Product provided by: Ross, CEO of SAC

Thanks to Ross at SAC for sending us another of your expansive line of metal landing gear (with extra bits for the engine mounts, nice!). Thanks also to IPMS USA leadership for sending it to me.

Once again, a SAC upgrade to the basic kit plastic! The set consists of 5 parts: Two main struts, one tailwheel leaf-spring strut with tail wheel fork, and two engine mounts.

Roden kits suffer from one problem; the soft plastic used is just not up to the task of holding up a model. In this kit’s case, it is worse because the gear is already spread at an angle like the majority of Cessna products, which means the real thing is a shock absorber (try landing on one with too high a sink rate and be bounced back in the air, experience here).

Up front: I did not use the metal engine mount. I had cemented the engine in place as I was not going to use the open cowling option, but I know with the Roden plastic being so fragile, this was a smart move on SAC’s part.

One note for manufacturers: Maybe someday someone will come up with a set of metal struts for the wings on Cessna or other light aircraft, because I have yet to build one that would not benefit from this option. Roden’s kit plastic wing struts are flexing already on my kit.

Also, the tail wheel is VERY small, and on the real thing is a leaf-spring assembly with a steerable fork assembly with two cables to control it. SAC fixes that. In this SAC set, I will say it’s a mandatory addition. The tail wheel fork is worth the price of admission. This is a typical weak-link on large models, and the SAC gear replaces the kit’s tail wheel fork and spring. This is 1) stronger and (2) easy to install. Just superglue the tail gear in place, and you are done. Same for the mains, they just slip into the trunnion slots and you are done.

One other thing SAC has done is install the kit brake line before casting the master, which is a HECK of a lot easier and stronger than attaching the flimsy plastic line in place on the gear. Seriously improved detail and a bargain rate.

The pictures say it all. A “most excellent” job, SAC!

Again, I believe the SAC gear is mandatory for many kits like this, in particular the strength factor over time, as the resin add-ons increase the stress on plastic gear. An easy 10 rating again, thanks to Ross and SAC for filling this modeling niche and IPMS USA for the forum to review such items.