Yet one more “You really should buy this or have your plastic gear fail in a year” set for a heavy model. Thanks as usual to our friend Ross at SAC for providing IPMS USA this set, and IPMS for sending it to me for review!

This gear serves as an excellent example of why metal is a perfect medium for plastic model gear. First, the new Airfix plastic is a bit soft (NOT COMPLAINING, but it is not optimal for landing gear), and the SAC gear is yet again a “drop fit replacement” set. Second; on this model you HAVE to install the gear during construction, early on. There is no way to do it otherwise; on the main sponson gear in particular, the parts are sandwiched into the gear mount for structural integrity. It’s the only way to do it, as the gear goes all the way through the top sponson in a cutout per the prototype, so you have no choice. That means the gear becomes a dreaded “sticky-outy” thing to deal with while building. And if you drop the kit on the workbench like I occasionally do, expect to see parts flying and hear blue vocabulary.

In this case, the metal gear was not only a perfect fit, but exceptionally rugged. I had the nose slip off a jig I had made of the boxtop, and it tagged the table, bending both nose gear axles and one main gear axle. I left them bent. First off, no need to have them straight until I put the wheels on, and second, if you straighten them now they will work harden and one more drop could break them off, which would require you to drill through the axle to install a steel pin. No other damage. NICE!

Everything was a perfect fit; the torque links (scissors) went right into place with just a bit of superglue to hold them, and they accepted primer and final coat paint without problem.

As usual (and like all the other SAC gear I have bought or been provided in the past two years), these are definitely worth the money. The cost of a kit these days makes it something you will want to hang on to, and you don’t have to worry about a bent/collapsed gear as soon as you finish the model.

Almost mandatory, I highly recommend this investment! And thanks again to SAC for the review item!