ORIGINAL: AndyAndrews
1. Your booms should not strike during landing. You don't need to flare that much to land.
2. My boom skids swivel. I have not glued them down yet but plan to.
3. I don't use the screw. Never had a need to. The latch holds mine down fine. Over 30 flights no problem.
4. DO NOT use servo screws for the mains, they don't are not the correct diameter for a snug fit. Moreover they will not hold the gear tight over time. Once they start to loosen they will get worse until they fail. I use the same size screw that will fill the holes in the flanges. Wood screws are fine and better than bolts IMO because they are easier to take out.
5. Your not supposed to rip out the landing gear lol. I would rather have them mounted stongly than have them break loose on a hard landing you will have major wing damage if that happens too! Also, over time those little screws will get weak and they could fail on a regular landing. I wouldnt use them.
Well of course I don't WANT to rip the gear out !! :-) I'm just trying to think of a reason for Alan specifying such small screws. Perhaps his reasoning is that if the landing is SO bad that SOMETHING has to give then it's better to separate the gear from the block than to separate the block from the spar!