Indoor Kite Posts—Delta

It's an archive of sorts, although there are no dates and times. Kite flying is timeless, don't you agree? I trust there is plenty in here to educate, inform and often entertain!

I trust there is plenty in here to educate, inform, and often entertain!

These short flight reports once appeared as posts in the site-blog page, although that page is no longer present on this site. Below, the latest posts come first. Just scroll down and stop at any heading that appeals :-)

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MBK Indoor Delta Kite

Indoor Delta Delivered

The free online instructions for making the kite were about to be published.

With the step-by-step content finished, all that remained was to take a plan-form shot of the little delta lying on the table. Also, an in-flight shot was needed, to go at the bottom of the instructions.

Indoor Delta Expanded

Yep, all sail dimensions were made a little bigger, resulting in a substantial increase in sail area.

Other tweaks have collectively resulted in a more rearward balance point. I added just a couple of short strips of tape to the tail end to get it perfect.

This new design is pretty close to OK. A few tows through the house showed that the kite is more stable and more willing to remain in a nose-up attitude than the old one.

The duration test is looking good too, with the kite staying in flight for around nine seconds over the test track.

The cross-member is failing right next to one end though. But only because the square of tape securing the tip is extending too far along the paper. Flattened against the plastic, the paper doesn't have enough stiffness at that point. Besides fixing the cross-member, I might try removing another centimeter from the upper ends of the leading edges.

This design is getting close.

Indoor Delta Refit

Some changes have been tried, to make the little delta lighter and more stable.

With slimmed down and shortened leading edges, plus tail-heavy spine and a redesigned cross-member I was full of hope. Alas, the craft still came up a bit short of expectations. So I pulled off the cross-member and cut it down even more before replacing it on the sail. And the kite was still nose heavy so some strips of sticky tape were added over the tail end of the spine. Tsk tsk—that's extra weight.

After the leading edge refit, the kite turned out tip-heavy on the opposite side to before :-|

Rather than add more weight by taping the lighter wingtip, I snipped off some paper from the heavy one. That made a big difference and the delta was finally able to climb straight up.

A duration test through the living room wasn't so good. Just seven seconds were spent in the air, when it needs to be around nine.

More sail area is needed and even more shifting of spar weight to the rear. So it's back to the drawing board and a new sail.

My Best Glider

Going by today's efforts, that's the website the first prototype of the Indoor Delta kite belongs on ;-)

It was an interesting exercise, trying to fly the Indoor Delta through our house. The first thing that became apparent was a tendency to fly off to the left, to the point of flying on one wingtip most of the time. When I suspended the kite from its thread line, the cause was revealed—one side was slightly heavier than the other!

That's the trouble with small kites. Accuracy is critical. A generous strip of sticky tape was added near the lighter wingtip, which noticeably improved the balance. But all was not well.

The mini kite just loved to nose down and take off past me like a high-performance glider :-| That got me suspicious about the center of gravity. Sure enough, when dropped face down, the paper-and-plastic delta rushed forward on its way to the floor.

A few strips of tape added near the tail end of the spine helped somewhat. However, some design changes will be required for the next build. Why add weight. Tsk tsk.

Two ideas came to mind, on how to shift the balance point rearward without adding weight:

1) The spreader could be slimmed down and shifted away from the nose a little.

2) The spine could be much slimmer near the nose (where it doesn't need the strength) and much wider near the tail (in order to shift weight there).

It was pretty cool though, seeing the current kite sit back and climb, quite stable and evidently strong enough in the frame.

 

 

 

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