Aires

1/48 Martin Baker GRUEA-7 Ejection Seats For the Airfix EA-6B kit

Stock Number: 4401

Reviewed By  Joe Turpen, IPMS# 36505

MSRP: $23.95 Website: www.aires.cz Well, when I first saw the kit all I could think was wow! I like this. Not only do you have resin seats but photo-etch straps for them. Personally, I think this actually will give you a much more realistic-looking seat. Of course, since I have two EA-6B kits, Monogram and Airfix, I am going to have to test-fit the seats in both to see how things work. The Aires website does not say these seats are for one specific kit, so I just had to find out for myself. Also, since I have the EA-6B NATOPS, I just had to check their illustrations out to see how the seats measured up. The kit comes with four seats and a nice set of PE straps as I have already stated. The kit also has a good instruction set but I must admit that the NATOPS illustrations did help a little. Though it would have been nice if the instructions were a little clearer they do provide the information you need for a good build. You can have the seats ready in two days the only thing that slows things down is you have to wait for the paint to dry. As I said at first I was going to try and fit the seats into two cockpits to see how they fit. Well it didn’t work out that way. Monogram actually has molded the base of the seat into the cockpit. Well if you take the time to modify the cockpit, it would probably work but too much time, you know? Well the answer is actually simple… use a resin cockpit. These seats should fit in them really nice and add some realism. Well, needless to say, that leaves the Airfix kit to use for a test fit. As can be seen from the picture, the seats fit nicely into the cockpit there is no trouble at all. Though it took a little practice to get the placement of the belts right but the result is well worth it. If you want a nice looking Prowler cockpit these are the seats you need to use. Enough said. They are well worth the effort and my Prowlers will all have them. My thanks to Aires for the review sample. These are a great, quick addition to the kits!