Background

Developed from the British Carden Loyd Mark VI tankette in 1933, the Italian government commissioned Fiat and the Ansaldo Company to develop and produce a series of vehicles classified as Carro Veloce (CV), or "fast tank." After a brief run of 21 initial CV-29’s the design was recast in what became known as the CV-33, of which roughly 300 were produced. Seeing action in numerous smaller conflicts prior to World War II, the CV’s posed limited tactical value and were regularly outclassed by larger and more advanced fighting vehicles and anti-armor small arms.

Although it has been a few years since Eduard released their newly tooled P-39, this latest issue of the L and N versions holds up to the standards of any current aircraft molding. Markings are included for three planes flown by Americans as well as for two Russian-flown aircraft. In addition to markings for multiple aircraft, the ProfiPACK includes masks for all of the clear parts as well as color photoetched parts. The kit builds up well, with minimal filling being required on the fuselage seam, and nowhere else, and can be built by any modeler with limited experience in order to create a reasonable looking Airacobra. Parts are included for the L and N variants specifically for the markings included, but other variants could be built if desired.

I intend to use this Quickboost seat to replace the kit part in an Airfix A-4B.

The seat is molded in super nice bubble-free resin, with sharp, molded detail of the lap belts, shoulder harness, and oxygen hose. The primary and secondary ejection handles are molded separately and are located on the pour stub beneath the seat pan.

The stiffening corrugations on the sides of the seat are correctly portrayed as standing proud of the metal surface, whereas the kit part has them indented. This is a moot point, since when the seat’s installed they won’t be visible anyway.

When I placed the Quickboost seat into the Airfix cockpit tub, it was apparent that it was too tall---the canopy would never close. Compare the photo of the Airfix seat in the fuselage half on the left, with the Quickboost seat in the fuselage half on the right.