Why no pilot ???

I know.. that sucks... they should include crew figures to have as an option.
I have a spares box with nothing but 1/48 and 1/72 figures that I've collected over the years, but have no suitable luftwaffa pilots. Most of mine are Vietnam era.

There will undoubtedly be someone in here that's aware of an aftermarket outlet for your kit, so maybe it'll turn out okay.

Take care,
Frank

You may check the catalog sights like Squadron, or Great Models. I agree that it's a real downer to start a model in flight and not have anyone to put at the controls.

Hey, Oldhooker, do you have a standing American Vietnam era pilot in 1/72 scale? I've got one that came with my Monogram F-4J kit, but the other figure was sitting. They're supposed to be Marines if that makes a difference.

Regards,

Drew,

Let me check and I'll report back........

Frank

Good question! The lack of a pilot figure has forced me to model the extremely rare pilotless drone versions of a number of aircraft, including a Flying Tigers P-40 and a Russian MiG-3.

Thanks, Oldhooker.

Lawrence, who knew that unmanned aerial vehicles were so common in WWII? Seriously, though, I bought a package of WWI pilots and ground crew from a company called Orion. They're in 1/72 scale, represent French, German, British, and Russian pilots. There are a couple of highly amusing poses. There's 12 individual figures, and you get two of each. All for around $10 U.S.

Maybe the same company can be convinced to do something similar for WWII. More info here:

http://www.michtoy.com/MTSCnewSite/newplastic_folder/orion_1-72/orion.html

and here:

http://www.hm.spb.ru/eng/DDS%2072003.html
(this has pictures of the pilots)

I forget where, but I recently saw a set of 1/48 WWII Navy and Marine pilots advertised. I'm sure a Google search will turn them up.

Regards,

Lawrence

Those certainly are some pretty rare aircraft, I don't think I've even seen a picture of them. Are they painted with the day-glo orange like other drones? Maybe you can put them in the "history you can model" feature.

QUOTE: Originally posted by eagle334 Those certainly are some pretty rare aircraft, I don't think I've even seen a picture of them. Are they painted with the day-glo orange like other drones?

They were part of hush-hush, super top secret "black box" programs, so the a/c were cleverly painted in standard operational schemes to camouflage their true purpose.

OOOOOHHHHH, that makes sense.

QUOTE: Originally posted by walamma So if anybody knows where I could buy a seated german WWII pilot, please let me know.

Check out http://www.hannants.co.uk/

Try preiser they make 1/72 german WW2 pilots.
http://www.ares.cz/hobby/preiser/preiser.htm#1/72%20Scale%20Series

Walamma,
I have several seated 1/72 pilots that would work for WWII German (or English and possibly American) airplanes.
Send me your snail mail address and I will put them in the post for you.

Drew,

Went through my stash and didn't have any Vietnam era standing AF firgure in 1/72... guess I already used them. The closest I have is a Soviet pilot standing, minus a head, and several Air Force pilots, seated, in 1/72. Got plenty in 1/48 however, most of which I'm going to use in an upcoming diorama after drummeling them into civilians, and make a modern day dio of Veterans getting their picture made while standing along side one of their old aircraft at a Museum.... like at a Reunion.

Sorry I couldn't be of more help. I used several of my 1/72nd figures when I done the two "Guns A Go-Go" dio's a couple years ago, so that's where they must be now.

Take care,
Frank
---------

Frank,

Thanks for looking. That's an awesome looking diorama there. You should post some more pictures.

Regards,

QUOTE: Lufbery wrote: Thanks for looking. That's an awesome looking diorama there. You should post some more pictures.

This was a "stereo" build, basically because both diorama's were ordered for the same date. I built them together, so I figured I'd make a picture of them sitting beside each other the day before they were to be picked up.






You can see some of those Figures we were talking about.......

Take care,
Frank

Speaking of pilotless drones, are there any good references for what the cockpits of drone versions look like? I'm looking specifically for reference for the Hellcat drone. I build the drone version of the Hasegawa kit with just a standard cockpit but it would have been nice to know what it was supposed to look like. I imagine it would have some kind of radio control equipment inside....

Philp,

Hope you received my mail. Since I am still offshore, maybe you could reply to walamma.othman@shell.com ( I'll be going home on this coming Tuesday ).

Thanks for your assistance.

mummykitty,
Most of the radio control equipment was usually put into radio compartment or other locations in the fuselage - hooked to the control system much like an auto pilot. If the radios weren;t turned on it could still be flown as a regular aircraft.

QUOTE: Originally posted by oldhooker I know.. that sucks... they should include crew figures to have as an option. I have a spares box with nothing but 1/48 and 1/72 figures that I've collected over the years, but have no suitable luftwaffa pilots. Most of mine are Vietnam era. There will undoubtedly be someone in here that's aware of an aftermarket outlet for your kit, so maybe it'll turn out okay. Take care, Frank

Hey,
how many seated, modern US pilots do you have, in 1/48th and 1/72th? Why I'm asking, is because I'm considering buying half of your supply of sitting modern US pilots, for each scale you have. See, I have several models which came with no pilots, and thus am in dire need of them, as I always build gears-up with a pilot!

Would you be willing to help?