Father's Day "Firefly" Homemade Sled Kite

[Thrym]

The family decided to make kites for Father's Day at the park.

 

So, after some research I designed a Firefly Sled Kite.

 

 

Here's a couple of work in progress shots:

 

 

 

I will try to get a shot of it flying tomorrow.

 

Edited June 19, 2016 by Thrym

[Patrik Strom]

Nice!

[hiddenone32]

Looks nice. Hope it flies well!

[Thrym]

Forgot to say how big it is.

 

40 inches tall by 48 inches wide at the points.

 

I didn't use the skewers in the pictures.  They were too short.  I have bamboo decorative reeds I got at a dollar store.  The kite material is a plastic table cloth from the same source.

 

I printed the Firefly design at a print shop upstairs from my office.  They have a three foot wide printer.  I printed a silhouette and the diagram.  The silhouette was used for the glow outline.

 

The star field is me bouncing the end of a brush off the plastic dipped in white and yellow mixed to a moon color.  Then I used a foam stencil stamp to make brighter but blurred stars.

 

Cross your fingers and hope it flies tomorrow.

[Chaoswolf]

Very cool!

[Thrym]

It flew and very well.  Wind died down quickly so I didn't get time to take a picture. 

 

We'll be back at it later today and we'll try to get a picture.

Edited June 19, 2016 by Thrym

[Thrym]

 

 

 

[ub3r_n3rd]

Very cool!

[hiddenone32]

Looks even better in flight!

[Thrym]

It was cool.  I plan to try out Serenity again this weekend if there's a decent windy day.   See how high I can get the kite to go.

 

Then Serenity will be retired to my work room to hang proudly from the rafters.

 

At least until the family wants to go out kiting again.

 

Thanks for the likes and comments.

 

I will post more pics of it flying if I get Serenity to truly soar and then shots of her parked in the work room.

[kitenerd]

I am kitenerd, and i approve of this project!

 

Word of warning, it is a slippery slope.  Next thing you know you are traveling to kite festivals, buying old german sewing machines for exorbitant prices and hanging out at kite makers retreats...

[Sylverthorne]

That's a nice kite! Be careful of that cheap table-cloth material.

 

Wouldn't worry /too/ much about the slope though ... not until the day you realise you've built yourself a rainbow of dual-line kites to fly in train and you can't remember why it seemed like a good idea.^^;