These tails are easy to make by sewing rectangles together, folding and stitching to form tubes before hemming the leading edge around a ring of copper wire. A three-legged bridle is fitted with a fishing swivel to reduce twisting, and the end of the tail is tied or sewn closed to contain air pressure. To make matching tails, the rectangles are double width, and the tail is cut in half lengthwise before forming tubes. This eases sewing the sections together, and assures matching stripe patterns. Mine are 50 feet long by 3" diameter and 80 feet by 5" diameter, sewn from .75 ounce nylon. Roks fly better with the tail attached to the line below it, and deltas seem to prefer the attachment at the trailing edge. This 8-foot delta (right) and the Rok (below ) are among my few purchased kites.

Sewing tubes has one challenge, that of keeping the upper layer of fabric moving at the same rate as the lower one through the machine. I picked up a White walking foot attachment that may help by using the vertical motion of the needle clamp screw to drive an upper set of feed dogs set into a presser foot. Although imprecise because this motion doesn't match the feed of the lower dogs, it still may help keep the fabric together on certain stitch lengths. Time will tell if I wasted $10 on this gizmo, but it's something to fiddle with.

Aerocorpus

Well, I guess it's time to explore this sort of thing. If this pale cadaver works out, a string of them will follow in various styles and colors. My wife wants one in a grass skirt, and she's in charge of the future task of decorating them.

Bart, Homer, and Bender come to mind as subjects. Hardly a high performance project, but easy to do, using scraps from other projects.

Rip-stop nylon, with copper wire rings and a dowel to hold the bridling.

 Dynamic Aeolian Harp

The sounds produced by this wind-powered instrument are quite magical and can be heard by going to Didier Ferment's site Ciel Libre.  His site describes ways to build and play these instruments, along with many other wonderful creations.  The wind-powered vibration of a long monofilament line is amplified by a diaphragm, and the result is modified by varying the tension on the line and diaphragm connection.  Didier uses drums, tambourines and other cool devices, but I opted for cheapness.  Cost for me was about two bucks, for the 50 pound fishing line at Wal-Mart.  The other parts were scraps from a construction job.

The 1/4 inch plywood panel is 20" x 20" and has a 12" hole in its center.  A 20" square of Tyvek is stuck to the panel with spray adhesive and has a 2" square of Tyvek reinforcement glued top and bottom to the center.  A drilled 2" disk of 1/4" wood is glued to the bottom center of the diaphragm to hold 6" piece of 10 gauge copper wire, which is "knotted" on the bottom and bent as a hook on top.  This wire transmits the vibration to the diaphragm.  The square shape of the panel makes it easier to hold as I sit on the grass rest one edge on the ground with the panel vertical under my arm.  From a distance this must look very peculiar.

All that is needed now is a spool of 50 pound fishing line and some strong wind.  Attach the end of the line to a fixed object, (tree, police car, whatever) and run the line out to around 100 feet across the wind direction.  At this point tie a loop in the line, clip or tie it to your belt, and hook the copper wire over the line, holding the resonator by the wooden panel.  Holding it firmly in place, apply tension to the fishing line and you should have some success making weird sounds!  Tapping the line with a pencil gives an echo effect, etc.  The first time out, I was circled by a pair of yapping Chihuahuas as I sat on the ground. Very soothing after a day at work.

This might be fun to play with at the kite field when the wind is too high to fly kites, or just tune in to nature.  And the music isn't even copy-protected.  Ciel Libre!

Boomerangs

Years ago a fellow in the park impressed me with his boomeranging ability.  He threw a nice varnished boom amazing distances and caught them in a gloved hand.  The flight was really fascinating to watch and became one of those small unforgettable moments.  Years later, some boomerangs in a kite catalog inspired to make my own, since the wind is unreliable where I live.  About a dozen boomerangs hide in a $13 2 x 3 foot piece of Baltic birch plywood.  The sites for plans and advice are in Links.  I always try them out before painting, to be sure they fly.

After sealing them with flat spray enamel, I decorate them with airbrushed acrylic colors and topcoat with spray Varathane Diamond water based varnish.  My airbrush, a Chinese copy of a Badger, cost $9 at Harbor Freight.  I added a small cup to replace the jar that comes with it for smaller paint loads.  This was made from a 1" high copper sheet funnel soldered to a U-shaped 3" piece of metal tubing that presses into the intake on the brush.  The water-based paint is easier to clean from the airbrush and comes in neon colors.  The tough water based varnish doesn't lift the previous coats and doesn't turn yellow.  If all that sounds too fussy, just squirt the things with the brightest spray paint on your shelf.  You want to see the boomerang coming at you, and seal it against moisture to prevent warping.

My favorite boomerang design is Herman Peeters' Joyride Hook (lower left in photo).  It is a weighted design with solder-filled 1/2" holes cut with a gasket punch about 1/8" deep.  This really extends the range. On the first throw I wasn't sure it would come all that distance back to me, but it did.  Amazing. 

For shorter distances the black traditional boom and green "Bladerunner" are fine designs, and the yellow "Adhemar de Monteil" by Jean-Marie Gachon (what a name!) flies better than I can throw.  Plans for these can be found in the Links pages.  Don't be put off by the Euro-language on the sites, just feed the URL to your search engine's translator and voila! English with tortured syntax.

Kite Aerial Photography

I have a small Olympus 35mm XA2 camera in a home-made KAP mount.  An ice cube melts and trips the shutter.  Other means to trip the shutter are fuses, kite messengers, kitchen timers, model glider dethermalizer timers, radio transmitters and receivers and so on.  The fuse method seems a bit pyro, and the radio would be great for big spenders with a motorized camera. 

The first photo shows the way the camera tucks into a 1/4" birch-plywood box which is cut away for access to controls and to save weight.  The tripod socket is fastened by a knob with a 1/4" threaded stud.  Carriage bolts and plastic wing nuts adjust tilt, with thin leather washers preventing slipping.  A similar fastener adjusts panning.  The film canister holds a bit of ice which is pressed by the yellow plywood lever through a piece of 1/4" rubber tube.  A used 22 caliber cartridge is soldered to a one cent coin which bears on the ice.  A small screw in the lever (white dot) presses the shutter.  The rubber tube flexes to allow the coin to be lifted for access.  The bungee cord is 1/8" and the hanging frame is 1" aluminum strap, but 3/4" would be lighter.  The mostly decorative holes lighten the rig slightly and give it a 1960's hotrod touch.  At the top, a nylon-insert lock nut and nylon washers are adjusted to rub just enough to dampen swinging but still allow the camera to remain level.  The cleats are small nylon boat cleats with a saw kerf between the fasteners so the kite line can enter and wrap around the end of the cleat.  The top bar is 12" long, and the vertical bar is about 24" long, and two thick blocks of mouse pad material cushion the bottom and act as feet for leaning the rig against things.

Well, this rig is now history... before I could get any prizewinning photos of warehouse rooftops, the water from the ice got into the camera and killed it dead! Oh well!

Is it daytime? Turn off your computer…go outside and play.