This is another of SAC’s marvelous landing gear replacements for 1/144 scale aircraft. One of the worst things to fix on a finished aircraft is the broken landing gear which occurs from either a move or less than careful handling, usually by a friend of spouse. I was at a display when a spectator started to pick up one of Brian Baker’s planes. I tried to stop him, but he said “I know what I’m doing!!” and then proceeded to remove the antenna, landing gear and rigging in one grab.

The Kit

You get two sets of nicely cast metal gear legs. This is cool, because Eduard has two Spitfires in their 1/144 kits. Well, there IS a single kit, but I haven’t seen that one yet.

I show in the photos below that the SAC parts match the Eduard parts pretty closely. In 1/144, it’d be hard to say exactly. Even with a magnifier, I’m not that good.

The Aircraft

The F4U-5 Corsair was a 1945 design modification first flown in mid-December 1945. It was intended to increase the overall performance, incorporate pilots' suggestions, and featured a more powerful Pratt and Whitney R-2800-32(E) engine with a two-stage supercharger rated at a maximum of 2,850 hp. Other improvements included automatic blower controls, cowl flaps, intercooler doors and oil cooler for the engine, spring tabs for the elevators and rudder, a completely modernized cockpit, a completely retractable tail wheel, and heated cannon bays and pitot head. The cowling was lowered two degrees to help with forward visibility, but perhaps most striking, it was the first variant to feature all-metal wings

The Resin Parts

Injected-molded plastic kits do have some limitations when forming small details. Often times these details may not replicate the parts exactly, have difficult to remove mold lines, or may be fragile.

History

The Grumman F4F Wildcat was the US Navy's primary carrier-borne fighter aircraft at the start of WWII. Characterized by its stubby appearance the Wildcat had been developed from Grumman's successful range of pre-war biplanes and had entered service with the US Navy a year prior to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, replacing the Brewster Buffalo. By the time of the crucial battles for Midway and Guadalcanal, the F4F-4 model had become the most numerous variant and new tactics such as the ‘Thach Weave’ enabled American naval and marine pilots to gain the upper hand on the previously all-conquering Mitsubishi Zero. The F4F-4 introduced both folding wings and an extra .50 machine gun in each wing, adding to the Wildcats already powerful armament. Lessons learnt with the tubby but tough F4F were later incorporated into the F6F Hellcat, a fighter which went on to dominate the skies over the Pacific.