, so I can only tell what the reviews in KiteLines and The Kiteflier said. It contains 9 stunt kite plans (including a generic Spin-Off and a Tim Benson Scorcher) and 11 single line plans. The layout of the book is uneven and the text uninspiring, but it does contain a lot of good materials. Both magazines recommend it. You can buy this book from KiteLines, price $25.95, or from The Kite Store, price GBP 12.95 "The Stunt Kite Book" by Alison Fujino & Benjamin Ruhe This book doesn't contain any plans but some general stunt kite information. I think one version of the book is sold with a small stunt kite kit. The chapter on flying technic is pretty basic and the organisation of the book a bit confusing, but it does contain the history of some well-known commercial stunt kites and persons which I haven't seen in other books. The book also includes a stunt kite chart, but the quoted wind range on some of the kites is questionable (example, ultralight Spyro-Jet: 4-40 MPH, Revolution I: 3-40 MPH). You can buy this book from KiteLines, price $8.95 "Stunt Kites!" by David Gomberg This book doesn't contain any plans either and it looks like it was typeset on a 9 pin printer (at least the first edition does). But if you can abstract from the rough look then it is an excellent book packed with information about stunt kite flying. Among the information are tips from various well-known kiteflyers. A highly recommendable book. I think it is in its third edition. You can buy this book from KiteLines, price $8.95, or from The Kite Store, price GBP 5.95 The following is a list of books which mostly contains plans for single line kites, but also have one or two stunt kite plans: "The Book of Kites" (original British title) "The Ultimate Kite Book" (US title) by Paul & Helene Morgan The stunt kite in this book is shaped like a standard dart stunt kite but build like the Trlby/Ace/Acro-Racer diamond stunt kite. It is an excellent first stunt kite: cheap and very easy to make, durable, and in my opinion it fly better than the mentioned diamond kites. Actually if people shows an interest in stunt kites I usually give them the plans for this kite. There is one "error" in the instructions: _4 mm_ fiberglass rod is the right spar to use, not 1/4 inch fiberglass rod. "Making and Flying Modern Kites" (original British title) "The Big Book of Kites" (US title) by Jim Rowlands This book contains three plans for simple stunt kites, including a Trlby/Ace/Acro-Racer diamond-type stunt kite. "Kiteworks" by Maxwell Eden This book includes plans for a delta-type stunt kite, but I understand from various postings that the plans contains a lot of errors. "The Penguin Book of Kites" or just "Kites" by David Pelham There is plans for a Peter Powell-type stunt kite in this book. "Vliegers maken" (original Dutch title) "Kite Flight" by Jack Botermans & Alice Weve This book also contains plans for a Peter Powell-type stunt kite, but I will not recommend trying to make it from these instructions. Individual construction plans can also be bought from: Drachendompteur Elliot Alt Nied 4-6 Schulstrasse 30 D-6000 Frankfurt-Nied 80 D-4230 Wesel-Buderich 14 Germany Germany Phone: 069/382021 Phone: 028/034035 Fax: 061/9225956 Fax: 028/038218 The price is DM 6 - DM 10 each, and they have plans for the following kites: Jet, Hawk, Hawk 150, Bronto, Bronto Gross (sort of very large Aerobat), Razor Blade, Spin-Dart, Hawaiian Team Chevron, 3/4 Hawaiian Team, Spin-Off, Fire Dart, Sky Dart, No Na Me, Revolution, Speed Revolution (Rev II), Phantom, Bantam, Spyro Jet Freestyle, Mini Dart, Run Dart, Elektron (a popular ultralight/team kite here in Europe). Comments (especially for the books I have not read) and other sources for stunt kite plans are welcome. --Esben Collstrup --egc@daimi.aau.dk (Internet) = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = From: salanne@convex.csc.FI (Simo Salanne) Subject: Re: List of stunt kite construction plans and books Message-ID: <1993Feb10.090714.23449@nic.funet.fi> Organisation: STACK Finland Organization: Finnish Academic and Research Network Project - FUNET Date: Wed, 10 Feb 93 04:07:14 EST In <1993Feb6.082944.22360@daimi.aau.dk> egc@daimi.aau.dk (Esben Gorm Collstrup) writes: > Here is an updated list of sources for stunt kite construction plans. The list >has been expanded with 6 plans and 3 books since the previous posting. >First a list of plans found in various kite magazines: Esben, please repost your list. I received it truncated. Last three lines were: >"GX-3" >KiteLines, Vol.9, No.4 (Winter '92-93) >Looks like an Action Kites Moon Dart we Smooth Winds Simo = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =