kites, building and flying the batwing [ building: 1, 2, 3, the photos: 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 ]
Sewing the rib together...
A: Bladder valve hole + reinforcement
B + C: Sew from B to C
B + E: Then sew B to E
F: These cuts let the seam spread out when the rib is attached to the
LE tube at a 90' angle, the seam will sit flush with the LE.
B: The rectangle I have drawn is to remind me to add a piece of Dacron that is
sewn to the LE tube and to the rib at this point. This makes the rib-LE join much stronger.
I forgot one of these reinforcements on the teethgrinder kite, then during testing,
the middle bladder ripped
away from the LE tube. Not good.
This is the view from the end of the rib. It has been left open so it can be sewn to the
canopy. After it is attached to the LE and canopy it will be closed.
The yellow rip stop is used to hold the end of the rib in the correct shape. The first
couple of ribs I tried to sew directly to the LE without the ripstop. They proved very
tricky to attach.