Eduard has released a series of WWII-era seatbelts in the “Superfabric” series. This review covers the following item:

• Seatbelts USN WWII green SUPERFABRIC, Catalogue No: 49086, MSRP: $7.95

The Superfabric seatbelts are made of some sort of “rubber-like” material. They have volume -i.e, they are not flat like decals- and they have a little bit of texture like if it they were made of ‘fabric’ (pun intended).

From what I read in the Eduard website you can either apply the seatbelts “dry” directly on the painted seatbelt or “wet” if the seatbelt has been coated in Future.

I almost always like to coat my cockpits with Future (in preparation for a wash), however in this review I choose to apply the seatbealts over a “flat surface” (i.e, just over enamel paint).

Illiad Design has started a 1/32 decal line and their first sheet is a secure bet: a Bf-109G. The recent Revell model is a good candidate for it, but not the only one, as the old Hasegawa kit could be a good recipient for these decals.

This decal sheet cover 6 airframes from 7./JG 53, the famous “Pik As” Jagdgeschwader. All the markings cover airframes located in Sicily during 1943 finished in RLM 74/75/76 with mottling on the sides and they have stripes on the propeller spiner. No decal is provided for the spinner, but instructions on how to mask it are provided.

The decal sheet is very glossy and the decals look thin. Register is perfect. Opacity is likely to be good too, but I have not tried them in a model. You might want to test that using a spare decal.

Thanks to Eduard for providing more of their excellent aftermarket parts for IPMS USA to review, and to IPMS leadership for sending it my way.

This harness set is takes advantage of one of the new technology opportunities provided by our ever-expanding aftermarket companies… micro fabric.

The harness appears to be laser cut on material with a white paper backing. Detail is there; in this scale, it was hard to see sometimes, but more on that anon…

I followed the instructions on the back of the sheet, which have you cut out the harness, ball them up and then remove the backing. I did this on the shoulder harness, and this is where I was challenged (and ultimately failed). The material took on a permanent curl and would not lay out so I could thread buckles. I used micro tweezers, and was extremely careful, but even then only succeeded in getting one buckle on one side of one belt… after 1 ½ hours of trying, with a couple of breaks in between.

Thanks to Eduard for providing more of their excellent aftermarket parts sets for IPMS USA to review, and to IPMS leadership for the chance to review this item.

First: this is a basic upgrade to the kit items. It works very well, providing a serious improvement in kit fidelity with just a little work… read on!

This kit contains everything you would expect in an Eduard PE upgrade; the instrument panel is the now-standard “sandwich” of several panels, which results in a high-fidelity instrument panel, to which you add details such as levers, switches, etc.

One important addition is the compass and mount, which are fitted at the lower portion of the panel behind the control column. Once folded and in place, it really adds to the visual effect.

Thanks to Eduard/Brassin for providing more of their excellent aftermarket parts for IPMS USA to review, and to IPMS leadership for sending it my way.

This is another simple upgrade to the Eduard “brassin” line… Wheels and tires for the Airfix new-mold spitfire Mk 1.

Why new wheels and tires? The wheels have deeper, more defined detail than the kit items, and the tires have the manufacturer’s name and the rib around the smooth treat circumference. On with the review..

First: Primer the parts. I use duplicolor flat black for this; (it’s a tire, huh?) once cured and dry, masked the back side of the tires with the excellent kabuki paper masks… and a bit of tape around the rest of the tire so I wouldn’t have to paint the whole thing over again. Leaving the brake assembly open for spray painting, I also placed the wheel fronts (spoked) next to the tires, and hit them all with Tamiya flat aluminum spray.