American Kitefliers Association

Similar to cellular paper kites seen in Cervia this year... husband Kevin will know, when I can find him to ask... !

Nope, correct that last... Kevin says, not the same kite, and no idea.  Sorry!

My daughter loves the items in this commercial - not the kite - but the robot, the jet wintg, and the hydrofoil surfboard.   I recognized the kite immediately from seeing it discussed previously.  It made me wonder how much the creators got paid to let Honda use a clip of already existing footage that (so far as I know) has zero to do with Honda. 



The kite is a derivative AGB tetrahedron - just arranged in a cube - called Little Shining Man.  An artwork conceived by Ivan and Heather, Designed by Sash Reading, Engineered and Fabricated by Queen & Crawford using the CKJ_01 kite joint system (3d printer printed plastic fittings).  Handmade in Birmingham, UK at the Queen & Crawford Workshops.  It required a lifter to fly it.  And it reportedly crashed on landing and was destroyed.

Video here and several other places.
http://vimeo.com/33854937

Little Shining Man
2011
Carbon fibre, 3D printed joint system, Cuben Fibre.

Commissioned by Dandara, Jersey

Detail design and fabrication:   
Queen + Crawford   
Technical consultation:
Sash Reading
Video production and editing:
JimandTonic
Photography:   
Matt Porteous


Little Shining Man is a sculpture that has the potential for flight. The design of the structure is based around the tetra kites of Alexander Graham Bell, multiplied out into colliding cubes that take their form from the cubic formations of the mineral Pyrite. A double wing module has been duplicated and arranged into a tight cellular structural arrangement that appears as a heavy, un-flyable mass. Utilising lightweight materials and the symmetry of the module and composition, it is able to fly freely and steadily.
The kite flown in the images is one section of an arrangement of three, that come together to create the final piece of sculpture that is taken own from display once a year to be flown in St. Aubin’s Bay.
There were several challenges in realising Little Shining Man. The structure had to be as strong and light as possible in order to fly, but had to return to earth with minimal damage so it could be installed as a piece of sculpture. Carbon fibre rod and Cuben fibre, a hand made composite fabric used primarily in racing yacht sails, achieved the perfect combination of strength and weight. The visual impact of the fabric produces an ethereal sense of depth and refraction that gives the heavy mass the lightest touch.
Queen & Crawford designed a joint system, the CKJ_01, a universal Nylon joint that would handle every connection in the composition. They work closely with 3TRPD in Newbury who are at the cutting edge of the Rapid Prototyping Industry. Printing the joints allows design, production, testing and refinement in a short time frame. The material is light and strong, perfect for this application.
More than 23,000 individual components make up the complete structure. Entirely assembled by hand; from design through to delivery more than 16 months of work.
Matthew Higginbottom, Queen + Crawford, 2011

I made that...

I run a specialist design and fabrication workshop in Birmingham UK called Queen & Crawford.

Everything that TBHinPhilly says is quite true except that the kite did not crash on landing, it gently floated back down into my hands (phew).

It is now hanging in the atrium at Castle Quay in St. Hellier, Jersey (Channel Isles).

I would be delighted to discuss this further if anyone is still interested.

Matthew

Hi Mathew,  brilliant Kite . I would love for you to post a picture of the kite while it's hanging on display. I studied the structure but the video didn't show much fine detail. Again fantastic creation. I'm partial to cellular designs.  I've been to Swindon (M4) a few times ,if I return is the kite on display near by?

CLIFFORD

Hi Clifford,

That's very kind of you.

I have included some photographs of the installation and the kite hanging as it can now be found. It is displayed as a configuration of 3 kites. Originally the intention had been to fly this as 1 massive kite but test flying proved this configuration to be somewhat lacking in terms of lift.

I too have an interest in cellular structures, this particular kite was fantastically robust.

Jersey(where the kite now hangs) is one of the Channel Isles and is much closer to France than England. Quite a diversion from Swindon but a very beautiful part of the world (strong winds too).

I do have a surplus of the joints used to build the kite if you or anyone else is interested in experimenting with similar structures.

Thanks again,m

Matthew

Matthew,

Thank you for all the additional information.  I have admired the kite for awhile and am glad to hear that news of its demise was incorrect.

Nice to see that it found a display home as well. 

Ben

I noticed that the connectors were made with a 3-D printer. Interesting! I think a couple years ago there was a discussion in the Kitebuilder Forum about the potential use of that sort of technology to produce kite parts. Looks like the future is now!

Regarding 3d printing of kite joints.

The printing technology that was used to create these joints was an SLS machine (selective laser sintering) that is currently slightly beyond most small workshops or home users (including my own I hasten to add).

I have yet to experiment with the  home printing machines (reprap/makerbot etc.) but see no reason why they wouldn't be ideal for creating kite components. In the case of little shining man we needed almost 4000 joints and I didn't have the time I felt would be needed to resolve issues that would arise from printing in house on a newly purchased machine.