My KAP Rig

All the fuss about the technology behind Kite Aerial Photography. It's not magic nor ghosts that Phaedrus was (ZAMM) chasing. A KAP rig generally consists of few major parts.

• A Kite...
• Kite line and preferable a winder to handle line easily
• A suspension system for a camera that will try to stabilize as the flight angles change
• A camera
• A finger long enough to release the shutter. (Intervalometer)

The rest is relatively complex and probably a "pro" way of approach to KAPing.

• A Radio Control system. (Bigger investment!)
• A video downlink to see what your rig is seeing. (Bit about it later)

The Kite

The kite is generally the major and the most debated part of KAPing as much as i read and researched while trying to build my very first KAP rig. Due to numerous reasons i decided to go with a soft kite (means no spars/rods) due to setup and transport issues. So i chose almost a standard kite Flowform FF03A by Harald Prinzler. Currently i have a 100 based FF03A which is 0.8 sqm. It is somehow able to lift my rig with current setup but definitely a 2ish sqm FF03A seems a must for me. It might be a good idea (which i haven't done) is to build/buy a bigger kite even tough the size of the cut panels might overwhelm the KAPer :). IF i had this advice i wouldn't need to double my effort by building a second FF03A at the moment. More about the Kites...

The Line & Winder

For a serious/proper KAP, high tech flight lines are used generally. But, here in Turkey, few problems rise especially trying to get such materials in retail amounts. I couldn't find a "normally" priced high tech line so after some shopping i found what is called "packaging thread". It's commercially available in lots of sizes and really cheap. One con is it wears down quiet quickly so it's better to replace if often (like every 15-20 flights). 160 meters is for about 1 Euro. So if you have a penny for every meter of that line, you'll make some money!

Winder...I'm not sure if it's a must but i am slightly "disabled" for properly handling the flight line and i used to spend significant time back home trying to untangle my line. That lead me to build a no thrills winder and since then i am tidier at the field and happier! Here comes the el-cheapo winder:

The body is a piece of scrap pine. The reel came from a long dead vacuum cleaner! I think it was the cable winder because serious amount of steel stripe popped out while removing both halves. The handles...Makes me laugh! But they were the most suitable things in the junk box (O.K. slowly expanding to a junk yard). The good old pine was tortured with carver and file. Some finishing touches were made with 80 and 160 grit papers and still waiting to get some varnish. Simple but it works. It keeps the line in front of me not on the ground tangled between the hard cut plant roots/cow droppings and all organic matter of the field. Here comes another shot:

If you look carefully at the inner rim of the winder, you'll see a slightly larger stripe, appearing to be dusty. Well, it is the thumb brake and dust from the ground glove lamination. It's grooved and provides quite well control over the line. This reel is not suitable to use a braking like the one used in Strato-spool (if the face of the reel is not machined on a lathe) due to grooves. And i assume it would dig a deep grove on the wood body because pine is not the best choice for mechanical durability.