By New Kites On The Blok – 2010
The main goal for designing this kite was to make a kite for flying decent Tricksparty ballets. There were a few specific design goals, though:
- It should fly tight, straight corners and should be tricky.
- I was thinking about a wingspan of roughly 225cm/ 235cm.
- No leechline, just folded 2cm wide dacron.
- One standoff per side (just because I like the looks of one stand-off per side)
- Floaty flatspin based tricks.
After designing/sewing the first prototype i was amazed by the way it flew. Most of the tricks in the book were available when i first tested it. Only the turtle position wasn’t steady and it has a deadspot in the flare. The way it flies taz-machines is amazing. Very easy. The bridle was a static three point bridle. After a while I had tested different bridles and finally came back to the classic three point bridle.
I changed the panel layout from a “fury-clone” to the layout in the building plan.
After flying it a while and changing it a lot these are the settings I use.
There was a special feature in the first prototype. I sew a little pocket on top of the nose. I wasn’t sure if I wanted a “kitehouse-nose” on the kite or just a regular nose. With the little extra pocket on top of the nose you can change it if you like. You just have to adjust the Spine a little.
Experiences up ’till now
The lower spreaders were originally icone white. Since they’re not available anymore I replaced them for Skyshark Nitro’s.
I fly the kite with a classic kite nose at the moment you can change it in the building plan for a “kite house-nose”. I think with this setting/nose flicflacs are less affected by the dead spot
I flew this kite in competition for about three years. The best things in competition was a crazycopter in a ballet. There were no real top results to mention. Not because it’s a bad kite. It’s just because I am a lousy competition pilot.
You can find the NKOTB plan page and other resources in Open Source Kite Plans menu above.