Date: 13 Mar 93 18:43:44 GMT
From: egc@daimi.aau.dk (Esben Gorm Collstrup)
Message-ID: <1993Mar13.184344.887@daimi.aau.dk>
Organization: DAIMI: Computer Science Department, Aarhus University, Denmark
Subject: List of stunt kite construction plans, kits and books.
Here is an updated list of sources for stunt kite construction plans/kits. The
list has been expanded with: 3 plans, some addresses and a stunt kite
construction kit section, since the previous posting.
And now some good news for the those of you who thinks rec.kites concentrates
too much on stunt kites, and some bad news for those who have found the previous
versions of the list helpful: this is my last update in about a year, as I'm
loosing my Internet/USENET access in a few days :-(
However, it would break my heart to abandon all you nice and friendly guys and
girls of rec.kites completely, so if you need a plan from one of the magazines
and have been unable to find the issue elsewhere (after checking the local
library, The Kite Store in London and the publisher), I will send you a
photocopy if you send me: a self-addressed envelop and 2 IRC's (International
Reply Coupons, can be bought at the post office). My address is:
Esben Collstrup
Groefthoejparken 163, 8.mf
DK-8260 Viby J.
Denmark
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)
"3/4 Cobra"
The Kiteflier, No.54 (January '93)
A standard 3/4 dart. Looks very similar to an Action Kites Moon Dart.
229 x 74 cm (90 x 29 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)
"Parawing"
Drachen Magazin, No.8 (May/June/July 1991)
Sort of high aspect ratio, closed leading edge Parafoil controlled with a bar
and used for traction. This one is quite small, 2.7 square meter, but it should
be easy to scale up.
If you want to know more about Parawings contact:
Stein Hjelland, steinvh@hdata.no
270 x 100 cm (106 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)
"Parawing UL"
Drachen Magazin, issue 4/92 (Nov/Dec/Jan. 1992/93)
Outline plans for two different types of ultralight Parawings.
500 x 200 cm (197 x 79 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" (?)
Drachen Magazin, issue 1/93 (Feb/Mar/Apr. 1993)
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
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
The addresses of KiteLines and American Kite is:
KiteLines American Kite Company
P.O.Box 466 480 Clementina Street
Randallstown San Francisco
MD 21133-0466 CA 94103
USA USA
Phone: 410 922-1212 Phone: 415 896-0830
Fax: 410 922-4262 Fax: 415 896-0485
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" (original German title)
"Making and Flying Stunt Kites"
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.
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: Speed
Revolution (Rev II), Bantam, Spin-Off, Hawaiian Team Kite, Fire Dart, Sky Dart,
Razor Blade, Jet and 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
Wesseling, joost@paramount.nikhefk.nikhef.nl 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
(examples: 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 (in German) 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.
Kaskade Kaskade
Toosbuystr. 13 Nansensgade 47
D-2390 Flensburg DK-1366 Copenhagen
Germany Denmark
Phone: 046/117395 Phone: 33 93 04 43
Fax: 046/117330 Fax: 33 93 83 15
Kaskade sells the plans (in German) for the HQ Kites: Mini Dart, Run Dart,
Elektron (a popular ultralight/team kite here in Europe).
Jaco design & engineering
Bahnhofstrasse 34a
CH-8580 Amriswill
Switzerland
Phone: 071 67 46 41
Fax: 071 67 14 34
Jaco sells the plans for their own kites, which seems to be darts of various
sizes. I think they also sells the plans in size 1:1.
Construction kits can be bought from:
HANNAH im Drachenland
S. Schonberg GbR
Konigstor 34-36
W-3500 Kassel 1
Germany
Phone: 0561/14235
Fax: 0561/779518
They expand the range all the time, but at the last count they were selling kits
for the following kites: Chicago Fire Bee, Colibry, Jet-Stream, Jet-Stream Mk.2,
Wasp (Wind Walker, not Tim Benson), North Shore Radical, North Shore Extreme,
Hawaiian Team Kite, Spin-Off, Fire Dart, Phantom Mk.2 (?), Big Brother, Big
Brother Mk.2, Revolution I, Flash Angel, Scorpion. The prices are mostly in the
range DM 140-180.
Hang-em High Fabrics
1420 Yale Avenue
Richmond
VA 23224
USA
Phone: 804 233-6155
Fax: 804 233-6155(#3)
Hang-em High sells one kit: Stunt Kit Kite, a 3/4 dart in partly the colours of
your choice, price $50.
Jaco design (see address above) also sells their kites as kits, but I have no
idea about the prices.
A last note: as mentioned in the start this is the last update from me in a long
time, but if someone else wants to keep posting it regularly or updating it,
feel free to do so.
May your lines never tangle.
Esben
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Date: Sat, 31 Jul 1993 12:15:07 -1000
From: salanne@convex.csc.FI (Simo Salanne)
Message-Id: <1993Jul31.221507.13464@nic.funet.fi>
Organization: Finnish Academic and Research Network Project - FUNET
Subject: List of stunt kite construction plans, kits and books.
SOURCES FOR STUNT KITE PLANS
============================
Aug 93 Added my comments on two books. Did some
formatting to increase (?!) readability.
Simo Salanne
------------------------------------------------------------------
Here is an updated list of sources for stunt kite construction
plans/kits. The list has been expanded with: 3 plans, some
addresses and a stunt kite construction kit section, since the
previous posting.
And now some good news for the those of you who thinks
rec.kites concentrates too much on stunt kites, and some bad
news for those who have found the previous versions of the list
helpful: this is my last update in about a year, as I'm loosing my
Internet/USENET access in a few days :-(
However, it would break my heart to abandon all you nice and
friendly guys and girls of rec.kites completely, so if you need a
plan from one of the magazines and have been unable to find
the issue elsewhere (after checking the local library, The Kite
Store in London and the publisher), I will send you a photocopy
if you send me: a self-addressed envelope and 2 IRC's
(International Reply Coupons, can be bought at the post
office). My address is:
Esben Collstrup
Groefthoejparken 163, 8.mf
DK-8260 Viby J.
Denmark
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)
"3/4 Cobra"
The Kiteflier, No.54 (January '93)
A standard 3/4 dart. Looks very similar
to an Action Kites Moon Dart.
229 x 74 cm (90 x 29 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)
"Parawing"
Drachen Magazin, No.8 (May/June/July 1991)
Sort of high aspect ratio, closed leading edge
Parafoil controlled with a bar and used for traction.
This one is quite small, 2.7 square meter, but it should
be easy to scale up. If you want to know more
about Parawings contact:
Stein Hjelland, steinvh@hdata.no
270 x 100 cm (106 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)
"Parawing UL"
Drachen Magazin, issue 4/92 (Nov/Dec/Jan. 1992/93)
Outline plans for two different types of ultralight
Parawings.
500 x 200 cm (197 x 79 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" (?)
Drachen Magazin, issue 1/93 (Feb/Mar/Apr. 1993)
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 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
The addresses of KiteLines and American Kite are:
KiteLines American Kite Company
P.O.Box 466 480 Clementina Street
Randallstown San Francisco
MD 21133-0466 CA 94103
USA USA
Phone: 410 922-1212 Phone: 415 896-0830
Fax: 410 922-4262 Fax: 415 896-0485
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.
BOOKS
-----
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" (original German title)
"Making and Flying Stunt Kites"
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. 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: Speed Revolution (Rev II),
Bantam, Spin-Off, Hawaiian Team Kite, Fire Dart, Sky Dart,
Razor Blade, Jet and 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 Wesseling,
joost@paramount.nikhefk.nikhef.nl 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) Cicada/Gizmo, they resemble the Phantom, VERY fast and
accurate. The Cicada 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
"Although I cannot agree with all Mark says in his book
(e.g. stiffness/flexibily matters) I consider this a very
good "anatomy" book of stunt kites. Even for a flyer, who
does not build kites himselves, the book gives good
understanding of most common decisions made by the designer.
The family tree of a stunt kite on the cover is very nice."
May 93, Simo Salanne
"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
"I agree that the layout is poor (in some parts) but found
the text and pictures inspiring! The chapter on 'Parachuting
Fauna' is unique and cannot be found in any other book."
May 93, Simo Salanne
"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 (examples: 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 (in
German) 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.
Kaskade Kaskade
Toosbuystr. 13 Nansensgade 47
D-2390 Flensburg DK-1366 Copenhagen
Germany Denmark
Phone: 046/117395 Phone: 33 93 04 43
Fax: 046/117330 Fax: 33 93 83 15
Kaskade sells the plans (in German) for the HQ Kites: Mini
Dart, Run Dart, Elektron (a popular ultralight/team kite here
in Europe).
Jaco design & engineering
Bahnhofstrasse 34a
CH-8580 Amriswill
Switzerland
Phone: 071 67 46 41
Fax: 071 67 14 34
Jaco sells the plans for their own kites, which seems to be darts
of various sizes. I think they also sells the plans in size 1:1.
Construction kits can be bought from:
HANNAH im Drachenland
S. Schonberg GbR
Konigstor 34-36
W-3500 Kassel 1
Germany
Phone: 0561/14235
Fax: 0561/779518
They expand the range all the time, but at the last count they
were selling kits for the following kites: Chicago Fire Bee,
Colibry, Jet-Stream, Jet-Stream Mk.2, Wasp (Wind Walker,
not Tim Benson), North Shore Radical, North Shore Extreme,
Hawaiian Team Kite, Spin-Off, Fire Dart, Phantom Mk.2 (?),
Big Brother, Big Brother Mk.2, Revolution I, Flash Angel,
Scorpion. The prices are mostly in the range DM 140-180.
Hang-em High Fabrics
1420 Yale Avenue
Richmond
VA 23224
USA
Phone: 804 233-6155
Fax: 804 233-6155(#3)
Hang-em High sells one kit: Stunt Kit Kite, a 3/4 dart in partly
the colours of your choice, price $50.
Jaco design (see address above) also sells their kites as kits,
but I have no idea about the prices.
A last note: as mentioned in the start this is the last update
>From me in a long time, but if someone else wants to keep
posting it regularly or updating it, feel free to do so.
May your lines never tangle.
Esben
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Date: Sun, 1 Aug 1993 01:00:55 -1000
From: salanne@convex.csc.FI (Simo Salanne)
Message-Id: <1993Aug1.110055.8314@nic.funet.fi>
Organization: Finnish Academic and Research Network Project - FUNET
Subject: Re: List of stunt kite construction plans, kits and books.
In <1993Jul31.221507.13464@nic.funet.fi> salanne@convex.csc.FI (Simo Salanne) writes:
>Aug 93 Added my comments on two books. Did some
> formatting to increase (?!) readability.
I forgot to correct the address and phone numbers of
Drachen Magazin.
>Drachen Magazin in USA and the price is US$ 5, or you
>can contact them directly 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)
Address: Fruchtallee 13
D-2000 Hamburg 20
Germany
phone: 040-4395667
fax: 040-4395377
Smooth Winds
Simo.Salanne@csc.fi
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