Just curious which you tend to prefer and why (if given the opportunity)? My next kit is a Zero, it has a pilot figure and has the option of an open or closed cockpit, not sure what to do.
If I’m happy with my interior and if the kit allows it, I will have the canopy open. Of course, if I’m not happy with my work on the inside, or if there isn’t a lot to see any way, I’ll close it up. I rarely ever put a pilot in the seat though.
I like a detailed office so whenever possible I leave it open…if I can cut the canopy to pose it open I might do that too…now pilots or figures…meh…usually I leave them out…they block the view of the pit.
Carlos
Im with Jon and Carlos except I like using the pilot figures...prolly 50/50 with and without. Theyre good for hiding boo-boo`s too…[blkeye]
I prefer closed for some reason - I think most aircraft usually look the better for it, it just seems a bit like leaving the doors open on your car. Over the years, open canopies often suffer from damage & are pretty good at attracting dust as well.
Just my preference, but I would say hats off to you guys who spend an eternity detailing pits - leaving the canopy open in that instance does make sense.
Closed. I only build 72nd and I don’t compete; in that scale I’m the only guy that will ever know how much detail is there. I detailed an open cockpit on a biplane once and the opening was so small even I couldn’t see it and I knew it was there.
But I have great respect for folks that open it up and detail it out.
Regards,
Tim
These days my cockpit finishing skills are much better than my figure painting skills. If it is an older kit with no good detail to show off, I will go for a closed cockpit and possibly even a seated pilot figure. But almost all of my latest builds are open cockpit with no pilot figure. Especially if there is a good seat and/or belts to show off…
[dto:] with Stikpusher.
Ken
Open. Don’t do pilot figures, but I like to show off the pit. That, and unless you’re dealing w/ a one-piece windscreen/canopy, open renders windscreen-canopy alignment issues moot.
I generally allways do mine with the cockpit open and the ladders to get in, in place. And i dont usually put the pilot figure in at all. Dont really have a good reason why i do it, just like my planes better that way.
Open - I build mostly bipes.
…depends on how the cockpit turned out! My last three 1/48 kits are open, mostly all of my 1/72 is closed.
I like to leave them open with no pilots. My figure painting skills create much vacum pressure by oral means, so adding a pilot definitely detracts from the finished project. The problem with open is that unless you keep them in a closed cabinet type setup, you end up with dust covering all the detail you lovingly added to the cockpit.
Speaking of dusty cockpits - don’t make the mistake I did. I looked at my can of compressed air for blowing out the computer, the little red pipe sticking out that allows you to precisely aim the air blast and thought to myself, “self, that air can looks to be the perfect thing for blowing the dust out of those little cramped cockpits!” It worked FAR better than expected. Not only did it remove the dust, but two of the four PE seatbelts and the control stick as well! I think that was a little too much of a good thing.
LoL, the moral of the story is… don’t dust? [:P]
It would seem thus far most prefer an open cockpit, whithout the pilot. I guess that would make sense given all the work in detailing it. I certainly see why on my P40, the cockpit was looking pretty good… until I added a pilot… then the canopy… and by then it might as well have been pink with yellow polka dots, no one could see it!
Detailing the cockpit is my favorite part of the build, so I always do open cockpit, no pilot.
The only exception to this has been 2 1/72 builds I did. There was absolutely no detail in the cockpit and the main focus was the exterior, anyway (the primary fighters from the movie Hot Shots). Those 2 have closed cockpits. Even my 1/72 Blue Angels lineup, has open cockpits.
But on tanks, there is no “cockpit” to detail, so I always try to add a driver or commander.
-Fred
One thing nobody’s mentioned is the canopy fit.
There’s times when the aircraft itself decides the question. Some a/c just don’t look good with an open canopy.
I’m finishing up a series of 1/72 Tomcats, mostly Hasegawas. The canopy fit in the closed position isn’t very good, so I’ve built most of the models with a raised canopy. I’ve gone with a couple of cockpit detail sets and some mostly OOB with just some am seats.
I prefer the Tomcat’s looks with the canopy closed, but you do what ya gotta do.
Certain factors determine closed or open
- Quality of kit i.e. I close all the airfix canopies because of the quality. Sometimes add a pilo
- Leave open if I’ve done alot of work i.e. Lots of scratch building or fine detail. It would be a shame to close it.
- Competition always left open
cheers Leo
All of my aircraft are 1/72 or 1/144. Your request got me curious so I just went and looked, and discovered that all of my single-engine builds have open cockpits, while all of the multi-engine builds are closed. No conscious effort on my part, it just seemed to kind of happen that way.
And I think all of us who leave the cockpit open fall into the “Yeah, everyone will notice that” trap, until we get all of the canopy parts glued on and realize that, once again, most of our efforts manage to … disappear. Go figure!
Add me to the “Open” list… As for using a pilot or other crew-figure, it depends on the “story” of the diorama… Sometimes the seats are occupied, sometimes not… Like when the aircraft is depicted taxiing with a ground crewman on the wing, or depicting the pilot just entering the aircraft, or crew-chief helping with the seat-harness… For canopies that have them, I sometimes “open” the sliding side-panels too, like on the B-24, B-17, or B-25…
I like to have a pilot looking at, pointing to, or signaling the marshaller/ground crewman to do something, or vice-versa, thus “tying” the wing-wiper to the pilot… My favorite is the Monogram B-29 pilot figure, which allows you to have the pilot “standing” in the cockpit between the yoke and seat, leaning out the side window… I’ve used “him” on several different dioramas…
And sometmes you dont have a choice. At least for an OOB build. Some kits have the canopy and windscreen molded together and you need an aftermarket or replacement canopy if you are thinking about displaying open. Or I have even run across a few kits where the canopy is molded seperate from the framing and the framing is molded in the closed position and no open display is possible without major surgery.