Dave,

Thanks for the encouragement.

I think I already have a relatively good understanding of the gear geometry, but I would definately welcome any input you might have!!
I have studied literally hundreds of photos of the gear in various stages of transit, but the biggest help so far has been the plastic models and the Discovery Wings channel broadcast last month on French aviation (dont' worry, I am doing either the GR-1 or the International ). The program had several scenes of the gear retraction sequence of a Jaguar on stands including relatively close shots of the mains as well as the nosegear. It was like a godsend for a guy who has never even seen one of these things but wishes to reproduce it, I stayed up all night just to be sure I caught it on tape.

The main problems I see with the gear now (now that I understand how they work) will be in manufacture of the complicated parts, and in locking mechanisms.
Correct me if I am wrong, but it appears that the main gear on the full size Jag do not have positive locks. From what I have seen there are two hydraulic rams, one to push the gear up and the other to push it down, and the only down lock appears to be from positive pressure in the hydraulic ram. I do not see any kind of over-center linkage at all. I do not wish to get into hydraulics (ala Fiberclassics Mig-29), so I think I will have to comprimise some "scale" for functionality in the operation of the main gear.

The other problem is that the angles of the main struts and associated attached mounting lugs do not lend themselves to being reproduced by standard machine tools (at least not the ones I have in my garage). I have a feeling that several parts of the gear will have to be investment cast from raw aluminium (notice spelling since this is a "limey" aircraft).

I realize that I have MUCH work to do before this airplane takes to the sky, but I think it will be well worth the effort to see a 9 foot Jaguar making a low pass at 195mph!!! (estimated speed sanitized for the AMA lurkers)
I welcome any advise, pictures, or encouragement you might have.