Old Tom
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Everything posted by Old Tom
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What you have there is incredibly rare- That is a K-Tel branded Cambridge Combat two line stunt kite from 1976 (large size). They are amazingly quick in flight (the moving rudder and small size!)- sort of launched as a competitor to the Peter Powell kite but never really caught the public's imagination,today we say "bit nerdy". I have a pair of the original Cambridges (in green) but neither is in as nice condition as yours.
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Plain chocolate Bounty bars exist!- it's the one in the red wrapper (quite rare but still findable)- dark chocolate over white coconut, nice.
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Ahhh, Aztec bars- did you prefer the early ones with the real cherry pieces or the later ones with the bits of dyed melon? My nomination for favorite bar of the past twenty five years would be the Cabana bar, again sadly extinct (unless someone knows otherwise).
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How about one of these;- http://www.skikart.com Limited steering but then again....!
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For cleaning general grot off then use "Tableau Stainless Steel cleaning mousse" from Robert Dyass- I use this to shine up all our buggies before we sell 'em (some arrive in a truely horrible state). However what you describe is going to need a polish rather than a cleaner and Brasso on a piece of chamois should remove the marks (check the Brasso leaves the steel shiny rather than matt by testing somewhere hidden)- really heavy pressure marks may need jewellers rouge/cerium oxide to shift.
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We used to import and sell Wallend Air kites- they were very well made (I reckon they were better made than Ozone which everyone seems to go on about) and flew excellently. Since you can try before you buy I don't think you'll be disappointed with them.
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Lesser known, but a ridiculously good flier with not a lot of pull (no luffing, sharp turns and quite swift), is the Spirit of Air Cyclone 2.0 (and the line set will stand just about any wind you would ever want to go out in).
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Most recent Flexi buggies have been supplied with high tensile M12 * 180mm bolts in the front end rather than stainless like the early ones- A2A4 definitely cheapest for this bolt (same bolt is used in the Peter Lynn wide forks although normally sold with spacers at four times A2A4 price) The other one is M12*130mm and most yacht chandlers have it (at a price)- or check out buggy spares section at http://www.kitestore.uk.com
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According to the official book of spares the Venom 8, 10 & 13 ship with the Zero 5 50cm bar, the 16 & 19 with the 60cm bar
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Better still, take this page to the "price match" shops and ask them to better it (free buggy and some cash!).
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Vipers are old style, relatively flat Traction kites that were designed to turn on brakes rather than by push-pull (they hump horribly if you push-pull them. Consequently they are indifferent performers when rigged onto a bar in standard land foil fashion. You could try rigging the bar kitesurf fashion (main power to centre and harness, brake lines to ends of bar)- this will give you a setup more akin to the intended method of flying a Viper, but as spooky suggests handles really are the best for this kite.
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The Union Jack stackers were hand made by Andrew and Ray from 1977 through to about 1982 as a "standard" item- in other words you could just buy one if you wanted one (you had to wait about two weeks for them to sew it up). Most are individual pieces sewn together but I seem to remember there being a screen printed one. There were certainly many more than three made, but just how many have survived (all that stitching!) I wouldn't like to guess. Still a nice thing to have, however, it is probably the worst flying stacker ever made- all the seams distort the kite terribly and usually the only place you saw one of these fly was in a stack (remember the Eurostack, a flexiflag kite for each of the Euro nations?- now that would be a rarity, I think there is still one out there).
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"Can I have a go mister?" (in a Chav accent)
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First buggy as we know it (3 wheel, foot steered) was invented by Keith Stewart in 1976 for use with a stack of Gordon Gillette steerable Deltas. First four line (2 main power, 2 brake lines) soft foil invented by Mark Cottrell in 1978 under a BP contract to investigate the use of kites as auxillary aerial sails for Supertankers. Prior to this lots of odds and ends about rigid kites being used for traction from Pocock through Cody through Gordon Gillette (oddly enough mostly with boats)
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But this time the've gone overboard and extended the range quite a lot- previously they only lurked in the Extra Catalogue with a two day delivery time, now they are all available over-the-counter at Extra stores or with two days delivery at normal Argos stores. I looked at the page (page 1253 in the catalogue) and thought that they had introduced a "retro" range- the kites they have would have been state of the art ten years ago (plank shaped 4 liners, diamond stunters etc) but for 2005.....!
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HQ don't make a bar specifically for the Beamer, the mythical Crossfire bar will probably work when it comes along, but I would say the Beamer isn't a great performer on a bar, it really is a "handles" kite. If you buy a third party bar try and get one with a brake line trimmer system on it (like the Ozone one) rather than the Flexifoil "free brakes" system- Beamers like a little brake applied all the time and the trimmer allows you to apply this
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Original Venom lines are Cyclone Dyneema which is extremely high quality, pre-stretched line- replacing just one line with anything else is asking for trouble (if you can't get the original then you have to "replace as a pair", that is, top or bottom, to reduce stretch problem to something you can trim out).
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Wind Speed, Power & Lift - How does it all work out?
Old Tom replied to 4x4xFinch's topic in General Kiting
Subscribe to the Lanchester theory of flight (say the one about 1890) and why kites (especially power foils) fly as they do at the airspeeds they do becomes staggeringly clear. Bernoulli never gives a decent result, plate lift isn't bad and sailing theory just doesn't do it. -
Your Crossfire is luffing because it doesn't have enough wind to fly and is gliding forwards- Crossfires are not light kites and need at least 12kph (all sizes) to fly reliably. Blades are made from lighter fabric and will fly in less wind (the 8.5 is the one to go for- 10.5 is just too much for land use most of the time) than Crossfires, but you still have to watch out for luffing when close to the zenith/edge.
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? How are you trying to turn it- a Blade I turns as fast as any other Blade if you are using the handles to pull down the trailing edge. What the I doesn't do is turn quickly when you push-pull the handles- this is where the III really scores over it's predecessors. A cross-over kit (if you can find one- they are officially discontinued by Flexifoil now) will greatly increase P-P turn rate (say for a bar) as the P-P action is now coupled directly to the brakes. Wing tip collapse is a side effect of P-P steering, the I simply wasn't designed to be flown this way and if you roll the kite by pulling on one side the tip folds in (it also humps badly when flown like this and may butterfly itself into a ball of ripstop especially in light winds).
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The Wallop toy was an Air-Yo (by Newtech) which has a three point bridle, flying line and stick- the Rev toy is a fling thing. And yes, one of the lad's at Revolution does have a color vision deficiency.
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According to my cheat sheet the ARC 840 spars were 108cm by 10mm Exel Strong carbon tube. If you can't get an official spare most of the older style kite shoppes stock this sort of material (and the end caps)- you do really need to replace it as the bamboo will probably bend and spoil the flying characteristics especially in stronger winds.
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That's an "inclusion" in the photo- it happens when accumulated fluff & fibres drop off the weaving head into the line. It does not affect the strength of the line materially but it does present a point at which another line can get hung up and abraid the line. They can normally be picked out with your fingernails unless you have a melted one when you should return the lines to where you bought them and have them sort it out.
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The 80cm was listed by FF last year, but never actually existed (in retail quantity)- biggest FF currently make (and recommend for 10.5) is the 70cm bar.
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The original recommended size was .40 cu in two stroke or .60 four stroke- that was when four stroke model sizes had just been introduced- a modern .50 would do the job. Andrew Jones is still around (the original inventor) and Frank McShane still makes and sells Windbag kits.