PICKLEHAUBE- Help- F-104 wheels

[mikeg]

After all these years and no broken landing struts, both have broken at the top on the RCAF one- surely you have a fix for this, man...tell me you've just been sitting on the improved struts or upper portions waiting for this moment..

Hello?


ok, sorry....maybe later..

[flyboy_fx]

YEARS with no broken struts! Man, you need an award! LOL Sometimes my struts don't last 5 mins out of the box.

[pickelhaube]

You could use brass tubes as splints .

Possibly you can insert the broken struts .

Can you show pics ?

[B-29]

You could use brass tubes as splints .

Possibly you can insert the broken struts .

Can you show pics ?

I have done this to mine and they have held up great. I can supply some pics of how to do it if needed.

[tmanthegreat]

YEARS with no broken struts! Man, you need an award! LOL Sometimes my struts don't last 5 mins out of the box.

I've got three F-104s and have never had problems, but I can see where there's the potential... I like the brass tubes idea.

[mikeg]

the top of the strut is split lengthwise where it snaps into the "support" to rotate on. the open thin top of the strut has broken off on each- I will post some pics later. I would like to see some of B-29's pics in the meantime if possible

[mikeg]

whadya think

[pickelhaube]

Can you take a pic of were it goes ?

It would take me a day to find one of my 104's.

[mikeg]

You can see both are broken at the top-- could you find brass tubing about the same width as the broken part, cut it about 1/2in long, take a zizz wheel cut it out side to side just enough to clip over the swivel mount-bar on the AC...but how would you mount the tube to the top of the gear strut? drill a hole and insert tiny screw into strut? or what?

[B-29]

Here's some pics of my fixed strut:


All you have to do is find a brass tube with the same interior diameter as strut, than trim off about 1/3 off the width. Bend open this section and put it on the pivot shaft inside the gear bay, than bend it back so it is tight around the shaft. Once this is done, put some super glue on the brass, and glue the landing gear pieces onto it. Hopefully if my instructions make sense, the landing gear should function normally. Also, for future reference, do not try to remove it. I broke mine again when I removed it for the pics. Hope this helps..

[mikeg]

Oh, sorry about that...damn.

My first reply involved using good quality 2 part epoxy- the plastic is just not thick enough for even that to make a difference. I'm not sure I want to try and reuse the broken pieces; maybe just slightly oversized brass tubing, spray with a little rubberized undercoating or something similar to make the inside fit a little less harsh or wobbly, smooth the top of the strut and try to screw the brass fitting to the top of the strut- gently...

hell, who knows?

[tmanthegreat]

I just feel like speaking in a vaugely off topic manner, however, this thread speaks to a larger issue that I forsee happening with a lot of our XD items as they age - breakage. That the newest of the 21c XD items are now 3 years old; the oldest are aproaching 11 and the vast majority (including the F-104) are between 5 and 8 years old means these are not exactly new items... These planes and tanks were designed more as models than toys and, well, this sort of stuff happens over time, even with well cared for items. Unless we've left our planes and tanks pristine in their boxes (and where was the fun in that!) I expect many of us are going to start encountering similar issues...

I got my first USAF F-104 in the summer of 2005, just about exactly six years ago. As I said above, I've had no breakage issues with mine yet, but I have had issues with other items - often where I didn't expect it

[mikeg]

All my planning BS aside, I just ended up going with fix quite similar to B-29s. I just cut a section of brass tubing, epoxied it to the top of the strut-with the unbroken side sill on, dremeled an appropriate sized section out side to side and went with it. I originally glued the broken section back on the brass, but this is stupid because the slightly increased diameter of the fix will not rotate against the two rear supports sticking out from the back wall; it will only break your fix so you get to do it again. The AC doesn't squat at all much now when it is displayed wheels down.