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 MB. 7 ejection seat as a separate kit. The Martin-Baker Mk. Q7(A) ejection seat was a replacement ejection seat for the F-104 in European service. It replaced the original downward firing seats with the newer upward firing design. The reason for this change is that in foreign service the role of the F-104 was expanded and in low altitude flight with heavy wing loads there was a very high rate of failure with the original downward firing seats.

This seat set is very simple. It contains the main seat frame, the seat back parts, a small air hose, 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 equivalent parts in the F-104 kit. The first step in assembly is to remove the four large resin parts from the casting blocks, using a razor saw for this step. If you are careful minimal clean up will be needed. I left the air hose attached to the casting block until right before final assembly to avoid damaging it or losing it. 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. There are only three resin parts so the first part of assembly should be pretty quick. The only issue that I had when assembling the seat was with R18. I had a bit of trouble getting it aligned and I popped it off to fix it. While prepping it to reattach the part I managed to damage the center of it, it is extremely thin in the center so just be careful.

The last two parts of the assembly are the photoetch and decals. This kit contains a very nice set of tiny decals to represent various placards. Be very careful when working with these as 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 photoetch; 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 photoetch 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 foreign service. My thanks to Eduard and IPMS USA for giving me the opportunity to review this update set.