After 15 years of tanks, I am now building the old but still good Tamyia 1:48 model which I was given "early thiscentury" as a present. I am copnfused by the seat offered in the kit. it looks like a...toillete seat, to be pollite. was it the rael seat, this crude (must have been a torture if so!), or do I need to add pillows and back cushions? I also found references to the Stanly Yankee extraction system, and aftermarket resin replacements which looks state of art but then I also read they were only retrofitted onto planes from two VA only. so, simply question: yankee or the toilet bucket? and if the latter, which improvements? thanks in advance for helping....a tanker!

Early Skyraiders had a very plain formed metal seat which looked like this:


The pilot's parachute formed the seat cushion which is why the bottom of the seat looks so uncomfortable. The Yankee seat you mention was retrofitted to later Skyraiders during the Vietnam conflict to answer the problem of getting out in a hurry.

All that the Tamiya seat needs is a set of generic US style seat belts.