FlowForm Kite using Tyvek
Apr 2nd, 2009 by AnA
All this while, I had something in my mind that somehow feel incomplete if I never make a kite out of Tyvek. Tyvek is a very common and popular material for many kitebuilders. Despite the popularity of this Tyvek; I could not find it locally in Singapore. However, it is easily available overseas. Although I could get it oversea, but the overall cost plus shipping will be a little on the high side for me. It costs about $50 to make a kite size similar to a flowform 8.
Anyway, after hunting for weeks for this tyvek, I finally found an envelope of dimensions: Height 30.4cm (12-1/4″), Width 39.3cm (15-1/2″) made of this wonderful material. So, time to go to the table and plan for a new kite.
This time, I am making the flowform again but of smaller size. In fact, half the size of what I had done previously. It is 40cm x 50cm flowform. I know smaller size kite normally requires stronger wind than bigger kite does; but I still go for it as I want to see how smaller flowform behaves. Another reason to made a flowform kite of this size is due to the size of envelope. When open up, it covers about slightly more than 40cm x 50cm. And since 40cm x 50cm (which is about 1.6ft x 1.3ft = 2.08 sq ft); can consider the size of a Flowform 2. Very small size flowform I think.
I had completed the whole kite in 2 weekends; about 3 days effort in total but think is worth it. To date, the wind condition is not very suitable for kite flying, but I hope I could find a windy day to do the test flight soon. At the mean time…. enjoying the look of it. Cheers!
Initial inspiration of making flowform kites was actually came from a friend of mine whom kindly share posted procedures of flowform kite making in his web site. Without, his kind sharing, it will be impossible for me to complete all these kites so smoothly. Please visit his site (Zsolt’s site) and to be inspired too.
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