RE: Your Comments on how to do this balsa glue job
Thanks for all the great comments. One followup point. I was not planning on gluing the balsa to the aluminum; basically, the entire balsa sandwich would "float" on the aluminum gear, but held in place as stated above, by the fuselage and wheel pants. What I basically want to try is what Top Gunn said in his post.
It really does look a lot better than the stock gear even before painting or covering. The plane is a Laird-Turner LTR-14 Meteor. If it breaks (the gear cover) not a big deal, just try another method.