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MM,

I have broken a few of the plastic straps in rough landings on racing planes. (Clown, Sport Goodyear)  Never on a stunter. If you use them, you could also add some insurance by taking a wrap or two of malleable wire (stainless steel safety wire would be great) around both legs just below the fuselage. And don't forget to include a hard maple block or aluminum plug in the fuselage where the wires are inserted. More than one way wire gear can fail....

I always use two sets, but it's the bottom one that takes almost all the load and will break first. The upper one is there just to "get you home."

I couldn't bring myself to bury plastic clips on a Cardinal I built. So I made a cutout for the gear leg and the clip thru the outboard tripler.

Good luck with your project!

Dave

    Sounds like you are trying to get it to withstand a crash in stead of landing in grass! All I have ever done with a Twister is double up the tubing in the fuselage that the landing gear plugs into. It's 5/32" to accept a 1/8" music wire, so you telescope a length of 3/16" over that and you have a double wall thickness that I have never seen broken and is easy to do. You don't need a lathe to make a special part. One pair of clips properly installed with two 4-40 bolts and lock nuts in the place located on the plans is sufficient. That and some more practice landing! It will still have a little give if you have a dork landing. If you make it too strong at that location, something else will break upstream. This is all easier to work around if you are adding the inside fuselage doubler.
  Type at you later,
  Dan McEntee

I use nylons whenever I can. I'd rather have the gear break away than break something else. A couple weeks ago I broke the lower nylon keeper when doing a balloon bust on a Magician. The upper keeper stayed and the right side gear hung loose without damage to the plane nor did it bend the wire. A stronger metal keeper may have tripped the plane and made it crash. I also do breakaway gear on full fuse planes by using nylon mounting bolts...the struts shear off in bad crashes and there is no damage to the fuse. I borrowed this idea from rc planes.