More metal gear from Ross at SAC. THANKS VERY MUCH for sending IPMS USA another of your expansive line of metal landing gear, and thanks also to IPMS USA leadership for sending it on to me to review.

This is the SAC-standard metal landing gear improvement over the kit plastic. Kinetic’s F-16 series are most excellent, and easy to work with, but the landing gear, being part of the new plastic as well, tends to be a bit “soft”. This SAC set has 11 parts; two main struts, three retraction links, two main gear extension rams, a nose gear and separate nose tire along with a torque link, and the set includes a replacement back bulkhead for the kit main gear well.

This installation was a bit more involved; I did not use the SAC aft bulkhead, as I was using an AIRES F-16 resin main gear well on my F-16I SUFA two-seater. The gear struts (both left and right struts are interconnected) fit right into place once I cut a bit of resin out of the gear well parts, superglue and finished. Same for the retraction/extension arms; all were a direct replacement for the kit parts.

The torque link required care in installation because of the size and use of gel superglue to hold it in place, but once there it stayed in place. This link includes a representation of the curved “Dirt scraper” brush which exists on the actual aircraft.

The photos tell the story; the SAC gear fits perfectly into place, and I know have a rough-field gear that will shrug off my attempts to break it. The other benefit is I can bend the gear into place to ensure appropriate camber and castor on the tires after installation. The “Heavyweight” F-16’s sit a bit differently than the standard F-16’s, and this set captures this feature very well.

SAC gear makes the difference for many kits like this. An easy “10” rating, thanks again SAC for staying at the front of the queue for landing gear requirements with all the new kit releases out there, and IPMS USA for the forum to review them.