1:72 US Navy Phantoms - Martin Baker H7 Seats (2 pcs / 3D-Printed)

Ejection seats for carrier Phantoms

The US Navy had the Phantom in service first of all its users and deployed it in the F-4B and F-4J versions on the decks of strike carriers. The machine weighed over twenty tons at takeoff, and yet a catapult several tens of meters long got it off the deck, which placed demands on the whole escape system different from operation off a concrete runway. Poor results in air combat over North Vietnam led in 1969 to the creation of a training course that the world knows today under the nickname Top Gun.

Contents and resolution

The pair corresponds to the fit-out of both cockpits of one aircraft. Printing has held the sharp edge of the frame, the texture of the fabric on the cushion, the buckles and the routing of the parachute lines, that is elements for which a classic mold does not have sufficient resolution. The detail will not disappear under paint either, because it arises from shape and not from printing on a surface, so it will take even two coats.

Building advice

It pays to assemble the cockpit tub dry and only then to fine-tune the height at which the seat sits, because with carrier machines the cockpit canopy tends to be lower than expected. In terms of color, a dark gray body, an olive shade for the straps and black and yellow stripes on the handles stand up well; in a small scale those come out best as a thin line drawn with the flat tip of a brush.

On the carrier version the interior is the place where the difference from land machines is most visible, so it pays to invest more in it than in an external accessory. It works well to build from the back, that is the tub with the seats first, and only then to close the fuselage.