Constructing the Landing Gear

The landing gear was probably the simplest structure to build, despite the fact that it involved a lot of metal parts. The wood sections glued up easily, and I had my grandfather cut the 37 degree angles on the ends with a table saw. The single hardest part was getting the hole cut through the legs with the hole saw, for the axle.

First of all, the hole saw was sort of an odd size, so I had to buy a new one at Overpriced Depot. Total cost--- Eighteen dollars. For two holes. At nine dollars a hole, that's expensive. The pilot bit was not much longer than the hole saw, so despite lengthy measures to make a pilot hole per the plans for the hole saw, the angle was pretty much guesswork once it came down to drilling. I drilled the hole at too steep an angle, and had to do some fancy work on the gear leg to make the axle fit, but it came out beautifully, within a sixteenth of an inch of being exact on both ends.

The metal axle came two inches too long, so the builder could enjoy cutting it himself. I didn't. I left the two inches sticking off the ends. If they interfere with anything, or if they add an ounce too much to the weight I will go back and cut it. A one inch diameter cold rolled 1/8" thick steel tube is a bit much for the old hacksaw and my arm.

I drilled the holes through the steel rod from one side, and not out the other. I lined up the other parts, and then drilled through the rod, and the other parts too, so the holes would all be in a line, and the bolts would slide easily into place. TEAM did a good job at measuring the bolts too. When screwed in, they are just long enough so the nut stops on the shaft of the bolt, without pinching the tube. The forces on the landing gear brace tubes are in shear, and the bolts do not need to fit too tightly. In fact, in construction of the whole plane, I noticed the bolt placement is most often in places so that the loads across the bolt are in shear, so that the bolt is not really holding the parts from popping apart, but from sliding loose. Pretty cool, I think.


The landing gear was constructed upside-down on my bench, on two blocks place to represent the underside of the fuselage. It now looks as if someone tried unsuccessfully to land a plywood bench in the plane room, and wound up inverted. I will have to find another place to store the landing gear, until I reach a point where it can be bolted to the fuselage.

After finishing most of the rest of the fuselage work, the decision was made to cover the landing gear first, as sort of a test bed to see how well I could cover stuff. I figured the gear are the smallest parts of the plane, so if I screwed up, there would not be that much fabric waste. The gear was disassembled. I painted all metal parts, and then covered the wood legs, and reassembled the gear prior to painting. at this point I found out the gear was not built level. The small struts in the middle were two different lengths. I ordered six feet of half-inch tubing, for seven bucks, and had it shipped to my house, for eighteen bucks. something is wrong there, but I digress. The struts were re-cut and fitted into place. Now I need to paint the new struts, but they will work for now. I then took the gear apart one more time, and painted through the poly-fiber Poly-Spray UV blocking stage. A few things I learned about covering:

1.    Have plenty of MEK on hand. Poly-Brush is sticky stuff and can get everywhere.

2.    Wear a mask even when brushing poly-brush. The fumes can produce some wierd effects. I dont like throwing up.

3.    Dont stand your freshly brushed gear legs on the deck on a windy day. The wind will blow them over into the dirt, sticking dirt permanently into you covering job.

4.    Dont scratch your head with your poly-brush covered gloved hands. It gets hair into your covering job...

Here is the finished product, ready to support the fuse until spring, without the fabric getting ruined in the sun.