What is the purpose of a bench test?
Right, to make sure that there won’t be any unpleasant surprises.

With the last parts completed and installed it was time to run the gear through its first cycles. All went well until I discovered  the threaded actuator rod end showing signs of distortion. Obviously the  forces were close to the maximum buckling strength of the rod. A redesign of that section with a considerable bigger rod diameter solved the issue.

The extention and retraction time of some 13 seconds corresponds to the expected values.  The uplock latches firmly and opens reliably through the activation of the gear lever. 

Maximum current of 8.4A indicates the actuator forces to be within the calculated range.

The landing gear lever for the cockpit is another piece for itself. The front side matches the original look.

The back side is a completely new design which embodies the electrical switches and the pull cable mechanics.

Creating the electric controls schematics was another issue. Having not the slightest knowledege in this field myself I clearly underestimated the challenge. Working through literature like AeroElectrics Connection helped a lot but in the end I still needed some serious help from various sources to get it done right.

Here it is. It makes sense, works and can be built.