Scale Aircraft Conversions’ 1/48 Gloster Javelin landing gear set is a full replacement in white metal for both main gear legs and the nose gear. In many cases SAC will assemble some of the kit parts prior to casting; however, in this case they have cast the parts individually. Additionally, they have also cleaned up the gear and filled the sinkholes that were present on the original plastic parts.

The main gear consists of four parts for each side: a main gear leg, two retraction arms and compression scissors. The nose gear consists of the gear leg with one side wheel-cover, the opposite side wheel-cover and a retraction arm.

Detail is crisper on the metal gear than on the kit’s plastic parts. The replacement parts are a drop fit with no issues what so ever. The replacement for kit part G21 needs to be threaded through an opening in the existing kit parts, but if you take your time and do this carefully you should have no problems.

Given that Gloster’s “Flying Flat Iron” is a large bird with tricycle landing gear, a fair amount of nose weight will be required. I have used SAC products many times on aircraft where required nose weight presented a need for stronger nose gear, and on tricycle-geared aircraft I consider these white metal replacements essential. I can recommend this product to anyone who needs added strength to support the weight of their model. I think that anyone who buys this product will be pleased not only with its looks, but also its performance.

Thank you to Scale Aircraft Conversions and IPMS/USA for the opportunity to review this quality product!