What are crosswind kites?

Kites that fly fast across the sky, usually on two to four lines, are crosswind kites.  Those that fly in one place on a single line are not.  Parafoils, delta stunt kites and kiteboarding kites are all flown quickly across the sky.  My interest, however, is not with these crosswind kites.  I would like to show you how to fly faster, more efficient kites that are shaped like airplanes.

Here is a video of an airplane kite: Control-line crosswind kite #1

Below is a kite that I built from a Guillow's model airplane kit.  It is modeled on the Me 109 World War 2 German fighter plane.  The structure is mostly balsa, with some spruce and a foam-filled plastic nose.  It has a 2 foot (62cm) wingspan and weighs about 5 ounces (140 grams).  It flies on two 100-foot (30meter) long Spectra kite lines that I made from 20-pound-test Tuffline XP fishing line.  I hold a handle that is about 9 inches (23cm) wide.  I fly this size of plane one-handed because I am used to that style from control-line model airplanes, a type of flying in which the plane flew in circles around the pilot.  But unlike those planes, this kite requires no engine, just wind!

 Below is the same plane:

Below is one of the line attachment tabs.  It has three more holes that are filled with paper or paint.  I clip the lines to these with fishing line connectors.

The shot below shows the paper fibers.  This paper is called Unryu.  This type of paper was originally made in Japan, but these days the paper sold here is made in Thailand.  I buy it from Miki's Paper in Berkeley, California.  Because of the long mulberry fibers in it, it is very strong and light.  After covering, I brush on 3 coats of clear nitrate dope, thinned about 30%. This seals the porous paper.

Below is my latest kite, a model of a Hawker Hurricane, a British fighter that fought against the Me 109 in the Battle of Britain.  This is built from a Dumas kit in the same 1/16 scale.  It has a 30 inch (77cm) wingspan and is similarly lightweight.  This plane uses only paper for color decoration.  The military markings were printed on thin printer paper from scans of the kit decals, so they don't look overly shiny and the don't come off easily.

The paper below has white and purple fibers.  I painted the frame beneath in the shade of gray that was used on the original plane, so the purple is very subtle.  If you look carefully, the line tabs have the fishing line connectors on them.

Below you can see that I paint the frame before covering it with paper.  This allows the structure to show through the paper to varying degrees.  The structure of this Dumas kit is more complex than that of the Guillow's kit above.  I enjoy building them, and they fly very well, but they do not survive hard crashes.  So far, I have only lost one plane out of six to a crash.

Below is a 26 inch (66cm) wingspan kite that I made from an Radio-controlled powered foamie combat kit.  It is made from EPP foam, the same foam that is used in car bumpers, so it survives crashes pretty well.  The foam is covered with strapping and packing tape.  After each crash, the tape must be ripped off the damaged area and retaped.  This plane didn't fly at all until the fifth day of trying.  The airfoil was symmetrical, so I had to add flaps to get enough lift, the tail moment was too short, and the tail was too small.  Once all of these problems were solved, it flew.  My wife, who usually flies a 2-line parafoil kite, tried this one and crashed it several times.  It was kind of boring to fly compared with the wood planes, and I got tired of retaping it.  I kept thinking of all the plastic that was being wasted with this thing.  We still have it, though, and it still flies.  I think that great kites could be made from these materials, but I am not very interested in doing so.