How To Make A Box Kite

Complete Instructions For The MBK 1-Skewer Box Kite

This set of instructions on how to make a box kite assumes you know absolutely nothing about kite making. You might already have some of the simple tools and materials required. Anything you don't have is easily bought. If not exactly what I used, then at least something pretty similar!

The instructions on how to make a box kite might look awfully long, but that's because they are so detailed. For those who like pictures, every detail is illustrated with photographs too. Just quickly work your way through, skimming over any detail that you don't need. All in all, it should be quite hard to make a mistake!

The MBK 1-Skewer Box Kite is rather small at just 29 cm long and square panels 14.5 cm x 14.5 cm. This box design will stay airborne in moderate winds, but does even better in fresh winds.

Like all the other MBK 1-Skewer kites, this design can't be taken apart for transport. However, that's not much of a problem due to it's small size! Just be sure to treat it with care when handling or transporting it.

How To Make A Box Kite - Frame

• Select 4 bamboo BBQ skewers that seem fairly straight. Check this by rolling them across a table top, one by one. Or just look down their length.
• In addition, try to ensure that 2 of those skewers have very similar flexibility. Either bend them by hand to try and judge this, or get a little more ingenious by suspending the ends and putting a weight in the middle... Getting this right will help the finished kite to fly straight without needing too much tail. Put a mark on these 2 skewers so you know which ones they are. They are the top 2 spars in the photo.
• Snip the point off one skewer, then measure it to establish '1 skewer length' (1.0SL) for your kite. For me, this was 29.2 c.m.
• Snip the points off the other 3 skewers, to exactly the same length as the first one. These 4 skewers will now be referred to as the 'spars'
• Take another 2 skewers, and snip one of them to exactly 0.7SL in length. Make the other one just 1/2 a c.m. (1/4") longer. These are the 'cross pieces'. The longer one will be trimmed to fit, later.

How To Make A Box Kite - Sail

The template up there represents one cell of the kite, laid out flat. Transfer the measurements to the sail plastic as follows...

• Firstly, take a light, single-ply plastic bag and lay it flat on the table. I use cheap orange garden-bags. The more expensive bags are usually 2 or 3-ply plastic, which is heavier and less see-through.
• Near one edge of the bag, measure and mark a rectangular outline according to the Template. Use a black marking pen and ruler.
• Now measure and mark the fold lines. See the photo.
• Flip the bag over, and trace over all the black lines. Use the ruler, of course!

• Cut the bag down one side and open it out.
• Cut around the 2 rectangular outlines with scissors. I don't recommend trying to do both rectangles at once, since the plastic tends to slip!
• Arrange the 4 bamboo spars over the plastic as in the photo, covering up the drawn fold-lines. Make sure the marked side-spars are positioned as shown in the photo!
• Tack down all 8 corners of the sails to the table top with small square pieces of sticky tape. This stops unintended shifting of the plastic while you are trying to...
• Lay down 4 long lengths of clear sticky tape, securing the spars to the plastic. The tape is just visible in the photo - look for where the plastic is smoother and slightly darker, near the edges. Each tape goes all the way from left to right, over the 4 spars.

• Remove everything from the table top, either pulling off or trimming away the small square bits of tape at the corners.
• Fold the sails, bringing the short edges together and sticking them with tape. The photo gets close-up on one of the 2 joins.
• Now open the box kite out, and carefully lay down tape along the inside edges as well, to make the 2 joins even more secure. A bit tricky, take your time!

How To Make A Box Kite - Cross-Pieces

• Fit the shorter cross-piece as in the top photo, between the unmarked spars. Wrap a small square piece of electrical insulation tape around where each tip touches the spar.
• Trim the longer cross-piece a little at a time until you can slide it completely into position between the marked spars. It's ok if the marked spars are pushed apart just a little. Put a drop or 2 of wood glue at each end to secure it, as in the bottom photo. At this point, the 2 cross-pieces should be holding the kite open, with all the plastic panels under a little bit of tension.
• When the glue is dry, flip the kite over and add some more glue to strengthen those joins on the other side.

How To Make A Box Kite - Final Bits

• Poke 2 holes in the plastic of a cell, 0.2DL from the tip of an un-marked spar. One hole on each side of the spar.
• Cut off a length of 20 pound flying line, about the length of one skewer, and tie a small overhand loop into both ends.
• Attach one end of this bridle to the kite, by passing it through one hole and out the other, and then through a loop. Reinforce the sail near the towing point, with a short strip of sticky tape.
• Cut off 4 squares of electrical insulation tape and cap the spar tips nearest the bridle.
• Now tie a loop of flying line around the 2 marked spars, which you can also see in the photo, labelled 'tensioner'. Try to pull just enough tension into it to keep the lines straight, and tie off with a few half-hitches.
• Put a small drop of glue on the tensioner knot.
• Also put some glue where the cross-pieces touch each other, to keep everything stiffer.

How To Make A Box Kite - Attaching The Tail

• Cut off several loops of plastic from a dark garbage bag, and knot them together to a length of at least 3 skewers.
• With sticky tape, attach one end of the tail to the lower tip of the spar to which the bridle is attached. This should be clear from the flying photo at the bottom of this page.

At this point, you've pretty much finished making the MBK 1-Skewer Box Kite!

How To Make A Box Kite - Flying!

Finally, make up a flying line and attach it to the bridle with a Lark's Head knot. See the photo below.

Assuming there is plenty of breeze outside, just dangle the kite at arm's length until the wind catches it. As long as you feel the kite pulling, let out line slowly by letting it slip through your fingers.

Another approach is to get a helper to hold the kite up and let it go, with maybe 10 or 20 meters of line let out. This way, the kite soon gets high enough to make it easy to let more line out. That's assuming there is plenty of wind!

If the kite doesn't fly, there is only one explanation: not enough wind! If it loops around in one direction, try adding a little tail to one side of the lower cell. Imagine the kite looping around... The extra tail needs to go on the outside of that loop.

The video at the top of this page shows an extra tail in action. You will need to experiment a little, since adding too much tail will make the kite loop around in the opposite direction.

An important part of making a box kite as small as this one is selecting bamboo skewers that are as straight and consistent as possible. If you can do a perfect job, the kite might even fly straight with no tails at all, over a large wind range. On something this small, it's just hard to do.

Isn't it nice to not be grounded when it's blowing a gale outside, and it's way too strong for most other kites!

The picture over there shows the MBK 1-Skewer Box Kite in the air. If you think you have done a reasonably accurate job of selecting skewers and constructing the kite, experiment with using less tail. It will fly higher with less tail to drag it down.

Hope you've enjoyed learning how to make a Box kite!

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Last updated: 30 Dec 2009