hello again!
our aged Chairman, Harry Douglas, flies a mean fighter ite, but he is
getting a bit scatter-brained....

many moons ago, he bought a Greenes Stratoscoop... and after a while,
most of the bridle lines snapped.... so he went to re-bridle it.... but
omitted to measure the originals first..... (DOH)

Therefore, this heart-felt plea - if anyone out there has one of these
single-line monsters, could they PLEASE help with some bridle
dimensions?

Manifold blessings on your cooking pot (and kite lines)

TIA - Ricky (pp Harry Douglas)
--
-----Poole Kite Fliers from Dorset (UK South Coast)-----
---THE Database of UK Kite-flying sites - is YOUR site listed?---
    http://freespace.virgin.net/richard.nourse

Ricky,

Do you know what size of scoop? I have a Stratoscoop 2 and would be
happy to relay the details of that. If also live about 15 mins from
Burnley, so I may be able to get any scoop bridle dimensions from there.

PS I read here - not long ago - that one flier recommended 'doubling'
the length of the bridle to improve stability.

David.

In article <362E41A5.6...@virgin.net>, Richard & Janette Nourse
<richard.nourse.nos...@virgin.net> writes

--
David Entwistle

Richard & Janette Nourse wrote:

Happy to help. But first, we need to know *which* stratoscoop. Was it
the 1, 2, 3, 4, or larger? If you don't know the number, just measure
the leading edge.

We'll try and get you the standard dimensions, but as long as you are
re-bridling, you might make them a bit longer. That tends to improve
performance.

Hope that helps.

dg
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I've got five of those line-climbers called Poppers, which look like umbrellas.
 You send them up spaced five or ten yards apart, and when the first one
arrives at the kite, it collapses, plunges down the line into the next climber,
with collapses with a loud POP, and the two plunge down the line into the
next....etc.

I figured I'd put up a big Delta, on which I usually use 250# dacron line.  But
I can't get the damn line through the little holes in the Poppers.   Finally I
gave up and used 120# dacron, but I didn't dare let the Delta up too far, since
it has broken 120# line in the past.  

I'd like to use my Stratoscoop, or some such, but that would require 500# line
at the least.  I could easily thread the poppers with 500# Spectra, but the
idea of handling Spectra on a hard-pulling kite doesn't appeal to me.

Does anyone know if you can drill out the holes in the Poppers without damaging
them?  

Brock Vond

Your best bet with a stack of poppers is to figure out a good size kite that
you will allways fly the poppers on and then figure out the best size of
line that will handle the kite and the poppers reliably.  This will of course
mean that the line will be larger than the hole in the popper.  I took a
hand drill and matched the line to a 1 size larger drill bit and drilled out
the holes on both ends of the popper.  I did notice on a couple of the poppers that the glue can break loose as your drilling but can easily be reglued back
on.  Then I took a long wire and taped the kite line at the end of the wire
and threaded it through the poppers.  Once I got all the poppers on the line
I reatached the swivel to the line.   Of course this means that the line
is now dedicated to this line so at the end of the day I just wind the line
on the reel until I get to the poppers.  Fold all the poppers together and
stick the whole thing into a bag.  This way you only have to thread the poppers
on one time and the poppers are allways ready to use when you want them.

I also found that a 6 foot rok is a nice kite to fly these on.  Since I have
10 different Roks I don't have to fly the poppers allways on the same kite.

Hope this helps.  :-)

: I've got five of those line-climbers called Poppers, which look like umbrellas.
:  You send them up spaced five or ten yards apart, and when the first one
: arrives at the kite, it collapses, plunges down the line into the next climber,
: with collapses with a loud POP, and the two plunge down the line into the
: next....etc.

: I figured I'd put up a big Delta, on which I usually use 250# dacron line.  But
: I can't get the damn line through the little holes in the Poppers.   Finally I
: gave up and used 120# dacron, but I didn't dare let the Delta up too far, since
: it has broken 120# line in the past.  

: I'd like to use my Stratoscoop, or some such, but that would require 500# line
: at the least.  I could easily thread the poppers with 500# Spectra, but the
: idea of handling Spectra on a hard-pulling kite doesn't appeal to me.

: Does anyone know if you can drill out the holes in the Poppers without damaging
: them?  

: Brock Vond
--
--------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----- Dick Bell
 dickb...@netcom.com
 Dallas, Texas

Hi Brock, hi folks.

What is the material of the hub of your poppers.  Is it possible to drill
trhough it?  Is it large enough?

If it is large enough you can probably enlarge the hole by drilling.  Since
I do not know the dimensions and configuration of this kind of line laundry,
I will simply give some ideas.

If the central part of this thing is large enough to allows for enlarging
the central hole a little, and I am pretty certain it is (we are talking
about a very small enlargment), you can simply use a drilling bit of maybe
1/8 in (approx. 3 mm) or 3/16 in (approx. 5 mm) and drill through the
existing hole.  This should pass lines of 250 pounds and 500 pounds
respectively.  The idea is to keep enough material around the hole to
maintain structural integrity of the part being drilled.

For more versatility I would even try to fit a removable sleeve (made with a
short piece of carbon or fiberglass tubing) into this larger hole to allow
for a closer fit on smaller lines.

These are only ideas.

As far as using Spectra I have used a set of 120 feet 80 pounds spectra to
fly my 10 feet ultra light delta in very light wind.  I larksheaded the two
lines end to end to obtain a 240 feet length (that's enough to have fun).
But I would be a little reluctant to have something sliding up and down such
a line.  I would be afraid to cause too much wear on Spectra because of
friction.  For such a use of moving line laudry I would go with a dacron
line.

Again, only my ideas.

Wind or no wind, fly for fun.

Jean (Johnny) Lemire of team S.T.A.F.F. from Montreal, Canada.

Hiya Brock/Zoyd... ;)

I think the answer to your question is to use a smaller kite. I've been
lifting six Poppers, no problem, with a five foot rok. A larger kite
will take the line up at a sharper angle, and the climbers don't go up
as fast. They seem to prefer about a 45 degree trip.

Plus with a bigger kite, you have the line problem.

I'm using about 200 pound dacron. Threading the line though all the
holes is a bit of a headache. The easiest thing has been to cut a point
on the line and poke it through. During the threading process, I re-cut
the line a few times when it gets blunted.

Once I'm set, I leave the one line dedicated to flying Poppers so I
don't have to re-thread it every flight.

As for drilling out the hubs, well, I just don't know. Might work. But
might void the warranty too... ;)

Hope that helps!

dg

ps - for photos of Poppers, check our site.

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In article <19981023092730.03066.00000...@ngol03.aol.com>, zoydv...@aol.com

We have the 2 we made at the Maryland Kite Society Retreat last Winter.  But we
string them on 250# black death and fly them from my husband's 5' Rokakku.  It
usually works just fine.  I do use a fid to catch the end and pull it out which
seems to be the tough part.

I love the way unsuspecting flyers look to what spar they've just broken when
they #POP#.  Two are way cool, 5 must be a real trip.

Good luck,
Alice Hayden   8^)