Once again, I read all the posts I could find on fitting these nice little mouldings. I even made four of the six-fingered aluminium rivet-on hose clip mounting brackets I saw on one site. These were soon dispatched to the scrap bin. Here’s the method I found best for me.

I raised the ship up to a comfortable working height on four axle stands and covered the LG and skids with masking tape to protect the powder coating from scratches from the fitting process. - easy when there’s no engine!!

The skid pants are moulded with a subtle natural channel to fit around the landing gear frame legs. They will only fit nicely if you sandwich the frame legs centrally in the inner and outer skid pant panel channels. I admit, the mouldings are not perfect, especially the rear ones. But it’s possible to get a decent fit with them.

An air-powered panel saw is a great tool for rough trimming GRP panels

Here’s a flap disc on a 4 inch angle grinder

Plunging with the nose of a Powerfile makes the step cut-outs easy-peasy

I started with the front outside panels. With slow and careful marking and nibbling, top and bottom, and eventual plunging in to the rear edge with a Powerfile, I got a nice fit around the LG leg. I trimmed approximately 1/4 inch from the front edge of all the inner panels and slid them in behind the outers and trimmed them until the rear edge lined up then drilled and Cleko’d ‘em.

Yup - that’s my blood!!

The rears were slightly tougher to fit. Not only because of the wheel mounting tubes but the curvature of the panels wasn’t a perfect match for the LG legs. It’s much easier to make the wheel tube clearance holes with plenty of clearance then tidy them later with a glued-on aluminium escutcheon disc.

The rear outer passengers panel was a poor match with the curve of the LG leg. Forcing it into shape formed a crease in the area of the step cut-out. I ground away the panel until the crease and the stress were gone.

I then re-laminated the panel with a couple of layers of chopped strand mat and resin - first outside, then inside. Perfect.

 There were a few areas around the tops where the panels didn’t quite reach close enough to the tub. I extended the panel length by laminating extensions inside and out.

My plan is to wrap the LG legs with a few turns of electricians self-amalgamating tape in four or five positions down the legs. I’ll glue rubber ‘U’ channel top and bottom and I reckon the pants will stay in place with no other clamping required.

UPDATE.  Here’s the rubber U channel being held in place with masking tape whilst the epoxy adhesive sets

... and rings of self-amalgamating tape wrapped around the landing gear legs.

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