Pilot or not ?

Modeling Subjects Aircraft
1

I was over at a friends house in another town recently, checking out his collection/stash. I noticed that not one of his aircraft had a pilot or crew inside. I asked him about it and he said “why would you spend all that time working on the cockpit, to cover some of it up with a figure” He also went on to say he thought it made a model more “toy-like” to have a pilot in it. He had a box with literally dozens of figures in it, from every aircraft he’d ever built.

What do you all think ? And have you thought that way since you started modelling ? I have to confess, I’m about 50/50. If I’m not completely happy with the 'pit, I will throw in a pilot to draw attention away. If I think I’ve really nailed the office, I’ll leave it unattended. Last few builds, I went pilot seated, canopy open.

Judging from what I’ve seen on the forums the last couple of years, Pilot figures are pretty much a no-no, whereas an armour modeller will quite often leave a hatch open with a commander in it.

2

I’m 1/72 so I don’t bother- they all suck.

However it’s true about 1/35- there are great figures in those kits and they are fun to build.

If I build a 1/48 aircraft, I’d do the figures if they were Monogram- they are nice.

3

For in-flight builds (about half of my projects) I always need a pilot.
But for aircraft on the ground I abstain.

If your friend wants to unload those pilot figures, they might make for worthwhile trading material for one of my kits, etc. I’m always short of pilot figures, so email me if interested.

Bondoman is right: revell has very nice pilot figures in 1/48

4

Not that I build much in the AC department (although I have had the itch lately), My experience is that the pilot figures that come with the kit usually look like an afterthought, and are of poor quality. I have only ever used a pilot once, and that was for a P-51 posed right after takeoff.

I will be looking into aftermarket pilots in the future, though… the bring life to a build.

5

For me never. I am nota good figure painter and I think it takes away from the aircraft.

6

Most of my builds do not have a pilot figure, though on the Spitfire I built earlier this year I wanted to add one. I had it all painted up, but the little guy wouldn’t fit! SO, he is patiently waiting for the next British aircraft I build. I like the look of a pilot in the office, but I think a lot of people shy away from them for several reasons. Lack of a good figure and difficulty painting them I think may be the main reasons.

7

Never for me.

Usually I think that most pilot figures aren’t that good and take away from the quality of the kit. I build mostly 1/72 these days and I find the pilots are generally poor in detail and proportion.

When I used to build 1/48 I’d keep the pilots from Monogram kits for trading fodder as they were actually pretty decent and I could usually trade one or two away for an aftermarket decal sheet to someone who actually liked putting pilots into their aircraft.

For me, the point of the build is the vehicle itself. So thats what I go for.

8

Almost never for me. I try and build up details in the cockpit and almost always display a/c on the ground. If you do an inflight and occaisionally I do or a diorama where one is needed then I will bite the bullet. The worst offense I’ve seen recently was this beautiful in-flight refuling diorama of a KC-97 and a B-47 and you looked down into that big bubble canopy to a large empty cockpit with two empty seats. There’s just no excuse for that kind of error.

9

I don’t bother with them. Most of the kit pilots I’ve seen just aren’t that realistic, not matter how good one’s painting skills are – more doll-like than human. Not only that, putting a pilot in the cockpit obscures both cockpit and pilot detail, so why go to all that work? On the other hand, though, I’d like to see some really accurate pilot and ground crew figures in standing/kneeling positions as if doing a preflight walk-around or buttoning up access panels.

10

All of the aircraft and armor I’ve built have no figures. I would really like to add some but my figure painting skills are lacking. The ones I have painted look like rogue mannequins dressed for Halloween. I have a rather large collection of unpainted “pilots” in a coffee cup that our family cat seems to think is for her entertainment though. Someday I hope to sharpen my skills enough to add some to these “flightless” aircraft.

11

I’m not good at painting figures too but I do use figures occasionally. It depends if I wanna cover up a bad cockpit, or I just want to add a little touch to the finished product. Really, It is matter of opinion.

12

No pilots for me. My planes are parked and the pilots are in the ready shack watching Sports Center. [:D]

That and I stink at painting figures.

Now that I think of it, maybe I will paint them with big smiles and googly eyes…

13

Sometimes I put a pilot in, somteimes I do not. It just depends on the aircraft, the pilot provided and what I want to show (an aircraft in flight, show of an am cockpit etc.)

14

If one of my planes is flying, there WILL be a pilot in it. I’ve gotten my figure painting skills to where I can look into a cockpit and say, yeah he looks like he’s in the right place! I also like to have figures around my airplanes. I’ve got some old Monogram figures lying around that would look great with some of my current builds, but I haven’t gotten around to painting them yet. I think figures help complete the story of the aircraft, whether they’re inside or out of the plane.

15

For aircraft, in 1/48 and above, mostly no crew figures - though firms like Hasegawa, Tamiya and Monogram do pretty good ones. For 1/72 and 1/144, I sometimes include crew figures, especially in review builds, when the cockpit interior would otherwise be a bit basic, and - this is important - a ‘good enough’ figure comes with the kit.

To this end, Airfix produce some of the best crew figures in 1/72 and 1/48, though not so much in 1/32 and 1/24. The 1/32 figures can be worked on, but the 1/24 figures are pretty much a lost cause, and, as has been mentioned, get in the way of the detail.

For military vehicles, I often include crew figures in 1/35 - there are some very good figures out there, and they do hide the ‘whole lotta nuttin’ ’ that you frewuently find inside military vehicle models. Where a good interior is provided, however, it’s pointless filling the hatches with crew figures, so that you can’t see it. Decent-quality 1/72 crew figures do exist, but they tend to be difficult to find, and not cheap when you do find them. Firms like Dragon and Preiser, however, are beginning to address this problem.

Crew figures work surprisingly well with ships and boats - in fact, they can look naked without them. Painting them up takes quite a bit of extra effort, but the results are worth it.

Cheers,

Chris.

16

I build dioramas only, not displays, so it depends on whether or not the scene calls for a pilot. Sometimes it’s not a pilot, but a ground crewman in the cockpit, like a crewchief doing an engine run-up, or the armorers doing their thing to harmonize the guns. In my Monogram 1/48 Kingfisher WIP, the pilot’s in the cockpit, but the radio op is out on the wing trying to hook a raft with a wounded pilot aboard. In that particular aircraft, the cockpit is especially “roomy”, so the addition of a pilot doesn’t hide my detail work.

The difficult part of adding pilots to cockpits, for me anyway, is getting them to sit “right” and be convincingly strapped in. In the Kingfisher, the pilot’s seat-pack parachute doesn’t allow for him to have any “weight”, so I ground out the seat pan and that allowed him to “sink” in better.

The next step will be to attach the shoulder harness to the bulkhead and pull the straps over his shoulders and down into his lap. I’m gonna blow off doing the lap belt, it wouldn’t be seen at all in this pose, but the shoulder harness is pretty obvious.

At any rate, if you put a guy in the 'pit, you have to make sure that he looks like he won’t fall out, and a lot of folks that DO use a pilot overlook this step… 'Course, it depends on the harness type and aircraft as well, where the attatchment points are in relation to the pilot’s shoulders and if they would be visible or even installed (case in point, the swiveling “office” chairs in the nose of a B-17. The bombardier and navigator’s seats don’t have a shoulder harness, just the lap belt)… Were I judging at a competition, I’d ding the builder on this step if he opted to use the pilot but didn’t show how he was restrained in the cockpit, so I figure that any other judge would as well… I consider it to be the same attention to detail as showing packs, boxes, and duffle bags, etc, attached to and on an armored vehicle. You have to show how that stuff is kept on it…

As for you guys that say you “aren’t any good at figure pinting”, I say, “phooey”. If you can paint those amazing 'pits, you can handle a 1/48th figure… They don’t require as much of the “art” as a 1/32-35 and bigger figure does…

BTW, any of you guys that don’t use 'em, I’ll take 'em off yer hands, lol… My parts box “head-shed” is getting a bit sparse…

17

I like to build all my aircraft with wheels up, cockpits and hatches closed, as they would be in flight (sometimes quite the challenge actually). Aircraft belong in the air, and look much better that way, IMO. In fact, for fighter aircraft, I like them clean with no stores or droptanks, as they would be in a dogfight.

So yea, I kind of need a pilot figure inside, or it ends up looking like some kind of creepy ghost ship. :stuck_out_tongue:

I think this is one area the aftermarket has neglected. When you do come across one, it usually includes a bunch of ground crew, which is superfluous for me. I guess most modelers like to build their aircraft on the ground with all their panels open. I really need to learn how to mold some resin copys of the better ones out of kits I guess.

If anybody wants to unload some pilot figures in 1/48 scale, I’m always looking and would be glad to trade some weapons, droptanks or other stores for them. I might even trade you a whole kit if you have a lot.

18

I rarely add a pilot figure to the 'pit, for the reasons mentioned above, especially the fact that I am not a great figure painter…yet I paint almost every single one I get (except the little 1:72 Airfix half people) for practice…go figure…

Brian [C):-)]

19

PJ Productions of Belgium produce some excellent resin crew figures in both 1/48 and 1/72:

http://www.pjproduction.net/

Fair prices and nice people to deal with.

Cheers,

Chris.

20

I’ll avoid using a pilot or aircrew, if at all possible. For the same reasons everyone else had stated. Unrealistic molds and the fact that I can’t really paint a figure to save my life. The only time I’ll put a figure in is when the kit requires it. By that, I mean that the molding of the cockpit and interior parts are designed to facilitate a pilot as a requirement, and not as an option. I ran into a couple of those kits from time to time. And even then, I’ll just do the minimum on those[:I]