Content

Eduard's Big Ed set is packed in a bright yellow and red cardboard envelope (picture 1). For sure, with such a colorfull artwork, you won't miss them at your LHS! Inside the envelope you will find five smaller plastic bags (picture 2). The references included for the Allies set are the following:
49001 - Seatbelts USAF & USN WWII
49006 - Seatbelts RAF WWII
49007 - Seatbelts RAF late
49010 - Seatbelts France WWII
49012 - Seatbelts USN early

Each set comes with its own instructions guide printed in color on one A4 sheet (picture 3). There are no painting guides for the simple reason that you won't need any. Indeed, all the photo etched seatbelts are pre-painted! This will save you a lot of time and quite frankly, I don't think one can achieve the level of detail and the precision obtained by Eduard. But let's take a closer look at each fret:
- 49001 (picture 4): these seatbelts are destined to US planes and you have two variations: Tan and Green (two for each). It is written on the instructions to use references for the exact airplane as both colors were used randomly. They will fit into the cockpits of Mustangs, Thunderbolts, Corsairs, Hellcats etc...
- 49012 (picture 5): according to the instructions, the seatbelts present in this set are for Dauntlesses, Avengers etc... and include parts for the gunner's seat as well. Here also you will find Tan and Green versions. I think these seatbelts are also appropriate for pre-war Navy "Yellow Wings" planes.
- 49006 (picture 6): in this set two pairs of RAF seatbelts are provided, one pair being Sutton seatbelts. I guess they are destined to almost every British aircraft of that era.
- 49007 (picture 7): there are 3 various designs in this one. Two seatbelts are very similar to the ones of the previous set but the others are different, one being colored blue. I will follow Eduard's advice this time: see your references for exact airplane...
- 49010 (picture 8): Cocorico! French seatbelts! Of course there are not that many "Armée de l'Air" kits out there but for the few who build them you now have a French set composed of three identical seatbelts. Very nice for the Tamiya D520 for example. For the majority of aircraft builders, this small fret will probably last for a liftime!

Conclusion

With 19 seatbelts in total, this Big Ed set will give you plenty of options! It is also very good value for money. If you would purchase each fret separately, it would cost you much more. I think such sets should belong to every WWII aircraft modeler's stash...

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