Kevin Greene

My Feedback: (85)

Thanks for the reply, Gordon. I guess that it won't be necessary to try to go into too much detail concerning the Bandit/Super Bandit differences for me----Cause I just pulled the trigger on a balsa SUPER BANDIT today!!!!!!! I will be following your posts diligently. I can hardly wait. All day I've been singin' "It's Christmas early for me!!! It's Christmas early for me!!!!!!!"

Kevin

Gordon Mc

My Feedback: (11)

Alright !! Congratulations. Did you go for the straight fin or the swept one ?

If you think I can be of any assistance once you start building, don't hesitate to contact me.

Gordon

Kevin Greene

My Feedback: (85)

Gordon,

I have not made up my mind yet. I told Patty that I would decide by Wednesday. I'm leaning toward the swept fin but I believe that the straight fin will knife edge better. My Ultra Viper had some minor roll coupling in knife edge flight but my Mavericks and Agressor III with the straight fin did not. I like the lines of the swept fin better---looks racier.

Thanks for the offer of help. I will definitely keep tabs on your building thread. I have built several BVM kits in the past and I'm anxious to begin construction on this new and improved model. The last built-up wing that I built was several years ago!!! This will be like old times---but with a new technological twist.

Kevin

Kevin Greene

My Feedback: (85)

Gordon has posted some more info and pics so I'm bumping this up so that folks will know that more has been added to his thread. I picked up three sets of those 1 2 3 blocks. After looking at them I dont see how I ever got along without them!!! Keep up the good work, Gordon!!! P.S.....My Super Bandit will arrive early next week!!!

Kevin

Gordon Mc

My Feedback: (11)

That's good news Kevin ... hope you have fun building it.

Feel free to drop me a note if I can help with anything. While my answers are not "official" like answers from BVM would be, I'm happy to share my ignorance with all of you. (Just remember that my knowledge may be worth exactly what you pay for it !)

Anyway - my in-laws have finished their 1 month visit, so I'm now getting back to building. Only problem is, I picked up James Patterson's latest paperback, and can't seem to put it down either, so I'm gonna be building with one hand, holding the book with another, and typing with my feet. Not sure what will come out the worst in that situation - the posts, or the build that I'm only paying partial attention to.

Later,
Gordon

Kevin Greene

My Feedback: (85)

Gordon,

Throw that book down and start building!!! When I get my Bandit it will only take me an hour or so to catch up to you!!!! (Snicker! HA! HA! Snicker!) I will need to keep you far enough ahead in your building so that you can continue to find any sticky areas to make building mine a breeze. Haven't you heard of "Books on Tape"??? Keep up the good work!!!

Kevin

Gordon Mc

My Feedback: (11)

Updates...

BVM Customer Service:
I have just had confirmation that following a couple of minor issues identified during this build, BVM has sent out the following to early Super balsa bandit customers:

1) Main gear plywood strut cover plates (missing in the kits)
2) Main gear door cylinder mount (mis-sized in the kits)
3) Updated page 10 of the instruction manual (build-sequence change for cylinder mount)

If you have a composite Super Bandit, you do not need these parts or the instruction change - only the built-up wings need these.

Thanks to Dana et al for dealing with the issue promptly.


Build progress
I have made further progress in the build, and hope to get the user review thread updated either this weekend, or early next week.

Regards,
Gordon

Kevin Greene

My Feedback: (85)

Gordon,

Have you done any work on your Super Bandit lately? I'm finishing up the wings on mine. I skipped around and built up a few sub assemblies so when the time comes they are ready to be installed. I also finished some parts of the fuselage taking care not to build myself in a corner. There are some references in the manual that contradict the plans. One example is the main gear doors. The manual states to first glue in the plates to capture the hinges and then glue in the Poly Ply 15 thou spacer. The plans have this drawing in reverse order. No big deal though. Also, my main gear door covers are not the same shape as shown on the plan. I've turned them every possible way and I finally settled on which way they should go. I wonder if the later kits like mine have some other parts revisions----The manual says to trim or sand some of the parts for a perfect fit. In most cases mine fit perfectly with no adjustments needed!!! The overall laser cut parts fit is remarkable to say the least. This has to be the fastest built up wing that I have ever built. The parts just lock together and "fit like a glove" as they say. If I could work on the plane without interuption (For about 10 hours) I could easily have it ready to glass in short order.


Kevin

Kevin Greene

My Feedback: (85)

Gordon has added some more info and pics so I bumped it so that those following this thread can see them. Good work, Gordon!!!

Kevin

PS---The main gear door cylinder mounts that you found to be too short in your kit are now of the correct size. I ordered my kit at Superman and it appears that this revision has already been made!!! Mine fit like a glove. Now, THAT is service!!!

Kevin

Gordon Mc

My Feedback: (11)

Hi Kevin,

Sorry I missed your earlier post somehow ... I think what happens is I read the threads in a forum, then hit the "mark as read" button, but between me starting to read the posts and hitting that button, some new posts come in & I end up marking those accidentally.

If you have any questions in future, and I'm slow to respond - just PM or email me.

That nasty thing called work has gotten in the way of building, plus I've been working on other people's airplanes, revieweing a trainer for RCU, etc... so progress on the SB has slowed a bit.

I have done some work on the gear doors, and have had a few problems. I will be updating the review page with this info ASAP, but basically the problems were:

1) The procedure for warping the doors caused mine to be too warped, so that I could not get the quality of fit that I wanted.

2) The instruction manual inadvertantly causes confusion by the fact that the photos show the hinge pin inserted the wrong way around; that combined with the comments in the manual caused me to try to install the doors the wrong way around; since they are not symmetrical, that means I have to do some rework in splicing sheeting back in to cover the areas that I cut out but should not have.

3) The hinge pin would not clear the sheeting, for pin removal. Might be a side effect of (1) above.

4) The wheel well is a pretty tight fit for wheel clearance at one side; I may extend the door very slightly.

The doors in mine ARE the same shape & size as the plan - at least, the clamshell doors are - haven't checked the struct covers.

I have ordered new main gear doors from BVM, so that I can rebuild them with less of a curve, and see if that helps.

Glad to hear that yours is progressing so quickly. You may well be finished long before me, given my current work schedule.

Later,
Gordon

jason

My Feedback: (1)

Gordon,

I read your comments about the way the instructions tell you bend the doors to match the section of the wing just in time!!

I was just about to do the ones on my composite S Bandit wing. To check if what you said was right I glued the 1/16th ply rails to the building board as stated in the book but then to see if it was the correct bend I put the throw away composite door I had cut out out the wing on the ply and it was miles too much! the correct thickness of the ply rails is 1/32 not 1/16.

thanks for your post!

jason

P.S them hinges take me for ever to install....a night per surface so far.

Gordon Mc

My Feedback: (11)

Hi Jason - that's good news on two counts:

1) That the review comments saved you some possible hassle.

2) That it wasn't just me being sloppy that caused the curve mismatch on mine.... I thought it was just a sign of me getting old & careless.

I will pass on to Dana / Bob on Monday that this seems to be an instructions problem, rather than user error as I had earlier surmised.

Thanks,
Gordon

Gordon Mc

My Feedback: (11)

I spoke to Dana about the clamshell doors this morning. He said they'll look at it again to see how over-curved the doors will be with the current instructions, but he also stated that they often deliberately over-curve the doors just a little bit, on the assumption that they will straighten out over time (at which point they re-sand the edges to fit, since the door effectively gets wider by flattening).

I'm kinda skeptical on this point, but am passing it along anyway just so that you are aware of Dana's feedback to date. I think I will still build my next set of doors to fit properly from the start, and if they start flattening out then I will rework them at that point... just coz I think its ugly to have the doors sticking up 1/16" in the middle of the hingeline. Also, how does the door flatten out given that the hinges must surely constrain any side-wise movement that would accompany such flattening ? Hmmm.

YMMV,
Gordon

jason

My Feedback: (1)

Gordon,

Hmmm Im a bit unsure about the reason given for over bending the doors.. I built a balsa bandit a couple of yrs ago and when I made the doors like they said they fitted perfectly and havent ever straightened as far as Im aware.

Managed to hinge a aileron and a flap in 4 and a half hours!! so im getter quicker.

jason