ORIGINAL: LGM Graphix
the jet was balanced as follows.
Tanks empty but UAT full.
Canopy hatch off and gear down.
Then push the tail down to the ground, when balanced correctly it should JUST stay on the ground and maybe come back down on the nose gear very very slowly. After my first flight I ended up changing the CG so that with the canopy hatch on it would just come off the tail and slowly slowly come back down on the nose. I don't remember for sure how far that moves the CG from the instructions but I believe it's around 3/4''. When the center tank is full the jet is still nose heavy. Takes a fair bit of elevator to come off the ground.
I checked the CG of my Bandit last night using Jeremy’s method, and found it to be exactly as he describes, with canopy on. With tanks rempty it will just sit on the nose gear.
Some further tips for landing. I always use the full 40 deg flap setting when landing. I don’t use crow, but with 40deg flaps it slows down and sinks nicely. The approach should be flown with a slightly nose down attitude, and once close to the runway, I simply hold it off by feeding in up elevator until it is fully in the flair, and it sinks onto the strip. On touch down I have full up elevator, high rates. .
Bandits are actually very easy to land, BUT, if you let it touch down to early or too fast, you will end up with a rather nasty bounce.
Roger.