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The 'Bandit' was designed by Bill Glover as an indoor pylon racer for racing at the Model Engineer Exhibition at Olympia and full-size plans were published in the October 1994 issue of 'RCM&E' magazine. It was designed to use the Cox TeeDee 020 (shown on the plan) or PeeWee. The PAW 55 R/C was also used.
These races continued for several years and the design became very popular. All in all, I built 5 airframes; two for myself and three for others. When the MEE moved from Olympia, racing was no longer possible. My models were used for sport flying for a while and one was eventually crashed, which removed the nose. I repaired it and used it to test several possible electric power units. Both models were initially covered with Solarfilm, which added around 2 ounces to the weight of the airframe (Solarfilm is heavy).
The model eventually suffered a more serious crash which needed a complete rebuild, so I stripped and recovered the model with tissue, saving over an ounce. I then made a permanent job of installing my chosen power unit, a 'Speed 280' with a Cox 5 x 3 prop. Power is supplied by 6 x 750 mAh NiMH cells and the model retains the original 19g servos (Futaba 143). All up weight is 9.5 ounces and the performance is excellent with a flight time of around 9 minutes.
The original front bulkhead/firewall was retained and a hole cut to clear the motor. A further bulkhead was added at the rear of the motor. My early experiments showed that this did not supply enough cooling to the motor. The remedy was to add another bulkhead behind the motor to position the battery and cut cooling outlets in the sides between the two bulkheads. Holes were added to both motor bulkheads to allow air to enter.
Considering that the model is still something like two ounces (at least) heavier than it needs to be, I am immensely encouraged by the possibilities of this motor/prop/battery combination. I have flown the same motor and battery in the model with both a GWS 5 x 3 prop and a Gunther 5 x 4.5 prop and the Cox prop works by far the best. They are still available, although you may have to search.
You will need an adaptor for the Cox prop. The 'Speed 280' has a 2 mm shaft and most of the commercial adaptors seem to be for 2.3 mm. The easy solution is to find a 2 mm brass bush, otherwise find a friendly model engineer.
