"Making Dowel Kites"

From Quick'n'Easy to Awesome 8-Footers!

Hi! I'm Tim Parish, a 60+ "kite nut" who has researched many designs over the years—and made many dowel kites of my own, of course.

It's been a lot of fun testing and refining these designs so that you too can have plenty of enjoyment and success.

Even using cheap garden-bag plastic results in fine-looking kites. See those inflight shots of them all, down below. But of course, you can use any colored plastic you like. Rip-stop nylon cloth/tape or Tyvek cloth/tape can be substituted as well.

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Dowel kites are great in light wind. Most can tolerate moderate breezes too. Particularly the dopero, with its four-point bridle holding it rigid.

These are the Kites You Can Make

Dowel Kites—1.2 m (4 ft.)

Multi-Dowel Kites—2.4 m (8 ft.)

• The Dowel Series. (performance sled, diamond, barn door, rokkaku, sode, delta, roller, and dopero, all with 1.2 m (4 ft.) spars)
• The Multi-Dowel Series. (a sled, diamond, barn door, rokkaku, and delta so far, all with 2.4 m (8 ft.) spars but just 1.2 m (4 ft.) long when packed away)

This book should prove to be a handy kite-making reference for a long time to come. I hope it returns its value back to you, many times over!

In addition to basic construction and flying info, the e-books also provide

• construction details for making the kites transportable, so they can be rolled up into a slim package and taken anywhere!
• tips for rigging and de-rigging if you choose to make the kites transportable
  
• detailed hints and tips for correcting a kite if it doesn't fly perfectly the first time
  

Cheap materials keep the costs way down. What's more, most of the "tools" are probably lying around your house somewhere already! Nothing fancy is required, believe me.

If the very cheap tools are not at hand already, it's easy to find something like a pair of scissors in a store. In fact, a supermarket would probably have everything except the hacksaw. Most items would be easy to borrow if required.

Even the knot tying is explained, step by step. You'll soon know them all, and they will definitely come in handy for future projects.

Do these kites really fly that well? Don't take my word for it. See what others say:

"I attempted to make my own kite ... and failed miserably. I made a quick and dirty version of the MBK Dowel Diamond kite and was absolutely amazed at how easily it took off in even the slightest breeze. ... Thanks so much for the help!"
- Ben K. (KY, USA)

"I enjoy the site very much, and we love the Dowel Barn Door! ... It flew beautifully all of last summer."
- Larry S. (CO, USA)

"Suddenly the Sode rises straight up and it is flying like a dream. My 50 meter flight line did just rush through my fingers and let the kite fly at good 80-90 degrees. ... Finally I got the winder under control and could see how the kite just soared above me. MMM… pure joy!"
- Johan (Sweden)

"I just wanted to let you know about my experience flying my very own and first MBK Delta ... Many thanks for the detailed instructions. I'm not sure why I started making kites this year, but so far it's been very enjoyable. If I end up spending all my free time building kites, it's probably your fault."
- Eric L. (Japan)

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In "Making Dowel Kites",
You Get All This:

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 Have fun making dowel kites!