Scale Aircraft Conversions continues their prolific run at supplying modelers well cast metal gear with this latest offering for the Hasegawa Hs-129 kit which has been freshly released in a winter camouflage screen. The Hs-129 was the WWII Luftwaffe equivalent of the A-10 Warthog. The Hs-129 was small for a 2-engine attack plane with a wingspan of slightly over 46 feet. Consider that a P-51 had a wingspan of 37 feet for only one engine – this was a small plane!

Hasegawa first released this kit about 12 years ago and it still holds up well with a new reissue in winter camouflage. SAC’s gear consists of two main landing gear struts, two retraction arms, two separate torque links, and a complete new tailwheel. All are well cast and strong duplicates of the kit parts with slight seam lines. The fit is perfect to the kit. I think the real strength of this set is the tailwheel parts. The kit wheel is nice, but with its rearward sweep, it’s a little fragile. The SAC all-metal gear is much more durable as a replacement for this part. In previous SAC reviews, one thing I loved about their parts was the ability to polish the metal areas and mask to represent cylinders. This can’t be done in this case as the main gear cylinders are covered with a boot.

This is a nice replacement set for the gear. While the weight of such a small kit is not an issue, the fragility of the tailwheel could be a problem, especially in the long term, and this set solves the problem. Recommended.

My thanks to SAC and to IPMS /USA for the chance to review this item.