A Delta Wing Kite

MBK Simple Delta

Deltas are a pretty popular design these days, so they can be seen in a large range of sizes. The characteristic sail shape never changes much though, otherwise it wouldn't be a delta! See our Simple Delta design in the photo.

Our little 1-Skewer Delta design requires a tail, but is then a good light-to-moderate-wind flyer. Initially, we made a few in clear plastic, while experimenting with a few details of the construction.

More recently, this kite has been made more visible by doing the sail in orange plastic and using a simple ribbon tail made from black plastic. Also, the glued horizontal spar has been replaced with a floating spreader, like bigger kites of this type.

Next up in size comes the 2-Skewer Delta, which also requires a tail. But only a short one! Any lightly built delta-wing kite is good in thermal conditions, and our 2-Skewer version is no exception. It's great to watch it charge around overhead, riding the patches of rising air that come through.

And I mustn't forget the little Paper Delta too, which is the last kite in the Paper Series. These kites feature rigid spars but everything is formed from copier paper and sticky tape! Testing ensures that each paper kite flies over 200 feet up, can stay up for at least 20 minutes unaided, and will last for more than 3 hours of flight time.

Original 1-Skewer Delta

This dinky little number is called the 1-Skewer Delta. You see, each spar is a 29 cm (11 1/2 in.) bamboo BBQ skewer.

The original was made from clear freezer-bag plastic, which made it almost impossible to see against a gray sky. It's a good little flyer though!

We flew this one on 50 meters (150 feet) of 20-pound line. It doesn't need that strength, but we also flew our 2-Skewer kites on the same line.

MBK 1-Skewer Delta

In the photo is the latest version of the 1-Skewer Delta, in orange garden-bag plastic. The tail is cut from a cheap black garbage bag, which contrasts nicely with the sail color.

Despite using the same number and length of bamboo skewers, this design has a little more sail area than the original—good for light-wind flying!

Check out the video below, which shows this kite in a light evening breeze. See how it starts to tip-wiggle when the wind strength drops for a few moments. I've seen really big deltas do this too, when flying at the extreme bottom end of their wind range.

Original 2-Skewer Delta

The 2-Skewer Delta is, as the name suggests, exactly twice as tall as the 1-Skewer design. This gives it four times the sail area with not much more than double the weight. Hence, it's pretty good in light winds.

The delta-wing kite pictured has two-ply plastic which makes it a little heavier, but it is still a good performer.

In moderate winds, the 20-pound line tightens up, and the original delta would start to porpoise rapidly if the wind strength picked up even further.

MBK 2-Skewer Delta

The latest 2-Skewer Delta reverted to a simpler and more conventional delta-shaped sail. Other design changes managed to get rid of the porpoising problem. In fresher winds, this version simply tucks its wingtips in and holds on!

The kite is a real pleasure to fly in warmer weather when patches of rising air tend to loft it directly overhead.

Original Dowel Delta

For quite a while, the MBK Dowel Delta was our largest delta. This one was designed from the start to be tailless. A generous keel helps to keep the kite stable.

Actually, the original dowel design had more keel than the current design. The rear end of the keel flapped in the breeze, like another tail! You can see that in the photo.

This kite proved too light and flimsy for general outdoor flying. Of course, in very light wind, it would return some amazing flights. In those conditions, it would have been quite safe to fly on mere 20-pound line.

MBK Dowel Delta

The latest Dowel Delta—the third version in fact—has quite a good wind range for a homemade light-wind delta. It has been flown in very gusty air up to around 20 kph. There it is in the photo.

The Dowel Delta is also a real floater and will fly at high line angles in light winds. Size? It's about twice as tall as the 2-Skewer Delta, so that's about four times the sail area.

Compared to the 1-Skewer version, the dowel version has about 16 times as much sail area.

The video below gives a good closeup view of the MBK Dowel Delta flying on a short line in light wind:

MBK Multi-Dowel Delta

The big daddy of all MBK deltas is the Multi-Dowel Delta kite. This beast is 4.8 meters (16 feet) from tip to tip. Although this kite likes light wind, it can cope with gentle breeze-strengths by having the spreader set to allow more billow in the sail. That, plus a small drogue from the tail end of the spine, gives the kite a reasonable wind range.

The leading edges and the spine each plug together from two 1.2 meter (4 feet) lengths of Tasmanian oak dowel. That's using my completely unpatented dowel-drum method :-)  Like Hargrave, the box-kite pioneer, I'm unconcerned with patents.

This kite is a graceful sight when it soars about in light wind and thermal conditions on several hundred feet of 200-pound Dacron line.

In the video below, the breeze is pushing the kite a little harder. You can hear the plastic rustling at times!