Catch The Wind

Image Gallery REDRAW ON 1"" SQUARE

Last year (In MOTHER N0. 56), Margaret Greger presented her plans for "MOTHER's Recycled Kite". Well, those of March winds are blowin' again, and Meg has provided us with two more sureto-fly designs . . . which were suggested to her by Gary Hinze of San Jose, California. The cobra kite and Its variant, the octopus, are highsoaring wind catchers that are well worth the half an hour or so It'll take you to construct one of 'em. In fact, you can see expensive, commercial "sky snakes"made of every Imaginable material-most anywhere . . . but rest assured that the do-it-yourself versions will match the store-bought kites maneuver for maneuverl

STEP-BY-STEP LEADS SKYWARD

Here's what you need to make one of the recycled air soarers: a large grocery bag (which will make two kite faces), two 1 / 8" dowels (16" and 12" long), a 22" piece of cotton string for the bridle, tape, glue, newspaper for your kite's tall, scissors, a ruler, a pencil, and a cardboard template.

STEP 1: Enlarge the scale diagram shown here, position the drawn-to-size template on the front of the bag, trace around it, and mark the bridle points and the ends of the spars. Then remove the template and extend the end point marks across the head (as shown in Figs. 1 and 2).

STEP 2: Cut out the head.

STEP 3: Tape the 16" dowel spine on the back of the kite and then—using the same adhesive material—fasten the 12" cross spar in place (see Fig. 3).

STEP 4: Turn the kite over and punch holes for the bridle. Next, tie one end of the 22" bridle string at the top (through the holes and around the spine) and the other end at the bottom, as Illustrated In Fig. 4.

STEP 5: Tie a loop In the bridle as shown in Fig. 5. If the string's top "leg" is perpendicular to the face of the kite, your bridle will be in the correct position for most winds.

STEP 6: The tall strips should be cut—8" wide—across the 24" width of a newspaper. (You can cut several sheets at once . . . see Fig. 6.)

OCTOPUS TAIL: Glue four 8" X 24" strips end to end, and cut long 1"wide fringes Into the resulting strip as shown. Secure the top edge of the multistranded tail to the back of the kite's lower edge.

COBRA TAIL: Glue ten 8" X 24" strips end to end, fold the long sheet down the middle, and cut it to a taper from the tip to the top. You must crumple and smooth out the finished tail at least three times before gluing it to the kite. Of course, if the wind is light, the cobra tail can be shortened.