Reskit undercarriage.

[antonlemmy@yahoo.com]

Just picked up a set of Reskit’s undercarriage for my Tamiya F-14 Tomcat. I wasn’t sure about getting them initially because of the cost but after seeing them I’m blown away; the level of detail is astounding. It actually now seems like money well spent. 
Has anyone had any experience working with them? Any suggestions or recommendations?

Edited June 1 by antonlemmy@yahoo.com

[europapete]

Reskit is always a solid buy. The last time I used their parts was on the Revell 1/48 SR71, x2!  One for a retired SR pilot and one for my Wife.  As you say, the detail is amazing and fit was perfect. I used superglue to build the parts, paint as much as you can before assembly, as when the u/c descends into the bays, it can be tough to reach areas. Carefull shading and highlighting really makes the details pop but be carefull not to overdo it. 

Grab as many referance photo's as you can. 

Regards, Pete in RI

[chrish]

38 minutes ago, antonlemmy@yahoo.com said:

Just picked up a set of Reskit’s undercarriage for my Tamiya F-14 Tomcat. I wasn’t sure about getting them initially because of the cost but after seeing them I’m blown away; the level of detail is astounding. It actually now seems like money well spent. 
Has anyone had any experience working with them? Any suggestions or recommendations?

I’ve used that very set on a Trumpeter F-14 D (the whole build is on here somewhere) and attached them to an Aires resin gear bay, the fit was so close/ tight, when they snapped into place on a test fit, I didn't think I’d get them back out again. Just bought the set for an upcoming F-105 build as well. Their stuff is like Crack Cocaine for modellers.

[allthumbs]

On pages 2 and 3 of this thread, modelers report problems w/Reskit landing gear sets, including the F-14.

 

 

Edited June 2 by allthumbs

[Pete Roberts]

Aerocraft may be a better alternative, but all their stuff is out of stock!

[John1]

I bought their very expensive set for the OV-10 Bronco.  Before the kit was even fully built, I had the joint at the wheel axle starting to sag.  Had to glue a section of plastic underneath it to prevent it from collapsing.   Fast forward 4 months and another section has completely collapsed.   My exquisite (and amazingly expensive) model is headed for the garbage can.   Very, very disappointed.    I won't be using any of their LG products moving forward, which is a shame because the detail they provide is very impressive. 

[Sabrejet]

10 minutes ago, John1 said:

 I won't be using any of their LG products moving forward, which is a shame because the detail they provide is very impressive. 

 

...moving forward?

[Tony T]

I have the Aerocraft Kitty legs for the Trumpeter monster and have yet to use them, but they are very solid. A must-do project soon.

@Ali62 Hoping Aerocraft might consider bronze or brass legs for the Academy Hornet cantilever MLGs, especially with the F/A-18D Night Attack reissue this summer. I'd be in for two sets as they'll be good for the F/A-18C releases too. The Academy Hornets are otherwise great kits but come with wire-reinforced legs that quickly sag and splay. 

 

The non load bearing ResKit gear is delightful. Am immensely grateful for a lot of their stores and pylons gear — really lift many subjects.

 

Tony 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 3 by Tony T
typo

[csavaglio]

I just got the F-105 intakes and gear, mostly for the intakes. I have no plan to trust 3d gear legs for the main legs even with some PE supports glued in. I haven't looked closely, but my plan is to try to integrate the G Factor gear into the reskit wheel wells or separate the wells themselves and use avionix. 

 

I think the main gear has a brass or bronze leg. I dont know why the main legs weren't done like that. 

 

There are sturdier resins that might do better, but that's not being used here. 

[cbk57]

I used reskit landing gear on the tamiya 1/48 f-14 and found it exceptional.  I am planning a 1/48 gwh a-10 I noticed for that that the front gear wheel attachment is metal.  I suspect they are improving their stuff even though my experience so far is that it is really good.  

[allthumbs]

Geometry and mass are no doubt factors that affect durability over time. The trailing link design seen on Broncos and Hornets necessarily adds stress; and a “loaded” Tomcat in large scale is massive compared to most other models. 

[allthumbs]

…and as @cbk57 suggests, the general trend is hopefully aimed at improving strength and durability. At least on a few of their sets ResKit and Detail & Wonder provide clever elbow reinforcement plates for the axle areas, which I imagine help quite a bit.

[Hubert Boillot]

I would not trust 3D-printed resin to withstand durably the stresses and shearing forces induced by a rather heavy 1/32 scale kit. 3D-printed resins can produce extraordinary results in terms of details, but their mechanical resistance can be … variable.

When I built a conversion of Lukgraph’s Potez 25 to a French Potez 25 TOE, I was somewhat alarmed by the potential weight of the finished kit, especially after seeing the solid upper wing, which, alone, weighs 187 grams. I spent an awful lot of time reinforcing the wings with metal spars, as well as the inter wing struts with metal rods that would go through the whole struts (when Lukgraph would have only metal stubs inserted at both ends of the resin strut). I designed and 3D-printed new, hollow, struts in which I could insert brass rods. Ditto for the landing gear (which is different on the TOE from the version proposed by Lukgraph). In fact the designed and printed struts are just cosmetic fairings to go around the brass rods, which bear the brunt of the weight and stresses.

As a side note, the Potez 25 TOE has also a completely different, and fairly sophisticated, tail skid design from the early versions of the Potez 25. I designed and printed one, hoping that it would be enough as the majority of the weight would be borne by the main  - reinforced - landing gear. Three weeks after completion the resin tail skid had snapped. I ended replacing it with a scratchbuilt, soldered brass one.

I have the same gripe with the 3D-printed resin landing gear of Lukgraph’s Grumman Duck : beautiful and scale-accurate, but I would not even want to try its resistance to the weight of the finished kit (btw, I saw that Bosch has chosen a « wheels-up » display in his outstanding Duck build …). Which is why I have embarked in a delicate metal-smith exercise to produce an all-brass soldered landing gear to replace the kit’s parts, with the same scale accuracy …

Just my two cents, of course.

 

Hubert

 

PS: to enhance my point with some maths: a loaded Potez 25 TOE weighed 2 600 kgs. If we had the same volume density for the kit as for the 1:1 aircraft, the 1/32 kit should weigh around 80 grams. My finished kit, with all its parts for the conversion, weighs 458 grams, which translates to the weight of a loaded modern jet, i.e. around 15 000 kgs in 1:1.

Edited June 2 by Hubert Boillot

[Marcel111]

I used the beautiful looking Reskit gear on my Tamiya Tomcat. Initially all looked exquisite. However, after some weeks, I noticed the main gear had splayed out quite visibly. Even the two front gear wheels were slightly splayed. I assume the deformation would only have gotten worse over time.

 

I have since ripped off the gear, cleaned up the area and fitted Ali’s gear. This all set the project back by at least three months, I’ve had to design adapters such that the Aerocraft gear fits, since I had of course prepared the wheel well for the Reskit set.

 

I used Aerocraft gear on both of my prior Tomcat builds and they are still perfect after many years.

 

I generally love Reskit products. I bought all of the Reskit A-7 sets, however I’ll be using the kit supplied metal gear for that build.

 

Cheers,

Marcel

Edited June 3 by Marcel111

[Smeds]

On 6/2/2026 at 6:42 AM, Pete Roberts said:

Aerocraft may be a better alternative, but all their stuff is out of stock!

For the time being, he is relocating and will be back up and running soon as stated on his web site.