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If you're the proud owner of 21st Century Toys  AH-6 Little Bird then you
already know how detailed it is.  I feel it's pretty close to scale except for the
landing gear. For some reason 21st Century elected to make the front part of the skids "pigeon toed" or toed-in as seen here on the right in this photo. (photo1)

With the help of a few photos I'll show you how to modify your own Little Bird's landing gear. Since the modification, I find it now has a much more scale appearance. Not only has the angle and the toe-in of the skids been corrected, but like the real one they have been made a bit longer.  (photo1b)

Basically what's involved is cutting off the front portion of the skid and replacing it with an aluminum substitute.
 

    What you'll need: (photo2)

        - 5 Minute Epoxy
        - Flat Black Spray Paint
        - 3/8" 6061 T-6 Aluminum tubing 7" long
        - 3/16" hardwood dowel 3" long
        -Tube bender
        - K&S Tube Cutter (or a hack saw)

        * The Aluminum tubing can be found at www.smallparts.com

*If you don't feel comfortable permanently altering your helicopter, then stop now!

The first thing you'll need to do is remove the six screws
(three each side) that hold the landing gear assemblies to the main body.

Cutting Off The Front Section:

Once removed, cut off the front section of the skids just forward of the front
strut. The cut is made right where the skid meets the strut. (photo3)
I found the best way to cut off the front section of the skids is with a hacksaw.
Make sure you clean up the cut with an X-acto knife for a tight fit later on.

Making the Aluminum Replacements:

Cut a 7" long piece of 3/8' 6061 T-6 aluminum tubing.(photo5)
Using the tube bender, bend a 45 degree angle for the front end. (photo6)

Fitting the two together:

The stock landing gear has a "channel" molded into the back of the skids. Cut a 3" piece of hardwood dowel and insert it into the channel,  push it in so that about 1" is sticking out. The exposed end will go into the aluminum tubing. (photo4)
At this point wad up a small ball of paper towel and insert it into the back end of the aluminum skid you made.  Mix up some 5 minute epoxy and pour it into the back end of the aluminum skid. The waded up piece of paper towel will stop the epoxy from running down the length of the tube.  At this point you have to work fast. Assemble the pieces as in (photo4)making sure to align the skid tubes. The curve of the front section should point up and perpendicular to the ground and NOT toe-in like the original.(photo7)

To close off the end of the tube simply stuff another wad of paper towel about 1/8" into the tube and then fill with 5 minute epoxy. When the epoxy is cured sand smooth.

Finishing and painting

Now that all the epoxy has cured it's time to put the finishing touches to the landing gear. Clean off all excess epoxy from the joint. Make sure you have a crisp clean line all the way around the joint.

Spray three light coats of flat black paint. Once dried, the landing gear can be re-installed. (photo9) *Do not over tighten the screws as they strip out easily!