Landing gears are diffinately *the* weak spot of model kits...

[Maestro]

Greetings ladies and gentlemen.

Anyone else ever noticed the crappy quality of landing gears for model kits ? I mean, I broke three planes (may be four, we'll see in the upcoming days) because of weak landing gears.

My first ever WWII Model kit was a 1/72 Academy P-51D... But when it came to glueing the landing gears, I broke the portside one.

Years later, I made a 1/48 Tamiya P-51B. This time, the hole for one of the landing gears was not peirced (don't ask me why)... So I tried to pierce it... But I took a drill a little too big and the landing gear was no longer fitting in the hole. I succeeded to "stop the damages" buy making it looks like if he had crash landed somewhere.

A few years later, I built a 1/48 ICM Spitfire Mk. IX. When it came the time of masking the canopy before putting on the varnish, I put a little too much pressure on the plane and broke both landing gears. (D'OH !) I tried to repair it by using a lot of glue, but after several days, the landing gears were still unstable... I ended up throwing it across the basement's wall... There was not much left of it.

Now, I'm currently building a 1/48 Revell P-51D from the Yellow Jackets. The portside landing gear seemed a little unstable so I put a lot of glue on it to stabilize it... I'll let it dry a few days and see what happen. It was due the landing gear's hole being a little too large for it (it wasn't my fault this time).

What makes it even more frustrating is that the landing gears are the last parts that you glue on. So when something doesn't fit, your first reaction is something like : "Great ! Now, I'm screwed up... I've got to find something to correct that."

If someone has a great idea to repair damaged landing gears, I'm ready to hear it.

[mosquitoman]

Do them wheels up and hang them from your ceiling, or just take your time and be careful. Should follow my own advice really.

[Heinz]

Im pretty good with the undercarriage however I know your pain.

Right now I have Bf 109G that was going so well. Good fit etc..

Then the wheel and tiny piece of stem from the legs broke off. Now it will be done in a diorama as a mud stricken Gustav.

[Wurger]

Unfortunately it is true.Landing gears of the modles are always weak details in the kits and it doesn't depend on the scale of it.Certainly the bigger model is the harder it should be.All weight of a model stands on these.In 1:72 scale these are enough to resist the model weight mostly.The problems are with models that have the nose wheels and have to stand on three points.In the case a modeller have to put into a model an additional balast.The higher scale models have the same problem and the balast is also bigger in addition.The problem can be solved by scratch-building landing gears using other harder materials ( injection needles or "mix" the plastic parts with them for instance).Sometimes there are available metal kits for models but they are quite expensive.As far as repairing of damaged landing gears is concerned.The "father " of Polish plastic modelling K.Wagner adviced to repair them by using an injection needle or simply a piece of thin wire.Unfortunately,I don't have a scanner device to show this way.The method is quite easy to carry out.If the landing gear was broken : take a thin drill and bore in both pieces of it holes ( slots or pipes I don't know which expression is right ) going along the vertical axis of broken gear leg.Use for this operation your fingers rather than a driller.2 mm of depth should be enough.Then glue in one of the pieces 4mm of a wire.Its diameter must be the same like the drill ,of course, or a bit smaller.Then glue the second piece,when the glue is dry you have to clear the place where two pieces were put together using a sandpaper.Finally, paint the landing gear leg in the place with a thin layer of colour. That's all.

[Maestro]

Thanks for your help, Wurger.

I just checked back my damaged landing gear on my latest P-51D... It looks pretty stable, now. However, I'll let it dry one more day to make sure everything is OK.

[Wurger]

If it is O.K don't do anything, please.You know, if s**t would be broken up into two parts, both halves would be stunk in the same way.

[Catch22]

I do most of mine wheels up and hang them from the cieling, because I have nowhere else to put them! (And it looks cooler that way I think). I was building (I guess I still am) an Airfix Bf 109E and while putting in the starboard side gear I broke one of the pegs that allows the wheel to go in an out easily. Luckily one of the pegs survived and it can still hold weight, however the tail wheel literally pops out as soon as it touches the ground. The paint job turned out GREAT, but the decals were horrid and many broke and now the canopy won't even fit on because of bad molding. Don't buy Airfix! lol

Continuing on the landing gear note, the one plane I have done wheels out was my Me 262 1/32. It required quite a bit of ballast in the nose, but luckily there was enough room in the front wheel well that we could put enough pennies in there and they can't be seen unless you pick the plane up and flip it over. The landing gear on that was a bit tricky, but probably because I used the metal ones, but fit-wise it was good. It's a Trumpeter by the way.

[Heinz]

Id hang mine but the dust in my house is quite bad secondly my mother doesnt like bullet holed roofs

SIde note: Not all Airfix are bad but I believe the 109 is a pretty old moulding.

[Catch22]

Yeah, that's true. My Mustang wasn't bad, and I don't think my dad had any big issues with his Spitfire.

[Maestro]

I hope so... I bought a 1/48 Spitfire Mk. V from Airfix two weeks ago ! (Still waiting in its box, by the way.)

[Kilroy]

Originally Posted by Catch22

I do most of mine wheels up and hang them from the cieling, because I have nowhere else to put them! (And it looks cooler that way I think). I was building (I guess I still am) an Airfix Bf 109E and while putting in the starboard side gear I broke one of the pegs that allows the wheel to go in an out easily. Luckily one of the pegs survived and it can still hold weight, however the tail wheel literally pops out as soon as it touches the ground. The paint job turned out GREAT, but the decals were horrid and many broke and now the canopy won't even fit on because of bad molding. Don't buy Airfix! lol

Continuing on the landing gear note, the one plane I have done wheels out was my Me 262 1/32. It required quite a bit of ballast in the nose, but luckily there was enough room in the front wheel well that we could put enough pennies in there and they can't be seen unless you pick the plane up and flip it over. The landing gear on that was a bit tricky, but probably because I used the metal ones, but fit-wise it was good. It's a Trumpeter by the way.

Why did you need extra ballast in the nose?, I have the same kit and it required no extra weight to make it sit right

[Catch22]

I'm not sure. I just know that my tail dropped to the ground whenever you let go of it.

[Wurger]

C22 did you add any resin parts to the model?

[PearlJamNoCode]

Landing gear are definitely my least favorite part to build. I think a lot of it depends on how they are designed for the plane. I built a 1/48 Mustang and they seemed very stable, but the ones for my 1/72 B-17 seemed awfully fragile. I just built a Corsair and did it wheels up to save myself the trouble and I think the curves of the wings is accentuated that way.