May 6, 2024 02:43

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Out and About

Thoughts After the Initial Flight

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As you might gather from the look on my face, the initial flight revealed a few issues. One that I was suspecting from the start and a couple of other ones.

As you also can see from the featured image, the kite’s sail is built up by dacron ribbons. I had a suspicion these ribbons could start to flutter in the stronger winds. I was right.

Actually it wasn’t as bad as I had feared, but definitely an issue to address. In addition it seems like the LE is a bit too soft. It bends quite a bit thus deforming the shape of the kite/sail making the ribbons even looser and more prone to flutter.

But first things first. I have an idea for stabilising the ‘sail’; to add two vertical (more or less) narrower ribbons on each wing half. Hopefully this will prevent the flutter of the horizontal ribbons.

I guess replacing the current LE with a stiffer one will improve the kite’s flying characteristics.

The next step is to tweak the bridle a little. First of all I will move the outer bridle connections from the end caps to the frame, a distance of approximately 4cm for each wing tip. Another little tweak to reduce the bending of the LE.

I might do some more bridle tweaks too, but I will not do this before I see the effect of my other remedies.

…and as mentioned in another post, this is an experiment! …and I’m learning!

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