Review Of Black Sky Shinning Object

Although I am happy with my kite I know there are certain aspects that could improve:-

- Size, I believe that if my kite was bigger then it might of flown a bit better as well as looked more visually effective.

-Lights, I should of been more prepared with my lights. If I had back up lights that were like my original ones then it would of flown better.

- Kite flying, I should learnt more about the skill of kite flying so my kite would of been more effective.

- Materials, I tried to use the lightest possible materials however if i found some materials that were more stable but still light this could of improved it too. 

However there were some aspects which I think worked well:-

- Kite, I think the way I made the kite such as shape, support beams and bridling worked really well. 

- Lights, although the lights I used were too heavy they were easily visible.

Kite Flying with Lights

Kite Flying Without Lights

Final Kite with Lights

When it came to flying my kite I had some problems, the lights I had chosen to attach to my kite were not working on the day so I had to use my back up lights which were a bit heavier.

Due to this my kite did not fly as well, I knew from experience that it flew excellent without lights and with the lighter lights. My kite did fly but it did not rise very high as the lights were constantly pulling it down. Also these lights were bigger than my original ones so the looked very loose on the kite and didn't show my design very well.

Kite Design

These designs show what my kite would look like with two sets of flashing lights on them:-

Aries and Cetus constellation

Horologium and Aries constellation 

Hydrus and Aries constellation

Kite Design

These are designs about how my lights will look on my kite :-

 Horologium constellation


















Eridanus constellation

Aries constellation





















Cetus constellation

Prototype

This is another large scale kite, for this one I made the shape wider and added more support to the middle bamboo sticks. I'm pleased with how this kite looks and .... (it flies well)

Prototype

This is a larger scale prototype, I'm really pleased with the way this one has turned out. However, concerning the shape I think I need to make it wider and maybe consider adding more support and it feels slightly flimsy.

Prototype

This is another miniature prototype with minimal support although it works on a miniature scale I don't think it would work if i increased the scale.

Prototype

This is a miniature kite that I made, I used the shape I had I chosen for my kite design. I made it miniature because I needed to figure out where the bamboo sticks needed to go.

I decided to put one down the middle then one across the middle as main support, I then added an extra bamboo stick either side to add more support.

First Kite

This is my first kite after I had flown it, due to the weather and the lack of wind it didn't fly very well and ripped when it touched the ground.

My next steps

Materials -

Bin Bags



Bamboo



Lights with timers




I'm going to make my kite then add two separate designs of star constellations to them, the designs will flash so one constellation will appear for a certain amount of time then switch off, at this point the 2nd design will flash on for a certain amount of time, they will be doing this on a loop.

The star constellations are undecided yet a I need to see how they look on the full scale kite.

Measurments - 1m
                      60cm
Does it need a tail? If yes wrap lights around string.

Prototypes

I made some very simple prototypes to find out if the materials I wanted to use would work.

Bin Bags
Bamboo 

Shapes

I was going to make the shape of my kite very simple but I thought it would look to plain as my design was simple as well. Sticking to the astronomy theme I decided to make the shape of the kite using star constellations.

Hydrus -

Horologium -

I decided to use the Hydrus design as the Horolgium one looked very bulky and I wanted my design to look elegant in the night sky.

My First Kite

Due to the weather it didn't fly very well and was destroyed, however I was really pleased with the outcome of it when I finished making it.

My Idea

I am naturally interested in astronomy so I thought this would be a good idea to base my designs.
I didn't want to use just any star constellation so i decided to find one that we would be able to see when we were flying the kites.

Aries - Can see late winter early spring


Cetus - Can see in November



Eridanus - Can see from October through to December



Fornax - Can see from October through to December



Horologium - Can see from October through to December



Hydrus - Can see from September through to December

Light up the sky

Light up the sky is a Children In Need project.

Peter Wright

LED Bicycle Lights











Kite Lights









Magnetic Jewellery Lights








Christmas lights










Chemical Light Sticks

Int'l Kite Festival held in China

Luminous kites fly in the night on Renmin Square of Weifang City, east China's Shandong Province, April 17, 2011. Uses battery powered LED lights.

Michael Goddard

Optica, designed in 2007, stands 2.8 metres high. Constructed from carbon fibre and ripstop nylon. The kite took its form from two overlapping squares which were distorted. The design uses negative and positive graphics to change the perception of the surface of the kite. A six metre banner tail extends the theme and the addition of a long tube tail creates a stong visual impression in the sky.

A kite with a low aspect ratio body with added wings. 2 metres high, constructed in 2008 using carbon fibre and ripstop nylon. The wings are bowed in flight and a long thin red line is added as a tail.

A low aspect ratio kite constructed from ripstop nylon and carbon fibre in 2010, length 4.1 metres.