What is the difference between the Bandit Mk1 and Mk2? What is a Bandit Mk1 worth without a turbine?

They changed the way the wing mounts to use the top hatch only, and deleted the bottom hatch from the fuselage. There were some other changes, but basically the Mk2 is just a refined Mk1.

There is a very clean Mk1 on the classifieds that a friend of mine is selling RTF with P-70 for $3400.. It's very well taken care of..

They added a wing tube on the mk2 which cut down assembly time from about 15min to about 2min. Now all you have to do is slide the wing on and put one bolt in underneath like the bvm bobcat. I just recently sold my mk1 for $2000, everything minus turbine, electric retracts, servos, etc

i sold my MK1 for same reason.....took too long to set up. Glad I sold early as they have come down on resale price significantly.

thanks for the quick replies. I was considering a Bandit Mk1 with a Merlin100. My flying field is very thick sod grass and my flash with a Merlin 140 struggles to take to take off, sometimes it won't leave the ground. Do you think a Bandit Mk1 would have better success taking off from very thick grass?

Every time I overshot our 500 ft. runway into the grass the landing gear flex plates broke.

aehaas

no,not really. It is still has heavy wing loading and small wheels. As stated above, you'd be replacing flex plates constantly. Not recommended.

What everyone else said here.

I've yet to get a MK2, I hope I don't "have" to as I still love my MK1 and as I never take the wings off so assembling it is moot.

I love bandits too btw!

I'll building an mk1 now original composite bandit. Is there a way i can make easier to assemble?

Yes....use only one fwd bolt per wing.

An “Original Composite” Bandit is a different model than either of the BARFs, but they do share the same wing spar system as the Mk I BARF.
The big deal with field assembly is the forward wing spar has an in-board bolt which needs to be accessed from the belly pan. (Remove and refit belly pan for each assembly) Not sure you can get around this.

My suggestion,

• Leave the stabs and fin on.
• Fit the EZ connect air system.
• Fit a 6 pin plug for the electrics in each wing.

Fitting the wings only, should not take more than 5-6 mins.

Original Bandits are the coolest.. :-)

Some long nose pliers or forceps are a good thing to own..

LOL!! That would work..

Only take off one wing for transport

That's exactly what I was thinking, but still have to mess with belly pan. Im wondering if a 60" wide trailer will be ok to leave both wings on if I can angle it in.

Man this bandit versioning thing is like Rambo, Rambo first blood, Rambo II, John Rambo.
MK1, II super bandit, balsa bandit, composite bandit.

Interestingly I like the super bandit looks better (what some call a pregnant fish). But I got it for free so I cannot complain. I managed to retrofit the purple retracts too.

Can the belly pan be affixed with strong magnets that inset into some wood (meaning the magnets on the pan go inside some wood in the fuse, to meet another magnet). These things been around forever I highly doubt I can do anything better than what BVM did. I did go with high flow fuel fittings though!

A couple vids I have been doing, seems not a lot of interest anymore in these old builds. Probably doesn't help I suck at making vids and my shop is damn mess.

All the parts and stuff

Retrofitting purple retracts

Purple retract installed

super cool vids, please keep posting.

I don't know if it will go through a 60 inch opening, only one way to find out.

EDIT: the coolest part of the video is seeing the plans, that you can actually measure off of and make changes, I doubt we will ever see these again in the hobby when BV stops making kits. What a shame

Some more tips on your gear mounting.

Make sure you know what the distance will be from the tire on the ground to whatever reference you want on the outboard retract mount. In other words, you want to make sure the planes sits correctly. Bandits can be tricky to rotate and they can also drag the tails on landing so you don't want to inadvertently change the main gear length. Your mains look a little short to my eye. And make sure that the main wheels track straight when extended before you permanently glue everything in, very important

If you can, go ahead and get 3 inch tires to fit. Also, double up the carbon fiber gear mounts, the stock are too weak for my taste, I know guys that run aluminum, home made mounts that will bend instead of break, I use titanium mounts because that sounds very cool :-)

Sorry you used a dremel to cut those panels out, that is a tough way to do it and you can really make a mess, I use a razor saw, see the picture. You tack glue a brass fence along the cut line and cut with a razor saw

The spanwise tilt of the gear is correct, and get the tires as deep into the wing as possible. They must touch the upper skin to get everything to fit.

I like the older bandit but I prefer the fuel in the super, you can get almost one gallon

All,
FYI, there is currently a review of the BVM Super (Balsa) Bandit on the User Product Reviews segment of the RCU Forums. A bit dated but still some good info.
Regards,
Art ARRO

I really hi-jacked this thread, sorry. Matt whats your email, can I email questions? I am also happy to post in RCU but its down half the time.

BTW the razor saws I have, are made by EXCEL. Are those junk? They dull out quickly, like after a few inches. I did have better luck with a mini hacksaw like this:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00XINFEQQ...a-313102827340

The blade stick outs. I am going to try your method. But the saws I am using, even the hacksaw, dull out. Id need 7 of them per panel!

Id like to chat more about the tires, they have 1/4" clearance from the door opening and the former, so getting another 1/4" bigger tire I may be hitting something since I doubt I can more than 1/8" accurate of the location its supposed to be.

I plan to get this up on its feet, and have a look before I do anything permanent. Mostly tacking things with 5 min, and then will fillet hysol all around.

Just go ahead and post here, I mean look at the other threads.......you are the only one I see actually building something!

Yes I use excel, zona or xacto saws. They dull quickly, especially when going through carbon structures. One trick I use is to use the end of the saw to first penetrate the cut, then switch to a saw blade that I have removed the back from, then saw that way (see the picture).

The corner ends of the saw dull quickly, so just cuts the saws shorter with a cuttoff wheel for a fresh set of teeth.