1:48 Martin-Baker Mk.9 ejection seat

The most conspicuous piece of equipment under a slid-back canopy

The cabin of a military jet is visible from outside only through a narrow slit, but as soon as the builder slides the canopy back, the seat becomes the dominant feature of the whole model. Of all the parts of the interior it has the most complex shape and the most small features: buckles, handles, the hoses of the oxygen system and the placards with safety instructions. That is exactly why it gets replaced more often than any other part of the cabin and tends to be the first modification a builder takes on.

The nine in the manufacturer's numbering

The British marque lists its escape systems under sequence numbers, which roughly follow the generations. The lower numbers stand for the first post-war types with a plain telescopic ejection gun, the higher ones already for rocket propulsion and automatic release of the straps. The Mk.9 falls in the middle part of this line. You will know it by shape from its tall back beam and its fairly angular headrest, which was later succeeded by more rounded shells.

A small scale, a big difference

In 1:48 the seat measures something over two centimeters and the plastic part from the box tends to be merged into a few facets. A casting, by contrast, holds the undercut edges and the gaps between the straps, so after a dark wash is laid on, depth comes about almost by itself. It goes into the cabin tub included in the kit; the dimension matches with most manufacturers in this scale, yet it pays to try the seating dry. Behind the backrest there is room left to add the small rods and lines that on the real subject lead to the breathing apparatus, though in this format that is already work for the patient.