I am quite fond of my little #044. It is comfortable and balanced, easy to use. My #043 languishes on the shelf now.
Mine came with just a 3/8" blade, so I set about filling the gap. I wanted 1/8" through 3/4" (although, frankly speaking, I am not mad about a 3/4" blade in this plane, so let's say up to 5/8").
#044 blades are hard to come by at a decent price. I finally decided to make my own. To this end I acquired several Stanley#45 blades. These are the ones that are notched and have flat backs. They are very slightly thicker than the Record #044 blades, and may well work out better as a result.
The rear of the #044 has 4 grooves for the adjustment wheel. I decided that 2 were enough (and I am sure that most could get away with just one groove). These took about 30 seconds per blade to grind on my Dremel (mini grinder). The trick is to match the width of the grooves, and all one need do is to use a stack of three of the thin grinding disks.
The blades/#044 work well together. My only gripe about the #044 is that it lacks a nicker for cross grain work (I suppose a knifed line will do). OK, a second (minor) gripe is the need for a screwdriver to adjust the blade depth.
Regards from Perth
Derek