On Thursday, November 17, 2011 11:26:27 AM UTC-8, Tim Wescott wrote:
I'm building model airplanes. Nearly everyone bends up their landing
gear out of music wire
... I don't want to go using my nice 5-44 die on hard steel, nor do I
want to try drilling .050" holes.

How about making a brass axle, tapped as appropriate, drilling it down
the center for the wire? You can soft-solder the wire into
the brass, it'll hold its temper fine at soft-solder heat.