This is my first letter to the magazine. I'll be brief because time is short.
Has anybody out there got a Wapping Editor ROM suitable for a BBC Master 128 with all the bits and pieces, and is it for sale? If it is, could you get in touch with me?
Would anyone be interested in discussing the merits or otherwise of the Wapping Editor ROM (My own is for a BBC+)? It took me ages to figure it out, maybe nine months. Loading into RAM and creating pages is slow (two minutes!). It's great when finished though. Paning and loading images on screen are almost instant. I can't get the printing in different draft modes sorted though. Line feeds keep appearing out of nowhere. Hi-Res is excellent however.
Loved the pictures on EUG #21. If anyone's interested, the designs won 'randy' Patrick Nagel the Grand Championship at the AKA Convention, Oregon in 1990. His entry was a hexagonal shaped kite called "Seven Sisters" depicting seven faces of glam women as you've seen. Brilliant stuff! He used a method called 'appliqué' layering the different pieces of sail cloth, switching them all together with a zigzag stitch and then cutting out the shapes along the stitching. This also highlights the outlines on the faces. A bit long-winded? Not when you see him do it which I had the pleasure of doing when the national kite convention was held in 'Pompey' Portsmouth 1994.
I am very interested in kites so I'll tell you about the best kite I've made to date. It's six metres wide and two metres tall based on the designs by Rogallo. He produced the first hang-gliders way back in the sixties. The tail is over 200 metres long, made from green polythene refuse sacks, which glow brightly when hit by the sun. Anyone want to buy one for a Christmas present?
About flying lines. If you have a stunt kite, braided line is best because it doesn't stretch as much as twisted line. Especially if it's a large kite that creates a lot of pull. Although I only use braided nylon or polyester for single line kites because it stops them 'bouncing' in the wind as the line stretches and then retracts. For stunt kites though they are useless. At a molecular level, these lines have round molecules. Under tension they become elongated or egg-shaped if you like and when used this characteristic causes the lines to behave like elastic bands making the response time slow. (This is the time it takes from the initial pull to the moment the kite actually turns.) Thus SPECTRA and DYNEEMA were developed. This type of man-made fibre has what is called a long chain polyethylene molecule which is already egg-shaped so doesn't stretch making the response time as close to instant as you'd ever notice.
Anyway, there you are. I hope it may be of some use to somebody and if so I could always disk in with some more information on other issues.
Must fly!
Terry Painter
Terry does make some fascinating kites. I've seen some. One looked like a strange UFO on Southsea common.
1st December 1995