On Mon, 04 May 2015 20:46:18 -0500, Lloyd E. Sponenburgh wrote:

Tim Wescott fired this volley in
:

What do y'all think? Bend new ones, or use what's in the kit?

Make your own. If the metal's a badly stretched as it is on the outside
of that bend, it can't help but to have been weakened AND embrittled.

De rigeur with heavier models is to bend it in a fairly gentle sweep,
then solder on a washer to act as the inboard bearing, instead of the
wheel's bearing directly on the 'crotch' of the bend. It'll turn
better, too.

I needed someone to tell me to do what I knew I needed to do. I'm kinda
disappointed in the kit -- I need to build another nine scratch-built
planes until I'm pining for the "ease" of kit building again, which will
be corrected with one more kit...

It may be de rigeur, but it certainly wasn't observed by Brodak's on this
kit.

I've got a nice bender with a 3/16" diameter pin. It's a bit generous,
but I've never had a problem with stuff that I've bent.

Sigh. More time on stuff that should have been better than I could
possibly do myself...

--

Tim Wescott
Wescott Design Services
http://www.wescottdesign.com