Overview

Detail & Wonder (D&W) is a new company that specializes in highly detailed 3D printed landing gear. The gear set comes in a sturdy box with parts secured in custom cut foam. A real nice color instruction booklet. There are four 3D printed groups, four cast wheels and six metal rods. Each landing gear section is printed with support and a “cage” protecting the delicate looking gear. The booklet gives details on how to trim the supports and what order to trim the supports.

Product Details

Starting with the nose gear, you get eight separate 3D printed parts, two resin cast tires, steel rod for strength and a metal tube that represents the oleo strut. My solution would be to polish the oleo strut which will save you from having to paint the strut. The printing is extremely fine and with near zero build lines. Print details is beyond amazing with hydraulic and electrical cables all printed in place. Without the instruction booklet indicating where and what order to trim supports, I am sure I would have trimmed away detail. Test fitting each section, fit and alignment was perfect. A separate 3D printed group has the wheel hubs. Tire details appear to be resin cast and they have the same high detail that the 3D printed parts including text on the tire sidewalls.

Main gear, much like the nose gear, extreme detail and simplicity steals the show. Unlike the nose gear, the main gear strut is nearly just one feature containing just two 3D printed parts. You will have to take your time trimming around the fine details especially around the hydraulic line swivel joints.

Conclusions

Tamiya kit details are extremely nice compared to other kit manufacturers. With a side by side comparison, you can see how much more detail is possible with 3D printed parts. The other advantage is that there are fewer parts to assemble with D&W parts v.s. Tamiya. D&W parts are designed to be a drop in fit so you will not have to modify the wheel wells to accommodate the new gear. With each landing gear strut having a metal shaft that is inserted inside the gear leg and axles on the main gear, this should be sufficient in supporting the heavy Tomcat. D&W has demonstrated the strength of their landing gear set for a F-16 on their Facebook page.

Detail & Wonder does not appear to have a store front but does have a Facebook page. There are numerous distributors around the world which Hannants (England), Lucky Model and Hobby Easy (China) are the three that I have found so far.

Many thanks to Detail & Wonder for providing this set to IPMS for review.