The landing gear struts are made from K&S 3/64 Brass Rod #5161 which are wrapped in an under layer of velum paper and a layer of velum paper is added on top and subsequently painted green primer from the rattle can. I chose the K&S brass rod as I wanted a material that is larger in diameter and easier to bend than music wire, but stiffer than common wire. The thicker brass rod will provide more bearing area to the hole drilled in the fuselage to accept it making everything more stable and sturdier than other methods.
This is the first layer:
This is the second layer, painted. Also shown is the axle which is two layers of paper velum wrapped around .032 music wire. Here the smaller diameter is desired to facilitate fitting into the wheels.
The tires are made per the kit, two rings of thick cardboard with a solid disk in the middle. Ready Patch is used as the glace to smooth out the tire. After sanding and adding more ready path between coats of dark grey primer from a rattle can, below are the results. A hole is drilled to accept the .032 music wire.
Holes are drilled in the bottom of the fuselage to accept the struts brass rods.
The bungie cords are modelled with Beadalou Elasticity .032 diameter stretch cord and a lot of super glue.
This is the result with the wheels (with wheel covers) added, the stretch cord trimmed, and the support wires added with EZ line and turnbuckles modeled with velum paper as described in an earlier post.
