First I cleaned out the paint from the gear leg holes in the spar box. I used a drill extension and a 1 1/2" wire brush wheel, which I managed to twist into the 1 3/8" ID tube.
This made a difference but not quite enough.
I bought 48"x6" belt for a belt sander, 120 grade. I turned this inside out and used it to manually sand the main gear legs.
It took less than five minutes of sanding on each to get them to fit. A bit more on one side than the other as one hole was slightly tighter. I finished where I had sanded with some finer grade wet or dry paper. I marked the holes and legs 1 and 2, so that I can match them up again after the spar box is in the fuselage. The main gear legs are ready!
Not so good with the nose gear leg. I have cleaned out the paint from the tube with the drill extension and 1 1/2" wire brush wheel, but the gear leg only went in a half inch. I have spent about 20 minutes sanding the leg and now it goes in about 3". I am hoping another half hour tomorrow will finish the job.
I did use the 1 1/2" wire brush wheel to clean the paint from the weldment that goes on the bottom of the nose gear leg and now it fits perfectly!
17FEB2008 In fact, next day I only had to sand the nose gear leg for less than 5 minutes and it went in.
I also removed the paint from the weldments that go on the bottom end of the main gear legs and they fit fine too.
