SUPER BANDIT N4357S is a 28 year dream that was allowed to come to fruition thanks to the understanding and love of my wonderful wife, Miss Fran.

I wish to thank Mr. Joe Souza who is the designer of this fantastic aircraft. His superb, superior design of this strong easy to build kit, never ending supply of answers to my endless phone and E-mail questions, and patience in correcting my fumblings, made this project not only fun but also a joy to build. Not to mention his hospitality in allowing me to sleep many a night on his couch in the hanger.

Thanks to Mr. Mark Givans for the uses of many of his tools and his helpful suggestions. Look for his "Custom Predator" soon.

And finally a note of thanks to both Mr. George Atkinson and Mr. Troy Taylor who built the two Super Bandits just before me. They both posted web sites which I followed closely. I learned from their trails and it made my Super Bandit go together just that much easier. And they too were ever there to answer a phone question or E-mail inquires. Again, THANK YOU everyone.

Back, way back in 1968, I was attending University of San Diego and partying a bit too much for which my grades suffered. I bought a helicopter ride for fun in Mission Bay one weekend and became hooked. You may find this hard to believe, but I actually quit College and went down and joined the Army, (remember this was at the height of the Vietnam War !) telling them my choice of occupation was helicopter pilot. Well it is a loooong story, but I went through all the Army infantry training, passed all the test to get into flight school, went ot it for nine months, and then I did graduate from helicopter flight school, class #69-13. Guess where I was sent? Chu Lai, where after only a few fast weeks I caught a grenade on the ground, and spent about a year and a half in and out of hospitals.

Through out this you will "hear" me refer to people as "Mister" And their first name. The reason for this is out of respect. While in Army Helicopter Flight school I also became a Warrant Officer. Well all the regular Officers demanded we call them "sir", while they said we were just ‘awarded’ an officership, even though they only went through 6 months of Officers Candidate School and we went through 9 months of the same type of hell while also going through flight school. As Warrant Officers we were referred to as "Mister" and our first names, to us, we deserved more respect, so when I use "Mister" today, it is out of respect for that person, and if I call some one "sir", well you can guess what I think, anyway I digress.

Well I went back to College for a while, and then started working for a living in electronics. I had lost my dream of flying for a living, but had not lost my love of flying, but I had no money to support my "habit". I had around 300 hours in helicopters but it was all military time and they are too expensive to rent in private life. After a few years I joined a local flight club at Fullerton Airport and started fixed wing lessons. I got a total of about 25 hours in the old Cessna 150, but then I got a job with ITT and a lot of traveling, so no more time for flying. About two years later I got settled in Las Vegas for a bit so I started taking lessons again, this time in a Piper low wing. I got another 20 some hours then a job with FMC and more traveling, this time including international. Then came marriage to GREAT lady, Miss Fran, and as love would have it, along came our two children, Mr. Josh and Miss Sarah.

Well much time has passed, our youngest, Miss Sarah just started College at U.C. Berkeley, where her brother Josh also goes. So I have decided to complete my dream. In May 1998 Miss Fran and I went to Jean, Nevada for five days. While there I would drive out to a local Airpark where Mr. Jim DiGaetano, a CFI lived and gave lessons (Mr. Jim died in July 1998 while testing an AirCommand gyroplane in Texas) I would fly for a few hours early each morning then we would relax at the casinos. I got in about 8 hours of time with Mr. Jim, I loved it !!! Mr. Jim would not solo anyone in his machine, but he told me to get a new or used autogyro and he would "hang balance" it, test fly it, and then sign me off in it.

So I decided to buy one. I ran ads, looked and looked, not wanting to buy something I might be unsure of and yet trusting my life to it, and not finding exactly what I wanted, I decided to build. But which one? I had been following the progress of gyroplanes in the magazines for the past three years, and had rejoined the EAA. In re-reading through the magazines I came upon Mr. Joe Souza’s marvel of engineering, the Super Bandit. It had all the aspects I wanted and would have designed into a gyroplane myself. I called him and got the video sent. The dynamic balance shown in the video was a definite plus! I then went up to Marysville as they were having an Airport day and Mr. Joe said they would have several Bandits there and owner/builders to talk with. And as an added bonus, that weekend two men who had just finishing building their Bandits were going to have them inspected by Mr. Donald Green of the FAA. He was also giving a lecture and slide presentation on Homebuilding. I got further hooked! So we refinanced the house (with interest rates so low it was time to anyway) and I sold my sports car (bye 240SX) and I dove head first, total immersion, on building the best "Super Bandit" ever.

At the meeting Mr. Donald Green handed out a packet of forms and a booklet on how to fill them out. I started on them right away.

Mr. Joe sells the Bandit as a "kit’, rather than sending money and receiving a bunch of boxes of metal parts, I opted to do what Mr. George and Mr. Troy just before me did, and work on it under supervision of the master, Mr. Joe at his shop. I knew it meant a lot of driving (724 miles round trip) and hotel and food bills but I am worth it (barely).

Mr. Joe is very protective of the reputation of his gyroplane and will not let you even think of flying one unless you have had proper training in gyroplanes. You might be the next Mr. Bob Hoover of fixed wing aircraft, but if you haven’t been trained in gyroplanes you don’t get to fly the Bandit. So I decided that while I was spending the weekends up in the area anyway I would get some more flight training in gyroplanes from a local CFI in gyroplanes, a Mr. Gary Brewer who flys a RAF-2000 out of the Nutree airport near Davis. Mr. Gary is familiar with and has flown the Bandit. He is an instructor I would highly recommend for his calm nature and professionalism. So far I have picked up another nine hours with him.

As you can see from the picture of the Bandit airframe below, it is of welded steel tube construction. The tubing is mostly round 5/8" 1025 steel, picked because it is molecularly softer, the better to withstand any vibrations from the engine and the rotor. Although the landing strut (the triangle of metal in front of my shirt below) is of 4130 steel for more strength. This construction affords cage like protection similar to what is found in a racecar, but yet is still light in weight.

Many, many pieces of tubing needed to be cut to make such a frame. There are different lengths, and different angles on their ends. The pieces come together in jigs that Mr. Joe has made to precisely align the tubing while it is welded. While I did have some training on welding in a multi-media art class in College, Mr. Joe’s shop is a professional welding shop for the railroads, and the way he welds, it is artistic. But measuring and cutting, that is something that even I can do.

The front wheel is mounted in a steerable, spring loaded fork, while the main wheels are mounted on separate axles and have hydraulic brakes. The wheels are shown mounted above for fit checking before being disassembled to send the frame off to the powder coater. Because the frame took several days of time to weld up, as with any steel it is oxidizing (rusting) so the powder coater will abrasive blast the entire frame to "clean" condition before powder coating it. I wanted a color that Ford uses on the Explorer, a metallic green called "Evergreen Frost". But the powder coater wanted an extra $500.00 because of the metallic, so I settled for a simple Lime green on the frame.

The powder coating is a method where they put a positive charge on the metal frame and spray the epoxy paint in a dry powdered form, and because the frame is charged the paint powder sticks to every part of it. Kind of like how your TV screen is charged, and dust in the air sticks to it. Them the frame is put into an industrial oven and baked, melting the paint powder all together making a strong, continuous, and well bonded, protective finish.

The main keel and the mast are of 2" 6061-T6 Aluminum square tube. The mast is two pieces side by side for both strength and redundant safety. These parts constitute the main frame structure.

The engine is a Subaru 4 cylinder EA-81 from a 1984 Brat. Mr. Joe picked it for four reasons: One: the pistons are horizontally opposed, which means it is very well balanced and smooth running. Two: it is a very light engine being mostly made of Aluminum and weight is always important in an aircraft. Three: with a few modifications, it has an amazing power to weight ratio. Four: it is a very dependable engine with parts readily available, and it is easy to work on.

Mr. Joe sends the block out to be bored from the stock 1800 cc, and the heads are milled .025, then we installed special pistons by Wyesco. Next comes the magic that makes this engine produce so much power. Mr. Joe has a very special grind done on the cam, a high lift-short duration, so that the engine produces the max torque in the 2,700 to 3,400 RPM range. Mr. Joe welds up a custom intake manifold. He also mills and welds up a mounting plate on it for the 2 barrel Weber carburetor. The stock engine originally produced 72 HP @ 4,200 RPM, and now does 96 HP @ 3,200 RPM with 400 Lbs. thrust. (Very impressive!)

Through out the engine rebuild procedure we would order parts from NAPA as Mr. Joe has an account there and monthly billing is a lot easier than daily. But after having wrong parts delivered every single day, sometimes the same wrong part twice in one day I have decided I will not shop at NAPA again unless it is my absolute only alternative.

Most all the hardware used on the build of this gyroplane is AN, aircraft grade 8, with nylon insert lock nuts. They may cost a bit more but the knowledge that they are way stronger than needed removes one set of variables from "Murphy".

Mr. Joe has a special adapter plate cast to mate the engine with the propeller which is a wooden Culver 52x26. I had to go to three hardware stores to find six five inch grade 8, 3/8" bolts and grade 8 lock nuts to mate the prop to the engine. They are torqued down to 12-ft. lbs.

I decided to do a bit more than the previous guys have done in the way of a control panel. I wanted a ‘full’ VFR panel and below you can see what I did.

Missing in this picture is the rotor tach, which goes on the right just above the slip ball indicator, and the clock/electric meter, which I mounted on the left just above the digital thermometer. By going with 2" VSI, airspeed indicator, electric oil pressure, and electric water temperature gauges I had enough room for a compass, engine tach and a full size, sensitive altimeter. I have a compass correction card and when the plane is all done, I will take her over to the "Compass Rose" on the airport, adjust the compass to the manufactures directions, note the compass error corrections on the card and mount it.

Copies of all the data sheets that came with the different gages are in the appendix of this document.

The switch and fuse on the right, along with the three power connectors are the +12V output group for my ICOM communications radio, my GPS radio, and a spare output. The switches on the left, from left to right are as follows: Top left: Master switch turns on main power and the fuel pump. Below that is the switch for the instrument lights, landing light, and the strobe light. I have fuses on all the circuits for protection against shorts, and have tie wrapped all the wire to prevent chafing. I mounted a bus distribution strip on the back of the seat above the battery, with four bussed positions for each, 12V and GND. Included is a full schematic for all the electrical connections, which includes the color code of the wires.

From the main ignition switch on the top left of the instrument panel, I ran a 12-gage wire, which brings 12V to the ballast resistor to be stepped down for the points. For the spark plug wiring I used Acell Hi-Temp, Super Stock, Radio surpressed wire, in 90’ boots on both the plug and distributor sides.

I took the powder coated tail sections home and using a write up on how to cover the tail surfaces written by Mr. George (located in the appendix here) I covered my tail sections. Although it was recommended to use 1.8 Oz. fabric, I used 2.7 Oz. The actual procedure was not as hard as I thought it would be. I tried using gloves, but they just stick to everything and each other, and Acetone does remove the Stits.

***(two pictures of me Stiting the tail feathers)***

I mounted the two fiberglass fuel tanks which hold four gallons of 100LL each to the sides with adell clamps, and plumbed them together with heavy duty 5/16" fuel line into a "T" which then goes to a fuel filter. The fuel filter feeds the Facet electric fuel pump, which in turn feeds directly to the two barrel carburetor.

From the carburetor linkage I have connected a throttle cable to a friction type lock handle mounted on the left of the seat. It is the one sold and used by Mr. Ken Brock and has been tested in static engine run-ups.  It allows full travel of the carburetor linkage, while not being affected by what little engine vibration there is.

The Subaru is a water-cooled engine and to make maximum use of the available space, a radiator from a VW Rabbit was chosen. It has proven in the Bandits that have been flying for years to be much more then is needed on even the hottest of days. The overflow is directed into a bike type water bottle, which again has proven a good system on the flying Bandits.

On the recommendation of Mr. Donald Green of the FAA, I ordered the TSOed seat belt and shoulder harness from AirCraft Spruce, it is the set designed for the Long-Ez. They seem to be custom made for the Bandit too.
 
 

Let me take a second to talk about ordering parts.  Before I started, and thru out this build I got hold of every catalog I could to price compare parts and also feature compare parts.  I wound up with 30 catalogs that were used.  I made price comparison spreadsheets for the parts that were identical in the catalogs then grouped my ordering to save on shipping charges.  There were about four that stood out above the others for certain items.  I will give a brief summery below.

Aircraft Spruce: I remember going to this place when I lived near and they were in Fullerton, CA.  Well they have always had the selection and the "raw" materials but they have changed.  Now their catalog is free, yes FREE, their prices seem to have come down, and they ship like the day before you order.

Leading Edge Air Foils: If you have or will have a Rotax engine you MUST have this catalog, it costs $6.oo but is worth it.  A fourth of it is a Rotax service manual.  I found them great for all the little odds and ends like: thimbles, shackles, and Nicopress ovals for running your cables.

All Electronics: Can not be beat for electrical items CHEAP.  Best source for jacketed, shielded cable for sensors, strobes, and radios. Tie wraps, switches just anything electronic, and a free catalog.

Airstar Sales: (510)516-1186  If these folks would just put out a catalog they could cash in.  They run ads with "good" prices for gages (3 pointer, sensitive Altimeter, 2 1/4" VSI, Tiny-Tach) in some of the aviation magazines. If you find out they are finally going to put out a catalog, please have them send me one!