"Bozu" Rokkaku
The "Batkite"
"Moonlight" Rok
Flying Flexi
THE Bobby Sock
Buggy 3D Model
Kiting: NOT just a little kid's tissue paper and string!
Modern kiting is done with high-tech carbon fiber, kevlar and advanced ripstop fabrics. People still build the old eddy diamond kites to be sure, but large high aspect ratio quadlined parafoil kites and huge flowform soft sculptures are now all the rage. Two lined stunt deltas, quad-lined "Revolutions", and 110 mph high speed flexifoils now tear up the sky. Kiting can be about staking a kite and having a picnic or it can be about an adrenaline rush--you get to choose. Give it a try!
Let's start with where to go on the net for kiting stuff. Lucky me there is a MAJOR kiting list that keeps up with everything that is going on, so all I have to do is give you the pointer to that site: Kite Flier's Site.
My Kites:
Eventually pictures here will include my own homebuilt Rev I, Rev II, 2 Speedwings, Diamond Stack, Quadlined Parafoil, Tracer, Stunt Delta, Rokakku, sleds and stuff.
For now, these are some shots of my 10ft Flexifoil, originally designed for High-Fly Kite's "Top Shelf Line" by Ray Merry himself.
My Kite Aerial Photography Rig:
I'm just completing a R/C camera rig that will pan and tilt my camera for aerial shots. I'll be posting construction pictures and dimensions when I get a chance. For now you should check out Charles Benton's KAP Pages.
I've built a Rokkaku kite to lift the R/C camera gear. You can see it on it's maiden flight in the picture above. The design is from Japanese "hanafuda" cards and is the moon over a hill. I have added some applique Kanji characters that you can see in the lower picture. Hopefully THIS summer I'll get a chance to pull up a camera rig with it.
My Buggy Project:
I've got a front fork from a kids offroad racing bike and some square stainless steel tubing I bought at a scrap yard. I bought a rear axle set with wheels, a 8 ft pro team flexifoil and a 10ft custom flexifoil from the famous father and son duo: Francis and Fritz Gramkowski---so I'll post pictures and a discussion of my construction problems when I get it done.
In designing the buggy I decided to do a scale model first in Truespace. Click on the small image to see what the finished product will look like.