Cloud Bird Kite

This is another inexpensive kite from the Yonglian store on Aliexpress:
www.aliexpress...
At 3m wingspan it’s a big kite and must have been very labour intensive to make since it’s quite a complicated shape and is constructed from around 50 small pieces of fabric. Considering the size and the amount of work involved, the asking price of around $25 seems remarkable, but is it any good?
In a word -Yes. It’s clearly a copy of the George Peters ‘Cloud Bird’ design which is made by IntoTheWind.
intothewind.co...
Being almost a tenth of the price, the quality is obviously not going to be in the same league, but it’s not bad. The spars are all fibreglass, as expected, and the fabric is not the best quality, but it’s well put together and looks very imposing.
What matters is the fact that it flies well, very well in fact. Without a tail fitted it will fly vertically overhead and give you a stiff neck in no time. In the right conditions it will also readily over-fly you and then flick into a spin. So far it has always recovered before hitting the ground, but I prefer to fly with a tail attached to prevent it happening. Stability is very good as well and with a tail fitted it is rock steady.
Niggles? Well, in order to reduce the shipping length, all 6 of the spars are jointed, but only the spine and spreader need to be removed again once the kite is assembled.
There’s no option to choose a specific colour scheme and they seem to be sent out at random.
And orange edge binding; why do so many Chinese manufacturers insist on using bright orange edge binding!? It just makes the kite look cheap and nasty. Black would look so much better. Luckily it’s not really that noticeable in the air.
Summary: Great value, flies very well and looks very imposing in the air. Destined to be one of my favorites, I think.
Music: ‘Sing Aa’ by Kaj Roger Willumsen (Jamendo.com)

[@LuisCortes-uu1gm]

I have this kite in red... very nice kite

[@lancman5630]

It is indeed, one of my favorites. In fact I bought a second one, hoping to get a different colour, but they are both identical.

[@MooCowBlueKites]

Thanks for sharing a video of it flying. I have one as well that I got back in August but have yet to fly it so it is good to know it flies well. Mine is slightly different colors I think. Did you have any problems with the tension lines from the tip of the spine to the sail fabric on the leading edge? When I set mine up to inspect the knot seemed slip and the line would the become lose. Don't know if this matters for flight or not. Very pretty kite in the sky and thanks for the tip on using the tail to correct over flight.

[@lancman5630]

Ah yes, I forgot to mention the tension line. Mine was only tied at one end so I presumed you were supposed to tension it yourself. To do that in the factory would mean completely assembling and then disassembling the kite, something they wouldn't want to do I suspect. Of course there were no instructions regarding the amount of tension so I just set it up so there was no slack in the line, but no great tension either. I'm not sure it makes much difference to the flying characteristics as the kite seems pretty rigid anyway. I recommend you get yours in the air ASAP - you'll like it.

[@MooCowBlueKites]

@@lancman5630 mine was tied from the factory with some kind of slip knot but once I pulled it taught it would eventually slide back down loose. I am glad to know it probably doesn't matter. I see Premier Kites came out with kite in the same shape recently they are calling the Thunderbird with a printed Aztec or Midwest graphics on it. www.premierkites.com/products/16131?_pos=7&_sid=c74ba6b4e&_ss=r Since it its the same physical kite design with different graphics I don't know if they have to pay royalties or if any patent has expired. I am sure the Chinese sellers are not paying anything to the designer. The price point for the 11.5ft Premier version is about $77 still more than the $25 I paid for my knockoff from China.