1/48 pilots with HGU-55 helmets

Modeling Subjects Aircraft
1

Hi,

I have been look around at 1/48 scale pilots for modern US jets, or at least since the 1990’s. All of the kits in my stash so far still use the older style helmets and the same goes for the spares box. Can someone tell me how they are getting around this or if there is a specific kit out there with modern HGU-55/56 helmets? After market source? Or does someone have an example of a stock pilot they have modified and can tell me what they did to achieve the correct look?

I’ve been searching here in the forums and have not turned up anything yet.

Thank you.

2

I know the Academy F-22 has a current pilot. There are options for the helmet, either the regular model, or the one with the cueing system for the AIM-9X.

I think the Tamiya F-16C has similar options

The Academy F-15C and probably new E kit (they share most of the same sprues) have the same pilot… there are two pilots in the C kit.

3

]HGU-56 flight helmets are for helicopter crews (replacing the SPH-4 series, which I knew and loved… Mine has a dual visor, shown below) …

The HGU-56/P helicopter flight helmet, seen here with the “Maxsilloface” (MFS)shield in place…

!(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v233/HansvonHammer/Life Support-Aircraft/HGU-56PHeloHelmet.jpg?t=1304141225)

The HGU-55 is the late 90s/early 20’s “Jet Pilot” flight helmet…

!(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v233/HansvonHammer/Life Support-Aircraft/HGU-55.jpg?t=1304140964)

“Raptor” helmet is the HGU-86 with MBU-22/P O2 mask…

!(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v233/HansvonHammer/Support Equipment/HGU-86withMBU-22P.jpg?t=1304140484)

Joint Helmet Mounted Cueing System (JHMCS) monted on HGU-55/P. The JHMCS system will be employed in the FA-18C/D/E/F, F-15C/D, F-22 and F-16 Block 40/50.

!(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v233/HansvonHammer/Flight Gear/JHMCS.jpg?t=1304146249)

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Awesome post Hans. I’ve seen that last helmet in the Tamiya F-16 kit (I think) and was like “what the…”

I’m a bit clueless about the various helmets used by the various service over the years (for example, did USAF and USN/USMC always use the same type helmets? How many different types of helmets have been used in service since WWII?

Does anyone know of a book or online reference that would answer these kinds of question?

5

I was trying to make up for being off-line for a week, lol…

There have been GOBS of flight helmets used by the US Armed Services since the begining of aviators having heads to cover… There’re a number of books on the subject of US military flight helmets as well as numerous sites that sell standard and custom painted HGU-55 and -33 helmets, one of the better ones being here:

http://www.customflighthelmets.com/paint.htm

http://www.customflighthelmets.com/tape.htm

http://www.customflighthelmets.com/paint.htm

Couple of the better books:

http://www.amazon.com/Vintage-Flying-Helmets-Aviation-Headgear/dp/0887407765

http://www.amazon.com/Jet-Age-Flight-Helmets-Aviation/dp/0764300709

The Navy/Marines shared flight helmets, the Air Force, not so much for most of last 50 years… Helicopter crews had their own, and the Army 's often differed from Marines/Navy as well, however there certainly was overlap… As for how many different types of helmets since WW2? Man, I don’t know for sure, but off the top of my head I think of at least 15, split amongst the three main branches with fixed-wing aircraft… The actual number is probably closer to thirty…

Some helmets were specific to the aircraft types, others for general crew wear, still others for FACs and sling-wing crews… During the Korean War, for example, Navy/Marine fighter pilots flew with a cloth helmet that had a hard shell snapped to it, USAF jet fighter pilots had one style of “hardhat”, while the P-51D pilots flew with the leather A-11s, but turn around and F-80 and F-82 pilots were wearing the same thing…

During the 60s and through the 80s there were no less than 10 different helmets in use by the four branches… It’s a b*tch keeping up with 'em all…

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Cool links thanks. Those look like nice books too.

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The first, issued “Hard hat” -type of flight helmet used by the USAAF was a modified tanker helmet, BTW… It was modified only to accept the headset from the A-11-type aircraft headsets and the snaps for the O2 mask, so from all outward appearances, cropping the head off a 1/48th American tanker and slappin’ his melon on a pilot-figure’s body would work for an aircraft in the 1945-47 time-frame… Or the Monogram M-4 or M-3 tankers if you need a 1/32 scale guy…

8

Add some putty and do a little reshaping with some rifler files.

Mine has the dual visor setup…one clear one dark with side slide actuators…oxygen mask and boom mic for helicopter operations…a conversion I did when flying with the Navy’s HCS-5 while they were on deployment to Montana to train with Navy Seal Teams. Normally I keep a subdued padded cover over the flashy trim on the lens shield.

!(http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t320/hawkeyes_bucket/The Hawk/sidemic.jpg)

!(http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t320/hawkeyes_bucket/The Hawk/helmetmask.jpg)

9

I noticed the Navy guys had an odd helmet during this time frame (even into the Korean war I think). It had what look like stiffening ridges in it. Was this the same “Tanker Helmet” that the USAF used?

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No, that was the cloth helmet with the snap-on hardshell, the H-2…

You can see the Olive Green cloth helmet under the hardshell…

!(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v233/HansvonHammer/Support Equipment/Toko-RiPlaneCaptain.jpg?t=1304445234)

!(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v233/HansvonHammer/Support Equipment/Toko-Ri2.jpg?t=1304445255)

!(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v233/HansvonHammer/Support Equipment/Toko-RiHolden.jpg?t=1304445384)

Yeah, that’s William Holden in The Bridges at Toko-Ri… The “tanker helmet” was USAAF/USAF issue, and was exactly that… A pressed-fiber tanker CVC (Combat Vehicle Crewman) helmet…

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!(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v233/HansvonHammer/Support Equipment/TankerHelmetonANH-15withB-8GogglesandA-13O2.jpg?t=1304446023)

Here’s the refined, post-war tanker helmet shell on the ANH-15 leather helmet, with B-8 goggles and A-13 O2 mask. The USAF B-1 and P-1 helmets came later, with the F-80 pilots need for a more substantial helmet for ejections…

12

Those are quite different. Good tip on the tanker figures for the USAF helmet. I wonder where I could find that Navy helmet in 1/48?

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Here’s the other tanker/flight helmet on an A-14 summer cloth helmet…

!(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v233/HansvonHammer/Support Equipment/PrototypetankerHELMET.jpg?t=1304447350)

The B-1 helmet, w/ A-13 O2 Mask

!(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v233/HansvonHammer/Support Equipment/B-1Helmet-1.jpg?t=1304447616)

The P-1B (below) is the same as the P-1A, just with the visor system in place of the goggles…

!(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v233/HansvonHammer/Support Equipment/P-1BFlighthelmet.jpg?t=1304447402)

14

Dunno, but I think it’d be fairly simple (well, tedious, but still simple) to put the ridges on shell with stretched sprue and liquid cement…

15

Thank you to all who responded, espcially to Hans for the reference info. I have found through some searching of a friends stash that the 1/48 Hase kits PT32 F-16 “Missawa” and PT38 F/A-18F have the 1990-2000’s modern helmets and the JHMCS helmets included. I would also be willing to bet that the 1/48 F/A-18E current boxing from Hase also has them?

While I might be prohibited from doing this on here, if anyone is willing to part with the “helmet heads” from any of those kits they are not using, please feel free to send me a private message and I would be happy to work out a deal and price with you.

Thanks again to all for helping and showing some very nicely done custom helmets!

16

Try PJP Productions. Thay have a number of 48 pilots. I hope you find what you’re looking for.