Introduction

Eduard is known for bringing very high quality and it is not different with this ejection seat for a "late" F-16.

The blister packaging contains:

4 resin pieces giving a complete ejection seat

A photo-etch set with colored seatbelts and a range of other pieces further improving the already excellent plastic parts.

I compared the resin parts with the pictures of those of the early F-16 ejection seat (see the Review HERE and came to the conclusion that they seem to be identical except for the seat padding which is suggesting another material.

Also the photo-etch parts seem identical to those of the early F-16 seat but... they are numbered differently?

Instructions

Going to the instruction seat, I notice that it is identical to the instruction seat of the early F-16 ejection seat except in the numbering of the photo-etch parts.

This little kit seems virtually identical to the early F-16 ejection seat offering of the same manufacturer. Hence, what does "a F-16 late seat" actually mean? According to Eduard, this seat is made for the F-16 C/D and later (and is fitting in the Tamiya kit).

Maybe some differences will be revealed once that I start constructing it but for now I can't (except for the padding of the seat) see any reason to make two kits.

What is worse is that there is no painting guide. The internet site of Eduard is giving a few pictures of a finished seat but for the rest it is up to you (and Google) to find out how this thing needs to be painted.

Searching the net gives many pictures indeed but none of these agree with the Eduard choice to paint the seat belts light blue.

Construction

Only 4 resin parts and approximitaly 34 photo-etch parts. It should not be too much work to assemble this. however, while the Eduard site gives some basic information on how to handle photo-etch parts, I doubt that these will be sufficient to work with the very tiny pieces provided with this seat.

Eduard is showing how modern techniques can produce, and paint, the smallest parts to very high detail but it takes watchmaker skills (and equipment?) to be able to use these as well.

Conclusion

It is almost a pity to build this thing inside a canopy where much of the detail will be hidden. It would make perfect item for a F-16 maintenance diorama and the molding of the resin seems very suited to do this.

It will take much patience, a stable hand and experience with resin and photo-etch to build. A decent internet connection and partnership with Google or Bing will proove valuable as well.

For the rest I could copy Vance his review of the early F-16 ejection seat.

Some additional remarks

Ejection seats are very high tech items and have been the subject of lots of studies and research.

Already in the 70's the USAF started up programs to develop a standard ejection seat to be utilized accross the board. This led to a contract for McDonnel Douglas and the ACES II (Advanced Concept Ejection Seat) ejection seat.

This seat was first used in the A-10 Thunderbolt II and was later introduced in many other airplanes. It continues to be enhanced and can now be found in the A-10, the F-15 and F-16... up to the F-22.

It appears to me that there is almost no visible difference between this seat and the "early F-16 seat" while the real story suggests that the same seats are produced and used in many types of planes.

It is a pity that Eduard makes no reference whatsoever to the original manufacturer of the seat, its history and the many planes where these seats are used. One could argue that this would significantly increase the price of such small niche product. This is only partly true because the research had to be done anyway for making the kit itself (and a few extra internet pages come cheap once the site is available).

Please remember, when contacting retailers or manufacturers, to mention that you saw their products highlighted here - on AEROSCALE.