Scale Aircraft Conversions is a company that specializes in producing white metal drop-in replacement landing gear parts for a number of aircraft kits. The white metal is much stronger than injection molded styrene and if needed can bent slightly without breaking.

This set is made to replace the kit gear for the new Tarangus 1/48 Scale SAAB JA 37 Viggen. As usual with SAC landing gear the parts you are supplied are beautifully cast replacements for the kit’s plastic gear. Due to the extremely complicated gear arrangement on the Viggen, this is one of the most extensive SAC sets I have ever seen. There are 6 small frets, three large struts and a few more smaller miscellaneous pieces included in the usual SAC blister pack.

The nose gear went together very smoothly following the same steps set out in the kit’s instructions. The main gear did not go together nearly as smoothly. The Viggen has an extremely complicated main gear set up, with two wheels per side connected to a central strut using a number of frustratingly tiny parts. One issue that I had was that the support strut that runs from the main gear strut into the gear well ended up being a little too short because it was unclear where to cut it from the casting tree. I had a number of difficulties getting all four wheels settled and aligned and the gear struts straight, but this was not due the quality of SAC’s parts. It is more a result of the Viggen’s complicated gear and needing to use super glue to attach the parts together, as if I had had a little more working time before the glue set things may have gone smoother. An option would be to use the main strut and cross piece from the kit and replace all of the smaller parts with the SAC parts to give yourself a little more time to get the alignment right.

Overall this is a beautiful set of replacement landing gear. After a few strong words and a couple rethinks, it did go together in a way that I am happy with but again this is due to the complexity the Viggen’s gear not SAC’s parts. I was happy to receive this set for review, as a few of the smaller landing gear parts were broken when I opened the kit.

Highly Recommended.

Thank you to Scale Aircraft Conversions for the review item and thank you to IPMS USA for giving me a chance to review this set.