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Found my relic Flexifoil Blade II 6.4m in the attic-looking for flying advice

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u0362565
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Re: Found my relic Flexifoil Blade II 6.4m in the attic-looking for flying advice

Postby u0362565 » Wed Sep 02, 2020 12:29 pm

Hi all, so there is only the one knot on the handle leader lines and its right at the end of the leader line furthest from handle. I could have a look at the kite end to see what's going on as maybe there is room to make additional knots there. At the handle end i would only be able to add knots closer to the handle on the main line leaders to make those shorter and thus equivalent to shortening the brake lines. Or as mentioned above buy some cord and make some additional leader length. Thanks all

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Re: Found my relic Flexifoil Blade II 6.4m in the attic-looking for flying advice

Postby Herman » Wed Sep 02, 2020 1:17 pm

Have you checked that your 4 flying lines are equal length. That is your datum to work from. Once you have done that you may not need extra pig tails at the handle or kite.

I sorted out a 4.9 blade that had been stored, there was about 180mm that needed taking out of the rears to get them even. Handles and kite pigs were fine. (happens to be opposite to your problem if my memory is correct).

PS The first line of your trim guide says the kite is designed to fly on even length lines. Obviously it does not have to be the case but when you deal with multiple kites or want to keep an eye on trim migration it helps to have this datum which is a standard for most kites.
Last edited by Herman on Wed Sep 02, 2020 2:34 pm, edited 2 times in total.

B-Roc
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Re: Found my relic Flexifoil Blade II 6.4m in the attic-looking for flying advice

Postby B-Roc » Wed Sep 02, 2020 2:14 pm

u0362565 wrote:
Wed Sep 02, 2020 12:29 pm
At the handle end i would only be able to add knots closer to the handle on the main line leaders to make those shorter and thus equivalent to shortening the brake lines.
To be clear, you do NOT want to shorten the brake lines. You want to shorten the power lines. But as Herman said, check the 4 kite line lengths first. It's not uncommon for the powers to be stretched if the kite was used a lot in the past or the brakes could not be pre stretched sufficiently and thus perform as if they have shrunk during their time in storage.

u0362565
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Re: Found my relic Flexifoil Blade II 6.4m in the attic-looking for flying advice

Postby u0362565 » Wed Sep 02, 2020 9:51 pm

Yes thats an interesting point from the manual, the lines should be equal lengths so the kite is setup as described in the manual. Despite the kite being nearly 20 years old its condition is almost new as its only been out maybe 3 times before last weekend if that makes a difference to what might have happened to the lines.

So either lines are somehow now not the same length or it just needs tuning anyway even though the manual says the default setup as it is now is for light wind which was the conditions in the videos. Stupid question, Do you need two people to hold all 4 lines taut and do they need to be disconnected from the handles/bridles to measure them?

Thanks

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RedSky
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Re: Found my relic Flexifoil Blade II 6.4m in the attic-looking for flying advice

Postby RedSky » Wed Sep 02, 2020 10:12 pm

Yeah, disconnect the lines and use a ground stake/ tent peg to anchor all four lines, no need for two people. Pull them taut at the other ends and see if they match up.

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Re: Found my relic Flexifoil Blade II 6.4m in the attic-looking for flying advice

Postby B-Roc » Wed Sep 02, 2020 10:19 pm

You don’t need two people. You do need to remove the lines from the handles and the kite. Stake the lines down to some immovable object (fence post, ground stake, trailer hook, etc.) and then walk the lines out and see where all the ends terminate. Ideally they are all equal but if they are off by a half an inch or so that’s not bad as you rarely hold your handles dead even if actively flying the kite. You may want to compare the two power lines together first and then the two brake lines and then all together. The power lines and brake lines are of different strength and will offer different levels of resistance when stretching / checking lengths. In the end, all lines should be the same length under a bit of tension. The brakes will stretch easier but won’t ever be under the same tension as the powers so less likely to stretch.

Here are some videos to help you:






you aren’t flying on a bar or a depower setup but this one offers a means of tying off to a tree.


If you aren’t familiar with parapacking – I highly advise you check it out https://www.racekites.com/how-to-fly-pa ... king-away/

and here is a video of the process
looks like a mess, works like a charm.

u0362565
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Re: Found my relic Flexifoil Blade II 6.4m in the attic-looking for flying advice

Postby u0362565 » Wed Sep 02, 2020 11:01 pm

Thanks everyone. Think I'm going to have some even more bemused onlookers when I'm doing this at the flying site. A dog nearly decided to eat the kite when it was on the ground last time.

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Re: Found my relic Flexifoil Blade II 6.4m in the attic-looking for flying advice

Postby Herman » Wed Sep 02, 2020 11:36 pm

Dyneema line tends to shrink at various rates with age and may well require adjudgment even if not used. You can check lines without taking them off the handles but probably easier to remove in the long run. Really nice post by B-Roc!!

If you want to fly in minimum wind you will have to learn to down loop and move your feet to create apparent wind. Have a look at YouTube for indoor kite flying to see an extreme example.

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Re: Found my relic Flexifoil Blade II 6.4m in the attic-looking for flying advice

Postby prop_joe » Fri Sep 04, 2020 8:41 pm

RedSky wrote:
Thu Jul 16, 2020 1:01 am
Most people who have owned a Blade have a story to tell including myself.
:thumb:

Unhooking on the blades was an experience... at least i got really good at swimming :lol:
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RedSky (Sat Sep 05, 2020 1:17 am)
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u0362565
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Re: Found my relic Flexifoil Blade II 6.4m in the attic-looking for flying advice

Postby u0362565 » Thu Sep 10, 2020 11:12 pm

Hi all, tonight I went and equalised the lines on my blade. Quite a difference between them. One issue I have is that I thought I paid attention to which colour lines were brake and which were main lines when detaching. They are mostly white with either blue or red flecks. I was certain the blue fleck lines were the mains so reattached them as such. However when I got home I had some waste line that I'd cut off and to me the red fleck lines look a little thicker. I wondered if anyone knew if colours are standardised for different strengths? They are flexifoil lines. Otherwise I will just have to go by the apparent thickness but there isn't a huge amount in it. The manual doesnt help as it just says lines are colour coded for breaking strain but doesnt say which colour is which! The blade 2 at least didn't come with lines. The handles are red and blue and the line ends where you make the larksheads are also red or blue. So its confusing, this aspect I think is about which side is left and right rather than having anything to do with the line colours.


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