Since I haven't yet started a kit for this GB, I've gone ahead and begun to work up a pair of Aires ejection seats. They're quite a bit more detailed than the kit parts (which aren't that bad, just plain).
I'll try to post some pics later tonight or tomorrow...
*edited to add pics:
Here's one of the two Aires resin seats, painted, next to one of the seats from the Su-27UB C kit. Although I haven't put all the parts onto the kit seat, you can easily see the difference between the two. I have added a few placards from the Eduard PE sets for these seats as there are a few prominant data plates that are needed, particularly at the red ejection handle.
from the front-
the shiny look to the seat belts is from Tamiya clear smoke- I haven't yet begun to weather and wash these two resin seats so they look a bit rough still. I'll let the paint dry out another day, then seal it all up with Future and do a heavy wash and finally a dull coat to finish them off.
from the back-
Again, it is easy to see the difference in the two but most of that detail is going to be lost once I install the seats in the cockpit. There's actually a lot of stuff that can be painted back there, but if you can't see it, why spend the effort?
and from the top-
from up here, the biggest difference is that the resin seats have the inner leg supports/rub bars and the kit seats do not. That would be an easy fix with thin styrene if I were using the kit's parts and there are replacements in the PE set. As it is, the inner pieces should be curved in a J shape but I didn't want to risk breaking the very thin resin... still fixable if necessary or if they prevent me from installing them in the cockpit.
All in all, I am quite pleased with these Aires seats- they are the first resin bits that I've ever used- and the detail that they've captured really must be seen, but... a little care with the kit parts and the Eduard PE set will get you a very similar result as well. All together, I've probably spent the better part of 12 hours over two days working on these.
Were they worth the extra expense and headache of getting them from England (I could not find these in the US)? It remains to be seen in the final result...