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Winged Box This is a simple variation on a standard box kite. When first viewing a box kite, many do not perceive it as a flying apparatus. This reaction is probably due to the fact that it is shaped unlike our normal "flight" paradigm of bird or airplane. Box kites do have one very important flying advantage over many other kites: increased potential surface area. The more area that can catch wind, the more likely that a gentle breeze will lift it off the ground.

 

Materials for each Winged Box kite

1. a ruler, a yardstick (maybe a protractor or a compass too)
2. two or more sheets of 20" x 30" tissue paper (other colored scraps may come in handy as well if you like streamers and cut out graphics)
3. six 1/8" dowel rods: Four cut to to 32", two cut to 25" in length
4. one piece of 22" x 28" poster board if making several kites from one pattern or newsprint if making only one
5. a pair of scissors
6. transparent and strapping tape
7. white craft glue
8. string

The pattern for this kite is built on two basic shapes:

1. The first is a rectangle 30" long by 7" tall. Two of these should be cut from tissue. Cut out decorations can be made on these prior to kite construction.

   Once cut, both should be sectioned off with a pencil into four equal panels and a half inch flap on the end.

2. The second is an isosceles triangle with a base of 30" and a height of 7 1/4".

   Four of these are necessary to complete this design.

Lay out the two rectangles and glue four 32" dowels along the measured divisions. A single thin bead of glue on each dowel should be sufficient.

An inch of dowel should protrude beyond the tissue paper.

When dried, the final flap should be glued over the opposite end of each rectangle to form continuous loops of each.

 

Attach the triangles to each of the dowels with transparent tape.

Reinforce the ends of the triangles with strapping tape.

Using Strapping tape, attach two 25" dowels diagonally to the ends of opposite triangles through the space between the four central dowels.

With the crossing dowels in place, the kite will support itself in three dimensions.

Attach a string to the end of one of the cross dowels by punching a hole through the strapping tape and tying the string to the dowel.

Plans on Povera:

Fighter

Sled

Delta

Delta Box

Winged Box

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