Eduard has produced many different sets of seat belts over the years for many sizes and types of aircraft. They also have several different styles, with the fabric belts and straight photoetch belts. This set is 1/32^nd scale photoetch steel with preprinted color on one side. The printing is top notch and even includes the required stitching on the belts. No specific aircraft are mentioned on the set. One set is tan and one is green and there are two complete sets of each including the lap belts.

The shoulder belts are straightforward in that you cut them free, bend the bottom clips perpendicular and glue them in place. One note here- to make the belts drape more naturally, I bend them up a little and twist them slightly. Not too much or the printing can come off but by doing this and bending them into place and then gluing, you get a more natural look.

Master Model has a line of finely done brass parts which upgrade the kit they’re designed for. These parts are great if you have an accident and one of the cannons breaks off. The other possibility is AMS, as the machine guns are far superior in detail to the little nubs provided on the kit wing. See the parts comparison below.

The Spitfire IXe had a pair of 20mm cannons in the wing. These had been moved outboard to allow more ammunition for the Browning .50 caliber machine guns. The cannons stuck pretty far out from the wing, but the Brownings barely showed. The “fix” for the Brownings was to put the muzzle inside a tube which extended from the wing.

The kit contains six parts, two cannon barrels, two .50 muzzles and the wing tubes for the Brownings. The cannons for the early e wing were conical in shape. The later e wing had a more elliptical shape for the cannon fairings. This kit has the “late” cannons.

When I opened the box I was amazed at how many parts there were. It reminded me of the days when Dragon would include an entire sprue to provide 1 or 2 parts there are 11 yes 11 parts sprues in this kit. HEre is the breakdown of the entire kits contents.

• 11-Grey Sprues
• 2-DS Sprues
• 1-Set of DS Tracks
• 1-Small Sprue with two DS Polycaps
• 2 Clear Parts Sprues
• 1-Sheet of Photo Etch Parts
• 1-Metal Tow Cable
• Decals
• Instructions

Background

The term Magach is short for Merkevet Giborei Hayil whish is literally Chariot of War Heroes. The Magach 1 is based on the M-48A1 and the MAgach2 is based is the M48A2C. a portion of the Israeli Magach 1 tanks were captured from Jordanian forces during the six day war. I have chosen to model a Jordanian M48A1 in Jordanian national markings