Sometimes when the bad weather sets in and I can't fly I go into the laboratory to think and come up with new ideas for my hobby.With my trusty sewing machine at hand and a small box of tools I set about creating something new for the kiteworld.
   With the help of professor Bruce sometimes something wonderful comes out the room,so when you have that annoying thing with your kite don't put up with it,think and solve the problem.

Sea life theme 

 

  It wasn't long after wards that Colin also came up with his version to solve the problem,his idea came from where he works and he found some brass ends that were just the right size with a bit of dowel rod inside and the hole drilled in it his did a fine job of fixing the problem too.To this day we all have had no problems with that annoying problem with the end caps.

 

    To help solve this get a small piece of rubber tube and cut into rings about quarter of a inch,the tube should be just smaller then the spar,place them in warm water for a while till it softens up the rubber and place on the spar,use the end cap to push the ring into the right place then hold the end cap tight and push the rubber ring tight onto it making a sill.Do this to all the end cap areas and your find your never have that stuck end cap again....

 Thanks to Colin and Bruce I now get trouble free rev flying where ever I fly...

Note..you could try using the rubber air line tube that you can get from tropical fish shops.

  The crab  

 As the lab doors flew open I rushed in with the inflatable crab that had just drifted into some power lines after the main line snapped,laying him out on the table he looked a mess,all his legs on the left side was either blown away or in bits and some of his shell was gone as well exposing his inner workings.This operation was just to big for me so I had to call in my main man Bruce.As he looked at the dieing crab I awaited his report on whether he could be saved,to my amazement he said he would do all he can for the old chap but that I would have to get him some new legs and shell.

   After a few e-mails to Peter Lynn I managed to get all the templated legs and a bit of rip stop for his shell for the small sum of thirty quid,now I just had to wait for them to come in the post,the poor crab was put on a drip awaiting his operation from Bruce.The package arrived and it was given to Bruce with the crab to take to his more specialized laboratory,with modern up to date equipment and the skill Bruce has I know that the poor crab has a good chance of recovery.Its been a few weeks but Bruce has told me that the crab is hanging in there and things are going as well as they can,Bruce will give me a full report after the last stage of the operation has been done and the crab is fit to come home.

   He will take a while to  get back into shape and will need weeks of flying therapy to build up his leg muscles but we are all holding our breaths that the poor old crab makes a full recovery.

 News just in from Bruce........

''Just thought you might like a bulletin from the intensive care unit,
the Crab is making a good recovery, it now has more legs than a week
ago but not quite up to the full complement however the micro surgery
to reconnect the nervous system has still some way to go.
Some legs are completly new and one or two have had partial limb
replacement surgery, it is expected that the Crab could be home before
too much longer, as soon as he is disconnected from the drip that is
working on him.
The pic shows new legs during reconstruction.''

Great news from Bruce the crab has made a full recovery and has had its flying theropy and is 100% fit and well again,Bruce gave him a test fly and the crabs legs look and work like new,there is some scar tissue on his back and a few scorch marks but nothing that makes him look as less attractive to the other crabs.He has been through a great aldeal and on that day I saw him laying on the field with  his leg blown to bits I thought there was no chance for me to see him back in the air,but thanks to the skill Bruce has that day has come.Many thank to you Bruce we are in your debt.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  Fish scales   

My local shop has just got in some real nice cloth that looks like fish scales,it comes in three colours silver,red and green and will be ideal for making things to add to the sealife theme.Funny enough I had just made a fish to go on my banner but this was done out of all the scrap bits of ripstop that I had,I think I will make a fat fish windsock out of the new cloth as I have the templates to make it so now it just a case of cutting out at sewing it together,if it works out ok it should look great..I will come back to this story as I get each stage of the item done......

How to make a fat fish windsock

 The length of the template must be that of the fish =60 cm. With all the needed dimensions all that is left is to connect the points with a smooth curve. This can be accomplished by bending a thin fiberglass rod, making the template look something a little like this: the fish is to be made out of eight panels.

The side, back and tail fins are based more or less on your fantasy! The only thing to watch out for is, that the width of the tail where it is to be sewn onto the body must match the circumference of the body at that place! Eg. in my case the width of the tail must be circumference tail /2 = 31.4 cm.

The fins are made by sewing two identical pieces together, so they can be inflated by the airpressure in the fish.

The two pieces for the tailfin can look somewhat like this:
	Two backfin-pieces are made somewhat like this:
and four sidefin-pieces somewhat like this:

Now the fish is to be assembled. Start out with the fins: Sew the two pieces for each fin together along the outer edge - meaning the edge where the fins are not to be attached to the fish. Decide in which three panels the two sidefins and the backfin goes. Cut appropriate holes in the panels and sew the fins to these holes.

When the wind inflates the fins they tend to deform the fish. To prevent this a mesh/screen can be sewn to the cutout in the panel, or little pieces of line can be attached across the hole.

The eight panels are sewn together (with the seams on the inside of the fish), and finally the tailfin is sewn in place.

All the fish needs now is two eyes and a mouth. The edge of the mouth is hemmed with a band, making a sleeve in which a short wire/hollow tubing or something similar is inserted to keep the mouth open.

Attach four lines to the mouth and gather the lines in a swivel in front of the fish, the is now complete!

(Fat fish plans by Ken Friis Hanson) 

Glow people

            I didn't get to the usual Rougham L.U.T.S this year and so wanted to do a local event of my own with the help of my friendly neighbourhood flyers.One year I made a glow outfit out of snap light lights but it was not all that bright and spectacular so this time I have made the new light suit,this has been made out of the bike lights that I got off e-bay and looks much better and brighter than my last attempt.After sorting out an old hoody top and a pair of trousers I laid then out on the floor and set about making a design out the lights,I had decided to make it on the back of the garments so that when flying the night revolution you could see the 'glow person' flying.After a few designs I decided on one that I liked and started to cut small slits in the garment to thread the light through from the inside so that all the wires are inside out the way,it endeed up with a lot of wiring and so to keep everything neat and tidy I then put another hoody on the inside so that all the wires are sandwich between the two tops.After checking everything was working I stitched together the two tops to keep them in place,after trying on the top and making sure I could move freely to fly I then went on to the making of the trousers,which were a lot easier then the top half of the outfit.

In all it takes twentyfour AA batteries to run the light suit and each part can be flashing or stay on all the time,I was so please after trying out the outfit I decided to make one for Colin the hula skirt and bra was very easy to design and looks well funny,The bra was just made from the lights and cable tied into place to make the bra shape this is then slipped over what ever Colin will be wearing on the night,the hula skirt was made with some heavy duty tape and the lights sandwiched between the tape,I then stitched on a adjustable belt so that it will fit Colin tight (wouldn't want his skirt to fall off).

I have advertised the event in the evening gazette on their 'Whats on page' on the website and have had loads of phone calls to enquire what the night is about,of course the event all depends on the weather and I just hope that it turns out nice for the event to go ahead.Myself and the other flyer are all looking forward to the evening and each of us has something made for the night,so it should be amazing...full write up and video/picture will be up a.s.a.p after the event has taken place......if its a big success then we will make it even bigger and better for the next year.

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   The door creaks open and in comes the next victim!! errrm patient ...."Hello my names Sharky and I am here for a nose job,teeth whitening,lip reduction and some bridle adjustments,make me beautiful doc"

 

  As soon as Sharky was out cold the knife went in,an incision was made in his tail fin and opened up about four inches then a hand was stuffed inside and was able to grab the inside of the sharks nose and pull all the head out the small hole in his tail.A sound of metal was heard as the hand of the professor hunted out the next instrument from his rusty draw,in his hand was the big scissors and he went about cutting off the red sail inside the sharks mouth it was just held in three places and with a careful snip it was done and put in the bits barrel.

   "Now for those teeth" the prof muttered as he looked back in the draw "where are you" glinting in the bottom he see his micro golden scissors,grabs the huge mignifier and settles down to the fine work of remove the red mesh from the back of the teeth,as the minutes run by the sweat slowly drip of the prof's brow "swab nurse" he shouts out and carry's on with the tedious task of the teeth whitening,holding the gums wide apart with the metal frame he looks at the dental work and said "my what white teeth you have"throwing the tools he just used into the bloody sink to his right,"Get me a drink while I sew this fellow up nurse" After the unsightly task of the sharks head going back up his own hole the professor picked up a bit of thread of the a labs floor and with a squinted eye passed it through the not so cleanest needle I have seen,the nurse puts the vodka glass down next to the prof and walks out,"right sharky thats the best I can do for you" looking over his skillful work he downs his drink and walks out the lab,"nurse make the patient comfortable for the night and I will be back tomorrow to remove his bridel,shit what a day" he said slamming the door.

 

 

   Returning the next day the shark had recovered from his makeover and

was pleased with his new look,"now there is just the matter of your inflation problem" doc said.The bridle

 

looked wrong on the nose of the shark and was removed by undoing the knots,and on the next not so suitable day the shark was tested out,after much fiddling around I would say that 75% of the bridle has been fixed but

 

it was so cold and windy that day that it drove us back indoors to warm up,so the shark still need some final adjustments but in all its nearly there and how I would have expected to get it from new,still I am much happier with my new shark now and it will be joining the rest of the sea life theme.

 

News just got to the kite den lab from Pete who had the other shark and he has done his sharks teeth as well but this is the no sewing way,he has whitened the teeth with a white permanent marker pen and wow what a nice pair of nashers there are now.So if you got a dull eye,tooth or anything else on your kite this is one way to give it a makeover and it works very well indeed.

 

 

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Slowest race on earth