Small Scale Military Headquarters

I have not recieved my f 18 yet but are the pastic the struts made of the
same plastic as the BBI blackhawk ? I know the struts on the blackhawk
bend with the weight of the body. Is there any way of drilling a metal
rod into it to help stiffin it up ?

Some people said they were doing that. I've noticed my F-18 slumps as well sitting on the gear for a long time. Granted, it hangs now from the cieling... but I wouldn't keep it on it's gear for longer than a week.

Ski has his propped up with a rod. It would be hard to see if positioned properly but appears to be necessary to prevent sagging over time.

I'm going to prop mine up and then hide the prop with a couple of custom ground crew..

As Andrew mentioned, I just use a block of wood supporting the fuselage right behind the main landing gear. I fear the same problem with the F-16 as well. The gear on the Falcon is stronger, but pretty much of the same material. You will notice the tires starting to bow out after about an hour. So, for the time being, I have it on the table without the gear extended.

Unfortunately, bbi can't develop an adequate main landing gear strut of enough strength to support the massive weight of it's aircraft with the exception of the P-51. They are still using plastic that is too soft.

The F-16 is over 6 lbs (from my scale), and that is a lot of heft for 4 small plastic struts. Also, if you look at the hinge for the gear, you will see that it too gets deformed from the torsion stress of the gear. I'm not complaining as both jets are just incredible, but there is a cost for realism, and these planes show that..........

-Ski

they need to make the landing gear struts out of metal..

I agree... or at least a plastic that is really hard, and a metal hindge that won't buckle.

I also build large scale plastic models (1/32) and when white metal landging gear isn't included, I typically use small diameter metal tubing that can be found at most hobby shops to reinforce the gear components (struts etc) by drilling through and inserting tubing just a tad bit smaller in diameter, or in some cases using the alum/brass tubing with the small diameter pvc to totally overhaul the kit provided pieces.

HTH

The ultimate fix to the landing gear is to hang the plane. With a lump in my throat, I hung my F-16 today:

http://community.webshots.com/photo/127 ... 7036bnDJYK

20lb test line and a hard yank on the hooks are my best shot at avoiding tears. I still have 9 planes hanging, 2 on the ground on display in my half of the room. (For those of you not in the know, my wife owns the other half with a no-fly zone).

Anyways, it looks great up there!!

-Ski

Looks good. You may want to switch if for 40 pound test. It's really not that much thicker and gives much peace of mind. Still, BBI aircraft are tough. My Apache crashed earlier this year if you recall....a five foot drop and no damage whatsoever..

Yeah, I'm thinking about it. The plane weighs about 6 lbs, so with both hooks, each carrying approx 3 lbs each, I think it's ok. I folded 2 little strips of paper over the string where it runs around the leading edge of the fuselage. Too much of a cutting risk!

-Ski

Ski,
thanks for the comparison pics of the XD and BBi P-51's. It makes me want the BBi plane now. I guess I'll have to order one or take my chances they will come to TRU-which is unlikely here since the local stores seem to be clearing all their BBi merchandise and not restocking.
DocTodd