Scale Aircraft Conversions (SAC) produces cast metal landing gear and other accessories for a host of aircraft models in every conceivable scale. This offering is designed for the Wingnut Wings Sopwith Snipe kit in 1/32nd scale and is a direct replacement of the corresponding kit parts.

The kit contains four (4) parts in white metal. Two landing gear struts, the axle cross member and tail skid are included. All parts are nicely cast with a minimal amount of clean up necessary. A few small mold parting lines needed some clean up, with a few lights passes of an Exacto blade doing the trick. Some straightening was required to correct a few bent parts damaged in transit. This was easy to accomplish using light pressure and the kit parts as a guide.

Eduard Models has released a nifty photoetch set to upgrade the - already very nice - Hasegawa F-8E Crusader. This fret is of the no pre-painted style and that is good, because you want to paint the detailed parts and the PE parts at the same time.

The fret includes replacement engine exhaust “feathers” and actuators. Installing this part requires removing existing plastic from the original part, and you will need to bend a metal part to a circular shape. You might want to consider getting a piece of pipe or rod to be a template to shape the part to a circular form.

Other parts in the fret are meant to detail the landing gear struts and the landing gear well. Either by adding brake lines to the struts, or just general detail to the landing gear well and landing gear well covers.

Hasegawa has recently released a limited edition E-2C Hawkeye “Sayonara Atsugi” featuring two marking options:

1. US Navy ACCLOGWING VAW-115 "Liberty Bells" Code: NF600 (166505) Atsugi A.B. June 1, 2017
2. US Navy USS Ronald Reagan VAW-115 "Liberty Bells" CVW-5 CAG Code: NF600 (166505) Atsugi A.B. May 2017

The marking options are of the same plane, just a few changes in terms of paint over a period of time.

The E-2C Hawkeye 2000 is the fifth generation production E-2C Hawkeye and incorporates significant enhancements in data management, system throughput, operator interfaces, connectivity, and situational awareness to support the Navy's evolving Theater Air and Missile Defense mission. With its massive rotodome, it can see for hundreds of miles and is truly the “eye in the sky.”

History

The Tupolev TB-1 heavy bomber was a historically significant aircraft, in that it was the world’s first all-metal multi-engined bomber. After World War I, Dr. Hugo Junkers established an aircraft plant in the Soviet Union, and Russian designers, notably Andrei Tupolev, learned from the Germans’ techniques of building metal aircraft, and began design and construction of a twin engine prototype bomber in 1925. The prototype was built in Moscow, but in November, 1925, the aircraft was flown, and the decision was made to place the plane in production as the TB-1. A former Junkers plant in Fili, near Moscow, was used for production. Powered originally by British Lion engines, the production models had 680 hp. Russian Mikulin M-17 water cooled engines, which were developed from German BMW VI’s.

IPMS/USA appreciates the ongoing support from Ross and his team at SAC for supporting the reviewer corps with one more of many monthly releases. These extremely useful and well-thought-out landing gear additions for the modeling community continue to prove their worth. Thanks also to IPMS leadership for sending it for review.

This review is for the SAC landing gear released for the 1/32 Roden. When I learned of the O-1 release a couple of seasons ago, I thought “cool, that surely means they are going to invest in on O-2 as well!” I should be named Claire Voiant, because here in our hands we now have finished the triparty of USAF Forward Air Controller (FAC) aircraft; the OV-10, the O-1, and now the O-2. I don’t see Trumpeter jumping up and down to release the two-seat F-100 in 1/32, (Heck yes I’ll invest in one if they do) so that tells me we will have to do without the “Misty” FAC for a while.