Toms Kite Building Site

building your own trickkite

The Sail

step 3: Putting together and glueing the sail parts

step 4: Sewing the two halves of the sail

step 5: Glueing the two halves (at the spine)

step 6: Glueing the fortification for the stand-offs

step 7: Glueing Mylar or Ripstop as fortification

step 8: Sewing the fortification for the spine and stand-offs

step 9: Glueing and sewing of the fortification for the upper spreader

step 10: Glueing and sewing the Ripstop for the “trailing edges”

step 11: Glueing of the nose bag

step 12: Sewing of the spine tunnel

step 13: Glueing and sewing of the fortification for the central-T

step 14: Glueing of the leading edges

step 15: Marking the leading edges and the nosebag

step 16: Sewing of the leading edges and the nosebag

step 17: Inserting the leechline

step 18: Glueing and sewing of the fortification of the nose

step 19: Cutting out the space for the yoyo stoppers

step 20: The holes for tensioning the leading edges and placing the stand-offs

Step 3: Putting together and glueing the sail parts

1. Turn the hardboard with the plan on top to glue the sail together.


2. Fix the sail part that is closest to the spine at the left side of the plan.


Watch Out: Check that the sail parts align perfectly with the outside border of the kite.


3. Then fix the sail part that comes below the first part.


4. Apply a small line of glue in the middle of the seam on the sail part with the brightest color.


Watch Out: The darkest color sail part is always glued on top of a brighter color, that makes the seam invisible from the front side of the kite. The part we are working on now is the front side of the right side of the kite.


5. Put the sail parts on each other and press them together with your fingertips. You may keep them on their spot with a piece of paper tape.


Watch Out: Make sure that the sail parts are glued together nice and flat without deforming the fabric.


6. Repeat the steps above until you have completed the half sail that is on the plan. The last part to glue is always the part that includes the tip.


7. Now put together and glue the left half of the kite.

Watch Out: With the left half, you must reverse the order of the parts and glue brighter parts on top of the darker ones. Also work your way from the spine towards the tip. Best is to use paper tape and tape the parts on top of the right side of the kite.