This metal landing gear set from SAC replaces the gear parts and pitot mast in the new tool Airfix Bristol Beaufort kit. Like its cousins from Bristol, the Blenheim and Beaufighter, the Beaufort has a multipart, complex main gear structure. Airfix has done a good job reproducing this in plastic. The SAC parts are direct copies of those. I compared the assembly of the plastic parts against the white metal SAC pieces. I found the plastic parts had an advantage.

Once glue was applied and the parts mated with each other, the plastic glue joint had some flexibility to assist fitting that super glued metal parts didn’t. I got the metal parts to fit but it took a lot longer. It was also difficult to keep the SAC parts straight as even the slightest pressure bent them. In conclusion, I didn’t find any advantage to replacing the kit parts. The gear design is very robust once assembled and the model is not that big. Unless you’ve got to have metal gear, this is one case it's not really needed.

Thank you to Scale Aircraft Conversions for the sample and IPMS for letting me share it with you.