First, the usual “thank you greatly” to SAC for providing this set to IPMS USA. We appreciate the continual, long-term support from this manufacturer, and it’s always a good day when a package arrives from SAC HQ.
This metal gear is exactly what SAC says it is; an improved version of the kit gear. From their website: “The Trumpeter main gear is too long. Our set corrects this problem. Also, we recommend the modeler purchase a set of ResKit wheels because they have much better detail and they lower the model by an additional 1 mm”.
Out of the box, the kit has two different landing gear options; Plastic gear parts for a standard build, incorporating brake lines and other details, (which will begin to fail over time), and a cast- steel copy of the plastic gear without the brake lines. These lines are provided for by black vinyl add-ons in a bag containing the vinyl/rubber tires for the basic kit.