How To Make A Sled Kite

Complete Instructions For The MBK 1-Skewer Sled

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!

These instructions on how to make a Sled kite might look a bit long, but that's because they are so detailed. Just steadily work your way through from top to bottom, skimming over any detail that you don't need.

At 29cm (11 1/2") tall, the MBK 1-Skewer Sled Kite is a rather small Sled, with 2 simple ribbon tails for extra stability.

Now, just in case you have actually made and flown this kite at least once already...

Ever Made This Kite?

You've probably read a kite-flying story or 2 of mine, since they get published all the time on this site. I sometimes wonder if anyone else has made and flown this particular design...

How did your last outing go? Even if it wasn't so great, hey, post something here anyway. I'll see what I can suggest :-) Later on, you might even get a comment from someone else who has made the same kite!

Flight Reports From Other Visitors

Click below to read about various kite-flying adventures, contributed by other visitors to this page...

How To Make A Sled Kite - Sail

Now's the time to read up on the 'tools' and materials required for making a Skewer kite, if you haven't already.

The template shown above represents one side of the kite sail. You will now transfer these measurements to the sail plastic as follows...

• Firstly, take a light plastic bag that will fit the entire Template shape within one side, and lay it flat on the floor.
• Mark dots on the plastic, corresponding to the corners of the Template. There is no need to use a T-square, since any small error will be duplicated on the other side of the sail.
• Using the marking pen, rule lines between the dots, as in the photo.

• Flip the plastic bag over, and trace over all the black lines using your marker pen and ruler.
• Cut out a rectangular section of the bag containing the kite sail, open it out and lay it flat on the floor - you can now see the complete sail outline, as in the photo.
• Cut along the black lines with scissors, to create the sail.

How To Make A Sled Kite - Spars

• For this Sled, you need two 30cm (12") bamboo BBQ skewers.
• Lay down and line up the skewers over the plastic as shown. Mark each skewer where it crosses the bottom edge of the sail.
• Snip off the pointed ends with scissors, at the marks. These are the vertical spars.

How To Make A Sled Kite - Attaching Sail

• Lay down the vertical spar skewers again, over the sail.
• Wrap a short length of clear sticky tape around each of the 4 tips, securing them to the sail plastic. The top photo shows the top tip in close-up.
• Next, lay a short length of clear tape across each skewer and onto the plastic, at the center. See the bottom photo.

How To Make A Sled Kite - Towing Points

Here's how to reinforce the towing points...

• Firstly, stick down a length of tape that goes left to right and sticks out some distance from the towing point, as in the photo
• Turn the sail over and stick down another piece of tape exactly the same way, so both pieces stick to the plastic at one end and to each other at the other end.
• Finally, stick down another piece of tape at right angles to the first 2. Fold the corners around the edge of the plastic sail, so it looks like the photo.
• Now go over to the right side of the sail and do exactly the same thing with another 3 pieces of tape. The pieces of tape that stick out are where you will attach the bridle line. This method is surprisingly strong and can take a lot of punishment in rough air, due to the kite's light pulling force.

How To Make A Sled Kite - Bridle

• Cut off some flying line to a length of 6 skewers, and put a small Loop Knot into each end.
• Using Double Wrap Slip Knots, tie one end of the line to one towing point tape, and the other end to the other towing point tape. Try to get the knots tight enough to crush the towing point tape. See the photo.
• Take the bridle line and suspend the kite from it, so that the 2 sides line up exactly. The 2 spars should be right next to each other. Tie a small Loop Knot into the bridle, taking care that the kite sides still align.

TIP: It's best to fold and twist the towing point tape before forming the knot. Otherwise, it's too easy to shear off the tape when attempting to tighten the knot!

How To Make A Sled Kite - Tails

• Cut out 2 long thin rectangles of colored plastic for the tails. Mine are black, to contrast with the orange sail. Make each tail 4.0SL (116cm, 46") long and 0.15SL (4.4cm, 1 3/4") wide.
• Tie one end of each tail around a vertical spar, as close as possible to the bottom tip. See the photo. A single Half Hitch will do, since there are very low forces on the tails in flight.

At this point, you've finished making the 1-Skewer Sled!

To attach the flying line, just Lark's Head the flying line to the kite's bridle as in the photo.

How To Make A Sled Kite - Flying!

Firstly, if it's very windy outside, stay home! This is a light-to-moderate wind kite and won't like being launched in a gale.

Assuming there is some 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 taking loop after loop off the winder.

Another approach is to get a helper to hold the kite up and let it go, on the end of maybe 10 or 20 meters (around 50 feet) of line. This way, the kite soon gets high enough to make it easy to let more line out.

The picture and video show the 1-Skewer Sled on it's second outing, on a Spring day with a moderate breeze. After this photo was taken, the little Sled went on to reach almost 200 feet above ground.

Have fun flying, and I hope you've enjoyed learning how to make a Sled kite!

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