Part 3 of 4: Design your own fighter kite

Here are some general guidelines for designing your own fighter kite as described in the videos.

The wingtip line should be located toward the nose end of the spine line by about 1"-2" from the center of the spine.

To determine the wingtip to wingtip distance, or wingtip line length, select any number in the range of 0.83 to 0.88. Once you select a number, multiply that number by the length of the bow you are going to use in your kite the resulting number is the distance between wingtips or is the length of the wingtip line. For example; if you select 0.843 and are using a bow of 25" in length, 0.843x25"=21.075. 21.075" is the length of the wingtip line.

After you've drawn the location of the bow on your template, decide how long you want the nose of the spine to extend beyond the intersection of the bow and spine. Generally this distance is between 2"-4". once you've decided, measure and make a mark on the spine line, this mark is the nose of the kite.

Next, measure from the spine to the bow. Make this measurement at a point on the spine 1/2" to 2" below (toward the tail) from where the bow and spine cross. You are creating the width of the base of the nose area, and usually it is between 2.5" and 5.5" on each side of the spine, so choose a number in the middle range to start with...about 3.5"-4". check the video.

Measure the spine line from the wingtip line to the nose of the kite, then add 3/4"-3" to that measurement and that is the length of the spine from the wingtip line to the tail of the spine. Measure it and mark it on the spine line, that is the tail of the kite.

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• fighter
• kite
• making
• kites
• bruce
• lambert