Cleobury Mortimer 20th July 2019

Modified Ohashi box kite 1996
120 cells, 4 x 30, 164 x 750 cm
Weight: 4 kg
after Eiji Ohashi design

Windspeed 11mph+ Blackheath 26/07/2020

The office at The Japan Kite Association kindly sent a pdf copy of the Eiji Ohashi book which illustrates the basic design.
The titles are translated above.
Jørgen's configuration has five lines and the boxes have cross spars.

First look, sand to be cleaned out and rust treated

washed and waxed

Blackheath 14th July 2019 half assembled

Blackheath 14th July 2019 half assembled

First trial with pilot kite.

Chris Beel providing help and advice.

The spacer bar connects to the pilot kite.

We had a few moments of fully powered flight where the structure flies at a high aspect. At that point the pilot kite would appear to be pulling the top of the box structure back into the power zone, not lifting vertically.

After our efforts at Cleobury Mortimer I was curious to find out how the JMH Expansible box kite 1996 handled in what we knew was too much wind.
11th August 2019

A bit of a handful...

Ready to un-roll...
20th July 2019

This was a speculative set-up that proved to be almost entirely correct according to the illustrations that we saw subsequently in the Eiji Ohashi book. It would have been flown from the pole though, not with an additional single line.

It is quite an extraordinary structure. The steel 'D' rings used have been cleaned and waxed so should not rust further provided we keep them dry. The polythene tubing is looking ok. The cross spar fittings look a bit fragile but none have broken at this stage... Inevitably we have broken plenty of the sticks!

These images were 'found' (stumbled across really) on FB 10th July 2026. Detlef has been contacted in case higher resolution versions are available!

Getting this kite construction in the air again is quite high on the list of 'things to do'!

Taking a hint from Peter Malinski a lifter option had been set up but only tried tentatively back in 2020!