I grew up with my Dad working for SAC (Strategic Air Command) but that has little to do with this item from SAC (Scale Aircraft Conversions) except that the last base we were at was Malmstrom AFB in Great Falls, MT and the Air Guard unit based at Gore Hill was flying F-106s at the time. And after that long lead in let’s see what we have.

Scale Aircraft Conversions has been making replacement white metal landing gear since 1990. They started in the larger scales but have now released several items in my preferred scale of 1/72^nd and even some in 1/144^th.

The set comes with replacement parts for all 3 gears in the new Meng kit. Comparing the parts these are direct replacements for the kit parts. There are some mold lines to clean up just like on the kit parts but otherwise they are nice representations of the gear. There appears to be some slight bending in the support struts for the main gears in my sample but an advantage of metal is you can straighten them out without fear of snapping.

As these are direct replacements for the kit items there are no instructions included but their website does have a nice section on how to use white metal and also mentions there is no lead included in the metal.

So, why use them? Well, on larger kits the added strength of metal gear insures your plane will stay on its legs for many years. This is especially useful for kits with slender gears like the main legs on a F-105 or ones where you use a lot of nose weight to keep the plane from tail sitting. It also gives you the chance to shine up the oleo parts for a nice, real, metallic look. Also, SAC does make corrections in their gear when the kit parts get it slightly wrong like the oleos are sprung for an inflight length but not landed. But for most smaller kits, especially in 72^nd scale the appeal comes down to if you like to use metal for that extra bit of security or not. It really is your call.

Thanks to Scale Aircraft Conversions and IPMS/USA for the review kit.