Back in 2008 I built a Dragon Su-24, with the Zvezda nose to review Olimp’s Fencer decal sheet. In the ensuing years, the landing gear was broken on the kit. The Fencer was otherwise OK, but the nose gear was trashed. So when they offered Scale Aircraft Conversions’ new Su-24 metal landing gear for review, I jumped at the chance.

What you get is a new nose gear leg, and two main landing gear legs. They’re nicely cast in white metal, and very easy to work with. I include a comparison photo of the Zvezda gear and the SAC gear. They’re identical, except the SAC gear will last a LOT longer.

The Model

I removed the gear doors and plastic landing gear legs from the kit. I had to drill out one of the mounting holes for the main gear support strut. Otherwise, everything came out pretty cleanly. I removed the wheels from the nose and main gear legs. One of the main gear wheels required drilling out, and one of the nose gear wheels also required drilling, as the posts broke off inside the wheel hub. I did a test fit of the gear legs to see if there was a problem. I did have to do a little bending on the main gear support to get it to fit at the correct angle. But that’s the charm of white metal, it bends easily.

Reconstruction

I painted the main gear Flanker Gray, which pretty well matched what was on there before. I painted the nose gear gun metal. The white metal took the Model Master paints from the airbrush just fine. I did a little touch up on the wheel hubs and tires, as they had been scratched during the removal process.

I then glued the wheels on the gear legs using thick CA. No problems. I then put the gear into the wells using the same CA. Everything fit nicely.

There are two parts I had to “salvage” from the plastic kit, the support arms that go toward the center of the fuselage on the main gear. These fit with no muss, no fuss, and the thick CA works.

I then reinstalled the gear doors. This was definitely the most difficult and finicky part of the whole project, since I was working with the gear already installed and also had to work around the fuselage and under wing stores.

Overall Evaluation

Highly recommended. This saved a kit that would be difficult to reproduce, since Olimp has discontinued this decal sheet. The parts fit is marvelous, and I doubt if anyone could break the metal gear by accident.

Many thanks to Scale Aircraft Conversions for providing the means to save an almost irreplaceable model. And thanks to IPMS USA for allowing me to do this review.