Eduard's Big Ed set is packed in a bright yellow and red cardboard envelope (picture 1). For sure, with such a colorfull artwork, you won't miss them at your LHS! Inside the envelope you will find five smaller plastic bags (picture 2). The references included for the Axis set are the following:
- 49002 (picture 3): these seatbelts are destined to German Fighter planes and you have five (slightly) different designs:
1. for 1935 - 1939 early luftwaffe planes.
2. for early Bf 109s, He 100s and the like.
3. for Fw 190s, Ta 152s and the like.
4. for late Bf 109s and the like.
5. for Me 262, Ar 234 and the like.
There are five seatbelts on the fret, one per design. Therefore, it is theoretically impossible to do two early Bf 109s for example.
- 49003 (picture 4): like in the previous set, there are five different designs but here the manufacturer simply wrote: check your references for exact airplane. So it's up to you to decide if the seatbelts belong to a Ju 88, He 111 or Do 17!
- 49004 (picture 5): in this set you have four different designs wich will allow you to make... 15 seatbelts! Admittedly, some are very basic, but that's quite a number! Some are destined to bombers but there are also some for different aircraft manufacturers (Mitsubishi, Nakajima and Kawanishi).
- 49005 (picture 6): this set has even more to offer: 6 differents designs for 24 seatbelts! They are destined to Nakajima (leather and cloth), Kawasaki and Tachikawa build aircraft. Some are even specific to the Ki-46 model (front and rear).
- 49017 (picture 7): the last set is an interesting one as it is destined to Italian planes. There are only four seatbelts divided in "early" and "late" but they have a much more complex design than the Japanese ones. I don't know if the brown areas are meant to represent the parachute bags, but if so, they would appear rather flat.
Each set comes with its own instructions guide printed in color on one A4 sheet (picture 8). There are no painting guides for the simple reason that you won't need any. Indeed, all the photo etched seatbelts are pre-painted! This will save you a lot of time and quite frankly, I don't think one can achieve the level of detail and the precision obtained by Eduard.
Conclusion
With so much different seatbelts, this Big Ed set will give you plenty of options, especially if you like Japanese planes! It is also very good value for money. If you would purchase each fret separately, it would cost you much more. I think such sets should belong to every WWII aircraft modeler's stash...
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SUMMARY
When it comes to build an aircraft model, usually one starts with the cockpit. And inside the cockpit, there are seatbelts! I always found that adding seatbelts was a real pain... and also very expensive! Having not the skills (and the will) to scratchbuild my own, I often ignored them. But now there is an easy way to solve this problem: Eduard's Big Ed Seatbelts sets!
Our Thanks to Eduard! This item was provided by them for the purpose of having it reviewed on this KitMaker Network site. If you would like your kit, book, or product reviewed, please contact us.
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