SAC must have one heck of a new kit stash; they seem to have metal gear for every aircraft out there! We at IPMS USA on the reviewer corps appreciate your continuing to provide us review items… and thanks to the IPMS leadership for sending it my way to review!

This is yet another “drop fit and direct replacement” metal gear for your models. This set is for the Gallery Ch-34 in 1/48. Note: This is for the two-part torque gear version like the Wessex, not the “A” frame on earlier H-34’s. That set is SAC #48216. They also have a set for the Italeri Wessex, #48196, which has the torque tube and shock strut cast as one piece.

A note on the various CH-34 landing gear out there; My dad flew H-34’s out of Danang with the South Vietnamese as an advisor, and stated they had both “A” frame and Torque tube landing gear in their “cast off from the US Army and Marine front line” aircraft. The usual admonition to “check your sources” is advised…

This particular set is important in many ways: It improves on the strength of the kit gear, and for the CH-34 with the two-part (lower bent torque tube and side-mount shock strut) is essential to prevent breakage when you put the kit on its wheels.

As you can see by the pictures, 6 parts are provided for this set, totally replacing the plastic parts in the kit. These parts have a positive installation procedure, but you WILL require care to get them aligned and superglued, as you can’t weld and forget like might be the case with plastic gear. These parts have no mold seam, so you can install and paint with right away.

The tail wheel is particularly welcome, as this is a very “delicate” (Ok it breaks off if made in plastic) and the metal gear is a mandatory requirement.

The pictures say it all; much like offset nose gears, all three gear on the CH-34 have offsets that puts a lot of stress on the gear fittings. The metal gear takes away a lot of the “worry” you might otherwise have.

SAC gear continues to be a great investment. With the cost of kits these days, the gear is almost a mandatory outlay.

Thanks again to Ross and SAC for producing one more upgrade in a long line of fantastic metal gear for our modeling fun!