How to fix the Airfix 1/24 Mossie landing gear

[CrankyCrafstman]

Hey all

 I was getting a little burned out on the Hellcat, so thought I would work on something else for awhile. I've had this kicking around in my head since I picked up the Airfix 1/24 Mosquito kit. It's been bouncing around in there with my one brain cell, or so I've been told...lol. 

  We all know that these big 1/24th kits need metal (make that brass) landing gear to support there weight. Well since nobody makes brass ones what do you do, you say? Well I think I can fix this problem with some creative scratch building.

First]  Here are the tools I used, mostly.

Just your basic stuff.

Secind]  Here are the materials I used.

Tamiya glues, regular, extra thin and extra thin quick set some super glue. 1/8" dia. Brass tubing, 3/32" dia. Brass tubing, 1/16" dia. Brass tubing and some 1/32" dia. Brass rod, akso some 1/16" x 1/16" square plastic rod.

  Lets start:

Step 1

  First you need to cut (4) pieces of 3/32" (0.09375") dia. brass tubing 1 9/16"  (1.5625") long. Next you need to cut (4) pieces of 1/32" (0.03125") dia. brass tubing 1 9/16"  (1.5625") long. Then you need to put the 1/32" dia. Rod into the 3/32" dia. Tubing ~ use super glue.

  Next you need to cut (4) pieces of 3/32" dia. brass tubing 1 3/16"  (1.1875") long. I used aluminum tubing because i didn't have enough brass tubing to go around. Insert the previous two pieces you already assembled into the 3/32" tube you just cut onto one end (see pictures)These go together to make an assembly.

You need to make four of these assemblies, one for each leg.

Step 2

  You need to remove parts 18H, 21H and 10H from both of the "H" sprues. Next you need to cut off the small stub axle from 21H so you can drill a hole for a new brass tube axle. You need to drill it with a  3/32" drill. Drill through, be careful to stay centered. Next (this is critical) you need to drill into part 18H in the area where the axle will go, caution only go in about 1/32", just enough for the axle to sit in. When you glue 18H and 21H together this will make sure they stay lined up together. (See pictures)As you can see you go through 21H on the right and just barley into 18H on the left. Heres what they look like before you modify them.

step 3

  Now you should have four inner and four outer legs drilled out and ready to go. Next take a piece of the 1/16" x 1/16" square plastic and cut (8) pieces 1 1/8" k1.125") long. Now comes some assembly. Take 18H and add one of the brass tube assemblies you made previously and align with the depression in 18H and add (2) of the 1/16" square plastic pieces on either side of the tube assembly (these are to kept everything lined up) and glue in place, I used extra thin and super glue. (See pictures)It should look like this when assembled correctly. Then you need to add 21H to 18H and glue together. You need to make (4) of these assemblies. (See pictures)They should look like this when done.

 

 

At this point I deviated from the kit. I used  BarracudaCast  1/24 resin wheels/tires. I highly recommend these they are superb castings and put the kit parts to shame. I drilled out the resin wheels with a 1/8" drill makeing sure i was centered and straight.

You can do this to the kit parts, you just need to drill out the four wheel parts 40H and 41H with the 1 1/8" drill.

Step 4

   Now you need to cut a piece of 3/32"  (0.09375 dia. Brass tubing 15/16" (0.09375") long for the axle that will go between the two legs. You need to cut two of these. Next you need to take part 10H and add it to one of the legs per the kit instructions. Next add the axle you just cut into the leg, then add the wheel/tire then add the other leg. Once your satisfied that everything fits correctly you can go back and super glue it together, just don't glue the wheel/tire yet, do that when you are done and ready to set it on its wheels. This way you can line up the flats on the tires with the ground. You can hold it together with tape until then. Thats pretty much it. Make another assembly from the peices you already cut and you have two reinforced under carriage legs. Pretty simple actually I think most competent modelers should be able to accomplish this. If your not that good try it anyway just be very careful and take your time and follow what I said and you can be proud of accomplishing something that will improve your modeling skills.

I cant get rid of this picture so ignore it.

Once this is glued together it will be very solid. Now I have to look at fixing the rest of the landing gear to see if theres a way to stiffen them up.

Ron G 

[Anthony in NZ]

Nicely done!....now I have the correct thread LOL.

It's not too late to fix the stance on your Mossie.  Its the structure above the legs that you need to shorten.  That will make this assy sit deeper in the nacelle.  It's a bit tricky to explain, but essentially remove a section at the top of the support structures that glue into the top of the wells...hope this makes sense....probably not

Great work by the way, I like what you did

Cheers Anthony

[Ryan]

This is a simple fix to a problem, good show Ron.

[CrankyCrafstman]

5 hours ago, Anthony in NZ said:

Nicely done!....now I have the correct thread LOL.

It's not too late to fix the stance on your Mossie.  Its the structure above the legs that you need to shorten.  That will make this assy sit deeper in the nacelle.  It's a bit tricky to explain, but essentially remove a section at the top of the support structures that glue into the top of the wells...hope this makes sense....probably not

Great work by the way, I like what you did

Cheers Anthony

I think I understand what you are getting at, and I can fix that as I haven't gotten that far yet. What about the rest of the undercarriage is there anything else that needs to be fixed?

  I plan on  making a diorama of this Mossie with a AEC 2500 gal 6x6 Matador tanker refueling it just before it goes on a mission. I have to scratch build the Matador because nobody makes a kit of one. I found a company in England that makes alot of different British 1/24 scale trucks. They have a 4x4 Matador MAT truck that I can get the cab from and a 6x6 Militant gun tractor that has the correct chassis and wheels and tires but thay are expensive 250£ each. I'm going to try and work out a deal to see if I can get the cab from one and the chassis from the other. We'll see I'm waiting to hear from him. If not there's a company that makes a 1/24 Bedford O tanker that I could use.

Ron G