* ae digs the dust of the thread...
I do have one of those SSULs or what i cal them XUL.
Just returned from flying it today over her in Berlin Germany.
At first we have winds about 3 mph, gusting up to 7mph. Perfect for a stress test. Later it dropped down
where you had to use cigarette smoke to even see where the wind was coming from.
Kite is of my own design, named Spectre, since ghost and phantom are already in use for beautiful kites.
I can fly the kite without a problem and without moving in the sub 1mph range.
In fact i was testing out how good that works and since someone had brought a camping chair to the flying spot,
i occupied it and flew about half and hour just sitting in it.
Its slow moving, pretty preceise and loves to cut corners into the sky.
But tricks are extremly hard to do. Not much moving mass, even a axel needs actual work.
Why did i build the kite?
Well, Berlin has &%#*ty flying spots, and rather small ones too, plus days we have more then 3bft are rare gems.
Close to zero wind days are much more common. Plus it saves my butt when i have to move across a flied which
the wild boars love to dig in during the night.
Plus i wanted to see what can be done with modern material in the weight department.
Materials:
Leading edges are tapered avia breeze 2 and top spreader is avia breeze 2 non tapered.
Spine and bottom spreaders are avia skinny 2 ul.
Standoffs 2mm microcarbon tubes. Yes, they are hollow
Sail is made form 0.3 oz CubenFibre.
The entire beasty clocks in at 97.1 grams currently at a wingspan of 249cm.
3.42oz at 8.17 feet wingspan.
Choice of flying line also plays a big part at such extrems. The spectre flys best on
20lbs Berkerly Whiplash fishing line. Which is a braided dyneema at extrem thin diameter.
Listed at 0.06mm, 0.0024 inch. I also found that using a moderate line length is best.
Around 20 meter works perfectly. To short a line and the flight gets to hecktic, airflow
has no time to stabilize across the sail area. but its easier do to 3D flying with short lines.
360, up and overs etc.
In short, its a old school beauty flier at minimal winds, not a trickmachine . Exactly what i wanted.
Best Wishes Andre
