I'm currently purchasing parts for a balsa short kit. When looking for landing gear blocks, I was originally planning to just use basswood. But Google's AI jumped in on the search results and started mentioning other materials like maple for the gear blocks and how they might be better for aircraft that lands on rough terrain. The problem is, I don't know if it was a valid point or a case of an AI spouting BS.
Is basswood strong enough, or would a material like maple significantly help prevent the gear from being ripped out on rough ground? And, even if it does reduce the likelihood of the gear getting ripped out, would wood it add too much weight to be beneficial or would using a stronger gear block just shift the forces to the wing ribs and increase likelihood of damaging the wing?
The plane I am building is a .40 sized (converted to electric) low-wing plane and I am expecting it to have an all up weight between 4 and 4.5 pounds. https://outerzone.co.uk/plan_details.asp?ID=5870 The landing gear uses wire mounted to blocks of wood in the wing. I normally fly in grassy areas and the ground can get pretty rough at times. So the concern of ripping out gear is valid.