I am nothing if not persistent. I visited a sail maker to get some flexible but strong sail cloth for this air gap seal but it was too thick. Next I went to a rubber shop and got some really thin sheet but that too was a fail.

I then got some BID cloth, rolled out a thin coat of RTV over it and let it cure. That was still too thick and another fail. I didn’t even bother with pics for that. Pic 3 is one of three materials I got at a dressmaking shop and this stuff was great. Very thin strong and flexible. I finally got it in place and tested the nose gear.

The cloth became caught up in the telescoping gear and jammed it. I could have refitted the thing but I felt I was introducing an error mode that may result in gear failure. So I proclaimed yet another fail.

Time to give up on the sock method! A good idea, yes its doable but I really need to cast a shape in rubber or have some very thin leather stitched together and then bonded to a frame. Yes I did go and buy a gear stick cover that nearly worked… nearly is code for another fail.

Time to rethink all this.

Material 1

Material 2

Material 3