1:48 CF-18 Hornet wheel bays, landing gears with wheels set for Hasegawa kit

The whole landing gear of the Canadian Hornet in one package

The Royal Canadian Air Force adopted the Hornet carrier fighter as its main combat asset and operates it from land bases to this day, that is considerably longer than was originally reckoned with. That is exactly why its landing gear is a rewarding subject: a sturdy carrier structure, sized for a hard arrival on a deck, spends decades on concrete and every repair shows on it. The set supplies a model with that whole assembly at once, that is the bays fitted out with cable and pipe runs, the gear legs on their own and the wheels.

The make-up of the package is unusually broad for this kind of accessory. Bays, legs and wheels are usually sold separately and the modeler has to work out how they line up with one another. Here the parts follow one another by design, which shortens the whole job markedly.

The most demanding item, but the most productive one too

Do not take it on without experience. The original landing gear bays have to be sanded or cut out of the kit, the space beneath them worked on and the new casting fitted so that nothing gets in the way once the fuselage is closed. Repeated dry fitting is not a recommendation here but a condition. The reward is a view that nothing can replace on a model sitting on its gear, because you look straight into the bays from the viewing angle of a display case. The modeler who mainly wants a quick result will be served far better by a separate set of wheels with weighted tires: it fits in a few minutes and benefits the model visibly. Moving up to the full set can wait until there is time and the willingness to cut into the kit.