Author Topic: It is c/l... (Read 3701 times)

Bootlegger · « **on:** March 30, 2008, 11:35:07 AM »

Hey Guy's,
I am looking for a paper kite like we flew back in the 50's. Ya'll remember them, 2 sticks and an American Flag logo on them.
My Grandson is getting big enough to take kite flying and I would like to get one for him.
I am building one now, and would like to find some of the older ones.
Used to see them in Drug stores Supermarkets and such.
If you have some suggestions please help...
Thanks, A greatful Paw-Paw...

Bill Gruby · « **Reply #1 on:** March 30, 2008, 12:19:10 PM »

Hi Flier Kites --- Remember them well. Owned a bunch. They were a dime, then went to a quarter then fifty cents. That's the last time I saw one. This link will jog the old gray matter. A little history.

"Billy G"

http://www.duntemann.com/hiflierkites.htm

Ray · « **Reply #2 on:** March 30, 2008, 01:32:05 PM »

My kites were plastic, winged & keeled, but the toy store had the old "paper" styles as well, or at least they had the oblong diamond shaped ones, but I think some were using a mylar covering and plastic sticks instead of paper with spruce sticks. I've seen pictures of a second paper and wood type, called a "box" kite, but if anyone was selling those when I flew kites, I missed them.

minnesotamodeler · « **Reply #3 on:** March 30, 2008, 08:31:59 PM »

Go to your local Dollar store. They have them here.

--Ray

Bob Disharoon · « **Reply #4 on:** March 31, 2008, 06:45:50 AM »

The box kites were my favorite..needed less wind to fly, but you had to be careful putting them together..loota tension on the sticks to get them into position.

...HD

George · « **Reply #5 on:** March 31, 2008, 08:16:55 AM »

Quote from: Bill Gruby on March 30, 2008, 12:19:10 PM

Hi Flier Kites --- Remember them well. Owned a bunch. They were a dime, then went to a quarter then fifty cents. That's the last time I saw one. This link will jog the old gray matter. A little history.

"Billy G"

http://www.duntemann.com/hiflierkites.htm

Kite story: Shortly after my Dad returned from WW2, we were flying one of those ten-cent kites. It was a windy day and the kite was flying well. We had almost two balls of string on it when a gust hit it and broke the string. Dad and I took a walk to see if we could find it. Lo and behold, here came a guy with a kite in his hands walking toward us. Seems he and a bunch of others were enjoying just watching it fly from several blocks away (we were on a hill) and saw it going down. He had retrieved it and was looking for the owner.

Imagine someone today taking the time to return a ten-cent kite.

That was in the late forties (I was ~ 5), a slow paced, much happier time...or was it because I was a kid then?

George

taildragger-j3 · « **Reply #6 on:** March 31, 2008, 08:57:48 AM »

I agree with Bob. Box kites were the coolest. I never did figure out the aerodynamics on it, but it was fun watching it in the air.

don Burke · « **Reply #7 on:** March 31, 2008, 10:21:53 AM »

Box kites were my favorites, too. But they sure came down fast and destroyed themeselves when they stalled.

Leo Mehl · « **Reply #8 on:** March 31, 2008, 10:31:48 AM »

When I was a Kid and that was a long time ago I used to make my kites out of wraping paper, two sticks and flower past They flew good but the hardest part was finding enough rags for the tail. I think this was my first lesson on aerodynamics. Oh yes and it was hard to find kite string in those days. I am leaving myself wide open here.

Bootlegger · « **Reply #9 on:** March 31, 2008, 12:37:57 PM »

Guy's Thanks for the suggestions and for the memories. I built one yesterday afternoon using 1/8x1/4" spruce sticks, and covered it with the Sunday comics. It'll be ready when my Grandson comes back.
Again thanks for the help...

john e. holliday · « **Reply #10 on:** March 31, 2008, 06:14:50 PM »

Quote from: George Bain on March 31, 2008, 08:16:55 AM

Kite story: Shortly after my Dad returned from WW2, we were flying one of those ten-cent kites. It was a windy day and the kite was flying well. We had almost two balls of string on it when a gust hit it and broke the string. Dad and I took a walk to see if we could find it. Lo and behold, here came a guy with a kite in his hands walking toward us. Seems he and a bunch of others were enjoying just watching it fly from several blocks away (we were on a hill) and saw it going down. He had retrieved it and was looking for the owner.

Imagine someone today taking the time to return a ten-cent kite.

That was in the late forties (I was ~ 5), a slow paced, much happier time...or was it because I was a kid then?

George

Hey George, 10 cents was a lot of money in those days. In the 50's as a teenager I picked apples and pears for 10 cents a bushel. DOC Holliday

Shultzie · « **Reply #11 on:** March 31, 2008, 06:29:38 PM »

Here is my new kite...if DINKUS-BUSH shows me the $$$$?

Prism Quantum Pro UL Only $300.oo or if you want to save a little scratch...go for the SOUL
Only $250 bucks

nice video if I can make this link work
http://gwtw-kites.com/

Bill Heher · « **Reply #12 on:** March 31, 2008, 07:07:31 PM »

Does anyone else remember saving Green Giant vegatable can labels and sending them in for the "HO HO Ho Green GIANT!!" kite? It was about 2x a regular Hi-flier kite and had the Giant on it. It was a great flier, and the other kids were "Green" with envy when we broke that bad boy out at the school yard!

I also remember splitting wooden yard sticks to use for sticks and Sunday comics for covering. Newspaper got soggy fast, Dad showed us how use Mom's Aqua Net hairspray to make them a bit longer lasting, but if you sprayed it on too thick the ink on the funnies would run. Also Mom got madder than a wet hen when you used all her hairspray up, but we had 5 sisters- so we always blamed it on them.

Norm Faith Jr. · « **Reply #13 on:** March 31, 2008, 11:10:14 PM »

High Quality box kites have been used in military survival kits to signal with and carry aloft emergency radio antennas. They were made of aluminum tubing and Dacron.
I used to duplicate the Hi-Fliers using recycled split yard sticks, newspaper, string and flour and water for glue. I have no idea how many I built for the other kids in my neighborhood.
Norm

Mike Spiess · « **Reply #14 on:** April 01, 2008, 08:42:23 AM »

The one thing I never liked about Box Kites was they never moved once in the sky I mean no swaying back and forth the only up and down was with wind speed. I though they were kinda boring. My dad made a kite one time it was 5' tall. :!He cut some cedar strips for the cross sticks and got some waxed white paper from the meat market in town. String was braided fishing line and had a giant tail. We were flying one day at the high school football field and the kite was over town. He didn't have enough weight in the tail so he tied on one of his brand new #3 Philip's screwdriver. He had over 400' of line out and it broke. He was more disappointed at losing the screwdriver than the kite.

Bootlegger · « **Reply #15 on:** April 02, 2008, 05:36:57 AM »

Wow, all these posts sure do bring back the memories."sigh" really liikong forward to the kite flying session.
Thanks for the memories....

Bill Heher · « **Reply #16 on:** April 13, 2008, 11:27:03 AM »

I can't believe this- I went to visit some friends in San Antonio, and Lynda was showing some of the treasure she found in her Mom's attic. There it was , still in the mailing tube and never assembled. An original Green Giant Kite!

Spooky karma kinda thing, it even had the letter from the Green Giant himself telling you how to fly it, and directing you let loose with a "Hearty HOHOHO!" while flying it.

Steven Kientz · « **Reply #17 on:** April 13, 2008, 01:47:47 PM »

As a teenager in the late '70s, my brother and I flew "combat" with the delta kites. It got to the point we would put sharpened dowels on the front edge to "help" your opponents kite back to earth. One of my friends gathered all the pieces and built a kite, it eventually tore everything else up. Those were the days!

Steve

Just One-eye · « **Reply #18 on:** April 13, 2008, 02:13:59 PM »

Quote from: Bill Heher on April 13, 2008, 11:27:03 AM

I can't believe this- I went to visit some friends in San Antonio, and Lynda was showing some of the treasure she found in her Mom's attic.

The amount of treasure sometimes is proportional to the amount of junk you have to go through to winnow out what is actually worth keeping, and how long it's been since it was last "winnowed". I sold my last formal dining furniture out of a rented storage room while staying in an apartment between houses, and never got back into a house the size of the ones I'd owned in Houston.

My Dining area here in this cottage in San Antonio stood in for the garage and locking store room I didn't have outside, and didn't get a thorough winnowing for the past 10-12 years. I found some missing fullsize plans, old model magazines, and few usable pieces of balsa in various old kit boxes. That's so far. I'm about 3/4 done, and have about used up all my ambition and interest in doing much more in there, and am close to the point of moving stuff from here where I have an extra PC (on a PC cart I use when I am working on a computer), to make room for someone to actually SIT on my sofa . .

Bill Little · « **Reply #19 on:** April 14, 2008, 07:11:47 AM »

Man, old Hi Flyers...... the last time I had one was when my sons were smaller! (the youngest one is almost 30!) but we sure had a blast when I was a kid. A common thing was for all us boys to ask Moms to save us all pieces of old bed sheet. I never did understand why we tied knots in the tails! If we couldn't fly our models due to the winds, we flew kites. That is almost sad to think about, since it was such a simple time..............

By the way, Gil, I am going to find a Hi Flyer for my 3 year old Grandson! (he already has a C/L plane) LOL!!

Bill <><

L0U CRANE · « **Reply #20 on:** April 15, 2008, 02:12:07 AM »

There should still be books about kites in the hobbies and crafts section of a decent town library... Even a "Golden Book of Kites" has examples of these:

A simple, cheap and dependable flier is the Scott Sled - a trash bag, three sticks, some tape is all. Fies in light winds, and practically upwind of where you are on the ground. Not very dramatic or maneuverable, and not too good in strong winds, but it can go a long way straight up in the right conditions.

For a bit more maneuverability, delta kites do nicely. Two leading edges and a cross strip to keep the swept wings spread. Bridled on a keel of the same (usually plastic) as the wings. These should still be available in "department stores." Hint: steering them is backwards - you want it to bank to fly left? Move the line to the right... Want it to climb? Pull down on the line... Makes sense if you think about it, but it just seems backwards. I wonder how many dime store delta kites were busted because the instinct was to pull it in the direction you wanted it to go...

The "standard" two-stick kite doesn't need a tail, if the bridle is located right, and it does better if it is LIGHT. Choppy winds make it more sensitive to bridle location, and make a rag-tail helpful. The knots were probably to get the weight without an excess length of cloth ...

And if you really want to go far out... Squadron (I think it was) made airplane-looking kites - Sopwith Camel, Fokker Triplane, possibly a Spirit of St Louis. Even sillier? They sold a kite in the form of a square rigged sailing ship! These flew! Really!

Many years ago, I decided that since it got windy every time I went out to fly ukie, I'd bring along a kite. Might as well, right? So, we got a lot of rain, weekends, those years... We ukies are potential techno-nerds, right? I wound up using the bottom segment of a deep-sea fishing rod, with an old deep-sea reel. The 3' extension made 'steering' a kite easier. The reel held several hundred feet of 15# monofil, and I got near the end of that many times... With a rolled up Sled hooked to the rod and reel, all it took was to shake it out to make sure the bridle wasn't fouled, lift it above your wind shadow and pay out the line. ...Up and away!

A thought: A Scott Sled in moderate breezes, *"safely near" our flying circles, can give a visible "profile" of the wind at different heights. It is amazing the changes in direction and speed that a kite line can show you. (* - "Safely near" -downwind, of course, and probably about as far away as a good portion of the height the kite reaches.) Unless the wind changes V drastically, a kite like this can sit up there hour after hour...

All basic Sled and two-stick kites are simple to make, and the kids will enjoy them more when they've made them. The deltas are probably better bought ARF.