How to Make a Soft Sled Kite

Step-by-Step—Page 2 of 2

The MBK Soft Sled

Taping the Cells

How to make a soft sled kite - cell taped on marked side

Marked side taped

Lay packing tape along just the top edges of the cell plastic, as in the photo above. Let the tape overlap the black line by about a finger width above the line.

Cutting the Cells

Cells cut

Take your scissors and cut along every black line, including the one down the middle.
When you are finished, you will have the two cells as in the photo—ready to attach to the main sail.

Attaching the Cells

Cell inner seam tacked on

Take one piece of cell plastic and lay it over the sail, lining it up so it looks exactly like the photo up there. Or get it as close as possible, given that you are probably using slightly different plastic and tape.
Tack the cell plastic in place with several small bits of sticky tape. Align with the black line showing through the packing tape. The sticky tape ensures the plastic doesn't move while you are doing the next step.

Like to see a video clip? Just scroll down to near the end of this page.

Cell inner seam taped

Run packing tape the entire length of the join, keeping it centered over the black line. Go straight over those little bits of sticky tape!
Trim the ends of the packing tape with scissors, so it lines up with the edges of the sail and cell plastic. See the photo above.

MBK Soft Sled kite - cell flipped and inner seam taped again

Cell flipped and taped again

Flip the cell plastic up and fold it flat against the sail plastic, away from where it was before. Crease the join with your thumbnail so it stays down better.
Now run packing tape the entire length of the cell, keeping it centered over the line as before. Cut off and trim at each end, so it looks like the photo up there.

Cell outer seam tacked on

Line up the other long edge of the cell with the other black line, again tacking it in place with small bits of sticky tape.

Cell outer seam taped.

Run packing tape the entire length of the cell edge, and neaten it up at each end with scissors. As you can see in the photo, it looks like an inflatable cell now!

Reinforced cell opening

Now you will reinforce the inside of cell's larger opening.

This is hard to explain in words, so look very carefully at the closeup photo above. Your task is to pull off about a hand width of packing tape and stick it down along the inside of the edge you taped in the previous step. Trim with scissors if necessary.

The photo's too good isn't it; it shows every bubble, crease, and inaccuracy! See if you can do better.

MBK Soft Sled kite - both cells attached

Cells done

Yep, you guessed right—repeat all the above steps with the other piece of cell plastic. One cell is a mirror image of the other, as in the photo. It's starting to look like a kite!

How to Make a Soft Sled Kite
The Bridle

Towing Points

MBK Soft Sled kite - towing point tape 1

Towing point tape—first

Place a 10 cm (8 in.) length of packing tape over one towing-point corner of the sail as shown in the photo. That's halfway between each edge of the sail corner. Also, it's half on and half off—but try not to let the off bit stick to the floor or tabletop!

MBK Soft Sled kite - towing point tape 2

Towing point tape—second, stuck to first

Flip the sail over and do your best to stick another similar piece of tape right over the first one. Press them together where they leave the plastic. See the closeup photo.
You know what's coming. Go to the corresponding corner on the other side of the kite and do exactly the same thing, using two more strips of tape. There's the result below. All that remains is to attach the bridle!

Top half of kite, cells pushed flat

Attach the Bridle

Towing point tape crushed and tied

Cut off a 3 meter (10 feet) length of flying line.
Tie one end of the line to one towing point tape of the kite, as in the photo. Use any knot you know but make it as tight as possible, to crush the tape*. It helps to fold the tape in half before winding the line around it.
Similarly, tie the other end of the line to the other towing point. There they both are, in the photo below. The photo shows the side of the kite which faces the flyer, during flight.

( * A very reliable method I prefer is to secure the bridle line to the tape with a Double Wrap Slip knot.)

Both towing points tied

Bridle complete

Nearly finished! Lay the kite on the floor, folded in half so the towing points are perfectly lined up with each other. See the photo.
Stretch out the bridle lines and tie a Simple Loop knot in, right near the end. The two bridle lines should be exactly the same length. I've brought the loop knot back into the photo above, so you can see it.

After Kite Completed

Fold and Roll Up

Fold in half, along the centerline

MBK Soft Sled kite - rolled up for transport

Roll up and wind bridle around

The kite is all ready to take or stow somewhere!

Flying!

Nothing to it—attach line, catch breeze

After unrolling the kite at a flying field, your flying line can be tied to the bridle loop. That's it, you're ready to fly.

Alternatively, you can Lark's Head the flying line behind the loop knot. This makes it easier to attach the flying line and take it off again.

Remember that the inflatable cells need to be on the outside of the kite when flying. You can see them in that photo up there.

Avoid flying in very windy weather.

Tails are optional with this design. If you want to, tie a simple streamer through a hole near each lower corner of the sail. The packing tape border will prevent any further damage to the kite.

It doesn't take much breeze to keep the MBK Soft Sled design aloft. In some ways, it's actually more fun to fly single-line kites in light wind. By watching, you can learn a lot about what's happening up there.

In the video below, taken at a beach, a bit of tail has been added to one side just to help keep the kite straight. With a shiftable knot in the bridle, shifting the knot by a few millimeters in the right direction would have the same effect.