Background

The ESCAPAC series of ejection seats by Douglas Aircraft is one of the most significant American designed/manufactured seats. Escapacs were fitted to many U.S. Navy aircraft including the A-4 Skyhawk, and the A-7 Corsair II. In the USAF inventory, they were used in early F-15 Eagles, and in the YF-16, as well as early A-10 Thunderbolt IIs. They have a very good reputation when used in the envelope. There are some 20 variants of the Escapac for the different aircraft, each with a different designation.

Contents

This new 1/48 release from Pavla provides a very detailed resin ESCAPAC IA-1 ejection seat as fitted to A-4 Skyhawks. The single seat is packed in a transparent resealable bag. There is no damage at all to the seat. The seat is one piece and has the harnesses cast onto the seat and back cushions. Attention to detail is very good with crisp casting including subtle creases on the cushions, pipe work on the back of the seat and harnesses and buckles. There is a little resin flash inside the overhead activation cord and on the back of the seat. Pavla have captured the look of the seat very well. The ESCAPAC seat were designed to be a lot simpler and looks a lot less busy than the Martin Baker seats.
There are no painting details so either use the kit instructions that the seat is intended for or have a look at the excellent The Ejection Site. which features a number of ESCAPAC seats.
The seat is attached to a casting block, which needs to be removed.

Conclusion

This is an excellent rendition of the ESCAPAC IA-1 and anyone thinking of building the earlier variants of the A-4 Skyhawk in 1/48 should consider acquiring one.