Well, we decided to purchase the Skybolt with the Marquart gear. During the prepurchase inspection, we found the expected cracks...
Below, I tried to take some pictures of the cracks, but you can't really see them. The first photo shows just how easy they are to miss - on the right side, you can see the crack we first saw if you zoom in. If you didn't know what to look for (thank you biplaneforum!) you'd totally miss it.
Without everyone here, I could have easily collapsed this gear without every knowing. As it is, we saw the problem and we're trying to fix it.
In my reply, I'll show you some of our strategy going forward... And no, we're not converting to another gear. I wanted to make this work. Yes, yes, I saw the bungees (ugh!), and the aluminum Grove gear (icky look), so we're hoping to make the idea work with some re-engineering.
Below, I tried to take some pictures of the cracks, but you can't really see them. The first photo shows just how easy they are to miss - on the right side, you can see the crack we first saw if you zoom in. If you didn't know what to look for (thank you biplaneforum!) you'd totally miss it.
Without everyone here, I could have easily collapsed this gear without every knowing. As it is, we saw the problem and we're trying to fix it.
In my reply, I'll show you some of our strategy going forward... And no, we're not converting to another gear. I wanted to make this work. Yes, yes, I saw the bungees (ugh!), and the aluminum Grove gear (icky look), so we're hoping to make the idea work with some re-engineering.
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