Eduard Steel Seatbelts 1:32

[Shar2]

STEEL Seatbelt Sets Luftwaffe Fighters, Bombers, Early RAF, USAAF
1:32 Eduard

As with the 1:48 scaled sets reviewed by Mike HERE, Eduard have also produced four sets of seatbelts in the new Steel range for those of us who like to build in 1:32 scale. As with the smaller scale, these are also pre-painted and appear to be remarkably flexible, and even with quite rough handling the paint adheres to the metal really well.

They are still made from 0.1mm sheet with the resulting etch is thin at around 0.06mm and have the same details printed on them, such as the webbing, stitching, and shadowing. Unlike some sets, all the buckles and clasps are etched as part of the strapping, so there is no fiddly work required to assemble each belt.

[32867 – Luftwaffe WWII Fighters] – There are four complete sets of belts on the single sheet. These include shoulder and lap straps along with separate padding that is fitted under the main buckles and a couple of smaller fittings.

[32868 – USAFF WWII] – There are four belts included on the single sheet. Two of the belts are in olive green and two in a sandy colour. The shoulder and lap straps are once again separate, as are the the release clips and orange brown padded panels, although for some strange reason, Eduard have only provided three clips and pads.

[32872 - Early RAF WWII] – This sheet contains four seatbelts, all in a beige colour and with separate lap straps. Two of the shoulder harnesses have a short attachment strap that I believe is fitted to the seat, and two with long attachment straps that fit to the rear bulkhead of the cockpit.

[32873 – Luftwaffe WWII Bombers] – The single sheet in this set contains just two complete seatbelts for the pilot which include shoulder and lap straps, along with the attachment strap assembly and the reddy tan padded panels.

Conclusion
Those who build in the larger scales generally try to add greater levels of detail into their models, showing much skill and technique. Now, those of us who aren’t endowed with super skills can at least have some nice looking seatbelts fitted to our models, with very little skill needed, other than a bit of bending and gluing. Of course the belts can still be weathered more if required.

Review sample courtesy of