How To Make A Barn Door Kite

1-Skewer Barn Door: Template, Tips, Step-By-Step eBook

Here's how to make a Barn Door kite! The Template and Tips might be sufficient, otherwise try the step-by-step eBook containing the MBK 1-Skewer Barn Door Kite instructions. In fact, the eBook covers the entire 1-Skewer Series of MBK kites.

The Template and Tips below should be enough if you are keen kite person. If you have put together a number of kites before, with a few different kinds of bridles, the 1-Skewer Barn Door will be quite simple. Everything you need, apart from the skewers perhaps, might already be lying around your house somewhere. I'm assuming you know how to make a Barn Door kite with low overall weight and appropriate knots.

The MBK 1-Skewer Barn Door Kite is a rather small at 29 cm (1 foot) across and 26 cm tall, with a loop tail. The 1-Skewer Barn Door is a very nice little moderate wind flier.

The template shown above represents one side of the kite sail of course.

How To Make A Barn Door Kite - Tips

• 30cm bamboo BBQ skewers worked well for me. You might be working with 12" skewers, which is pretty much the same.
• Try positioning the template so the edge of a bag becomes the center-line of the kite.
• For more durability, edge the sail with sticky tape. Over-doing it will increase weight and decrease stability though!
• Cap each spar tip with a single piece of tape, wrapped around and stuck on both sides of the plastic sail.
• A 3-point bridle is appropriate for this kite. Attach the flying line with a shiftable knot to get an adjustable towing point.
• Tie each end of a simple tail to the vertical spars. A length of about 6 times the height of the kite is a good starting point. Being an old hand, I'm sure you will experiment with more or less tail, depending on how the kite flies!
• A peculiarity of this 1-Skewer design is that it needs a fair amount of dihedral, regardless of the tail! Bend the horizontal spar until it makes cracking noises. If too floppy, fix with some glue.

Just getting back to that eBook again, it's a nice reference if you want to try a whole range of different kites from time to time. The info is pitched at the beginner, with very detailed instructions on a range of kite-making topics.

However, the book is well-organized so the more experienced kite-maker can quickly scroll through and pick out bits of detail that are helpful or interesting. The long Table Of Contents helps too!

Click here for more info on the eBook 8 MBK Kites To Make - The Complete 1-Skewer Series.

How To Make A Barn Door Kite - Flying!

You know how to fly, so I won't elaborate here. Except to say that this little kite has performed well on moderately windy days. As long as you don't let out a huge amount of line, it will happily sail around at a 45 to 50 degree line angle in those conditions. With enough tail, and accurate construction, it will put up with quite fresh winds too.

We have made a few of these, and have noticed that clear plastic really lights up around sunset! Even in sunny conditions, the sun will sometimes glint off the clear plastic. At other times, it gets a bit hard to see against light gray cloud...

You'll probably want to try something other than clear plastic, or maybe keep a clear version for late-in-the-day flying.

Here's a picture of the MBK 1-Skewer Barn Door Kite being launched, down at a local reserve.

Have fun flying, and I hope you've enjoyed seeing how to make a Barn Door kite the MBK way!

By the way, if you would rather make a bigger Barn Door that is twice as tall as the 1-Skewer design, why not try the 2-Skewer Barn Door kite instead. Or, going twice as tall again, the nice big Dowel Barn Door kite could be just the ticket!

Last updated: 4 Jan 2010