F-14A Seatbelts FABRIC

Eduard, 1/48 scale

Reviewed by Mick Drover

Eduard's 1/48 scale Remove Before Flight set is available online from Squadron.com

Eduard have been manufacturing their Fabric line of ejection seat harnesses for a while now. This set is for the F-14 Tomcat specific GRU-7A ejection seats Two sets of belts are included in this set, obviously one for the pilot and the radar intercept officer. The fabric component of the set contains the pre-painted belts while the etch components are used for the buckles and other metal components for the harness and the instructions show a fairly straightforward assembly process assembly process

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The only issue that I would raise with the set is the colour of the belts.They  looks like a duck egg blue colour whereas photos readily available around the web show that the belts are a mid grey colour. I’d advise to use your references and perhaps repaint the belts in a more appropriate grey colour. Quite an easy fix really.

I’ve made an assumption here that this set is specifically designed for any 1/48 GRU-7A ejection seat that was used by the F-14 Tomcat. Other derivatives of the same seat may or may not have the same harness and seat belt configuration.

The biggest benefit that I see with these fabric seatbelts over photo etch and cast resin is that they can be molded into a more natural pose. Photo etch can remain quite rigid and with cast resin what you see is what you get if the belts are molded.

I can see Eduard gradually expanding this line of product and perhaps replacing their etch belt with these more convincing fabric sets. Once they dial in the correct colours for the belts they’ll be on a winner.

Recommended.

Thanks to Eduard for the samples and images.

Review Text Copyright © 2015 by Mick Drover
Page Created 2 July, 2015
Last updated 2 July, 2015

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