How to Build a Sled Kite

Step-by-Step — Page 2 of 3

The MBK 2-Skewer Sled

How to Build a Sled Kite
Making Spars 

The 2-Skewer Sled - all 6 pieces of skewer.
The 2-Skewer Sled - skewers glued and aligned

For this sled, you need four 30 cm (12 in.) bamboo BBQ skewers. Also, you need to cut off two short 0.3 SL (8.7 cm, 3 1/2 in.) lengths of skewer. The photos show how these are all glued together.

Both pairs of skewers are lined up straight, flat against the table top. These are the vertical spars. Well, almost vertical when this kite is ready to fly! To make sure there are no kinks at the joins, get your head down low and look along the skewers. Shift one a little, if necessary, before the glue dries.

How to Build a Sled Kite
Attaching Spars

The 2-Skewer Sled - top corner detail
  • Snip off one point from each spar.
  • Line this end up with a top corner of the kite sail, with the pointed end of the spar crossing the corresponding bottom corner of the sail.
  • For both spars, attach the bamboo to the plastic with insulation tape, as in the photo up there.

Now for the bottom edge:

The 2-Skewer Sled - spars trimmed and fully attached
  • At the bottom corners of the sail, snip the skewers to length so they are flush with the edge of the sail.
  • Attach each bottom tip to the plastic in the same way as the top tips. These are the (nearly) vertical spars.

How to Build a Sled Kite
Bridle

Dacron line in 20 to 50 pound strength is suitable for all the Skewer Series kites.

All the construction details for the bridle are contained in the large photos below. For a sled kite, this is rather simple and straightforward. Just use Dacron line for the bridle loop.


KNOTS

If you are new to this, you might need instructions on how to tie the following knots:

Loop knot

Double Wrap Slip knot

Prusik knot

The 2-Skewer Sled - all details of the bridle
The 2-Skewer Sled - attachment point close-up

ADJUSTMENT

Once your kite and bridle looks like the photo up there:

Bridle knots

Lay the kite on the floor, with the two spars touching each other along their entire lengths.

Stretch out the bridle, unlock the Prusik knot and slide it along until both lines are exactly the same length. Then lock the Prusik knot again.

At this point, you've finished making the 2-Skewer Sled!

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


 

 


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.




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