I designed and verified the air-frame mounts, and with a bit more research found a few good pictures that pointed out a couple errors. The top shock mount is different than I originally did, so fixed that. The retract arms (what I call the 'trapese') isn't quite right yet where the two parts meet, and the retract ram attachment point isn't in there yet. I also found a semi-good picture of the wheels and brakes, so I can do those up right. I'll make my own wheels and brakes, but hope to buy tires "off the shelf". One remaining detail is nagging me - all the linkage bolts. In some pictures they don't look like bolt heads... Anybody have any decent pictures of what they should look like? I need to wrap these up as racing season is about to start, and I'm starting up 1/6 B17 gear also....

I've been working on machining the main legs, and its quite a job. Scrapped quite a bit of aluminum, and need to order more, but confident I'm close to having the programming right now. After that, the rest is pretty easy. Materials cost is high for gear with big parts like this, but results should be worth it.

** 3/16/13 Update ** Working on scale wheels including brake shoes and drum...

Completed shocks (Aluminum outer, Stainless tube inner) and first part "off tool" for the trailing links Finished my first batch of trailing links 2/16, now on to the main "legs" - design is done, just coding the machining.

As is usual with me, thought I was done, then really sweated the details... I "think" I'm done, now to build. need to order more material, maybe construction starts next weekend.

Did a few updates to the Fw-189 gear... A few small details to go, but ready to start machining parts for this one.

I was asked to make some of my gear in 1/6th scale, but the design compromises at 1/13 scale are quite a bit different than at 1/6th scale, so I redid them from scratch. There's a few little odds and ends to finish, but the design is basically done. Bit more tweaking, then do shop drawings and make some parts. There are no wheels and tires of the proper size (~7.5"), so at some point I'll need to figure out how to make my own tires. For now, I'll use off the shelf 7" wheels/tires.

Met some new R/C friends this week who had an interest in the Fw-189 gear at 1/6th scale. I hadn't got to to that plane yet, but it was on my "someday" list. They got me excited about it, and over 3 days I pulled together my "final" first draft. I only had side and iso views, but think I got pretty close. Some adjustments are made for manufacturability in my home shop, but it should be a neat one. With some remaining vacation and the holiday's coming up, I should get some quality shop time.... time to order some materials!

Dang that was a lot of work!.... The "Blue" picture shows all 4 major generations from the proof of concept to the latest set that should be quite serviceable in actual use.

New CNC mill in the his-ouse!

Now need to figure out how to get the damn thing in my shop! This should enable me to make higher quality parts and tackle some jobs (like scale wheels for the 109 and he-111) I couldn't do on my old machine....

Then totally, utterly trashed it with a huge power dive straight in...
Thought about giving up, but........
Gallons of hot glue and spackle....
A bit of custom matched paint.....
Darn near good as new, and now as a D3 model with clipped wings

I've been doodleing away after a break on the 111 gear, and keep pushing it forward on the scale and functional front. Although at first glance it looks similar, I've done quite a few upgrades and its now at the "A3" production level: Fully detailed out the retract "multi-pivot". Changed from solid aluminum to stainless steel tube for lower oleo. Redesigned how the long retract stays interface with the multi-pivot. Completely redid the wheel hubs (oleo to axle) and a new adapter part for greatly enhanced scale. Increased the diameter of the upper front oleo pivot, detailed up the lower oleo stay, increased the size of the mounting rails from 3/8 to 1/2 to allow moving the arch pivot up and back to improve the total retract distance. Added e-clips to the upper arch pivot to keep the arch centered. Added thread detail, Changed angle of taper for diameter transition. Updated cross braces to make them thicker. Changed the axle from brass to stainless steel and increased diameter to near scale. I still want to work out scale shock bellows (sometimes they were used, sometimes not, so not critical), and the wheels aren't quite right, so I may make my own at some point. Probably the "A4" or "A5" will be the "final" production variant, but its just down to little stuff at this point. Its funny, but as I get better at both modeling and machining, I'm getting ever closer to scale. Try to spot the differences between these two models. Darn near every part is different!

Using a Lanyu Do-335 as a starter canvas to bash a decent looking version.... I've found this plane interesting and have seen the last remaining one in two different countries over 20 years time, so I guess its about time to build one!...Continue Reading

Couldn't resist... I added a full scale wheel to replace the GWS "stand in" wheel I usually use. I'm not sure I can make this due to the very small features, but I sized the features around standard size tooling, so I may give it a try

*update* Made some more adjustments and added tire tread. Turns out I had a good book I forgot about that filled in the details for the design. Every part got modded a bit. All features are "production ready" at this point. If good enough, I can make the wheels, but will probably have to upgrade my mill to do it. (Will be all aluminum with a steel lower strut)

Next up is the Bf-109. There's a ton of media on the Bf-109, but suprisingly little on its landing gear from a detailed design perspective. I held off hoping for better resources, but never did get any better info. I did some analysis of various photos and illustration but saw very little concordance between them. From photos, there were many detail differences as well. The most accurate info I found was from a book about German landing gear, and though the reference was from the very early variants (C-E) and I really wanted the G model, but it was the most accurate photographic material, so that's what I modelled from. It looked easier than it turned out to be. Still have to do the shop drawings, cnc code, etc. but this is it so far. I plan to design the retracts for it as well, and install it as a complete unit in my FSK Bf-109G that sits awaiting it.

Update 6/26/11

Couldn't resist... I added a full scale wheel to replace the GWS "stand in" wheel I usually use. I'm not sure I can make this due to the very small features, but I sized the features around standard size tooling, so I may give it a try.

A0 design works pretty good. Decided to take it farther and the A1 design is done, and I'm just doing the programming and shop drawings for the changes. I beefed up the main pivots a bit, more detail on the upper Oleos and made the Oleo cross braces "real" with real brackets instead of just cosmetic. I'll also change the wheels (more scale, rubber tires/aluminum hubs) before I'm done, which will change the axle and hubs again once the wheels come in.

I didn't order the wheels yet, but did add the braces and changes the hubs.

Update 1/16/12
"A2" design included same basic construction but redesigned oleo's with teflon bushes. I skipped that for actual production. Although at first glance it looks the same, I've done quite a few upgrades and its now at the "A3" production level: Fully detailed out the retract "multi-pivot". Changed from solid aluminum to stainless steel tube for lower oleo. Redesigned how the long retract stays interface with the multi-pivot. Completely redid the wheel hubs (oleo to axle) and a new adapter part for greatly enhanced scale. Increased the diameter of the upper front oleo pivot, detailed up the lower oleo stay, increased the size of the mounting rails from 3/8 to 1/2 to allow moving the arch pivot up and back to improve the total retract distance. Added e-clips to the upper arch pivot to keep the arch centered. Added thread detail, Changed angle of taper for diameter transition. Updated cross braces...Continue Reading

Well, it took a while as I made everything production ready, but the "A0" design (German nomenclature for first production run) is done and ready for trials. Everything works like I intended, though I was unable to satisfactorily reproduce the shock boots. I'm not aware of anybody doing fully scale gear for the He-111 in any size, so I hope you find it unique. Additional details like the cross bracing on the Oleo legs are cosmetic and can be added as desired. I also plan to use more scale wheels in the future, but that's an easy change.

Vitals:
> Designed for 3000g 1/13 scale plane
> All dimensions, linkage lengths, pivot points and diameters are scale to the best of my source material
> Fully sprung, with ~ .8" travel, two spring rates for pro's and not so pro (2 or 4g capable)
> 99g each including the wheel and retract actuator arm
> Set up to actuate either by servo or air cylinder
> Mounting rails allow plenty of attachment surface
> Aluminum, Steel, Stainless Steel and Brass construction
> Fully rebuildable

Hopefully this will be the last iteration if all the linkages work, and if there is enough room in the airframe. Lots of "scale up" in this round, and fully functioning oleos with dust boots. (gear was fixed before with "fake" dust boots machined in the body of the strut and colored with a sharpie)

Well, with the weather getting cold, I'm off the race track and back in the shop.. Finished up the prototype HE-111 landing gear.. Its fully functional as is - just need a plane to put it in! Somehow, once I figure out how to build something, there is no pressure to actually do it - its all in solving the puzzle, thus no progress for 9 months! That said, it came out pretty good for a first proto.

Just two more components to make and they are ready for final assembly. Most of the parts will just CA together, so it can all come apart again if needed.

Got my wheels from China today, and modelled them up and finalized the part designs that relied on the wheel dimensions. if the NC code doesn't give me too much hassle, I should be able to get a set done this weekend.. Then just need a plane to put them in.

Only 3 part types left to make... Maybe by next weekend I'll have them working.
Here's most of the parts ready to assemble.