We packed our stuff and headed to Julian’s site to test his huge kite/balloon. Since the balloon was so big, we decided to attach two cameras, a canon powershot and a flip. In retrospect, that was a bad idea since we did not test the balloon before.
And here is the balloon in the sky
Apparently the string got cut at the 500 ft mark. Here is Jeff and Julian running after the balloon
Here you could see the balloon as a small black dot in the sky. Hopefully some lucky guy has our cameras.
sweet balloon- it looks close in shape to the first generation of observational kite-balloons, the Paseval-Sigfeld design, refined and used from approximately 1895-1915). I’ve been thinking that that simple early design would be an easy kite balloon to build.
The Parseval-Sigfeld had two bladders (or chambers) inside, a hydrogen lift bladder up front, and an air bladder to maintain rigidity in the back. It has one lower fin that in the wind pressurizes the internal air bladder.
This scale model is better than the period photographs in showing the design:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v11/alexbigey/aeroscale6/DSCN1555.jpg
A more contemporary kite balloon is the helikite:
http://www.allsopphelikites.com/
Keep up the awesome work!!