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Infinitive
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Kitehouse Cosmic TC Standard

Fri Oct 24, 2008 6:35 pm

I'm going to go on about Kitehouse’s Cosmic Trick Competition, designed by Christian Stahl. I’ll try to keep this short…

Construction

No need to go on about stitching, just like an Aston Martin owner doesn’t need to go on about the paintwork. It is as close to perfect as they come. A thing I didn’t like about the kite is the C-clips which prevent access to the LE ferrule without some pliers. Black tape would do. And what is that big knot over the lower-outhaul all about? It does catch lines, but if you undo it the line is larks-headed already to the fitting… odd. If you're getting hang-ups I recommend taking this knot out (and shorten the lower outhaul by an inch to keep bridle dimensions constant).

The choice of leading edge (6mm pultruded) is quite surprising for such a large kite (2.5m), but it works. The kite remains flyable in perhaps 4mph where other kites would fail. Of course this compromises the other end of the wind spectrum: (1) it flaps its wings in still-trickable range, about 13mph; (2) the leading edges are more fragile than kites which are fully framed in tapering carbon. I personally don’t mind that too much, 6mm carbon is cheap and it is easy to fix this vulnerable spar. Either way, I prefer the kite being able to fly low and be fragile than struggle in low winds and be robust.

I'm not really a fan of the panel layout, filling out the colouriser was a nightmare. Those long thin line panels are just awful. Something about it just doesn't... doesn't... tessellate. Ah well, you can't have everything.

Flight

For a kite which is called "Trick Competition", the precision is exceptional on the default bridle. I haven’t even tried moving the nose back (with the totally adjustable bridle), but I’m sure you could squeeze awesome lines out of the TC if you so wished.
Tricking the kite will not be a doddle for everyone. Naturally it isn’t like a ¾ size kite, doesn’t trick as forgivingly, and requires fairly full-on inputs. It has a deadspot in the pancake position, which can be overcome with careful slack. It has another deadspot when it is nose-towards, belly-up, lines underneath position a-la-JL, where the kite wants to be dead-level to turn back to fade quickly. Still, it’s not a major problem after a while, as long as the other aspects of the JL are sound, it’ll be fine.
Flat-spins are where it excels, and it is the first kite that I can get multiple-flat-spins out of. It’s difficult, but if your first 540 is fast then another pop as it comes around and it’ll keep going. I’ve never come across a kite which comes close to doing this. Slots are beautiful, tazs even better, though need good timing.

No need to mention lazies, fades, cometes or backspins. (Does that count as a mention?) The way that this kite transcends the turtle stability / cometeability problem is just eerie, but it does just that, both cometeing and lazying beautifully. Maybe that's something to do with the leading edge: if you look down it it is it more three straight lines, that looks like one from the front.


Anyway, that's it, erm I love this kite, it is brimming with style, made by fastidious people who really care about their kites, and just feels really mature in the sky. Not mature as in 'not fun', but that it understands the past and builds on it. Right I've gone on enough. Oh yeah it is crap at crazy copters. Never liked that trick much. Who called it a "crazy copter" anyway??!
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Re: Kitehouse Cosmic TC Standard

Sat Oct 25, 2008 11:04 am

Nice one Al :thumbsup: just a couple of things:

Infinitive wrote:
The choice of leading edge (6mm pultruded) is quite surprising for such a large kite (2.5m), but it works. The kite remains flyable in perhaps 4mph where other kites would fail. Of course this compromises the other end of the wind spectrum: (1) it flaps its wings in still-trickable range, about 13mph; (2) the leading edges are more fragile than kites which are fully framed in tapering carbon. I personally don’t mind that too much, 6mm carbon is cheap and it is easy to fix this vulnerable spar. Either way, I prefer the kite being able to fly low and be fragile than struggle in low winds and be robust.


Piero and Miles were flying their std's last week-end at Bath in way+30mph, now I wont tell you it looked comfortable but nothing broke! Yes after about 10mph or so the wing-tips do clatter but I believe that helps dissipate the power to not only slow the kite down but also to help precision. Structil is not ordinary 6mm pultruded, it has more in common with P series spars than 6mm Exel for instance. The Purley boy's and I have discussed this to death..............

BTW. Bryan has fully stuffed the LE's on his vtd. Cosmic and in last week-ends BIG wind seemed to work very well :D

Infinitive wrote:
Oh yeah it is crap at crazy copters. Never liked that trick much. Who called it a "crazy copter" anyway??!


You sure it's the kite :wink:
 
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portley777
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Sat Oct 25, 2008 12:27 pm

Thanks for the review mate! The Cosmics rock no question (even with those warts)! I do confer with it being a pretty handy heavy wind standard. Could the smaller sail area be a factor too (for a bigger kite)?

Cheers,
Mike
Last edited by portley777 on Sat Oct 25, 2008 10:28 pm, edited 1 time in total.
 
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Infinitive
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Sat Oct 25, 2008 3:30 pm

OK apologies for sullying the TC name - I'm crap at copters on it.

And I agree it doesn't break in flight, it just doesn't respond well to mistimed landings as other kites do.
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Miles F
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Sat Oct 25, 2008 4:39 pm

Nice review Al, on the subject of misstimed landings and general abuse, both Piero and I (Brian and Phil too I think?) have reinforced the leading edges internally at the ferrule with some carbon. Much in the same way Tim B did with his Structil leading edges.

While it won't stop the "wing tip shimmy" in a blow it does reduce the chances of breakage. Brian has used a full length internal carbon tube to reinforce his vent which seems a really good move. This gives a removable reinforcement to beef up the LEs when its very windy and adds a little weight too, no bad thing when the trees are bent over double! I will try this myself when my vent arrives :cool:
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Sun Oct 26, 2008 11:08 am

I still managed to break one with reinforcement at the ferrule :oops:
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bryan beasley
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Sun Oct 26, 2008 7:00 pm

Nice write up Al, and Crazy Copters are a challenge to start with (along with the art of missing the dead spots ;-) ), but well worth the persistence in trying.

Re. leading edges, we know that by design the LE's are single piece, and hence a bit more robust. Ours are ferulled for shipping, so some stregthening cerainly doesn't hurt asumming the balance isn't compromised. In the case of the vent, the full length stuffing certainly strengthens the whole thing, but also adds momentum to spin moves and sharpens the whole thing up in stronger winds.

I haven't touched the set up for any of the others in the range (STD included)

Bryab
 
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Sun Oct 26, 2008 9:05 pm

dragonfly wrote:
Can't see why not either changing the LE to a one piece one [first thing I have done to my Gemini], or asking Kitehouse to ship a proper full length LE, since we all know any ferrule is a weak spot. Think Thomas would oblige. Would also solve this problem:-



The problem is not with Kitehouse but with the Post office, they won't handle anything over 150cm.
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Mon Oct 27, 2008 10:53 am

Infinitive wrote:
I still managed to break one with reinforcement at the ferrule :oops:

apparently breakages indicate you're trying hard enough... :cool:
 
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Mon Oct 27, 2008 12:32 pm

Sub wrote:
apparently breakages indicate you're trying hard enough... :cool:


Glad to see you've listened to what Vee's been saying then :-)
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Craig
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Mon Oct 27, 2008 11:22 pm

dragonfly wrote:
711jrp wrote:
The problem is not with Kitehouse but with the Post office, they won't handle anything over 150cm.

Who needs the post office when you can have a courier...? :P


I can personally deliver and give an hours tuition for £500.............anybody 8)
 
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Tue Oct 28, 2008 1:39 am

I took Craig up on that option it's well worth the dough!!
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Tue Oct 28, 2008 2:26 am

Craig wrote:
I can personally deliver and give an hours tuition for £500.............anybody 8)


So.. if I come and collect the kite in person, does that mean the LE doesn't have to be broken down? and I can pay you in freshly laundered... ahem cash :cool: