Learn how to make a Parachute kite with these easy-to-follow instructions. Fully illustrated with close-up photos, every step of the way.
These instructions will take you step-by-step through making a 119cm (4 ft) wide Parachute kite. It's not quite that wide in the air since the canopy takes on a distinct curved shape when inflated. This 14-cell kite performs best in moderate to fresh wind speeds. That's 20 to 38kph or 13 to 24mph. In gentle winds, this kite will hang in the air at fairly low line angles. In fresh winds, it pulls firmly for it's size, so small kids should only fly it while supervised!
Some of the lines are
longer than the standard 30cm (12”) of most rulers. So, a handy
trick is to stretch out a length of flying line, weigh it down at
each end, and then make several dots beside it – less than a ruler
length apart. The dots can then be joined by using your ruler. With
care, you will end up with a perfectly straight long ruled line every
time.
The MBK Parachute kite is inspired by full-size sky-diving parachutes. This tape and plastic version is somewhat simplified from the full-size canopy but works in exactly the same way. This Parachute has been tested in up to 40kph winds.
Materials for this kite...
The kite described here will do well with just about any fairly robust plastic sheet. For example, heavy-duty painter's drop-sheet or drop-cloth plastic. That would be around 4mil thickness for those buying plastic sheet in the US. My kite also used council bin liner plastic. Somewhat thicker and stronger than rubbish bin (trash can) liners.
Ordinary clear sticky tape in a dispenser is good for tacking seams together before laying down more of the same along the full length of the join. I used 1.8cm (3/4”) wide tape.
These instructions illustrate a parachute made with 20 pound (strength) Dacron bridle lines. This type of line is readily available from eBay and Amazon online stores.
Upper And Lower Surfaces
When this kite flies, one surface of the sail faces the sky – the upper surface. The other surface is easily visible from the ground – the lower surface. In between the two surfaces are vertical panels called ribs.
Note: I suggest you use at least two different colors for your sail plastic, for upper and lower surfaces. I also used a third color for all the ribs, to make construction easier to see in the photos. Accordingly, the instructions will refer to upper surface plastic, lower surface plastic and rib plastic.
On this site, there's more kite-making info 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.
Hint: Judge the horizontal directions by eye. If you're careful, there's no need for a T-square since the sail ends up symmetrical anyway. Note that the vertical direction looks a little off, in the photo - the result of image perspective only!
Half the dots are already marked, so now you mark in the remaining ones. Almost invisible in the photo below, but they are all there, small and in black...
Hint: If it's too hard to see through the plastic, just lay it up against a sun-lit window to mark in the dots.
Note: The photo has been edited to make the
lines darker and easier to see.
This ends up looking very similar to the upper surface. In fact, rather than doing the measuring all over again, it's simpler to start by tracing...
Firstly a template is measured up in 3 steps. For
this, use any smooth light-colored surface which you don't mind
marking with a black permanent marker. I used 2 sheets of plain
copier paper, stuck together with sticky tape on one side only...
Note: If there's no room for an arrow, there won't be one! Just go from the orange dot to the nearest red dot in those cases.
It's probably best to avoid using anything stretchy for this, like very thin plastic! The photos below show my template, made from 2 sheets of copier paper.
In each photo, you can just spot the join between
the 2 sheets, running straight across the middle. The sticky tape is
out of sight, on the other side...
There are 8 bridled ribs, all identical except for 2 which don't have the triangular vents cut out. Each of these 8 ribs have 3 bridle attachment points – hence the name 'bridled rib'.
The first 3 images below have the black dots and
lines enhanced, so you can see them easier...
There are 7 identical alternate ribs, which
have no bridle attachment points. In the finished canopy,
there is an alternate rib between every 2 bridled ribs. Hence the
name.
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.
It's a printable PDF file. Make a well-tested diamond, delta or sled step-by-step.
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