K87 - Escape #4
Red Icarex is on back order, so I decided to make another Escape, but this time it is an Escape Strong made with nylon. The Escape is an open source plan from Ulzburger Kites, available at Kareloh.com. The Escape Strong is framed with P300 and Nitro Strong.
Nylon
Red Icarex is on back order, so I can’t make some of the things that I want to make. But, I flew Paul DeBakker’s new Badass Coastguard from Level One, which is a high wind Badass made in Nylon, and I was inspired a bit by that. Nylon is an intriguing choice because it is much more flexible than Icarex, and typically heavier. So, for high wind kites, it’ll absorb gusts more easily, and it’ll add some weight to counteract the high wind. I used Ottertex’s 1.9oz ripstop nylon. I chose that just because I was already ordering Canvas from the same place, and I’ve loved my Ottertex canvas. Working with the nylon did make me miss icarex. The stretch of nylon is annoying, and made lining up the two halves along the spine more difficult. It also doesn’t hold creases like Icarex does, and I occasionally use creases as a way of temporarily marking a sail. Icarex is also just much prettier. All said, it wasn’t too bad working with the nylon.
Reinforcements
Because nylon is so stretchy compared to Icarex, I definitely wanted to put a bit more emphasis on reinforcement. I had my usual mylar on the spine and nose, but I added some at the wing tips and tail as well, and I think that was a good call. If I were to do it again, I’d also add some mylar around the center cross.
Fittings
As usual, the fittings are 3d printed. I forgot to put on the yo-yo stoppers before taking the pictures, but those are not printed, since I’m still working through some old stock. I had recently done some work on my models to separate the spar diameter from the hole tolerance, and that worked out very well for me. I was able to just input the actual measured size of each spar, and the fit all came out just how I wanted on the first try.
Bridle
The bridle is made from 170# line instead of my usual 100# since it is a high-wind kite. I also added a keeper line to the bridle plan, because I always get annoyed by the bridle wrapping on the tail. I did use the specs for the Stephan bridle, because I’ve liked that much better after I first tried it on my Escape LW.
