Hi davishand
I have been in R/C planes since 1972 and have made many of my landing gear. I purchase 5/32 " dia. or 3/16" dia. music wire from my local hobby store and bend it cold using my work bench vice. But here is the secret: bending the wire over the vice jaws, which have a right angle, will overstress the metal and sometimes it even breaks. I always use heavy leather gloves to protect my hand in case it breaks. The secret is to grind a radius in the sharp corner of the vice and bend the wire over this radius. The radius should be about the same as the wire diameter. I hope you or others will comment on this. I NEVER heat the wire. There is no need to do that.