IPMS: # 46363
Manufacturer: Eduard
Product: Su-7 Brassin Seat (Product #648024)
MSRP: $12.95
Review
Czech manufacturer Eduard keeps expanding its Brassin line of aftermarket details this time with the release of the ejection seat for the KP Su-7 in 1/48th scale. A while back Eduard re-boxed the KP kit adding some aftermarket goodies, including this seat.
The seat is now available as a stand-alone upgrade for those that already have the KP kit in their collection. In my opinion, the seat is the weakest point of the whole (original) plastic cockpit and Eduard is offering us the solution.
Eduard provides you with 2 exquisitely molded resin pieces and a pre-colored photo-etch fret for seatbelts and other minor placards and color details.
Construction is very simple and straightforward: I've soaked and air dry the resin pieces in bleach (to remove any mold release residue, although I don't think there was any), airbrushed the seat, paint-brushed the seat cushion and head-rest. I've got a few cracks on the paint at the head-rest, but I kind of like it, as it looks like if the leather would have cracked due to hard use. Then I applied the photoetch parts and finally a raw umber oil wash was applied to bring up detail.
Total construction time was in the order of 45 minutes, spread over 3 sessions. The longest building session lasted about 30 minutes and it was spent working with the photoetch parts. I did managed to lost one PE seat belt part to oblivion, but even with the missing piece the seat looks busy enough.
Another nice touch: the re-sealable plastic package. The plastic blister is designed to be re-closed and allows storing parts between building sessions. It is just a minor detail, but Eduard shows its thoughtfulness toward us, the modelers, by doing that.
There is one thing that could be improved: the instructions lack color painting references. I had to download the Su-7 profipack instructions in order to get some indication on the colors needed for the seat.
The Brassin Su-7 seat is a little gem that I will recommend to modelers experienced handling small parts. There is some photoetch bending involved, so having photoetch experience is a plus.
I would like to thank Eduard for the review sample.
