Thanks again to our steadfast IPMS supporter, Ross at SAC… and to IPMS leadership for providing it to me for review. Metal gear rule!

This set simply replaces the main and nose gear for the new Airfix 1/48 Folland Gnat. This is an excellent little kit, and the kit gear will serve the purpose out of the box, but the simplicity of installing metal gear on the assembled airframe is too good to pass up.

Parts include two main gear struts with extension and drag arms incorporated, and a nose gear. All three parts are one-piece castings, which justifies their use in my mind. Airfix is on a roll, and their kits just slide together with little fuss. The only complaint I personally have is the plastic is a bit soft, so small things like landing gear, pitot tubes, etc., tend to be very “bendy” and flexible. The Gnat may be miniscule, but the landing gear is still vulnerable.

The Hasegawa X-29 in 1/72 scale has been around since the mid1980's and, as far as I know, is the only injection-molded kit of this interesting aircraft. Though accurate in outline, it is a very basic kit lacking detail in the wheel wells and cockpit. As was the norm with Hasegawa kits of that era, cockpit detail only consists of decals for the instrument and side panels, and a simplified ejection seat. However, RES-IM fills this void with their beautiful, full color, photo-etched set. If this set has a familiar look to you, that’s because Eduard produces it. Their logo is prominently displayed on the bottom of the fret.

The MW-50 and GM-1 were used to raise the operating altitude and provide more power for the DB-605. The storage area behind the pilot had an access panel inside it to allow the Schwarzmann a place to service the system. This unique setup has never been available before in model form as far as I know.

Molded in light grey resin with the minimal resin flash, there are four parts for this set molded on two pour blocks. There is minimal flash on the one part but nothing that a knife blade and five seconds couldn’t take care of. The instructions are simple enough and show you how to add the parts. It really is a no-brainer. The storage area is provided in a single piece with the additional compartment cut out of the bottom of the area.

This set will work perfectly for your 109G if you want to do something different. I’ll add it to one of my future Eduard 109s.

Highly recommended