ozzymat

At 214 cm it's not a big kite so I thought it might be frisky like the SS85 but it's not, input still need to be controlled as over rotation in the slot machine and 540 is easliy done. Havent nailed a Taz yet as the nose sits up too high and I get wind tip wrap just need to control the slack faster I think. The wind range is impressive you could almost call it a UL of course it didnt like being wrapped up in such light winds but ever think else was ok, the other day in Wallaroo when I took those photos the wind built up to 20+kph over a hour and the Magnet handled that ok. Got lazy when the wind was high and just confinded the tricks to Axels and half Axels. The build had a few unusual things the tail tension being one and the other was the lower APA-connector sits right at the bottom of the ULE and since I glued the ferrule on the ULE and the ferrule extended past the cut out on the LE I had to put both APA's on the ULE when fitting it so a fair bit of moving APA connecters up and down the ULE to get it in place. If I built another I would glue the ferrule on the lLE that way I could fit the Lower APA after the ULE was in place. kaingga I havent done a video but here's one of the net http://vimeo.com/39412155 Mat

Recently completed Magnet kite flown here at wallaroo's North beach. The Kite was built from open source plans by David Rüger, for a review of the kite goto http://v2.2.kiteclique.com/david-ruger- ... -by-carlo/ Mat

Thanks all for the comments. A video of the Essence in action I used my mobile phone to record it so the video quality not the best but you get the general feel of the kite even in a novice hands like myself. http://youtu.be/Yp1lCS-7DrQ Zahra if you mean the Kareloh web site thats not me. Cheers all Mat

zahra If your interested in trying Airx contact the people at Bainbridge in Sydney I found them to be real helpful. Heres a link to the sail cloth catalogue http://www.sail-making.com/searchCatalogue.asp?id=93 Mat

Hi Coogee Thats a great panel layout. The SS 85 should keep you on your toes it's a real yoyo monster. Mat

Like to share a few photos of an SUL kite that I finished last week, the kites a Pim Kusters design called "Essence" Pim has genorously made the plans open source. The SUL is framed with 2PT Leading Edge, 3PT Lower Spreader, P100 Spine and 4.5 carbon Upper Spreader. Like my previous build the SS 85 I experimented with Airx for the sail but this time I used the lighter Airx 500n this weighs in at 32gsm while the 600n is 37gsm, oddly the 500 had a different feel to the 600 with a slipper finish and it didnt take to any of my normal adhesives to hold the panels together before sewing. But like the 600 and Icarex it does cut and sew nice. Being a light wind kite I tried to mimimise weight during the build and the ready to fly weight was a happy 228 grams. The winds been perfect over the last week with gently 2 to 6 knot breezes so I had plenty of time to try the Essence out, its a good design a few tricks it reluctant to do but I think thats more an SUL thing but overall if your looking for an SUL to build give the Essence a try. Plans and details available at http://www.kareloh.com/?page_id=865 Cheers Mat

Glenn193 Try these links http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/82 ... e8509.jpg/ http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/10 ... e8508.jpg/

My rendition of Davide Equizzi Sixth Sense 85. As the name suggest the kite an 85% version of Davide's Sixth Sense design it's framed with the recommended 3pt ULE, p200 LLE, p400 spine and 5pt LS. Icarex was the recommended sail fabric but I chose to experiment with Airx 600n which is a newish spinnaker fabric from Bainbridge international. Airx 600n is very much like Icarex PC-31 and shares the same cutting/ sewing qualities and the strength appears to be equal with Icarex. The surface of Airx has a very fine texture to it which gives the fabric a more satin like finish compared to the smooth gloss finish of Icarex. Having only flown the 85 for about 3 hours it difficult to tell if the Airx has the same longevity as Icarex but since Airx was designed for spinnakers it should last the riggers a sports kite will put on it. Cheers Mat Port Augusta

link to a video of the Zero G in action at my local kite spot. Mat

In low low wind its still the Urban Ninga with its better glide angle the Zero G will fly but you've got to move around a bit more. Performance wise its more like the Ginga and dosent like to be rushed, beautiful slow turns and stable in the sky. It will spin 180 deg in fact you need to master that if self launching as it wont belly launch. Had the oppotunity to fly both the Ninga and G indoors and prefer the G only because it's more stable or is that less twitchy. Outdoors both are good fun in light wind it just depend on my mood which one I fly. Not tried the G in 5 knot + yet mainly because those days have been a bit scarce laterly. This assemble video gives a good overview of kite and its bridle arrangement. Build quality is good the kite comes in a padded bag with line and mine also had a spare set of winglet rods so for less than $80 pretty good value. Cheers Mat My regards to all the Moana flyers and hope to catch up with you all soon.

Zero G in flight with very little wind.

Like to share with you a single line freestyle kite that I have just finished it's called a "Ginga" and was designed by Christophe Tournay. The plans which you can download off the net have the kite in three different sizes the small, standard or stretched so I decided to increase the stretched plans by 20% to make an XL so that gives it a wing span of about 170 cm and a length of 100 cm. The sail is Icrax and the frame is 4mm carbon LE's and spine, the centre spreader can be either 4mm glass fibre or carbon, I experimented with both and found the glass fibre has more flex and was nicer in very light winds but did allow the kite to flip inside out sometimes. The bridle I fitted was a simple two point but you can use a three point if you like, as with most of this style of kite moving the tow point towards the nose gives you more control, while moving it back to the tail allows you to set and forget. I guess you could attach a tail but I haven't tried that yet. Being a biggish kite it flies best in light winds where it can move slowly and gracefully through the sky doing flat spins and glides, I did try it in about 15 knots winds but it's not as much fun. Thanks Kaos for suppling the framing and hardware. Cheers Mat Port Augusta SA

Mighty fine photos Kevin. A Nice wind. Great beach. Great kite. It doesn't take much to make us happy. Mat Pt Augusta

Thanks Mike Let me know how the Bruzilian goes. I traveled to Adelaide last weekend to fly with the Moana flyers (great bunch of blokes) the wind was light and Kevin had some of his fighter kites out, never seen em before and it's inspired me to build some but don't know which ones. Cheers Mat.

An Invictus Ghost that I finished building the other week, I set out to use all white panels but at the last minute added the grey so I supposes it not a real ghost. Frame: Leading edge and spine are P100 Upper Spreader Structil 5mm Lower Spreader 3Pt Because it's framed so light it's a low wind flier, very nice to fly has a similar feel to the Standard. Cheers Mat Port Augusta

Solus standard maiden flight. Kite arrived Monday (thanks Kevin) I've been chaffing at the bit since but mother nature had other plans, but with the wind 10 to 15 knot this morning I hooked the Solus to some 100 x 90 lines and with a big grin launched. I am no expert but I know what I like and the Solus is nice, all the normal stuff like axels, half axels, cascades as you would expect + some, the roll ups even in the stronger wind was very nice. After exhausting my limited trick list I couldn't find a trick that it didn't like. One thing that I noticed was that it can turn very sharp as if it's pivoting around the tail I don't know the technical term but this trait it very much like my R-sky Frenezy Evolution. Build quality of the kite appears very good and the frame is all Skyshark as you would expect, the only odd thing is the tail weight, it's a flat piece of lead (I assume) and wrapped in velco and it fits between the spine and tail flap. It works and easy to changed if you so desire, I am just use to weights that slide onto the spine. On first impressions the Solus standard has a nice feel and responds well and should help me extend my trick list, I am looking forward to flying it on shorter line with a bit less wind (all that running up and down the beach wears you out). Cheers Mat Port Augusta

Thats what sports kite flying about, discovery and fun. If your after learning tricks you are right you do need a more expensive kite other wise it becomes an exercise in frustration. Never flown a Zephyr but it has all the right ingredients to be a nice kite, established design, Skyshark frame and Icarex sail. Be warned though with so many great sports kites available it's hard to stop at just one. For trick tutorials I can recommend the RandyG series of tutorials. http://v2.1.kiteclique.com/wordpress-3. ... ls/randygs or The Mama74 tutorials and studies. http://www.youtube.com/user/DPmama74 Cheers Mat Port Augusta

Hi Mike I tried to get the two views in sync but it might be a second out. I am in the process of doing some more videos using different kites and framing material to see if the flex is different will let you know when I put them on youtube. Cheers Mat

Thanks Mike. The camera from Hobbyking it's called a "HD Wing Camera 1280x720p" the reviews say it's not as good as the "Go Pro camera". Because the camera is only 30 gram you can put in on the kite without affecting things to much, I've put some of these videos on youtube. just search for ozzymat61. Cheers Mat

Starting to enjoy the Invictus. Tried it the other day with an adjustable upper out haul bridle and some 4 and 8 gram tail weights and was happy with my flying but one thing I must do is fit the yoyo stoppers. I've avoided putting any more adjustment on the kite as by nature I am a tinkerer and would spend to much time playing with the settings and not flying, having said that I did move the pig tail prussic knot around a bit but didn't seem to affect much so I put it back to original. Maybe I didn't move it enough? Heres some video taken with a camera attached to my hat the wind was about 4 to 7 knots gusting a bit more every now and then, Theres some editing Its not all one take, thats a goal I've set myself to do a routine without fault but thats still a way of yet. Cheers Mat

The wind picked up a bit today maybe about 10knots so the Invictus and I went down to the beach. Starting with the recommended 14 grams of tail weight I was struggling with the kite, rotation tricks (540, slot machine, yoyo) easy as but tricks like the turtle, back spin or lazy susan and the kite would just lock in on its back and wouldn't come out and If you allowed the start of a fade to get near horizontal the nose would point skywards and stay there. The bridle I made for the kite has no adjustment so the only option I thought at the time was to remove the tail weight which I did and this made the kite much more to my liking, fades, flic flacs, jacobs ladders no problems (we maybe a bit messy) and the rotation tricks still there. Thinking about it afterwards I could have shorten the upper outhaul to bring the nose closer which might have reduced some of the problems I was having, On Davide web site I see that his kites have adjustments on the upper outhaul and inhauls and from a translation of his page "To maintain speed and noise in flight is a simple adjustment to meolo attached to an elastic attached to the center t. The bridle is a turbo with adjustable trip of 6 cm on all branches and that can lead to 3 points by simply moving a node." I think thats suggesting having 6 cm adjustment on the upper outhaul and inhaul so I'll do that and give it a run. So where does that leave me with the Invictus? The kite very responsive and has plenty of potential, I am going to stick with it maybe I've got a bit lazy with the Nirvana SE. Cheers Mat

We've had less that 5 knot winds for a week now so I've not had a decent session yet with the Invictus but it will have to be pretty special to knock the Nirvana SE off the top rung. However the Invictus in Davide Equizze hands seems to be a very capable kite and since Davide is a R-Sky fan I am hoping the Invictus has R-Sky traits, will let you know when the wind picks up how it compares. Cheers Mat

Hi Tony I've only built 4 kites so I am no expert but I don't use any special tools. Just scissors, sharp hobby type knifes, 300mm steel ruler, 1 Metre or so straight edge and a thread picker and If you want to cut Darcon or standard ripstop nylon with out fraying then a cheap 50 watt soldering iron with a chisel point is good to have. I have an old sewing machine that does 3 step zigzag but you could sew with just a zigzag stitch I guess. See this thread for explanation of 3 step zigzag viewtopic.php?f=28&t=14930 The fabric, rods and part can be purchased from a kite suppliers, I like to purchase from Kite magic or Kaos Kites but you might have one closer. Apart for that you need a kite plan which there are lots free from the Internet and some spare time about 40 hours to get the first one done. For instructions on building a sport kite I recommend Toms kite site http://www.tweelijners.com/tom/tomskite ... /Home.html his step by step instructions from the sail to the bridle is fantastic. In his site he builds a Le Quartz but you can use the principles to build most sport kites. just keep the first one simple. Cheers Mat

A photo of my newly built Invictus standard by Kite D.E.sign. It's a full size sports kite with a wing span of 250cm. The sail is 1/2 oz Icarex with Darcon LE and Mylar reinforcements. The frame is: upper leading edge: Skyshark P200 lower leading edge: Skyshark P300 Spine: Skyshark P300 upper spreader: Structil 6mm lower spreaders: Skyshark Black Diamond NITRO Stand-off (4): 3mm carbon and the Bridle is a standard European turbo without activator legs. The tail weight system is unusual in that the tail fortification is used to create a pocket which a flat weight is slid into, i guess you could use the standard tube weight if you wanted to. The designer Davide Equizze has offered the Invictus plans for free from his web site and I must say the plan are very good with plenty of detail, his web site also has close up photos of finished kites so it's not a problem sorting out how Davide intended the kite to be build. http://stuntkitepalermo.blogspot.com/20 ... -free.html I cant tell you how it flies because the wind was a bit low today even the ULs struggled at times but what little time I had in the air it felt nice I'll just have to wait for a 10knot or so wind before I can see what it's really like. Cheers Mat Port Augusta

Hi Be playing around with a small HD video camera from Hobbyking, its less than 30gram with the battery and saves the avi file straight to a onboard microSd card. The video is 1280x720 which you can set to record manually or on motion, it will also take still photos manually or motion sensing. All for $40.00 Heres some videos I put on youtube the quality is a bit reduce from the conversion process. From a 2.4 Metre 2 line stunt kite. From a Rev 1.5 SLE Cheers Mat Port Augusta