Well, here I am almost a year later, and my Estes-based clone of the Centuri Bandito is finally completed. I used my standard Miracal Gray primer, topped it with Kilz CraftCoat Yellow and Apple Red, and, after applying artwork printed on transparent mailing label material, I clearcoated it with Wal-Mart ColorPlace clear spray paint.

I hope to get one more launch in this year, and this model will certainly be in the lineup.

Click here for the fleet page entry for this rocket.

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Just for perspective: The Bandito was my second rocket ever. I got into the Model Rocketry project in 4-H in 1976; the manual listed addresses for both Centuri and Estes, and guess which catalog I got first? Yup. I got the Eagle Power Outfit for $11.00. This qualified me for a free bonus item, according to the order form in the Rocket Times; I could have chosen the Twister, but I liked the looks of the Bandito better. Comparing the Screaming Eagle and Bandito, the lowest-powered engine they shared in common was the B4-6, so I added a pack of them to my order for the princely sum of $1.60... gosh that seems cheap now, but it was sure a lot to me back then.

SO... fast forward a few months. The weather was pretty cool in this part of the world when I had the two rockets built and ready to fly, but a calm day came along, and I got my parents and my brother to suit up and we went out to the pasture. I launched the Screaming Eagle first, on the included A8-3 engine, and was suitably impressed (if I remember rightly, the ignition even went perfectly the first time). I think I relaunched it on a B4-6, and that was pretty cool. Then I put a B4-6 in the Bandito... I didn't think I would ever see it again. I was surprised how far it drifted on its crepe paper streamer.

I think that experience is what hooked me for good. Had I just launched the Screaming Eagle, I might not have been impressed enough to stick with it another year (much less doing it for six or seven years in 4-H, then returning to the hobby after more than 25 years).

Sadly, like most of my rockets, that original Bandito (and its twin sister acquired a couple of years later in the same sort of deal) no longer exists. I had to build a replacement... and here it is!

Anyone wishing to build a clone of the classic Centuri Bandito (as I do) will need a fin pattern; since that rocket had paper fins, I created a handy PDF file suitable for printing on cardstock for just this purpose. Click here to download it.

The original Bandito consisted of a 3" long plastic nosecone (not counting the shoulder), an ST-73 for the engine tube (3" long #7 body tube, equivalent to Estes BT-20 tubing), an ST-79 (9" long #7 body tube) connected to it by a coupler that doubled as the thrust ring, and a relatively thick fiber lock ring to hold the engine hook in place. I think I will start with a BT-20 Estes kit like the Star Dart, which would get me some of the BT-20 needed; the retaining ring for the engine hook is mylar in those models, but I think I'll use it instead of buying an engine mount just to steal the ring.