Improved Storch Landing Gear 3.0

The steerable tail gear on my first storch is still going strong. It handles beautifully on my clubs grass runway. It is not scale or even similar to the real birds gear but, it works. I have thought about improving the scale appearance and, actual performance of the mains every time I fly it. Well, I finally got around to it. After lots of trial and error and some expletives, I have this to show:

I tried to solder the wires together to build working oleos. I succeeded only in smoking up my garage and making my truck smell like a chemical factory. Luckily in desperation, I found that bending and glueing some faux gear together on top of more traditional wire gear gave a decent effect and works great. I don't get the storch droop but it looks great on the ground.

The mains were built by flattening the hinge points on an anvil. Then I drilled for a 2mm bolt and nut. Then I cut and hot glued the K&S aluminum airfoil forms to top (5/8") and bottom (1/2"). The 5/8" form houses a short piece of aluminum tubing that's notched and drilled to form the upper hinge. I bent the actual load carrying arms and inset them in the bottom of the fuse. I should mention here that I added more paint stick to distribute the load better underneath. The fake oleos do telescope and make the look work. The lower aft wires are just zip tied and hot glued to the forward functioning wire behind the wheels. I flattened the ends and again drilled for a 2mm nut and bolt. They are connected to a piece of sheet metal I bent and drilled to act as a hard point for the hinge.

The upper strut supports are bent around the struts and hot glued in place and inset in the fuse. The bonus was the new, more scale looking AND functional articulating tail gear. It was made out of .047 wire, a spring, and a 1" foam wheel. I used a credit card for hinge hard points I inset just like control horns. The pivot point is cc as well and allows the arbor to slide in and out and pivot freely. The top of the arbor is just bent forward 90° to lock it in. I did have to remove some of the foam above the arbor for free movement. The beauty of this setup is the ability to remove and replace all the wires if needed.  I stitched some black tshirt cloth into a tube and zip tied it above the arm loop and below the spring and pushed the spring down, turning it right side out.

If you have any suggestions or questions, I'm all ears.

Hope this helps someone.