Short History

As we all know the FW-190 and all of its variants have been manufactured in one form or another by just about all major kit companies, this particular item being reviewed though is for the newly released Revell kit.

What’s in the Box?

The box comes with a total of 8 white metal pieces of all varying sizes all replicating the kit parts very accurately and adding some needed strength to support the aircraft. The Landing gear comes packaged in the typical SAC cardboard and bubble blister packaging we are all accustomed to seeing.

The Build

This is a pain-free operation and only required a little time and elbow grease using a couple of files and some sanding paper as white metal pieces can be porous and also have little burs that need to filed and sanded down, so that also means a little safety is required.

The SAC parts build up exactly like the kit parts would so no additional steps are required. The rear tail gear needs to be set and glued in place before fuselage halves are joined, please keep that in mind and remember to try and paint that piece prior to insertion.

Another sticking point while white metal is sturdier than the plastic parts it's replacing it is prone to being soft and easily bent which in my case I had some pieces here and there that needed to be bent straight and reshaped.

Finishing

I chose to stick to Model Master enamels for the painting of the landing gear. I sanded and cleaned them up to the best of my ability and wiped the gear down with plain old lacquer thinner prior to using Model Master Primer and allowing it to dry for 24 hours after 3 coats.

After the drying time, I used Model Master RLM 02 to paint my front and rear landing gear pieces, again another 24 hours to dry before I cleared with Testors Glosscote easy as done. After the gloss cote cured a couple coats of dull cote polished these bad boys off to a completion.

Conclusion

It was great to have some sturdier landing gear for my Butcherbird, I haven’t built too many large aircraft but I'm sure to the veterans they can tell me sturdy gear is worth its weight in gold after all father time wears anything down. My thanks to IPMS, Dave Morrissette and Dick Montgomery for allowing me to review this item for my build and SAC for the opportunity to enjoy their product.