Article 26220 of rec.kites: Path: tug!ibmpcug!laura.pcug.co.uk!hole.news.pipex.net!pipex!tube.news.pipex.net!pipex!lade.news.pipex.net!pipex!news.be.innet.net!INbe.net!news.nl.innet.net!INnl.net!hunter.premier.net!newsfeed.internetmci.com!news.msfc.nasa.gov!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!ncar!csn!nntp-xfer-1.csn.net!magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu!news.cis.ohio-state.edu!nntp.sei.cmu.edu!bb3.andrew.cmu.edu!casaba.srv.cs.cmu.edu!das-news2.harvard.edu!harvard-gateway!andrew From: Andrew Beattie Newsgroups: rec.kites Subject: Re: Chevron progress Date: Sat, 8 Jun 1996 00:55:18 +0100 Organization: Division of Applied Sciences, Harvard University Lines: 52 Sender: news@das.harvard.edu Message-ID: <9606080055.aa00452@tug.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: endor.harvard.edu Originator: mss@endor > I suspect that pull on the Chevron is relative to what Andrew was > flying before... No. It simply wasn't flying right. There is a lot to be learnt about tuning and I'm only just beginning. - There are compressional problems in low wind with the first Chevron (John's 8m), I put it down to cell-size and cross-bridle issues at the time but now I'd like to play with it more, because I think I might be able to tune it out on the primary bridle. - When I first flew the 13, I thought it was spot-on, but I went back to it months later and made significant improvements. - The 7m^2's improved with experience. The first ones had little power, but I learned how to get more out of them. When I eventually catch up with Matthew Hurrell, I'll make the changes I've been trying to persuade him to make for several months... - The first 5 (where I took a big leap to my own profiles rather than a simple derivative of the Sputnik-4 ribs) was very odd out of the bag. It overflew, it had no power, it would fold towards you during a depowered dive, worst of all, it would simply fall out of the sky if you turned down rather than up. It was out of this mess that I managed to tune the canopy that John raves about. - On the latest 5, I re-calculated all the plans in the light of the lessons learned from John's kite, in the hope that it would work first time, but no, the power was down, the L/D wasn't good enough, the stall speed was too high, it would curl round the leading edge. It took all weekend to sort it out, yet this is the sort of state it was in when it impressed Andy Wardly. Several people have asked me about plans. The above is one of the main reasons that I don't want to produce plans at the moment. The kites are simply not ready for that. The difference between an excellent kite and a crap one is entirely within the hands of the person who's tuning it. mm95-16@Swansea.ac.uk writes: >> First person to offer US50+shipping secures it. > > Andrew,i know we haven't got as mouch money to spend as those on the other > side of the pond , but could at least give some prices in proper (pounds > Sterling) , so I can plead to my manager to buy It I buy my fabric and Spectra in US$ and most of the kites go to the USA, so I work in dollars. US50 is around 300 quid. Andrew If you fly stunt kites to win competitions, you won't understand, but if you fly to give pleasure and entertain the audience, you might find AoxomoxoA -- Marty Sasaki Harvard University Sasaki Kite Fabrications sasaki@noc.harvard.edu Network Services Division 90 Melrose Street 617-496-4320 10 Ware Street Arlington, MA 02174 Cambridge, MA 02138-4002 phone/fax: 617-646-1925