With the recent releases of the special edition F-104 kits from Eduard in 1/48 using Hasegawa plastic, Eduard has released the F-104 C2 ejection seat as a separate kit. The Lockheed C2 ejection seat was the most commonly used ejection seat for the F-104 in US service. It is a downward firing rocket propelled ejection seat.

This seat set is very simple. It contains the main seat frame, two seat options, rails, a small photo etch set and a small decal set. As this is a drop in replacement seat for the kit seat the assembly is very straight forward. Everything in the kit replaces the equivalently parts in the F-104 kit. The first step in the assembly is to remove the three large resin parts from the casting blocks, use a razor saw for this step. If you are careful minimal clean will be needed. After clean up, wash the parts to remove the mold release agent that is often on resin parts.

For painting, the instructions contain nice color callouts for Mr. Color paints. There are only three colors to paint so the painting should be very quick. After painting, assemble the main seat, I used a gel superglue with a medium setting time to allow me to get the parts where I wanted them before it set up. The last two parts of the assembly are the photo etch and decals. This kit contains a very nice set of tiny decals to represent various placards. Be very careful when working with these they are very tiny and have a fair amount of carrier film but once in place they really dress up the details. Lastly on the photo etch; I found it easiest to first tack down one end of the belt or harness then let it dry and harden before attempting to shape it. All of the photo etch is pretty easy to work with and adds a ton of detail to the seat.

Overall this is a great update set. As the ejection seat is the center of the cockpit build, using a seat upgrade like this really dresses up the cockpit. Highly recommended for any Hasegawa kit F-104 in US service. My thanks to Eduard and IPMS USA for giving me the opportunity to review this update set.