Bill, believe it or not, this project started out as a BUSA Eindecker 40. But almost immediately I found I wasn't willing to accept BUSA's definition of "scale." It only took one look at the plan to know that I would be using a full-flying rudder and stab. The kit's versions just looked like an Ugly Stik. Then I saw a couple people (for example Tall Paul on the Aerodynamics forum) who had replaced the fully sheeted fuse with a stick-built one. And since I had the Joseph Nieto scale drawings from the National Aeronautics and Space Museum I decided to build the fuse according to those rather than the BUSA profile.

And once I had gone down THAT slippery slope, I pretty much abandoned the BUSA kit entirely. In fact, the only part of the kit I ended up using was the wing which I cut in half and slightly reshaped to allow for a full cockpit. Basically, I guess you'd say this is a scratch-built project.

The gear caused me all kinds of grief. My initial thinking though was heavily influenced by the following thread:

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_14.../anchor/tm.htm

Most of the brainstorming for the gear took place in a local hardware store. The lugs (copper covered with brazing) are those things that they put on the ends of cable. I just cut them down. The other key bit was the basic A frame that supports the gear. I tried something along the lines of the music wire gear the BUSA kits suggests but ended up using two inverted V's instead. Each V consists of a heavier and one thinner music wires tightly fitted into a piece of aerodynamic alum tubing. The advantage of the two wires is that they create a small opening at the apex that can hole the main supporting brace which is a fully threaded 4-40 rod encased in thickwalled 3/16 alum tubing. This structure definitely needs the lateral strength provided by fully functional wire bracing.

After I got this basic concept working I just started mocking up the gear and brainstorming the geometry of the movement. I realized that if I was going to include functional suspension the angle of the main gear as it meets the fuse would change and this meant I'd need a hinged joint. I tried a couple of things none of which worked when I happend to notice the small desk lamp on my workbench has a head that could be adjusted. Closer inspection revealed it had pivoting ends on 3/16 aluminum tubing (like radio antenna)! Perfect! So I immediately tore the lamp apart for parts! This was the last piece of the puzzle. If you're interested in more detail, I suppose I could knock out a little drawing and post it.

As far as interfereence, well, yes, I did worry a bit about that and about the (thin) aluminum siding that surrounds the front of the plane. I haven't done any extensive range check but at least over short distances the sheeting isn't a problem. I'm not very experienced in thses things so all I can say is "we'll see." Good luck with you EIII. It's a far more complicated A/C that most people thing.

You might ask yourself what you really want out of the project. If you just want a stand WAY off semi-scale entry into the world of WWI A/C then just build the BUSA kit as is, be done with it in three weeks, and go flying. In some ways, I wish I had gone this route (or rather had ALSO build a fast one to be learning on).

Here are a couple of early construction pix: