I was in the midst of building Hasegawa's 1/72 F-14A Tomcat when a new list of review items came out and SAC's gear for the mighty 'Cat was one of the available goodies. Having already done some work on the kit landing gear, it provided a great opportunity to do a side-by-side comparison.

SAC's gear come in an attractive clear bubble/card packaging emblazoned with the (USAF) SAC logo. I opened the package, removed a small amount of flashing from the 3 white metal parts, and went immediately to paint – flat white as a primer coat followed by gloss white out of a rattle can. Score one point for SAC, as I had spent a lot of time with needle files, blades and sandpaper removing a whole lotta flash from the kit parts (this is a theme that will repeat in the kit review).

The actual nose gear on F-14's was “stroked”; the gear compressed about 10” before the cat shot and extended when the aircraft cleared the catapult, providing additional angle of attack as 70,000 lbs of Turkey fought for altitude and airspeed. Hasegawa provides a compressed and extended nose gear in the box. The SAC gear could be modified to represent pre-cat shot configuration, but unless you're doing a catapult diorama, the SAC gear as provided represents 99.9% of the ground appearance of an F-14.

In order to use the SAC gear, some of the Hasegawa kit parts are required. On the nose gear, the two anti-shimmy links need to be added. These straddle the oleo strut and their position on the SAC gear is obvious – I used superglue to attach them after applying Bare Metal Foil to the strut.

Interestingly, the side link that attaches to the fuselage when the MLG are down and locked isn't replicated on the SAC parts. When I attach these to the Hasegawa Tomcat I'll have to use some plastic rod to represent that feature. I liked the kit drag links for the MLG better than the ones molded into the SAC parts but I elected not to do the surgery required to incorporate them.

I painted the gear in flat white, followed by a coat of Future, and a light wash of burnt umber in the nooks and crannies of the gear. Bands of black and silver decal film were cut with a scalpel blade and added in various locations to represent cable clamps and markings. I used some scrap bits of decal from the Hasegawa sheet to represent the metal data plates that are attached to each gear strut.

The F-14 review will be posted soon (it was waiting for gear installation) so check that review out for shots of the SAC parts attached in place. My thanks to SAC and to IPMS/USA for the review opportunity.