Sled Kite Plans

For All The MBK Sleds

These Sled kite plans and hints are aimed at summarizing the more in-depth instructions to be found in the How To Make A Kite section of this website.

For each of the Sled plans below, there are also a pair of plan view photos.

The one on the left is of the front surface. That is, the surface of the flying kite which faces the flier.

The other photo is of the back surface, which exposes the spars.

Try my Making The MBK Dowel Sled Kite PDF, if you prefer to work offline or from printouts.

Dowel Sled Kite Plans

Plan View Photos

Front

Back

Tips And Hints

1. Reinforce the sail edges by adding nearly the full width of clear sticking tape inside the outlines, then trimming back to the outlines. You can save some weight by not putting any tape around the vents, except short pieces at the corners to reinforce.
2. Secure the sail to the spar ends and spar centers using short lengths of electrical insulation tape. I used 120cm lengths of 5mm dowel. In the U.S., try 48 inches of 3/16" dowel.
3. At the towing points, add electrical insulation tape to both sides of the plastic, extending out a short distance away from the plastic. Also add a short piece in the vertical direction for extra reinforcement.
4. Take a length of bridle line about 8 times as long as the kite is high, and tie each end around the towing point tape, crushing it tightly with a slip knot.
5. Attach flying line to the bridle with a shiftable knot, to get it exactly center.
6. To make the kite more collapse-proof, try taping a 30cm (12”) bamboo BBQ skewer to the back of the sail. Place the skewer on the center-line of the sail, with the upper tip flush with the leading edge.

Yours truly testing out the first Dowel Sled

Take a look at this Dowel Sled in flight...

Step-by-step DIY
Printable

Step-by-step DIY
Printable

Don't forget my Making The MBK Dowel Sled Kite PDF, if you prefer to work offline or from printouts.

2-Skewer Sled Kite Plans

Plan View Photos

Front

Back

Tips And Hints

1. Reinforce the sail edges by adding clear sticking tape over the outlines, then trimming back to the outlines.
2. Secure the sail to the spar ends using short lengths of electrical insulation tape. Wrap half the tape around to the other side of the plastic.
3. At the towing points, add electrical insulation tape to both sides of the plastic, extending out a short distance away from the plastic.
4. Take a length of flying line about 6 times as long as the kite is high, and tie each end tightly around the towing point tape, crushing it.
5. This kite flies fine without tails, although you can add them just for looks! Or maybe just one short one on one side, to correct a turning tendency.
6. Attach flying line to the bridle with a shiftable knot, to get it exactly center

Spars tend to go more parallel in flight

1-Skewer Sled Kite Plans

Plan View Photos

Front

Back

Tips And Hints

1. Secure the sail to the spar ends and spar centers using short lengths of clear sticking tape.
2. At the towing points, add clear sticking tape to both sides of the plastic, extending out a short distance away from the plastic.
3. Take a length of bridle line about 6 times as long as the kite is high, and tie each end tightly around the towing point tape, crushing it.
4. Put a simple loop knot into the exact center of the bridle line. The flying line can then be attached using a Lark's Head knot.
5. Each tail can simply be threaded between the bottom end of the vertical spar and the sail, then looped through itself and tightened.
6. Adjust the length of one tail to trim out any tendency to hang left or right in flight.

Beautifully steady with those twin tails

The photo below shows the initial versions of all 3 MBK Sleds in the air together. See if you can identify them! The 1-Skewer Sled is almost invisible due to the time of day and cloud cover, but it is the closest to the camera. It had a clear plastic sail.

Left to right - 1-Skewer Sled, 2-Skewer Sled, Dowel Sled

Out In The Field

Sled kite stories of my real-life flying experiences are worth checking out!

Illustrated with photos and videos, of course.

I hope one of these Sled kite plans is just right for you!

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