Bandit

Finished installing my new gear from Brett tonight. Test flew it right before dark. I got 4 landings on it before i quit.

I would like to ask all of the members of this forum to take a moment and think about our young men and women serving in the military and thank them for doing a great job so we can enjoy this forum and our airplanes. This week the war hit our community hard. Emilio Campo Jr. was killed Monday with four other soldiers by a rocket attack in Iraq. It was a shock and a great loss for our town. In the same breath it makes you feel proud as you are entering Madelia and see all of the trees, street signs and light poles tied with yellow ribbons, and the whole length of mainstreet flying the American flag. It is a reminder that we will never forget the ones who gave all, so we can enjoy our freedom. Please go to mankatofreepress.com and pay tribute to Jr. and his fallen Comrades.

God Speed Jr!

Mark - how about a long term update on your install, ie. any probs or leaks at the bulkhead fittings between tanks? thnx

I did have a issue with the nylon hose clamps I tried. After a few hours they seemed to loosen up, which caused the fuel line to work lose. Replaced those with the stainless steel clamps. I started to get a small leak with these to, so I turned the clamp a bit and tightened them more. As of last week no leaking. I'll try to check it this weekend.

Joey,

Ordered my gear today. Sounds like it should work good.

Larry, I see you said Brett is making spring gear now. Would he build a set for the normal Mark IV, instead of the taller wide gear?

Thanks for helping me with posting my video. Tried doing it but did something wrong. Yes it was a great year for ski flying, record snow this winter. Weather wasn't as good as last year though. The tail ski worked great. Would have loved to come to the flyin. Next winter let me know when it is,maybe I can make that one. No snow left any more, probably switch back to wheels now.

http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N99XEWE5Vcc

I think there was one for sale on Barnstormers.

Leni,

Looks like Joey used MC4's not MC5's. I think if you used MC4's and had the pivot point drilled closer to your toes that would give you a better mechanical advantage, with the stock pedals. With the MC5's you have to drill the pivot hole farther out on the arm of the brake pedal and lose some of the advantage.

The MC5 works great with the right pedals. I have the factory pedals. Where can I get the new and improved ones?

I have never flown a plane with a single brake control but I know that I like the control of having differential braking; it adds a lot of authority to your steering with a tail dragger. I don't think you could break the TW loose all of the time without being able to lock up one brake. It might work OK on an airport to airport plane (or if you didn't have a choice like Leni's friend), but I like to manuver my plane as much as possible from the inside. I think it is just a personal preference thing, that's why some people still prefer tail draggers.

The reason I was asking is that I have the MC5 master cylinders which don't work real well. I cannot hold my airplane at 4500 rpm. Would switching to the MC4's give me a little more braking? I have never been able to break my tailwheel loose.

Has anybody tried the hand lever brakes? My friend has it on his Ridge Runner and he really likes it.

We are all still lurking around here.

Great shot, Mark!! Absolutely awesome!!

Thanks. Leni I'll have to check my weight and balance, I'm not sure of the weight of the tail.

My Bandit with my new tail ski, after a fresh snow and frost on the tree's.

Looks like the GPS coordinates that I gave Santa got him to my house! Now I hope to get enough new snow to give it a good test next week!

Thanks Brett!

I have about 4 hrs on my tail ski now. It is working great. Tried it in knee deep snow today with no trouble. Wore my Artic Armor while flying, that to worked great. The outside temps were about 12 degree's. I think that to is going to be a good investment. I ordered the suit from Reed's in Walker Mn. They seem to sell alot of the suits and can size you up over the phone.

Have 10 days off starting tomorrow. Hope to do as much flying as I can. Snow conditions here are super again this year. If the weather holds I should be able to put a few hours on my new ski. Sure seems to work good so far, and the installation was super simple. Also hope to get a little late season bow hunting in. If you guys are interested I ordered a new camo suit this week,it is bibs,coat and gloves. Wanted it for hunting ,fishing and winter flying. It is called Artic Armor. It has 3 layers of Insultex,it is windproof, waterproof,and buoyant. I tried it tonight bow hunting and it seemed to work good. I will get to use it more next week. One other thing is that it is light weight and not real bulky,and you are not suppose to need anything but fleece underneath it. I am hoping it will work for flying to. Right now I use Carhart bibs and coat. That suit gets real bulky while flying. The Artic Armor suit also comes in other colors. Another good selling point is it is buoyant. Learned my lesson this fall while duck hunting a local river in my kayak loaded full of duck hunting gear. Tried floating under a dead fall across the river with a gun on my lap, backpack between my legs and decoys behind my seat with hip boots on under a rain suit. Every thing I did that morning was wrong. Well any way I rolled it and went under, scared the shit out of me. Lost my back pack full of gear, dropped my gun in the river, did geat that back after diving for it 3 times, wrecked my phone ect. So this new cold weather suit could be worth it for anybody living in a cold weather area that likes to fly, fish, hunt, snowmobile, ect.

Merry Christmas,

Mark

Got my tail ski installed yesterday and flew 2 hrs today. Seems to work great. Landed in plowed corn stuble with no problem. With out it my tail wheel would sink to the plowing and beat up my tail section. Tried knee deep snow with no problem. Well worth the money.

I received my tail ski today. Hope to have it mounted by tomorrow. I will try to get some pictures. Just got 7" of snow today, more to come later in the week.Can't wait to try it. It looks like it should work pretty good. Leni, Brett said yours was ready too. You should be getting it any time.

Thanks, that sounds great. Leni, Brett e-mailed me and said our tailski's should be done next week. He also wants to talk to me about the spring gear tommorrow. Sorry to hear about Rich's plane.

Av8r3400,

Thanks for the help, could use that tail ski now. Would you mention to Brett that I am interested in the spring gear also. How far along is that project coming? My bugees are getting weak.

I would really be interested in a "bungee elimination kit" I do like my wide gear though! Twice it has saved my bacon where I know I would have gotten a wing tip at least had I been on the narrow gear.

I am really thinking of changing mine out to 1.25" axles too. I have bent 3 sets of stock 3/4" axles in my plane. It would be easy to cut the 3/4" out and weld on new tubes for the 1.25" axles.

That would be great to get one from Brett, but I have had a tail ski ordered since Oshkosh and still haven't got it.

Joey, you said you only live about an hour from Highwings, have you ever gone over to look at their gear? I have been in contact with them. I would like to have the spring gear made to the same width and heighth as my existing gear. See no reason to go as wide as theirs. Maybe could have it built a little lighter then and I don't like the looks of the wide gear.

Joey,

I have been e-mailing Mark. I would be interested in their grear if it was the same width and height as the Mark IV gear. Don't like the wide grear, no need for that, doesn't look good either. Maybe you could ask them if they could build that type of gear for our Avids.

Mark

Joey, you said you only live about an hour from Highwings, have you ever gone over to look at their gear? I have been in contact with them. I would like to have the spring gear made to the same width and heighth as my existing gear. See no reason to go as wide as theirs. Maybe could have it built a little lighter then and I don't like the looks of the wide gear.

Built this wing jack for $12. Now I can change wheels or install ski's by myself.