Best Landing Gear Recommendations?

[Duck]

FT released a pair of medium and large landing gear kits awhile back but they are not cheap. I hate bending music wire and have had very limited success. Has anyone tried the kits? Are they good? Is there better options out there?

 

[TooJung2Die]

Unless the kit comes with landing gear I usually make it from wire. Even when the kit includes landing gear it often isn't very sturdy so I make my own. I use piano wire, landscaping flag wire and sometimes coat hanger wire. The strongest wire landing gear is a soldered wire frame. Clean the steel wire until it's bright, wrap the joint with copper wire, brush on some flux and solder with a pencil torch.

One of my favorite ways to mount wire landing gear to foam board is using tiny 4" zip ties. On very hard landings (crash) the zip ties snap and save the fuselage. Here's a soldered coat hanger wire frame zip tied to the fuselage:



Loop the zip tie over a bamboo skewer inside the fuselage. Use gift cards with holes drilled inside and out to minimize crushing the foam board as you tighten the zip ties. A drop of super glue on the zip tie keeps the wire from slipping sideways. Try to put the head of the zip tie inside the fuselage for an even cleaner appearance.
Jon

 

[Hai-Lee]

FT released a pair of medium and large landing gear kits awhile back but they are not cheap. I hate bending music wire and have had very limited success. Has anyone tried the kits? Are they good? Is there better options out there?

I like my landing gear to be simple, easy to build/make, ans robust/strong. The 2 areas where simple wire landing gear fails is that it tends to bend outwards on a heavy landing, (allowing a prop strike), and that it can be bent backwards severely making straightening it rather perilous.

I found a simple approach that answers most of my requirements and requires no real special skills. I use the music wire but only a simple single level series of bends and a length on AL bar. I bend the AL to give the appropriate vertical support ans use the music wire as the axles and rearwards support. I first encountered it in the FB Ugly stick build and it was/is so robust that I use it for most builds, (especially the heavier birds).

Simple, strong, relatively light, and often it survives the crash as is reused on the replacement build.

See; https://forum.flitetest.com/index.php?threads/100-hour-replacement-build-das-ugly-stik.57330/page-2 Post number 34.

Have fun!

 

[Berekiah]

I have used the landing gear that came from Flite Test for the FT Edge. It did not fit the panniers for the model and was very difficult to bend and cut. After a few landings it begins to become loose and translate forward and backward quite a bit. I have to do some upkeep on it so that it doesn't get too bad. Not my favorite, but it works well now after I have removed the panniers.

https://forum.flitetest.com/index.p...of-the-world-we-meet.59425/page-6#post-487018

My favorite so far has been for my most recent project the FT Master Series Corsair. While I haven't flown with it yet and it is a heavier option I really like the way it looks and works. This is the product you can find a few places (https://www.motionrc.com/products/dynam-f4u-corsair-retract-landing-gear-set) when it is not out of stock.

https://forum.flitetest.com/index.p...r-three-planes-full.59362/page-11#post-495339

 

[Flying Monkey fab]

I checked several in the survey because I think the situation often dictates what's best but under other I would include 3D prints.

 

[Vimana89]

I would say it all depends on the particular plane and how it lands, and what environment you want to fly and land it in. That and other concerns, like if you want/need it to taxi or take off from the ground. I do most of my flying solo in a gritty desert lot, that renders most landing gear useless for landings and even more so for takeoffs, so, my vote?

Belly landers for life. I'd check other boxes if I had any real experience with them, but the only thing that takes off and lands on wheels in this dirt is my little Hobby Zone Champ of all things.

 

[Hai-Lee]

I have an antidote for such terrain types. I do a little gardening and then peg out a couple of poly tarps to give me a runway which gives a reasonable surface to land on UNLESS the rocks are actually boulders!

When you are able to land with landing gear properly there is NO MORE damage to your planes, (except for the odd bit of hangar rash). Not needing to rebuild, repair, replace is a real boost and gives you the freedom to expand your hangar to ridiculous levels.

Have fun!

 

[Vimana89]

I have an antidote for such terrain types. I do a little gardening and then peg out a couple of poly tarps to give me a runway which gives a reasonable surface to land on UNLESS the rocks are actually boulders!

When you are able to land with landing gear properly there is NO MORE damage to your planes, (except for the odd bit of hangar rash). Not needing to rebuild, repair, replace is a real boost and gives you the freedom to expand your hangar to ridiculous levels.

Have fun!

That's a pretty good idea. I make a lot of my landings as short and gentle as possible, so there's more flop and less skid, but that's not possible with every type of plane, especially larger ones. I may try @Steve Fox 's milk jug plastic belly plating for casual belly landers, but I will test your idea some time with the little Hobby Zone Champ and practice a bit, that way when I build a plane that makes good use of landing gear, I'll have some practice of getting it on the mark and using the runway. Wouldn't hurt to put something like that down just for belly landings too to practice.

 

[FDS]

The FT gear is simply music wire and commercial wheels, which you can buy cheaper separately. Belly landing is better unless you have a very fragile prop or a perfectly flat field. None of my small planes work well with gear, bigger ones are OK but as noted the gear bends easily.

 

[TooJung2Die]

I do most of my flying solo in a gritty desert lot, that renders most landing gear useless for landings and even more so for takeoffs

That looks like the field I flew from when I lived in Nevada. I still used landing gear because it prevented a lot of broken propellers on landing. It was cheaper to straighten out a bent wire than replace another prop.

 

[shadeyB]

freedom to expand your hangar to ridiculous levels.

Have fun!

Clean out hangar, create more space, add to the build list 😂

 

[Vimana89]

That looks like the field I flew from when I lived in Nevada. I still used landing gear because it prevented a lot of broken propellers on landing. It was cheaper to straighten out a bent wire than replace another prop.

Well that's why I used a high mounted pusher😎. But yes, a tractor or prop in slot would benefit from landing gear.

 

[Bricks]

On my foamies and light planes I use a piece of plywood rubber bands and barbeque skewers. Plywood glued to the fuselage, one barbeque skewer in front and behind the piece of ply. V bend in the middle of landing gear wire and rubber band the landing gear on works great for me..

 

[TooJung2Die]

V bend in the middle of landing gear wire and rubber band the landing gear on works great for me..

I think I know what you mean. Works for me too. Kinda like this?

You can use a gift card instead of plywood if you like.

 

[Keno]

I like the rubber band thing mentioned above as if you hit to hard the gear folds back, no real damage done except that your flying buddies will not lit you for get it. I really like the landing gear that is used in the Mustang and others like it, as it is a solid mounting system but best if you have a runway to land on. Belly landing that great but when you have a battery hanging off the bottom of the fuselage and you don't mind losing a few props that is a OK. Props are cheap but have to think about the price of that new battery. (POOF). Well anyway I said my piece so wish you all Happy Flying and what works for you do IT.

 

[Bricks]

I think I know what you mean. Works for me too. Kinda like this?
View attachment 140807
You can use a gift card instead of plywood if you like.

Exactly I did not have any pictures I run this type of gear on every foamy that it is suitable for.

 

[FoamyDM]

Most of my gear has not held up at all. The closest is the stortch, which I like. even the aluminum bar ones fold back, I like @Hai-Lee 's version. I will try that one next.

 

[Duck]

The FT gear is simply music wire and commercial wheels, which you can buy cheaper separately. Belly landing is better unless you have a very fragile prop or a perfectly flat field. None of my small planes work well with gear, bigger ones are OK but as noted the gear bends easily.

They have some with bent aluminium introduced not too long ago: https://store.flitetest.com/flite-t...K1CwjZS424BeB5gj0-e_-yl0-jUd749QaAgIvEALw_wcB