8 Mbk Kites 1 Skewer Series

www.my-best-kite.com

Table of Contents

Introduction.............................................................................................................................9Format.................................................................................................................................................... 9Using Printouts....................................................................................................................................... 9

The Tiny Tots Diamond Kite.................................................................................................10

Tiny Tots Diamond Kite - Step By Step Instructions...................................................................11

The 1-Skewer Sled Kite.......................................................................................................17

1-Skewer Sled Kite Plans.......................................................................................................181-Skewer Sled Kite - Tips.....................................................................................................................191-Skewer Sled Kite - Plan View Photos................................................................................................19

1-Skewer Sled Kite - Step By Step Instructions........................................................................201-Skewer Sled Kite - Sail...................................................................................................................... 201-Skewer Sled Kite - Spars................................................................................................................... 221-Skewer Sled Kite - Towing Points......................................................................................................231-Skewer Sled Kite - Bridle...................................................................................................................231-Skewer Sled Kite - Tails.....................................................................................................................241-Skewer Sled Kite - Flying!.................................................................................................................24

1-Skewer Sled Kite Selected Flight Report.............................................................................25

The 1-Skewer Diamond Kite................................................................................................27

1-Skewer Diamond Kite- Plans..................................................................................................281-Skewer Diamond Kite - Tips..............................................................................................................291-Skewer Diamond Kite Plan View Photos........................................................................................29

1-Skewer Diamond Kite Step By Step Instructions.................................................................301-Skewer Diamond Kite - Sail...............................................................................................................301-Skewer Diamond Kite - Spars............................................................................................................321-Skewer Diamond Kite - Attaching Sail...............................................................................................321-Skewer Diamond Kite - Bridle............................................................................................................331-Skewer Diamond Kite - Tail................................................................................................................331-Skewer Diamond Kite - Flying!..........................................................................................................34

1-Skewer Diamond Kite Selected Flight Report......................................................................35

The 1-Skewer Barn Door Kite..............................................................................................371-Skewer Barn Door Kite Plans.........................................................................................................38

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1-Skewer Barn Door Kite Tips............................................................................................................391-Skewer Barn Door Kite Plan View Photos......................................................................................39

1-Skewer Barn Door Kite Step By Step Instructions...............................................................401-Skewer Barn Door Kite - Sail.............................................................................................................401-Skewer Barn Door Kite - Spars..........................................................................................................421-Skewer Barn Door Kite - Attaching Sail.............................................................................................421-Skewer Barn Door Kite - Bridle..........................................................................................................431-Skewer Barn Door Kite - Tail..............................................................................................................431-Skewer Barn Door Kite - Flying!........................................................................................................44

1-Skewer Barn Door Kite Selected Flight Report....................................................................45

The 1-Skewer Rokkaku Kite................................................................................................47

1-Skewer Rokkaku Kite Plans.................................................................................................481-Skewer Rokkaku Kite - Tips...............................................................................................................491-Skewer Rokkaku Kite Plan View Photos.........................................................................................49

1-Skewer Rokkaku Kite Step By Step Instructions..................................................................501-Skewer Rokkaku Kite Sail...............................................................................................................501-Skewer Rokkaku Kite - Vertical Spar.................................................................................................521-Skewer Rokkaku Kite - Spars............................................................................................................521-Skewer Rokkaku Kite - Attaching Sail................................................................................................531-Skewer Rokkaku Kite - Bridle............................................................................................................531-Skewer Rokkaku Kite - Tail................................................................................................................541-Skewer Rokkaku Kite - Flying!...........................................................................................................55

1-Skewer Rokkaku Kite Selected Flight Report.......................................................................56

The 1-Skewer Sode Kite......................................................................................................581-Skewer Sode Kite Plans.................................................................................................................591-Skewer Sode Kite Tips................................................................................................................... 601-Skewer Sode Kite Plan View Photos..............................................................................................60

1-Skewer Sode Kite Step By Step Instructions.......................................................................611-Skewer Sode Kite Sail....................................................................................................................611-Skewer Sode Kite - Vertical Spar.......................................................................................................631-Skewer Sode Kite - Spars.................................................................................................................631-Skewer Sode Kite - Attaching Sail.....................................................................................................641-Skewer Sode Kite - Bridle.................................................................................................................. 661-Skewer Sode Kite - Tail......................................................................................................................661-Skewer Sode Kite - Flying!................................................................................................................67

1-Skewer Sode Kite Selected Flight Report............................................................................68

The 1-Skewer Delta Kite......................................................................................................70

1-Skewer Delta Kite - Plans.......................................................................................................71

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1-Skewer Delta Kite Tips................................................................................................................... 721-Skewer Delta Kite Plan View Photos..............................................................................................72

1-Skewer Delta Kite Step By Step Instructions.......................................................................731-Skewer Delta Kite - Sail..................................................................................................................... 731-Skewer Delta Kite - Frame................................................................................................................751-Skewer Delta Kite - Keel....................................................................................................................751-Skewer Delta Kite - Attaching The Tail...............................................................................................761-Skewer Delta Kite - Finishing Off.......................................................................................................761-Skewer Delta Kite - Flying Tips..........................................................................................................77

1-Skewer Delta Kite Selected Flight Report............................................................................78

The 1-Skewer Roller Kite.....................................................................................................80

1-Skewer Roller Kite- Plans.......................................................................................................811-Skewer Roller Kite Tips.................................................................................................................. 821-Skewer Roller Kite Plan View Photos.............................................................................................82

1-Skewer Roller Kite Step By Step Instructions......................................................................831-Skewer Roller Kite - Sail.................................................................................................................... 831-Skewer Roller Kite - Vertical Spar......................................................................................................851-Skewer Roller Kite - Spars................................................................................................................851-Skewer Roller Kite - Attaching Sail....................................................................................................861-Skewer Roller Kite - Sail Tethers.......................................................................................................87How To Make A Roller Kite - Keel.........................................................................................................88How To Make A Roller Kite - Attach The Keel.......................................................................................891-Skewer Roller Kite - Attach The Bridle...............................................................................................891-Skewer Roller Kite - Tail.....................................................................................................................90How To Make A Roller Kite - Flying!......................................................................................................91

1-Skewer Roller Kite Selected Flight Report...........................................................................92

The 1-Skewer Dopero Kite...................................................................................................94

1-Skewer Dopero Kite Plans...................................................................................................951-Skewer Dopero Kite- Tips..................................................................................................................961-Skewer Dopero Kite- Plan View Photos.............................................................................................96

1-Skewer Dopero Kite Step By Step Instructions....................................................................971-Skewer Dopero Kite - Sail.................................................................................................................971-Skewer Dopero Kite - Spars..............................................................................................................991-Skewer Dopero Kite - Attaching Sail..................................................................................................991-Skewer Dopero Kite - Sail Tethers...................................................................................................1001-Skewer Dopero Kite - Keels.............................................................................................................1011-Skewer Dopero Kite - Attach The Keels...........................................................................................1021-Skewer Dopero Kite - Attach The Bridle..........................................................................................1031-Skewer Dopero Kite - Tail................................................................................................................1041-Skewer Dopero Kite - Flying!...........................................................................................................105

1-Skewer Dopero Kite Selected Flight Report.......................................................................106

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The 1-Skewer Box Kite......................................................................................................108

1-Skewer Box Kite Plans......................................................................................................1091-Skewer Box Kite Tips.................................................................................................................... 110

1-Skewer Box Kite Step By Step Instructions........................................................................1111-Skewer Box Kite - Frame................................................................................................................. 1111-Skewer Box Kite - Sail..................................................................................................................... 1121-Skewer Box Kite - Cross-Pieces......................................................................................................1141-Skewer Box Kite - Final Bits.............................................................................................................1151-Skewer Box Kite - Attaching The Tail...............................................................................................1151-Skewer Box Kite - Flying!................................................................................................................. 116

1-Skewer Box Kite Selected Flight Report............................................................................117

The Skewer Tetrahedral Kite..............................................................................................119

Skewer Tetrahedral Kite Step By Step Instructions...............................................................120

Skewer Tetrahedral Kite Selected Flight Report....................................................................124

The 2-Skewer Sled Kite.....................................................................................................126

2-Skewer Sled Kite Plans.....................................................................................................1272-Skewer Sled Kite- Tips....................................................................................................................1282-Skewer Sled Kite- Plan View Photos...............................................................................................128

2-Skewer Sled Kite Step By Step Instructions.......................................................................1292-Skewer Sled Kite - Frame................................................................................................................1292-Skewer Sled Kite - Sail.................................................................................................................... 1302-Skewer Sled Kite - Bridle.................................................................................................................1342-Skewer Sled Kite - Attaching Tails...................................................................................................1352-Skewer Sled Kite - Prepare To Fly...................................................................................................1362-Skewer Sled Kite - Flying!...............................................................................................................137

2-Skewer Sled Kite Selected Flight Report...........................................................................138

The 2-Skewer Diamond Kite..............................................................................................139

2-Skewer Diamond Kite Plans..............................................................................................1402-Skewer Diamond Kite Tips............................................................................................................1412-Skewer Diamond Kite Plan View Photos......................................................................................141

2-Skewer Diamond Kite Step By Step Instructions...............................................................1422-Skewer Diamond Kite Making Spars............................................................................................1452-Skewer Diamond Kite Attaching Spars.........................................................................................1452-Skewer Diamond Kite Bridle.........................................................................................................146

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2-Skewer Diamond Kite Tail.............................................................................................................1482-Skewer Diamond Kite Flying!........................................................................................................149

2-Skewer Diamond Kite Selected Flight Report....................................................................150

The 2-Skewer Barn Door Kite............................................................................................152

2-Skewer Barn Door Kite Plans............................................................................................1532-Skewer Barn Door Kite Tips..........................................................................................................1542-Skewer Barn Door Kite Plan View Photos....................................................................................154

2-Skewer Barn Door Kite Step By Step Instructions.............................................................1552-Skewer Barn Door Kite - Frame.......................................................................................................1552-Skewer Barn Door Kite - Sail...........................................................................................................1562-Skewer Barn Door Kite - Bridle........................................................................................................1612-Skewer Barn Door Kite - Attaching The Tail.....................................................................................1622-Skewer Barn Door Kite - Preparing To Fly.......................................................................................1622-Skewer Barn Door Kite - Flying!......................................................................................................163

2-Skewer Barn Door Kite Selected Flight Report..................................................................164

The 2-Skewer Rokkaku Kite..............................................................................................166

2-Skewer Rokkaku Kite Plans...............................................................................................1672-Skewer Rokkaku Kite Tips............................................................................................................1682-Skewer Rokkaku Kite Plan View Photos.......................................................................................168

2-Skewer Rokkaku Kite Step By Step Instructions................................................................1692-Skewer Rokkaku Kite - Frame.........................................................................................................1692-Skewer Rokkaku Kite - Sail.............................................................................................................1702-Skewer Rokkaku Kite - Bridle..........................................................................................................1752-Skewer Rokkaku Kite - Bow The Lower Spar..................................................................................1762-Skewer Rokkaku Kite - Preparing To Fly.........................................................................................1772-Skewer Rokkaku Kite - Flying!.........................................................................................................177

2-Skewer Rokkaku Kite Selected Flight Report.....................................................................178

The 2-Skewer Sode Kite....................................................................................................180

2-Skewer Sode Kite Plans....................................................................................................1812-Skewer Sode Kite- Tips................................................................................................................... 1822-Skewer Sode Kite Plan View Photos............................................................................................182

2-Skewer Sode Kite Step By Step Instructions.....................................................................1832-Skewer Sode Kite - Frame..............................................................................................................1832-Skewer Sode Kite - Sail................................................................................................................... 1842-Skewer Sode Kite - Bridle................................................................................................................1902-Skewer Sode Kite - The Tail............................................................................................................1912-Skewer Sode Kite - Preparing To Fly...............................................................................................192

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2-Skewer Sode Kite - Flying!..............................................................................................................192

2-Skewer Sode Kite Selected Flight Report..........................................................................193

The 2-Skewer Delta Kite....................................................................................................195

2-Skewer Delta Plans...........................................................................................................1962-Skewer Delta Kite Tips................................................................................................................. 1972-Skewer Delta Kite Plan View Photos............................................................................................197

2-Skewer Delta Kite Step By Step Instructions.....................................................................1982-Skewer Delta Kite - Frame..............................................................................................................1982-Skewer Delta Kite - Sail................................................................................................................... 1992-Skewer Delta Kite - The Keel...........................................................................................................2032-Skewer Delta Kite - Attaching The Tail.............................................................................................2052-Skewer Delta Kite - Bow The Spreader...........................................................................................2062-Skewer Delta Kite - Preparing To Fly...............................................................................................2072-Skewer Delta Kite - Flying!..............................................................................................................207

2-Skewer Delta Kite Selected Flight Report..........................................................................208

The 2-Skewer Roller Kite...................................................................................................209

2-Skewer Roller Kite Plans...................................................................................................2102-Skewer Roller Kite Hints...............................................................................................................2112-Skewer Roller Kite Plan View Photos...........................................................................................211

2-Skewer Roller Kite Step By Step Instructions....................................................................2122-Skewer Roller Kite - Frame..............................................................................................................2122-Skewer Roller Kite - Sail.................................................................................................................. 2132-Skewer Roller Kite - Keel.................................................................................................................2182-Skewer Roller Kite - Sail Tethering..................................................................................................2192-Skewer Roller Kite - Bridle...............................................................................................................2202-Skewer Roller Kite - Preparing To Fly..............................................................................................2222-Skewer Roller Kite - Flying!.............................................................................................................222

2-Skewer Roller Kite Selected Flight Report.........................................................................223

The 2-Skewer Dopero Kite.................................................................................................225

2-Skewer Dopero Kite Plans.................................................................................................2262-Skewer Dopero Kite Hints.............................................................................................................2272-Skewer Dopero Kite Plan View Photos.........................................................................................227

2-Skewer Dopero Kite Step By Step Instructions..................................................................2282-Skewer Dopero Kite - Frame...........................................................................................................2282-Skewer Dopero Kite - Sail...............................................................................................................2292-Skewer Dopero Kite - Keel..............................................................................................................2332-Skewer Dopero Kite - Sail Tethering................................................................................................234

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2-Skewer Dopero Kite - Bridle............................................................................................................2352-Skewer Dopero Kite - Preparing To Fly............................................................................................2372-Skewer Dopero Kite - Flying!...........................................................................................................238

2-Skewer Dopero Kite Selected Flight Report.......................................................................239

The 2-Skewer Box Kite......................................................................................................241

2-Skewer Box Kite Plans......................................................................................................2422-Skewer Box Kite Tips.................................................................................................................... 243

2-Skewer Box Kite Step By Step Instructions........................................................................2442-Skewer Box Kite - Main Spars.........................................................................................................2442-Skewer Box Kite - Cross-Pieces......................................................................................................2452-Skewer Box Kite - Sail..................................................................................................................... 2462-Skewer Box Kite - Rigging...............................................................................................................2482-Skewer Box Kite - Bridle.................................................................................................................. 2492-Skewer Box Kite - Flying!................................................................................................................250

2-Skewer Box Kite Selected Flight Report............................................................................251

Appendix 1 Requirements...............................................................................................253

Appendix 2 Making Tails.................................................................................................255

Appendix 3 Flying Line And Winder................................................................................257MBK150 Kite Winder Plan.................................................................................................................. 258Making The Quick Kite Winder...........................................................................................................259Making The NICE Kite Winder!...........................................................................................................260The Flying Line................................................................................................................................... 261

Appendix 4 Knots............................................................................................................262The Simple Knot................................................................................................................................. 262The Multi-Strand Simple Knot.............................................................................................................263The Multi Strand Double Knot.............................................................................................................264The Granny Knot................................................................................................................................ 265The Loop Knot.................................................................................................................................... 266The Lark's Head Knot.........................................................................................................................267The Half Hitch Knot............................................................................................................................. 268The Prusik Knot.................................................................................................................................. 269The Slip Knot...................................................................................................................................... 270The Double Loop Knot........................................................................................................................271The Figure Eight Knot.........................................................................................................................272

Update History...................................................................................................................273

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IntroductionThis eBook provides very detailed step-by-step construction information for all the kites made of skewers and plastic which are featured on the My Best Kite website. Plus knot-tying examples and all the other useful website info relevant to making these kites for yourself. Hence you have all the information conveniently in the one spot.Required tools, if you can call them that, are very minimal just a pair of scissors and a ruler! There's a few other items too, which are quite likely to be found around the house somewhere.

Format...Here's a summary of the information and images provided for each Skewer kite...

A large in-flight photo, introduced with a short description. Detailed step-by-step instructions, including many close-up photos. A selected Flight Report, in which I share some of our flying experiences with the

original kite.Being quite small already, none of these kites need to be packed down or taken apart in any way for transport. Just gather the tail, if it has one, and find a resting spot on top of anything else that happens to be in the car.Most of the single-surface kites have a set of 3-view Plans plus a list of hints and 2 plan-view photos. For more experienced builders who just need the basic specs!The Appendices at the end of this eBook provide extra information which will be useful for the first-time builder of an MBK Skewer kite. I'd definitely recommend a quick read of Appendix 1 through to Appendix 4 before you start building.

Using Printouts...You might like to print out this entire eBook and bind it in a simple cover or folder. Magazine shops usually have binders and covers of various kinds. Another approach is to just print out the Appendices, plus instructions for a kite or 2 as and when required. The Table of Contents makes this easy, since you can just look up the page-range needed for printing. To save on ink costs, find GrayScale in your printer's Properties settings, and set it so color ink isn't used. For color, you can always refer back to this PDF on the screen. Also, look for Draft or Fast in the Properties. This will ensure the printer uses much less black ink too. If you are a Mac user, you should be able to find similar settings for your printer.

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The Tiny Tots Diamond KiteThis is a very simple kite for kids. It involves no gluing. Just cutting with scissors, sticking with tape and one knot. It's so quick that if any damage occurs while you are out flying it, you can come home and have another one ready in minutes!

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Tiny Tots Diamond Kite - Step By Step InstructionsAbsolutely everything needed to make this kite for kids is in the following list:

plenty of thin colored plastic, in sheets or bags 2 bamboo BBQ skewers, 30cm or 12 inch (possibly the only thing you might need to

buy) clear sticking tape, as used in offices light string, or strong sewing thread (such as bobbin thread) a ruler a black marking pen, for example a felt-tipped laundry marker scissors, big enough to snip the skewers somewhere flat to work

The following 10 steps are designed for maximum speed, at the expense of some accuracy. However, the human eye is good at lining things up and dividing lengths in 2 - so the end result should fly fine! It looks a lot, scrolling through, but each step is very short and easy. There's nothing hard about kite making for children.

Step 1. Snip the points off both bamboo skewers.

Step 2. By eye, mark the center points on both skewers. Then, on one of the skewers, make another mark exactly half-way between the first mark and one end of the skewer. No fiddly measuring involved in this kite for kids project!

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Step 3. Open out some colored plastic, lay it flat on your work space or table top, and arrange the skewers as shown.

Step 4. Mark the positions of the skewer ends with the marker pen, making dots. Then remove the bamboo skewers and join the dots, using the pen and ruler.

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Step 5. Cut out the diamond shape with the scissors, then lay down the vertical skewer, then lay down the horizontal skewer.

Step 6. Use 4 short rectangles of tape to wrap around the ends of the skewers. First do the vertical skewer, sticking tape down as indicated by the red rectangles in the photo.

Wrap the tape over and under, onto the other side of the plastic. Then do the ends of the horizontal skewer. This is probably the trickiest part of this 'kite for kids' project.

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Step 7. Cut out a ribbon of plastic, about as wide as 2 adult fingers, and at least 10 times as long as one skewer. Attach sections together with tape if you can't get the length out of one bag or sheet. Ragged or wavy edges don't matter at all, in fact it will work even better!

Step 8. Thread one end of the plastic ribbon between the bamboo and the plastic, near the bottom end of the kite, and tie it off. Cut off the excess plastic, so it looks neater than the one in the photo!

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Step 9. Where the skewers cross, poke a small hole in the plastic, using the point of another skewer. Now cut off 15 meters or 50 feet of your string or strong thread. Poke one end of the string through the hole and securely tie the crossed skewers together. Do the knot whichever way you find easiest. You're nearly ready to fly this kite for kids!

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Step 10. Wind the remaining string or thread onto a small block of wood or stiff card, starting from the free end. There's no need for a fancy shop-bought reel when making a kite for kids!

You are now ready to fly the kite! Weather permitting, of course.If there is no wind, with this kite kids can still have fun. Just encourage the child to run around towing the kite. It's a good idea to get the Diamond in the air yourself first, with the child holding the winder. Then the child can just start running. Hope you've enjoyed this experience of making kites for kids!

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The 1-Skewer Sled KiteAt 29cm (11 1/2") tall, the MBK1-Skewer Sled Kite is a rather small Sled, with the classic 2-stick configuration. A shallow V is cut into the leading edge. 2 simple ribbon tails keep this reliable little performer stable in light to moderate winds. Due to it's size, it won't stay up in very light winds though.

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1-Skewer Sled Kite Plans

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1-Skewer Sled Kite - Tips1. Secure the sail to the spar ends and spar centers using short lengths of clear

sticking tape.2. At the towing points, add clear sticking tape to both sides of the plastic, extending

out a short distance away from the plastic.3. Take a length of bridle line about 6 times as long as the kite is high, and tie each

end tightly around the towing point tape, crushing it.4. Put a simple loop knot into the exact center of the bridle line. The flying line can

then be attached using a Lark's Head knot.5. Each tail can simply be threaded between the bottom end of the vertical spar and

the sail, then looped through itself and tightened.6. Adjust the length of one tail to trim out any tendency to hang left or right in flight.

1-Skewer Sled Kite - Plan View PhotosThe photo on the left is of the front surface. That is, the surface of the flying kite which faces the flier. The other photo is of the back surface, which exposes the spars.

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1-Skewer Sled Kite - Step By Step InstructionsNow's the time to read up in Appendix 1 about kite materials and other things needed to build an MBK Skewer kite, if you haven't already.

1-Skewer Sled Kite - Sail

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The template shown above represents one side of the kite sail. You will now transfer these measurements to the sail plastic as follows...

Firstly, take a light plastic bag that will fit the entire Template shape within one side, and lay it flat on the floor.

Mark dots on the plastic, corresponding to the corners of the Template. There is no need to use a T-square, since any small error will be duplicated on the other side of the sail.

Using the marking pen, rule lines between the dots, as in the photo.

Flip the plastic bag over, and trace over all the black lines using your marker pen and ruler.

Cut out a rectangular section of the bag containing the kite sail, open it out and lay it flat on the floor - you can now see the complete sail outline, as in the photo.

Cut along the black lines with scissors, to create the sail.

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1-Skewer Sled Kite - Spars For this Sled, you need two 30cm (12")

bamboo BBQ skewers. Lay down and line up the skewers over the

plastic as shown. Mark each skewer where it crosses the bottom edge of the sail.

Snip off the pointed ends with scissors, at the marks. These are the vertical spars.

Lay down the vertical spar skewers again, over the sail.

Wrap a short length of clear sticky tape around each of the 4 tips, securing them to the sail plastic. See the close-up photo, which shows the top tip.

Next, lay a short length of clear tape across each skewer and onto the plastic, at the center. See the photo over there.

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1-Skewer Sled Kite - Towing PointsHere's how to reinforce the towing points...

Firstly, stick down a length of tape that goes left to right and sticks out some distance from the towing point, as in the photo

Turn the sail over and stick down another piece of tape exactly the same way, so both pieces stick to the plastic at one end and to each other at the other end.

Finally, stick down another piece of tape at right angles to the first 2. Fold the corners around the edge of the plastic sail, so it looks like the photo.

Now go over to the right side of the sail and do exactly the same thing with another 3 pieces of tape. The pieces of tape that stick out are where you will attach the bridle line. This method is surprisingly strong and can take a lot of punishment in rough air, due to the kite's light pulling force.

1-Skewer Sled Kite - Bridle Cut off some flying line to a 6SL (175cm, 70")

length, and put a small Loop knot (Appendix 4) into each end.

Using Double Wrap Slip knots, tie one end of the line to one towing point tape, and the other end to the other towing point tape. Try to get the knots tight enough to crush the towing point tape. See the photo.

Take the bridle line and suspend the kite from it, so that the 2 sides line up exactly. The 2 spars should be right next to each other. Tie a small Loop knot into the bridle, taking care that the kite sides still align.

TIP: It's best to fold and twist the towing point tape before forming the knot. Otherwise, it's too easy to shear off the tape when attempting to tighten the knot!

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1-Skewer Sled Kite - Tails Cut out 2 long thin rectangles of colored

plastic for the tails. Mine are black, to contrast with the orange sail. Make each tail 4.0SL (1160mm, 46") long and 0.15SL (44mm, 1 3/4") wide.

Tie one end of each tail around a vertical spar, as close as possible to the bottom tip. See the photo. A single Half Hitch will do, since there are very low forces on the tails in flight.

At this point, you've finished making the 1-Skewer Sled!To attach the flying line, just Lark's Head the flying line to the kite's bridle as in the photo.

1-Skewer Sled Kite - Flying!Firstly, if it's very windy outside, stay home! This is a light-to-moderate wind kite and won't like being launched in a gale.Assuming there is some breeze outside, just dangle the kite at arm's length until the wind catches it. As long as you feel the kite pulling, let out line slowly by taking loop after loop off the winder.Another approach is to get a helper to hold the kite up and let it go, on the end of maybe 10 or 20 meters (around 50 feet) of line. This way, the kite soon gets high enough to make it easy to let more line out.The picture and video show the 1-Skewer Sled on it's second outing, on a Spring day with a moderate breeze. After this photo was taken, the little Sled went on to reach almost 200 feet above ground.Have fun flying, and I hope you've enjoyed learning how to make a Sled kite!

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1-Skewer Sled Kite Selected Flight ReportFirst Time Out, And Loving The Moderate Breeze!While the orange 1-Skewer Sled kite flew today, the sun was gamely trying to peek through. It never quite succeeded. But never mind, it was a great first outing for the spanking new little Sled. I went up to the nearby vacant block, which afforded plenty of room to test fly a 1-Skewer design.The forecast had predicted 10-15 knot winds, moderating to 5-10 knots later in the day. Around 2pm, the winds were still decidedly in the moderate range, and even gusting to rather fresh speeds just before I came home.

On arriving at the grassy block of land, I removed the winder of 20 pound line and the rolled-up Sled from the inner pockets of my jacket. It would be easy to smuggle this kite into any venue! Not much point though, since its in-door performance would not be great.Despite being in a somewhat sheltered position near a tall fence, the 1 Skewer Sled kite was soon aloft. Initial impressions were that the kite was very stable and collapse-resistant. Letting 10 or 15 meters (40 feet) of line out, I took a few photos. Then, after letting out another 10 meters (35 feet) of line, I zoomed in close and shot off some video.The moderate gusty breeze was not a problem at all, although the kite had a slight lean to the right. Annoyingly, the ribbon tails quickly wound up, leaving only a short section flat, right at the end. So the tails looked like a couple of paddles! They still seemed to be doing the job though. See the photo down there...The Sled seemed to be holding around a 45 degree angle most of the time, with a decent pull for so small a kite! After a while I took it down and pinched off a centimeter (1/2") of plastic from the right tail. This didn't have much effect, so brought

the kite down again and pinched off another couple of centimeters. Eventually, the kite ended up with the right tail some 6 or 7 cm (3") shorter than the left tail, to correct its tendency to fly to the right. It's not often that a kite this size will fly perfectly true without adjustments. For one thing, no 2 BBQ skewers are the same!I eventually flew on 60 meters (200 feet) of line for a while. This required carefully monitoring of the kite's distance from surrounding trees and power-lines running beside the main road, just in case. Most flying was done on around 40 meters (140 feet) of line. Even on that much, the kite was starting to look pretty small!

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The winds seemed to strengthen a little during the last flight. The highest wind speeds blew the game little Sled kite down to 30 degrees or so. But it hung in there, and never looped out of control.At other times, rising air came through, causing a lowering of the line tension while the kite floated face-down. So a few nice thermal climbs resulted, when I let the kite float vertically upwards with line slipping slowly through my fingers.There was an exhilarating moment on 60 meters (200 feet) of line when the tiny 1 Skewer Sled kite reached a 60 degree flying angle. A short time later, it got punished with a blast of fresh wind and I had to pull in line very quickly to avoid a close call with some tall trees! There's never a dull moment when flying tiny kites.I must say that I'm very happy with the performance of this small Sled. It is definitely a better and more reliable flier overall than the original clear-plastic, tape-edged 1-Skewer Sled kite.

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The 1-Skewer Diamond KiteAt 29cm (11 1/2") tall, the MBK 1-Skewer Diamond Kite is a rather small Diamond, with dihedral and simple 1-leg bridle.As a bonus, these instructions also show you how to string several of these kites together in a kite train!

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1-Skewer Diamond Kite- Plans

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1-Skewer Diamond Kite - Tips1. 30 cm (12") bamboo BBQ skewers work well as spars. I work with 1SL = 29cm (11

1/2").2. Secure the sail to the spar ends using short lengths of clear sticky tape.3. After cracking the bamboo to get the dihedral angle, use a generous drop of wood

glue to join the spars where they cross and hold the dihedral angle firmly.4. Try a length of bridle line about the length of one skewer. Let half hang out the front

of the sail, and the other half out the back. Secure with a small drop of glue. The kite can now be easily included in a kite train.

5. For a start, try making a tail about 8 times as long as the length of the kite itself, and 3 adult finger-widths wide.

1-Skewer Diamond Kite Plan View PhotosThe photo on the left is of the front surface. That is, the surface of the flying kite which faces the flier. The other photo is of the back surface, which exposes the spars.

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1-Skewer Diamond Kite Step By Step InstructionsNow's the time to read up in Appendix 1 about kite materials and other things needed to build an MBK Skewer kite, if you haven't already.

1-Skewer Diamond Kite - Sail


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1-Skewer Diamond Kite - SparsFor this Diamond, you need two 30cm (12") bamboo BBQ skewers. The photo shows them laid over the sail, before being snipped to length with scissors.

Lay down a skewer over the center crease of the plastic, lining up the non-pointy end with the top corner of the plastic. Snip off the pointed end so the skewer lines up with the bottom corner of the plastic as well. This is the vertical spar.

Lay down another skewer across the left and right corners of the sail, and again snip to length, removing the point. Also make an easily-seen mark on the skewer at the exact center-point. This is the horizontal spar.

Using a sharp corner, perhaps a blade of the scissors, make an indent in the bamboo, at the center-point you marked.

1-Skewer Diamond Kite - Attaching Sail Lay down the vertical spar skewer over the sail,

and wrap a short length of clear sticky tape around each tip, securing them to the top and bottom corners of the sail. The top photo shows the top tip in close-up.

Lay down the horizontal spar skewer and attach its tips to the left and right corners of the sail, in the same way.

Bend the horizontal spar in the middle, until it starts to crack at the indent! Carefully increase the bend until you can get the kite looking like the one in the middle photo. If you want to be precise, each wing-tip is 0.13SL (3.7cm, 1 1/2") off the table top.

Dribble some wood glue all around where the skewers cross each other. See the bottom photo over there.

Wait for the glue to dry. Maybe start another one of these kites, so you can fly them together in a train later on!

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1-Skewer Diamond Kite - Bridle Cut off some 20 pound bridle line to a

length of 1.0SL (29cm, 11 1/2"), and tie a very small Loop knot (Appendix 4) into each end. See the photo over there.

Poke a hole in the plastic sail, 0.22SL (6.4cm, 2 1/2") from the top tip of the vertical spar.

Tie the middle of the line to the vertical spar with a simple Granny knot. Poke one end through the hole in the sail, and leave the other end hanging. See the photo.

Secure the knot onto the bamboo of the vertical spar with a tiny blob of wood glue, so it can't shift up or down the spar.

1-Skewer Diamond Kite - Tail Cut out a long thin rectangle of colored

plastic for the tail. Mine is black, to contrast with the orange sail. Make it 8.0SL (230cm, 90") long and 0.2SL (5.8cm, 2 1/4") wide. Knot pieces together if necessary, to get the full length. Avoid taping, because it adds weight!

Tie one end around the vertical spar, as close as possible to the bottom tip. See the photo. A single Half Hitch will do, since there are very low forces on the tail in flight.

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At this point, you've finished making the 1-Skewer Diamond!Now, make up a flying line (Appendix 3) and attach it to the bridle with a Lark's Head knot as shown in the photo.Now for the cool bit... If you have made 2 or more kites, each attached to their own flying line, you can hitch them together in a train. Just put a fair-sized Loop knot into both ends of each flying line, and then it's easy to attach and un-attach the kites. My first 2 Diamonds flew great with a 10 meter (35 feet) line between them.

1-Skewer Diamond Kite - Flying!Firstly, if it's very windy outside, stay home! This is a light-to-moderate wind kite and won't like being launched in a gale.

Assuming there is some breeze outside, just dangle the kite at arm's length until the wind catches it. As long as you feel the kite pulling, let out line slowly by taking loop after loop off the winder.Another approach is to get a helper to hold the kite up and let it go, on the end of maybe 10 or 20 meters (around 50 feet) of line. This way, the kite soon gets high enough to make it easy to let more line out.The picture shows this latest version of the 1-Skewer Diamond on its second outing. Coping well in a very gusty moderate breeze.Have fun flying, and I hope you've enjoyed learning how to make a Diamond kite!

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1-Skewer Diamond Kite Selected Flight Report2 Orange Diamonds Flash In A Blue-Gray SettingSeveral very rainy days are approaching, so the new 1 Skewer Diamond kite was pulled out while the sun shone. KiteS actually, since I had made 2 of them. 'Made to be trained' they are - one bridle leg out the front and one out the back, for convenient hitching together with short flying lines.The weather conditions were quite unusual today. Thin hazy mid-level cloud reduced the intensity of the sun, blocking it to what could be called 1/2-strength. Objects such as trees and poles still cast easily-seen shadows.A wide halo had formed in the cloud cover around the sun. Not a rainbow, but some other effect for which meteorologists have a name. I'd mention it if I could remember it...

Winds this afternoon were very variable. You could describe them as light gusting to fresh, with frequent shifts in direction. Hence the new 1 Skewer Diamond kite was either struggling to stay up, or being battered by too much wind speed for much of the time!Gee, I've taken a while to get to the actual kite flying...Ok, the first Diamond I made went up first. Let's call it Number 1. Moderate gusts were blowing through constantly as I attached the flying line, so the little Diamond soared up almost immediately. It was too easy to let out about 20 meters of line, before stepping on the line and fishing out the digital camera from a coat pocket.I took some photos and video, then wasted no time letting out over 60 meters (200 feet) of line.These little kites have correspondingly low line pull. Hence, even in these conditions, my wooden

winder could just lie on the grass without shifting downwind. This enabled me to take some video footage from directly underneath the 1 Skewer Diamond kite. Coincidentally, some soaring birds got themselves in the picture too. They were checking out the kite from a much higher altitude!The 1 Skewer Diamond kite coped well in the very gusty air, although the freshest gusts would force it down close to the ground from time to time. It was good seeing it up high for a change. Now, it was straight back to the car to pull out the Number 2 kite and attach it to the back of Number 1 with a 10 meter (35 feet) length of line! Just 2 Lark's Head knots, a piece of cake.It was fascinating to watch the interplay between the 2 kites as they swept around the sky.

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Both Diamonds responded immediately to shifts in wind direction. Somehow, the wind shifts were a lot more obvious when more than one kite was on the line! Imagine all 8 1-Skewer designs flying in a train stretching up to 400 feet... It might happen one day.Lulls would lead to both kites sinking low sometimes. At other times, very fresh gusts would put Number 1 into a dive towards the ground, dragging Number 2 with it. And then Number 2 started to twirl around in loops, completely overpowered, while Number 1 hung on maintaining its composure. And so on and so forth.Maybe 20% of the time, wind strengths would be near the ideal for these kites. It was then very gratifyingly to watch them soar up to a 45 degree line angle in tandem, swaying and rocking just a little as the long tails kept the noses pointed upwind. With such small kites on nearly 90 meters (300 feet) of line, there was bound to be a little excitement from time to time. I'm talking about those trees lurking in wait around the reserve perimeter! Number 2 had a near miss with one such tree. However, 1 Skewer Diamond kite Number 1 helped me to pull it free through some small twigs! Phew.It's definitely more fun flying 2 kites on the one line like this. We'll have to do more of it! I can see most of the 1-Skewer kites lending themselves to this 'ready-to-train' approach , as I re-design them one by one.

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The 1-Skewer Barn Door KiteAt 29cm (11 1/2") from tip to tip, the MBK 1-Skewer Barn Door Kite is a rather small Barn Door, with dihedral and a simple 1-leg bridle.It's a fine little light to moderate wind flier.As a bonus, these instructions also show you how to string several of these kites together in a kite train!

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1-Skewer Barn Door Kite Plans

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1-Skewer Barn Door Kite Tips1. 30 cm (12") bamboo BBQ skewers work well as spars. I work with 1SL = 29cm (11

1/2")2. Secure the sail to the spar ends using short lengths of clear sticky tape.3. After cracking the bamboo to get the dihedral angle, use a generous drop of wood

glue to hold the dihedral angle firmly.4. Use drops of wood glue to secure the skewers where they cross each other.5. Try a length of bridle line about the length of one skewer, tied to the middle of the

horizontal spar. Let half hang out the front of the sail, and the other half out the back. Secure with a small drop of glue. The kite can now be easily included in a kite train.

6. For a start, try making a single tail about 6 times as long as a skewer, with each end tied to the bottom end of a diagonal spar, forming a loop

7. Add a couple of strips of clear sticky tape all along the trailing edge of the sail. The extra weight here makes the kite more stable.

1-Skewer Barn Door Kite Plan View PhotosThe photo on the left is of the front surface. That is, the surface of the flying kite which faces the flier. The other photo is of the back surface, which exposes the spars.

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1-Skewer Barn Door Kite Step By Step InstructionsNow's the time to read up in Appendix 1 about kite materials and other things needed to build an MBK Skewer kite, if you haven't already.

1-Skewer Barn Door Kite - Sail


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NOTE: Don't worry if your sail dimensions don't look exactly like the photos below. Just stick to the Template measurements, which were used for my most recently tested kite!







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1-Skewer Barn Door Kite - SparsFor this Barn Door, you need three 30cm (12") bamboo BBQ skewers. The photo shows them laid over the sail, before being snipped to length with scissors.

Lay down 2 skewers over the sail, lining up the non-pointy ends with the top corners of the plastic. Snip off the pointed ends so the skewers line up with the bottom corners of the plastic as well. These are the diagonal spars.

Lay down another skewer across the left and right corners of the sail, and again snip to length, removing the point. Then make an easily-seen mark on the skewer at the exact center-point. This is the horizontal spar.


1-Skewer Barn Door Kite - Attaching Sail Lay down one diagonal spar skewer over the sail,

and wrap a short length of clear sticky tape around each tip, securing the skewer to the top and bottom corners of the sail. The top photo shows the top left tip in close-up.

Lay down and secure the other diagonal spar, in the same way.

Lay down the horizontal spar skewer and attach its tips to the left and right corners of the sail, in the same way.

Bend the horizontal spar in the middle, until it starts to crack at the indent! Carefully increase the bend until you can get the kite looking like the one in the middle photo. If you want to be precise, each wing-tip is 0.15SL (4.4cm, 1 3/4") off the table top.

Dribble some wood glue on the spot where the horizontal spar has cracked. Also glue the places where the 3 skewers cross each other. See the bottom photo over there.

Wait for the glue to dry. Maybe start another one of these kites, so you can fly them together in a train later!

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1-Skewer Barn Door Kite - Bridle Cut off some 20 pound bridle line to a

length of 1.0SL (29cm, 11 1/2"), and tie a very small Loop knot (Appendix 4) into each end. See the photo.

Poke a hole in the plastic sail, right over the bend in the horizontal spar.

Tie the middle of the line to the horizontal spar with a simple Granny knot. See the photo.

Poke one end of the line through the hole in the sail, just above the skewer. This end may be used to attach a short flying line to another kite.

Secure the the Granny knot with a small dob of glue, or it will come loose!

1-Skewer Barn Door Kite - Tail Cut out a long thin rectangle of colored

plastic for the tail. Mine is black, to contrast with the orange sail. Make it 6.0SL (170cm, 70") long and 0.15SL (4.4cm, 1 3/4") wide.

Tie one end around one diagonal spar, and the other end to the other diagonal spar, as close as possible to the bottom tips. Make sure there are no twists in the tail. See the photo. A single Half Hitch will do for each knot, since there are very low forces on the tail in flight.

At this point, you've finished making the 1-Skewer Barn Door!

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This design seems to need a little tail-weight for stability, so stick a couple of strips of sticky tape along the whole length of the trailing edge. That is, the edge of the sail between the lower tips of the 2 diagonal spars. Now, make up a flying line (Appendix 3) and attach it to the bridle with a Lark's Head knot as shown in the photo.Now for the cool bit... If you have made 2 or more kites, each attached to their own flying line, you can hitch them together in a train. Just put a fair-sized Loop knot into both ends of each flying line, and then it's easy to attach and unattach the kites.

1-Skewer Barn Door Kite - Flying!Firstly, if it's very windy outside, stay home! This is a light-to-moderate wind kite and won't like being launched in a gale.Assuming there is some breeze outside, just dangle the kite at arm's length until the wind catches it. As long as you feel the kite pulling, let out line slowly by taking loop after loop off the winder.Another approach is to get a helper to hold the kite up and let it go, on the end of maybe 10 or 20 meters (around 50 feet) of line. This way, the kite soon gets high enough to make it easy to let more line out.The picture shows this latest version of the 1-Skewer Barn Door kite flying in a fairly light breeze. The video below was taken on the same day, after letting out a little more line.Have fun flying, and I hope you've enjoyed learning how to make a Barn Door kite!

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1-Skewer Barn Door Kite Selected Flight ReportShort But Successful Flights In Meagre BreezesThe new 1 Skewer Barn Door kite needed a small tweak to get the towing point just right. Today's outing proved the design is finally good!Down at the reserve, there was almost no breeze. Mainly blue sky overhead, although a lot of thermal-marking Cumulus clouds were visible in the far distance.The UV danger was predicted to be at the Extreme level today, so Aren and I both wore our Cancer Council hats with their great ear, neck and nose protection. Those bits being the most likely to burn!At least the ample sunlight today would be good for the image quality from our rather cheap digital camera.

The only significant wind coming through was associated with the occasional thermal lifting off. Hence, there were huge variations in wind direction. About 270 degrees actually, if I remember all the directions in which I towed the kite up or let out some line.To begin with, it was only possible to loft the little 1 Skewer Barn Door kite for a few minutes at a time. If it didn't find rising air immediately, it would just drift down again, the wind speed insufficient to support it plus the weight of the line.Although there was quite frequent thermal activity, the lift didn't seem particularly strong today.Still, it was nice seeing the refined kite design basically behaving itself up there. With the light wind strength, the loop tail formed a fairly stable shape, the shape changing in subtle ways from second to second.Occasionally, when the kite was floating down on its face, the tail would cross over into a rough figure-eight shape, but that was about it. In contrast, moderate-to-fresh winds tend to coil light plastic tails up and reduce their effectiveness!After a while I did manage to get some fairly high

flying out of the little orange Barn Door. However, if the wind speed dropped suddenly while the kite was at its highest point, it tended to tuck the leading edge under and dive all the way to the ground! Also, it once rolled onto its back and descended slowly, parachute-like. Somehow stable for many seconds at a time, despite the dihedral pointing down instead of up!

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Hey, expect the unexpected with tiny kites, it's a different kind of fun to flying much larger ultra-predictable designs.Of course, there were times when the line would tension up nicely as the wind strength picked up by a few knots, causing the 1 Skewer Barn Door kite to lean back and climb steadily up for a hundred feet or so. Like any single-surface kite on a simple bridle.With more than 30 meters (100 feet) of 20 pound line out, there was considerable sag, with the kite flying at well under 45 degrees. Unless pushed up with a little rising air! Talking about rising and descending air...Since the 1 Skewer Barn Door kite was nearly always in the vicinity of a thermal, it was hard to tell exactly what line angles the kite would achieve in cold smooth air. I suspect 40-45 degrees. But no more than 50, even on a short line. So, the small Barn Door is a modest performer with its tail limiting its flying angle. But it's something different to an ordinary old Diamond isn't it! It's sure to get a few curious looks from people passing by.The 1 Skewer Barn Door kite kept me so busy trying to keep it in the air, that I didn't take much notice of the birds that flew through today. I do recall a lone white cockatoo flapping its way across the field, and several flocks of birds in the distance. Unidentified Feathered Objects.This Barn Door is a nice little kite, although somewhat more fickle in flight than the 1-Skewer Diamond. As with the Diamond, a reasonably smooth, light wind would allow you to train 8 or more of these together on a 30 pound line. That would make quite a spectacle! Another idea - train both types of kites, perhaps alternating between Barn Door and Diamond. For this many kites, a 5 meter line between each one might be about right. You have to give those tails some room!

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The 1-Skewer Rokkaku KiteAt 29cm (11 1/2") across, the MBK 1-Skewer Rokkaku is a rather small Rok. This kite has dihedral, a 2-leg bridle and a long streamer tail. As such, it doesn't look or fly much like a traditional Rok. But it's certainly fun to fly in a moderate breeze, darting around like a typical kid's kite! You can try altering the length of tail to alter the kites flying characteristics, or perhaps to keep it stable in a stiffer breeze.

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1-Skewer Rokkaku Kite Plans

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1-Skewer Rokkaku Kite - Tips1. Reinforce the vertical skewer join with 2 lengths of skewer, glued to both sides of

the join as in the plan.2. Secure the sail to the spar ends using short lengths of clear sticking tape.3. A 2-leg bridle works well, 2 skewer-lengths long and attached where indicated on

the plan.4. For a start, try using a simple streamer tail about 8 times as long as the kite is high.

Add more to let the kite fly in stronger winds.

1-Skewer Rokkaku Kite Plan View PhotosThe photo on the left is of the front surface. That is, the surface of the flying kite which faces the flier. The other photo is of the back surface, which exposes the spars.

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1-Skewer Rokkaku Kite Step By Step InstructionsNow's the time to read up in Appendix 1 about kite materials and other things needed to build an MBK Skewer kite, if you haven't already.

1-Skewer Rokkaku Kite Sail


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1-Skewer Rokkaku Kite - Vertical Spar

The vertical spar is 1.4SL (40.6cm, 16") long, so two 30cm (12") bamboo BBQ skewers need to be glued together.

Snip the point off 1 skewer. Lay down another skewer, butting together 2 flat skewer ends. From yet another skewer, cut off 2 lengths of 0.15SL (4.4cm, 1 3/4") each. Place

these beside the join, as in the photo. Lay down a line of wood glue on each side, and leave to dry. Get down low and look along the skewers to ensure they make a straight line,

before the glue sets!

1-Skewer Rokkaku Kite - SparsNow you need another two bamboo skewers. The photo shows them laid over the sail, after being snipped to length with scissors.

Lay down the glued skewers over the center crease of the plastic, lining up the non-pointy end with the top corner of the plastic. Snip off the other end so the skewer lines up with the bottom edge of the plastic as well. As already mentioned, this is the vertical spar.

Lay down another skewer across the top left and right corners of the sail, and again snip to length, removing the point. Also make an easily-seen mark on the skewer at the exact center-point. This is the upper horizontal spar.


Lay down another skewer across the lower left and right corners of the sail. Snip, mark and indent just as you did for the upper spar. This is the lower horizontal spar.

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1-Skewer Rokkaku Kite - Attaching Sail Lay down the vertical spar skewer over the sail,

and wrap a short length of clear sticky tape around each tip, securing them to the top and bottom corners of the sail. The photo shows the top tip in close-up.

Lay down the upper horizontal spar skewer and attach its tips to the left and right corners of the sail, in the same way.

Now do the same for the lower horizontal spar skewer.

Bend each horizontal spar in the middle, until it starts to crack at the indent! Carefully increase the bends until you can get the kite looking like the one in the middle photo. Note that the lower spar has a little more dihedral (angle) than the upper one. Don't worry if the bent part feels weak, since glue will make it strong enough...

Dribble some wood glue all around where the skewers cross each other. See the bottom photo over there.

Wait for the glue to dry.

1-Skewer Rokkaku Kite - Bridle Cut off some 20 pound bridle line to a

length of 2.0SL (58cm, 23"), and tie a very small Loop knot (Appendix 4) into each end. See the photo.

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Poke a hole in the plastic sail, just above where the upper horizontal spar crosses the vertical spar.

Poke another hole in the plastic sail, just below where the lower horizontal spar crosses the vertical spar.

Poke the Loop Knots through the holes and tie off around the vertical spar with a Double Wrap Slip knot.

Now take a length of flying line about half a skewer long, and tie one end to the bridle line with a Prusik knot. Tie a small Loop Knot into the other end. There's the whole bridle, in the bottom photo.

Secure each knot on the vertical spar with a tiny blob of wood glue.

1-Skewer Rokkaku Kite - Tail Cut out a long thin rectangle of colored

plastic for the tail. Mine is black, to contrast with the orange sail. Make it 8.0SL (230cm, 90") long and 0.2SL (5.8cm, 2 1/4") wide. Knot pieces together if necessary, to get the full length. Avoid taping, because it adds weight!

Tie one end around the vertical spar, as close as possible to the bottom tip. See the photo. A single Half Hitch will do, since there are very low forces on the tail in flight. Snip off the excess plastic so the knot is neat and tidy.

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At this point, you've finished making the 1-Skewer Rokkaku!Now, make up a flying line (Appendix 3) and attach it to the bridle with a Lark's Head knot as shown in the photo.

1-Skewer Rokkaku Kite - Flying!Firstly, if it's very windy outside, stay home! This is a light-to-moderate wind kite and won't like being launched in a gale.Assuming there is some breeze outside, just dangle the kite at arm's length until the wind catches it. As long as you feel the kite pulling, let out line slowly by taking loop after loop off the winder.Another approach is to get a helper to hold the kite up and let it go, on the end of maybe 10 or 20 meters (around 50 feet) of line. This way, the kite soon gets high enough to make it easy to let more line out.The picture shows this latest version of the 1-Skewer Rokkaku.Have fun flying, and I hope you've enjoyed learning how to make a Rokkaku kite!

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1-Skewer Rokkaku Kite Selected Flight ReportWinds A Bit Light, But Thermals Helped Out!With a 2-leg bridle fitted, the 1 Skewer Rokkaku kite had some great flying today, in winds gusting to over 10 kph. I brought my favorite toy from Christmas Day with me ;-) It was a wind speed measuring device, the Windtronic 2 from Kaindl Electronic, a German company.The wind meter was soon set up on a mini camera tripod, in fact the one that came with our digital camera. The tiny wind turbine whirred silently while I went about attaching the flying line and putting the kite up.

This oval was not infested with tall weeds like some others around this area! Hence no chance of the flying line or tail snagging all the time. Somewhat annoying!Today, the weather was very pleasant for flying. Sunny, few clouds and a light breeze.The winds seemed so light that I ventured to remove the last section of tail plastic from the 1 Skewer Rokkaku kite. Perhaps it wouldn't mind, and it would be a tiny bit less drag on the kite.Indeed, during the lulls there was not quite enough breeze to even keep the little Rok in the air. However, I persisted, and eventually managed to get some photos and video. About 15 meters (50 feet) of flying line was out.The kite seemed to be pulling a bit too hard, and looping, so I shifted the towing point forward a few millimeters. With photos out of the way, 60 meters (200 feet) of line went out after much line-working and a couple of landings!The tiny Rok settled out at around a 30 degree angle much of the time, sometimes lower when the wind was even lighter. To the point of nearly

half the line draping onto the grass, while the kite gamely hung on. Just hovering there, suspended several meters above the ground! Once or twice the 1 Skewer Rokkaku kite went to 60 degrees or more in some moderately strong thermal lift.It feels like this kite will fly at around 45 degrees in ideal wind strengths, on 60 meters (200 feet) of line. Albeit with quite a bit of sag! Sag or no sag, there was room at this fairly large school oval to let out more line... With 90 meters (300 feet) out, I threw the winder around the trunk of a handy tree.

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The 1 Skewer Rokkaku kite evidently has a slight right-turn built in, which caused looping during stronger gusts, and generally limited the height achieved. So I brought the kite down and added back the tail section which had been removed earlier. I also shifted the towing point back just a fraction.Walking back to the tree, I noticed the kite's shadow creeping upwind as the little Rok soared higher and higher directly above. Watching the kite for several minutes, it was surprising how much difference the extra length of tail was making! The Rok flew straighter, smoother and higher than before. It was a pleasure to watch the long, gently weaving climbs as the wind strength freshened from time to time.For tech-heads: regarding the maximum height, the reduced tendency to loop outweighed the effect of the increase in drag of the extra tail. By far!According to the wind meter, the breeze had averaged 3.3 kph most of the time, rising to 3.4 kph for a while. Max wind speed at ground level was 10.2 kph. But I'm sure it was more like 15 kph higher up.With 5 minutes to go before wife and child would expect to be picked up from the close-by supermarket, I brought the Rok down. Nice flight!

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The 1-Skewer Sode KiteAt 29cm (11 1/2") across, the MBK 1-Skewer Sode Kite is a rather small Sode, with dihedral on the horizontal spars, a simple 2-leg bridle and a looped tail. For its size, it flies quite efficiently, with a constant weaving motion in moderate winds.

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1-Skewer Sode Kite Plans

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1-Skewer Sode Kite Tips1. Reinforce the vertical skewer join with 2 lengths of skewer, glued to both sides of

the join as in the plan2. Secure the sail to the spar ends using short lengths of clear sticking tape3. Try a 2 skewer-length bridle line, tied between the upper and lower attachment

points4. For a start, try making a looped tail about 8 times as long as the kite is high. Add

more to let the kite fly in stronger winds.

1-Skewer Sode Kite Plan View PhotosThe photo on the left is of the front surface. That is, the surface of the flying kite which faces the flier. The other photo is of the back surface, which exposes the spars.

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1-Skewer Sode Kite Step By Step InstructionsNow's the time to read up in Appendix 1 about kite materials and other things needed to build an MBK Skewer kite, if you haven't already.

1-Skewer Sode Kite Sail


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Using the marking pen, rule lines between the dots, as in the photo. Note: the camera has distorted the image slightly, making some of the straight lines curve a little.




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1-Skewer Sode Kite - Vertical SparThe vertical spar is 1.5SL (43.5cm, 17 1/4") long, so two 30cm (12") bamboo BBQ skewers need to be glued together.

Snip the point off 1 skewer. Lay down another skewer, butting together 2 flat skewer ends. From yet another skewer, cut off 2 lengths of 0.3SL (8.7cm, 3 1/2") each. Place

these beside the join, as in the photo. Lay down a line of wood glue on each side, and leave to dry. The joint also serves

to bring the balance point back towards the tail for more stability. Get down low and look along the skewers to ensure they make a straight line,

before the glue sets! The photo shows the join after the glue has set.

1-Skewer Sode Kite - SparsNow you need another three bamboo skewers. The photo shows them laid over the sail, before being snipped to length with scissors.

Lay down the glued skewers over the center crease of the plastic, lining up the non-pointy end with the top corner of the plastic. Snip off the other end so the skewer lines up with the bottom edge of the plastic as well. As already mentioned, this is the vertical spar.

Lay down another skewer across the top left and right corners of the sail, and again snip to length, removing the point. Also make an easily-seen mark on the skewer at the exact center-point. This is the upper horizontal spar.


Do those last 3 steps again, to make another spar. This will be the lower horizontal spar.

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Finally, lay another skewer across the bottom edge of the sail, and snip to length. This is the bottom horizontal spar. Note that the camera has caused a little curvature in the picture - to your eye, everything should look square.

Those indents will help ensure the bamboo bends at the right spot when you later create the dihedrals!

1-Skewer Sode Kite - Attaching Sail Lay down the vertical spar skewer over the sail, and

wrap a short length of clear sticky tape around the top tip, securing it to the top corner of the sail. The phot

8 Mbk Kites 1 Skewer Series

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