Aerocraft Undercarriage Sets for Zoukei Mura Shinden

Richard Cullen has got in touch to provide details of an initiative to improve the undercarriage parts of the Zoukei Mura 1/32 J7W1 Shinden (back in stock this year). Over to Richard then: 

The Zoukei Mura 1/32 J7W1 Shinden (SWS 01) was the first kit released by the company and was generally well received. There was one glaring issue however that became clear over time, and that is the stalky undercarriage with the undercarriage main legs having an extreme rake of around 60 degrees forwards. The very slender kit nose gear comes in two halves with a length of wire that is to be inserted between the parts to provide some strength/stiffness. The main gear however has no such strengthening and from observation of Zoukei Mura shop displays, plus reports on modelling forums it has a high likelihood of failure due to either being knocked, or just creep of the plastic over time.

ZM instruction

This issue was addressed to some degree by Zoukei Mura themselves when they released the white metal undercarriage set (SWS01-M04). This set however was never easy to obtain, quite costly, and at least in the UK sold out quickly. Aerocraft have addressed the issue by releasing a brass and 3D printed set which provides direct replacements so that no kit modification is required. The kit has now been re-released and is ecoming available again in the UK. Please note these are not just cast copies of kit parts and were entirely redrawn in CAD.

CAD

The 3D resin parts consist of the anti-shimmy damper, oleo scissor link, and retraction jack on the nose gear, plus oleo scissor links on the main gear legs which are brass. The kit brake lines can still be used as per kit instructions.

Resin parts fitted

Fitted to kit

Included in the set are a set of the anti-strike wheels fitted to the aircraft after bending its propeller on the first abortive flight test (1 set). They are very delicate but will enhance this area in a very subtle way.

Anti strike wheels

The kit wheels can be used, but Aerocraft also provide a set to replace them which provides main wheels with separate brake hubs to assist in aligning the subtle flat correctly to the ground. They also have a tread pattern that is partially represented on the kit parts but would be lost during when joining them.

Wheels set

Finally, a set in 1/48 scale has also been released as well, which has separate parts as per the 1/32 set, whereas the kit and Zoukei Mura metal parts have moulded in details. Only brake lines will need to be added by the modeler using their favourite method. This set makes a very significant difference to the appearance of the finished model, achieving more finesse.

1/48 scale nose gear

Fitted to kit

These sets are available directly from aerocraftmodels.com:-

• 1/32 Undercarriage Set  ACM32073  
• 1/32 Wheels Set         ACM32080
• 1/48 Undercarriage Set  ACM48064

With thanks to Richard for kindly providing this information to AoJ.

Image credit:- Box art © 2024 Zoukei Mura; Other images © 2024 Richard Cullen and aerocraft models