Pilot and crew figures.

Have you tried googling1/72 or 1/48 pilot figures or doing the same thing on ebay

I have figures i  both scales that I never will use. 

I think I have a few laying around that I'm not using. Mostly World War II Luftwaffe seated pilots. 

Thanks ikar01 and Mopar Maddness...I´ve sent you a PM about this matter.

Kind regards,

Thanks Tojo72 for your message. I´ll search eBay and other sites.

I have a few 1/48 that's all yours.  F16 seated pilot, 2 seated Spit pilots, and I think 1 standing and 1 sitting Zero dudes.  

Thanks wpwar11......I´ll send you a PM about this matter.

rmontesb

Greetings fellow modellers!

I want to improve my painting, detailing and finishing skills of pilot and crew figures.

For a variety of reasons, some modellers tend not to include those figures in thier finished models and leave them in spare boxes. 

Do let me know if you or someone you know may have surplus or unwanted pilot or crew figures in 1/72 or 1/48 scale in any condition (new, old, painted, unpainted). 

Your help will be highly appreciated.

Happy modelling!

 

 

in all honesty, if you want to improve your figure painting skill, you need to find figures outside of the kit boxes.  While there are some good figures out there, you would do much better to start with a nicer figure.  Resin figures (PJMiniatures is one company I constantly go back to...) have much better detail, and that is the foundation.  

remember, you can always soak a painted figure in all purpose cleaner to strip the paint and try again!

Thanks Justinryan215 for your input.

I´ll surf the www for those resin figures.

BTW: All purpose cleaners have been added to my shopping list. 

I do wish more mfgs would include them, at least for fighter aircraft or any aircraft that has an easily viewed cockpit.  I do occasionally do an inflight display, and have to go find aftermarket figures.  This is especially true if the kit instructions show way to display it with gear up.

Look up Preiser 1/72 military. The have/had many really good ground crew sets. I picked up their Luftwaffe in 1977 or so and they still hold up today. MPC included some really bad recasts in some of their kits in the mid 70's. Hasegawa also have some 80's and 90's crew sets. 

ajlafeche,

Just visited the Preiser web-site. They sure offer a variety of figures. I´ll also look for those Tamiya crew sets that you mention.

Thanks for the tip.

rocketman2000

I do wish more mfgs would include them, at least for fighter aircraft or any aircraft that has an easily viewed cockpit.  I do occasionally do an inflight display, and have to go find aftermarket figures.  This is especially true if the kit instructions show way to display it with gear up. 

Back in the day, it was practically a given that airplane and armor kits would include at least one figure.  Some car model companies included some, too, especially Revell, in its older kits.  Revell included some figures in one or two of its sailing ship kits, too, like Sir Francis Drake's Golden Hind or the Mayflower.

When I got back into modeling around '99 after my hiatus, I was surprised to see how quickly figures had disappeared from most manufacturers' kits.  And I noticed how figures had become an aftermarket item.  I remember discussing this with other modelers back then, and since.  A common observation people offered was that companies stopped adding figures as fewer and fewer modelers did anything with them.  It makes sense; if the potential customer doesn't want the figure, then why spend the resources to produce it and include it in the kit.  Especially if there are aftermarket suppliers who are willing to cover that market.

Some modelers will say that after they spent all that time and effort detailing an interior, like a cockpit, they don't want to add a figure to it and hide it from view.

Also, I think many are daunted by the pictures they see (and saw back then, too) and think, subconsciously, that if they can't turn out a figure like Shep Paine, or Mike Blank, or any of the other Grand Masters on the figure circuit do, they won't bother at all. 

It's interesting to see how so many modelers who have the skills to turn out a beautiful model, will balk at painting a figure.  They've got the skills, obviously, but there's a mental hurdle for so many. 

I think a figure gives the viewer a sense of scale.  I'm nostalgic for Monogram's great crew figures from the 70s, and I still use them.  But on the other hand, as far as figures go, this is a golden age, for the quality, variety, and number of choices available to us.  Just as it is for the kits themselves.

In any case, I encourage everyone to try your hand at a figure, if you never had before.  It may take a little practice, but you already have the skills. You just need to practice a technique and you'll find you can do it.