K56 - 90Nine #3
My third 90Nine (based on plan by Karel Oh), this one is a mid-vent, and the last 90Nine I intend to make, finishing out my set. This is another one that derives slightly from Karel’s desired color scheme, but I think it still follows the general idea.
Some things of note:
Printed spreader fittings
I ran out of APA fittings, so I decided to print my own. This is the first kite I’ve made to sport my red TPU spreader fittings, but only on the upper spreader so far.
Printed T fitting
I didn’t have a center T fitting that was the right size, so I printed one of those as well.
Printed tail fitting
To better support the tail of the kite, I printed a PETG cylinder that the spine can sit in. This gives a nice solid support up against the velcro tail, and I like this much better than just using a little endcap. I’ve seen this sort of thing done with metal so it doubles as a weight, but I’m not up for crafting something like that out of metal at this time, so this seems ok.
I’ve uploaded this piece onto thingiverse here: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4618855
Weight
I ran out of tail weights, so I decided to try ordering a length of brass tubing and cut it down myself. Seems to work fine and ends up being much cheaper.
Punctured sail and repair
When framing this sail, I made a stupid and accidentally punctured the right wing with the lower spreader. Instead of throwing the kite out and starting over, I decided to sew in a circular patch, and also added matching one to the left wing for balance.
Mesh with back layer
When putting in the mesh, I didn’t want to have mesh as the top layer when looking at the back, so I added a layer of black or white to the backside. I like this approach, and I think it turned out nice, but I’d still like to practice cleaning it up more.
Leech line
I attempted to build this with a leech line since I’d never done that before. I managed to sew through the line on one wing, but got it right on the other. So it was a learning experience, and I ended up cutting off the ends of the line.
Reinforcement
Since this one is vented, I wanted to add a bit more reinforcement, so I added some mylar to the nose. I wanted to add some to the spine as well, but I didn’t have a long enough piece of mylar, so I didn’t end up doing that.
