Parachutes for bt-5?

I've been building quite a few bt-5 based downscales. I love flying these, but sometimes miss having parachute recovery instead of a streamer. Has anyone had luck using a tiny chute? If so; what size did you use and what material did you use? Thanks for any input!

CenturiKid said:

I've been building quite a few bt-5 based downscales. I love flying these, but sometimes miss having parachute recovery instead of a streamer. Has anyone had luck using a tiny chute? If so; what size did you use and what material did you use? Thanks for any input!

Click to expand...

I use parasheets down to 3" in MicroMaxx models. what work fine as long as you have light enough should lines that they don't overwhelm the canopy at ejection.

materials are as varied as there are sizes to produce. but 1/4mil metalized mylar often used in Compeitition chutes is ideal for smaller parasheet fabrication. I use 13lb 2 strand kevlar thread from Edmund Scientific for all my competition and tiny sport flying parasheets with chrome monokote adhesive backed vinyl for shroud attachment tapes. A 600yard roll is about 20 bucks will last you a very long time while completely eliminating shroud burnoffs and greatly reduces the bulk of cotton or other thread lines. NO I do not recommend tying shrouds to mylar or plastic chutes..causes far to many ripped corners. Tying a simple overhand knot in the ends of the shroud lines and burnishing down the tape discs make all the difference in keeping lines attached permanently to the canopy. OBTW Apogee no longer sells the 1/4mil mylar shown but A.S.P.inc. does have 1/2mil that will work just as well for sport flying chutes.

Hope this stuff helps.

Below is a pictorial on how I'm made Competition parasheets for years. the practice can be used on sport chutes as well.



View attachment MM 3to6in Chute Pattern Dwg_11-04-02.pdf

View attachment 6-Shroud line (12 attachment points)-b1c_12-03-09.pdf

It looks like Micro has you covered for building your own.

If you want to buy a chute and not worry about cutting it out, try Hartle Engineering. Ed produces a nice product down to 6". He goes under the name "Evil Ed" here on TRF.

Drop me a PM with your mailing address and I'll send y'all a few freebies.

Evil Ed

Thanks for the information. The amount or knowledge on this forum always amazes me. It will be great to see some of these tiny models float in as the original designers intended