20 to 50 pound strength Dacron line is suitable for all the Skewer Series kites.
( If you purchase the kite line recommended below I may receive a small commission - at no extra cost to you )
Do you need some kite line? This 3-pack of simple winders with 300ft lines from Amazon should be ideal. They are all ready to go with 50 pound line. This strength is good for bridles and flying lines for all the MBK kites up to the 1.2m (4ft) sizes.
My instructions for connecting a flying line don't mention swivel clips, but the swivels included in this product are good and strong. So go ahead and use them if you want to :-) Otherwise they can just be snipped off.
Here is the completed keel...
Now to attach the keel to the kite...
At this point, you're nearly finished making the 2-Skewer Delta! It's a good idea to put a small drop of glue over the two Granny knots, so they won't come undone or slide along the bamboo.
If the spar is not reinforced, this kite can't be pushed too hard in not-so-light winds before it starts to flap. Adding the extra skewer doesn't cure this behavior completely, but it does extend the range of wind speeds in which the kite will fly smoothly.
The skewer is centered over where the vertical spar pieces are joined together, then glued along its entire length. See the photo below, which shows the skewer glued to the back of the existing vertical spar. The extra bamboo is most easily seen near where the spreader goes across...
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 letting it slip through your fingers.
Delta kite stories of my real-life flying experiences are worth checking out!
Illustrated with photos and videos, of course.
Another way to launch 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. You could also try pulling it along the grass, with the keel on the bottom of course, until the kite pops into the air and climbs away.
Up there is a picture of the MBK 2-Skewer Delta Kite Mk2, merely a dot in the sky at 350 feet off the grass!
Have fun flying, and I hope you've enjoyed learning how to build a Delta kite.
Now, just in case you have actually made and flown this kite at least once already...
You've probably read a kite-flying story or 2 of mine, after they appear under the "what's new?" link on this site. I sometimes wonder if anyone else has made and flown this particular design...
If you feel your efforts really paid off when the the kite finally got airborne - please type a few paragraphs in here telling us all about it!
P.S. I can only accept stories of at least 300 words. Just mention a few details like the weather, onlookers, the kite's behavior and so on - 300 words is easy!
Click below to read about various kite-flying adventures, contributed by other visitors to this page...
Double the fun
I have made two of these kites and they both function flawlessly. I was flying them on a Saturday evening with very little wind.
One change I implemented …
2 Skewer Delta Kite
Thank you for your nice design.
Back from a holiday in France. The best piece of plastic was an old Auchan supermarket bag, which was just big enough …
Maiden Flight of 2- Skewer Delta
This is my second MBK kite - the first was a 2 skewer diamond. I wasn't sure how well the delta would fly, as one leading edge spar was more flexible than …
As mentioned earlier, there's more kite-making on this site than you can poke a stick at :-) Want to know the most convenient way of using it all?
The Big MBK E-book Bundle is a collection of downloads - printable PDF files which provide step-by-step instructions for many kites large and small. Every kite in every MBK series.