I got the Hasegawa 1/48 Kawasaki Ki45 Kai Koh Toryu kit as a gift, and was making good progress on it, when my clumsy fingers broke the landing gear strut where it turns into the wheel. very flimsy, Very clumsy

Does anyone know of an aftermarket upgrade to replace this? I can't find one for this aircraft, would a different plane of the same era be the same maybe.

If not that, might anyone have this in their spares.

Thanks in advance for any help.

You may be able to repair it with a sliver of photo-etch fret and some superlue. Bend the brass to match the shape of the strut and trim it to the width of the strut, then glue it in place so that it supports the broken part and takes the stress of the weight of the model.

Steel wire, I don't really know where to get it, I found the eye from the end of a telephone post guy wire cut off and discarded by the road once. I separated some strands and saved them.

Measure the wire (copper could work depending on the weight of the thing, brass would likely not bend for this). Measure the wire, core out the strut for the wire as far as you can, then stick the wire up in there. Extra thin CA glue will bill pulled in by capillary action and make the whole thing solid. Then notch the inside (side with the wheel) to where the axle would protrude and bend the wire out. Snip it off. Meanwhile you've filled the hole at the wheel hub with CA or milliput or whatever, drill that out to the right diameter, slip the wheel on, thin CA glue again.


Boy it seems so easy The sticking point is the drillability of the strut, you're in 1/48 so that's in your favour, you're using hasegawa so that's not...