1:32 ACES II Seat belts (3D-Printed)

Seat belts of the ACES II seat

The ACES II ejection seat became the standard of the US Air Force from the end of the 1970s and you will meet it in practically everything that has carried its badge since then: in the Eagle, in the Fighting Falcon, in the A-10 attack aircraft and in the cabins of the B-1B and B-2 bombers. A modeler recognizes its harness system at first glance by the massive shoulder belts led into a single central lock, which is released by turning a lever. In its pattern and its coloring it differs from British and Soviet solutions, so it cannot be replaced by a general set of belts.

Finished coloring instead of painting

The straps come printed in their final color, including the darker seams, the stitching along the edges and the metal buckles with a light gloss. That does away with the most unpleasant part of the work in a cockpit, that is painting millimeter strips with a brush and then bringing the metal fittings out. The material is yielding, so it can be folded over the edge of the seat cushion and pressed into a hollow without the belt springing back. The lighter wear on the folds is part of the pattern, so the strap does not look freshly unpacked but like a thing somebody used every day.

Where it shows on a model

In 1:32 scale the space of the cabin is large and with the canopy open even an uninitiated visitor to an exhibition can see into it. An empty shell of a seat is among the most conspicuous unfinished things, because the eye looks for precisely that contrast of a soft strap against a hard structure. The belts are laid into an already finished and painted seat, so you can leave them until the very end of the build. Anyone building the cabin closed saves the work altogether; but as soon as the canopy stays pushed back, the straps are among the first things a viewer's eye reaches for on a model.