The Little World

And bite that trembling lip. A good idea has just surfaced.

Model airplane kit builders can access any number of specialized kits and parts these days. If you find something crude in the box, you just keep shopping until you find a Czech firm that have made a better replacement part for it. Of course that replacement part will cost as much as the original kit, but we’re talking a hobby here, and money is no object…

Well, having looked at the landing gear legs in the model airplane kit and discovered that they are accurate scale models of what used to collapse regularly in the full-sized aircraft, you might be forgiven for thinking that you are about to be in a pickle. If you build the thing as per the instructions, weighting the nose so that it doesn’t sit on its tail, you risk having the front landing gear collapse – if not all three legs. Styrene is not metal.

Well, here are three ideas; feel free to adopt them.

a. Purchase white metal replacement gear legs from the modelling market. They are made for a surprisingly large number of planes which means that a surprisingly large number of modellers have had their models collapse on the workbench before. Expect to pay serious money.

b. Build the kit as per instructions but run a piano wire strut down the side of each gear strut to touch the shelf at the same time as the flimsy plastic assembly. Or use a clear perspex tab to do the same thing. Not perfect, but workable.

c. Regard the styrene landing gear legs that you get off the plastic sprue as master models for lost-wax casting. Encase them in heat-resistant silicone moulds and slip or centrifugally cast replacements in white metal yourself. It’s not rocket science, and you may be able to make a few additional sets from the moulds for sale to others.

You’ll be able to see exactly on the landing gear legs where to position your mould halves, because it will already have been done by the plastic injection moulders.

You can also cast into friable investment in casting rings if you are content with one-time moulds and the risk of short shots.