Aerocraft Models Brass Landing Gear (internal) for Hobby Boss B-24J Liberator 1:32

[Mike]

Brass Landing Gear (internal) for Hobby Boss B-24J Liberator

1:32 Aerocraft Models

 

 

We reviewed the new Hobby Boss B-24J recently here, and we generally liked it, with one very important issue that could affect the finished model's durability.  The plastic gear legs.  I measured the weight of the seven largest parts as 640g, to which there is 300g of nose weight to be added, plus a complete interior, engines, paint, glue and any aftermarket that you may decide to throw into the mix.  My estimate of the finished weight could be 1.5kg or more, and Hobby Boss have included a strong(ish) possibly ABS plastic interior that is then surrounded by a more detailed styrene outer.  I don't think that will cut it, although the weight is pressing down near enough vertically, so the main point of stress will be the area around the transition to horizontal and the axles.  This thought must have occurred to Ali from Aerocraft, as he was already working on this set when I reviewed the kit and was able to send a sample almost immediately.

 

The set turns up in an unassuming bubble-wrap package, with three legs in nicely cast, dense and strong brass.  They are almost drop-in replacements, requiring you to just cut off the overflow section from the top and tidy up the casting lug at the bottom.  You'll notice that the overflows on the side of the parts are no longer needed, and that Ali has removed the numbers from the cuffs around the bottom of the legs that are used to identify the plastic parts.  The main gear legs are handed and there's only one nose gear leg, so it's not a big deal, and removing them from brass would be a pest.  When they're tidied up, just glue on the plastic surrounds with some CA or epoxy and tidy up the resulting seams in the same manner as you'd do them with the plastic inners.

 

 

Conclusion

I'm going to go out on a limb (a leg?) and suggest that these should be pretty much mandatory if you want your kit to stay on its legs for a considerable length of time.  If you're posing your model in-flight, you won't need them, but I hope you wouldn't have needed me to tell you.  Get some.

 

Extremely highly recommended.

 

 

Review sample courtesy of

[PolarisPrime]

Saw these on Hyperscale a few weeks ago and bought them as fast as my internet connection would allow me.  Probably the #1A addition for the B-24, 1B being the gun turrets with the joint in the middle of the clear section and 1C being the horrible engines. 

 

Outside of that I think the B-24 is a nice kit, and now it won't sag under it's own weight, 👍