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The reader will find in this and the following chapters a variety of things which he can do, to enable him to get the utmost satisfaction from kites and kite flying. These things to do, divided into sections, are as follows:
Make your own style of kite.
Be weather-wise.
Form a club.
Arrange activities.
It is hoped that the time spent in studying them will be amply repaid.
Although many different kites are described in this book, this suggestion may appeal to the reader who is keen on experimental work. Kites can be made in many shapes, and as long as the rules of balance, lightness and strength are kept in mind, they should fly well. On this point J. G. Wood once wrote: 'The old theory used to be that a very slight deviation from accurate proportions in a kite must certainly prove fatal to its powers of flight; but of late years ... we have discovered that so long as certain rules of symmetry are observed, that is, so long as one side fairly balances the other, there is almost no conceivable shape that may not be made to mount up as a kite into the sky.' Obviously then there is great opportunity for individual design; and this being so, it may be helpful to the would-be designer to have some guidance in how to begin and how to carry the project through. The following step-by-step instructions serve this purpose.
Finding a Design
The first thing to do is to think of a suitable design. This is not difficult. The silhouette of a bird or a plane may suggest a shape. Again, variations of the box-kite theme may be worked out. There are also certain basic forms, with which one might experiment - the square, the oblong, the triangle, the diamond and the circle. The designer works on the shape or shapes which appeal to him. He arranges, combines or alters them, and so evolves a satisfactory plan on the drawing board. As an example of this, we select three shapes and combine them in a pleasing design (see Fig. 39).
The next step is to decide the overall size of the kite, so that the design can be worked out to scale on paper. The reader is invited at this point to produce his own scale plan from the full-size measurements given. The kite shown is 2 ft. 6 in. in length, and 2 ft. 6 in. at its widest part. These measurements are scaled down to one-sixth, and everything is drawn to this proportion.
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