As a follow-up, the higley 5/32" bender came today, and so did a K&S Heavy duty bender I had also ordered. It was a good thing Idid.

I had some trouble fitting the new 5/32" nose gear into the benders, so I used the Higley bender to angle the nose wheel shaft outward a bit, and then used the K&S to bend the axle portion of the gear back in a little over 90 degrees so that it would be level (considering the added outward bend Ihad also added). Well it worked great wittheverything lined up, everything fits. Iwas able to drill out the mounting shaft for the new 5/32" nose gear shaft without tearing up anything.

Turns out I didn't have any 5/32" wheel collars, but as luck would have it, one came with the Du-bro nose gear and Ihad two of those, so it worked out. Blue Lock-Tite on the set screw on each collar and done. (I put a collar on eah side of the nose wheel.) Added the three and a half inch wheels to the main gear using the existing wheel collars - done and done.

Now just waiting for the new motor mount and screws to come in from E-Flite. Ihave finished soldering the ESC leads to the male EC3 connectors, ready to connect to the battery. Ireally have to learn how to solder better. I think Iput more heat into the support stand holding the EC3 male connector than I got into the connector. Finally just dropped solder into the cup at the end of the connector and stuck the wire in. It held. Iam sincerely hoping it made a satisfactory connection too.

If anybody has experience with any ofthese things, or ideas how to do it better, or any advice at all, please jump in - Ican use al the help I can get. Have a good evening. Mike.