The Ship Model Forum

G'day all!

I am nearing completion of my 1/700 Lexington and have come to the airwing. In the Past I have had a great deal of difficulty attaching the landing gear to the planes, does anyone know of an easier way?

At the moment I attach them using small tweezers and a whole lot of luck, but they never seem to fit!

Cheers in advance!

I'ev had similar problems with Trumpeter's landing gear on the 1/700 Saratoga kit. One part of the problem seems to be that there is not one flat part of the gear large enough to het a hold on with tweezer. If you try to grab a round area of the gear part it will try to 'twang' in the black hole which is reserved for pieces of plastic and PE like this. The other is that the holes in the aircraft seem to be slightly smaller than normal. The second problem is easily solved by using a small drill bit to widen the hole. I have tackled the first problem by filing a flat surface while the parts are still on the sprue, but I still loose some parts.

Yep, I have the same problem with gear shooting off in all directions, never to be seen again.

Thanks for the reply

I have no experience with 1:700 trumpeter aircraft (but do with fiddly parts with a hankering for escape). It just occured to me; how about lining the inside of the tweezer's jaws with some masking tape. Two or three layers, loosely added. Maybe this gives just a little more grip, a 'softer' grip if you will. You don't necesseraly have to use the sticky side.

I vaguely remember having seem tweezers with a small lining of felt, but can't verify.

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If all else fails, a complete pig-headed refusal to see facts in the face will see us through. - General Melchett