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One
World Kites. |
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| Introducing the $5
Fusion Fighter Kite. |
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| A NORTH AMERICAN STYLE FIGHTER KITE. |
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HOW DID IT COME TO BE ?
Often when fighter kite flyers are flying
their kites, on-lookers will ask " Where can I buy a fighter
kite like that ? " The answer most flyers give is: " You
make them; they are not available in local kite stores ".
However, with that answer most on-lookers just walk away
because they want to buy a kite and begin having fun flying
it NOW !
There have been many discussions about this issue among
fighter kite flyers over the years that boil down to this
basic common belief or premise:
If an affordable, good flying, easy to fly, North
American style fighter kite was readily available, the
number of fighter kite enthusiasts may expand more quickly.
I'm one that believes this to be true. That's the reason
for my efforts in developing this affordable good performing
North American style fighter kite; not for financial gain, I
make zero money from this kite, ZERO. |
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HOW CAN THEY BE GOOD PERFORMING AT SUCH A LOW PRICE ?
Many fighter kite makers have experimented with
many different ways of making an inexpensive good flying fighter
kite. None have come up with a viable solution.
What I did was use a highly successful existing kite and modified
it. The existing kite I used was an Indian made bamboo/Mylar
fighter kite. After all, these kites are proven, successful, are
readily available and inexpensive. I wanted to know whether a
Mylar/Bamboo Indian made fighter kite could be made to fly like a
North American style competition fighter kite. I was pleasantly
surprised with the results !
The final design I emailed to kite makers in India and ordered
samples made to the plan I created. During my communication with
various kite makers in India, I contacted Kirti L. Shah who owns
oneworldkites.com and currently sells Indian fighter
kites, manjha, etc. Kirti, was eager to contribute his experience to
this project because he too wanted to expand the interest in fighter
kites in North America. |
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THE NAME.
The name FUSION FIGHTER comes from the fact that
this kite is a fusion of Indian and North American fighter kite
design together with Indian fighter kite building know how. Kirti L.
Shah thought of the name, which I thought was a perfect name for
this kite. |
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WHAT ARE THEY MADE OF ?
Here are the specs for the FUSION FIGHTER: These
kites are hand-crafted, made one at a time in India by skilled kite
makers. The spine is hand split and shaped bamboo, the bow is hand
split and shaped bamboo, the have 2 bamboo battens and a Mylar skin.
The kites are about 17" from nose to tail and about 21" from wingtip
to wingtip. |
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Instructions for installing the 3-point bridle and
basic tuning and flying information will be available on line both
at
nafka.net and
at
oneworldkites.com for downloading.
Remember, in India no NEW kite is made with a bridle attached; in
India if a kite has a bridle it indicates the kite is used. The
FUSION FIGHTER kite does not come with the bridle installed, the
bridle needs to be installed by the buyer.
I think the need to bridle the kite may get the new fighter kite
flyer more directly involved with the kite, which is obviously good.
However, I also know some folks will not want to 'mess' with the
bridle. For those people who can't or don't want to install a
bridle, maybe one of the experienced flyers they know will bridle
the kite for them or at least assist them. Bridle line will be
included with each kite and clear instructions for installing the
bridle will be downloadable on line at
oneworldkites.com and
nafka.net as well as basic fighter kite flying and tuning
information.
Another possibility is that if local kite stores inventory the
FUSION FIGHTER Kite, they may bridle a few and offer them at a
higher 'ready to fly' price. |
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HOW DO THEY FLY ?
They fly great in most winds. In my opinion they
are not successful flying in zero-2 mph winds. The optimum wind
range is from about 4 mph to 12 mph, which includes typical winds we
experience.
Generally, low cost kites are considered only for beginning flyers,
NOT SO with the FUSION FIGHTER. Although it is a great kite for
beginning fighter kite flyers, because of its low cost vs. ease of
flying, it is also a great kite for experienced and competition
flyers because they'll be able to put though its paces. It is a
full performance North American style fighter kite capable of any
fighter kite maneuver.
How fast are they? FUSION FIGHTERS are not speed racing kites and
they are NOT slow either. I would call them 'medium' speed. And I'm
eager to fly them in line touch competitions to see how they perform
against the very best line touch kites available. I think they will
be quite competitive in both line touch and precision/skills
competitions. In my experience custom designed and custom made North
American style fighter kites are noticeably better flying than
FUSION FIGHTER kites, but that's to be expected. I invite you to fly
them and see for yourself. |
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WHERE DO YOU BUY THEM ?
nafka.net,
would be a
natural place to buy them, but NAFKA is not set up to sell things
other than pins. And since Kirti L. Shah is already in the kite selling
business and sells Indian fighter kites, cotton lines, gator reels,
waxed cotton line already on his web site,
oneworldkites.com, it would be a natural for him to add
this North American style kite to his line up. I asked him if it was
something he'd be interested in and with great enthusiasm he said
yes and he said he will keep the kites in stock. When at
oneworldkites.com click on
Kites, then click on 'Fusion Fighter Kites' to find the Fusion Fighter
Kites page.
If you'd like your favorite kite store to inventory these kites,
please have them contact Kirti L. Shah, at
oneworldkites.com. Wouldn't it be great to send a new
fighter kite fan to your local kite store knowing the store had
affordable fighter kites, line and gator reels to sell to a new
fighter kite fan ? |
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WHO'S THE AUDIENCE FOR THESE KITES ?
The potential customer is ANYONE interested in
flying a North American style fighter kite; new flyers as well as
experienced flyers. Because the price is low, some folks may
conclude the kite is only a 'beginners' kite. WRONG. It's a kite any
experienced flyer would enjoy flying. In fact it flies better than
many kites I've competed against in line touch competitions !
Every fighter kite flyer, should have a few FUSION FIGHTER kites in
their kite box. Not only to fly them, but also to use when
introducing new people to fighter kite flying. After experiencing
the fun of flying the FUSION FIGHTER, a new flyer can order his own
FUSION FIGHTERS on line from
oneworldkites.com or, hopefully, from your local kite
store. Not only are the FUSION FIGHTER kites available at
oneworldkites.com, they also offer good waxed flying
line and gator reels. An entire starter package is very affordable ! |
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FUN GRIN-PASTING 'ONE-DESIGN' COMPETITIONS.
One other aspect this kite provides is the
development of true 'One-Design' competitions. It is true that not
each kite performs EXACTLY the same as each other kite, but they are
surprisingly close. In my opinion they are uniform enough to make a
One-Design competition truly fun and competitive. This opens the
door to many really fun possibilities! Possibilities where the
purpose is to draw more participants, especially newer flyers, with
easy and fun competitions! And every participant's kite is as much a
winner as each other participant's, what fun ! |
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BigFusionFighterGrins,
Bruce. |
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Fusion Fighter
Article by Bruce
Lambert. |
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