My TIM
was built using a plan from Jürgen
Arthofer, that he published at the end of 1995 in the newsgroup maus.kites.
The kite has a 49" leading edge and a wingspan of slightly less than 78".
The windrange depends on the materials used. I've built mine with 0.2400"
carbon tubes and Carrington K42 fabric. It flew nice at about 6.5 to 7.5 mph,
but it obviously felt much better in 12.5 mph or higher winds :-)
I mostly followed the original plan but I took the freedom to change
the suggested sail design a little (heavy) and to give it a wider nose
(2.4").
The first flight took place in January 1997 at the Viennese Danube
Island. The field was buried under a thin, iced layer of snow and it was
fxxxing cold :-) But I forgot about the unfriendly temperature when the
Tim with its dizzling behaviour made me sweat very soon.
As you will have recognized I'm talking about a very agile and easy tricking
kite. I can only agree to Jürgen's statement that it's a good do-it-yourself
alternative to kites like the Psycho or the Box Of Tricks. I did almost
all of the known (and sometimes some still unknown :-) ) tricks like
Axel, Double Axel, Cuckoo Clock, etc. at the first try.
On the other hand I was surprised about the very good tracking when flying
straight lines and the astonishing low tendency to oversteer even after
crispy 90° turns.
In spring of 1997 I started experimenting with turbo-bridles on
different kites. Amongst other kites also my Tim got one. The result was
amazing: Although the kite was relatively "precise" for a small
trick kite before, it became even a little more stable in "normal
flight mode" with the new bridle. But as soon as I switched it into
the "trick mode" by causing the right amount of oversteer (using
a snap or spin) it behaved even wilder than before.
The greatest advantage in my opinion was that the kite could be driven
out of nearly every situation very clean just by setting both steering
lines to the "neutral" position. With the original bridle it
sometimes had a tendency to fall nose forward after treating it too wild
so that it had lost all of the pressure in its sail. But that wasn't really
a problem: A sharp pull on both lines always made it stand up and go on
flying. The turbo-bridle only caught it easier in such a case and flipped
it up without the help of the pilot.
So, here comes the sad end (sensible minds might want to go on surfing
now :-) ):
On Friday, the 20th of June 1997 we had about 19 to 31 mph wind from the
West, thus the ideal weather for the Tim. ;-)
After a belly landing (nose pointing at me) I had the chance to try if
the Tim is able to perform a "dead launch" (and it actually was!)
A few seconds after that a bridle line and the steering line of the opposite
side broke simultaneously in a sudden gust which hit the Tim right after
a launch in the center and power zone of the wind window. Within seconds
the kite disappeared out of sight with a graceful raise/glide flight. An
immediate search had to be ended unsuccessfully after two hours.
Besides the loss of the kite I'm annoyed mostly because I couldn't proceed
with my experiments with a turbo-bridle on small trick kites.
My Tim is still missing. I suppose it has been picked up by a passer-by
or it has landed in a garden in the area around Hameaustraße/Keylwerthgasse
in the 19th district of Vienna. I'm thinking about offering a reward of
any kind for getting it back. My Tim is the only one with this sail design
(22 pieces). I still have the templates at home but I intentionally do
not build another one, so that the missing one is still unique. It is by
the way marked with silver paint-pen on the Dacron of the wing tips: the
left one says "Tim", the right one "A.S. Vienna 1/97".
If you happen to see it somewhere please drop me a line.
Enough whining, back to the index page
This page is maintained by Alfred Schwarz.
Last modified on 3.Dez.1997.