back seaters?

I kinda liked the two pilots, ahem, pilot and RIO, in the 1:48 Phantom.. Very nicely detailed lads.

It depends for me.

Personally, I haven't seen a two-seater kit with only 1 figure supplied.
I like Kits with Pilots that are in poses other than the death grip on the stick and staring look at the HUD.

Hasegawa makes some nice pilot figures (sold seperately) that I found work well, most A/C I build are in 1/48 so I feel it is nice to add the Pilot.

Due to the fact that A/C comprimise a smaller section of my model collection I like to turn them into Diorama and add pilots, ground-crew, etc.

Hey Wroper....

I feel that you and I are in the minority on this thread, because I generally use pilot & crewmember figures on my kits also, but a couple years ago, my wife took care of the need for kit supplied figures, when she bought me two 1/48 Crewmembers sets, one Air Force & one Naval.

With all the supplied articulations, you can pose the figures, instead of them looking like someone that's just been carried out of deep freeze! [:0] The sets come in 1/72 scale also.

My 200th Post...... this deserves a Snap-Roll


"200th Post" tip of the evening: You know those little bags of toy soldiers you can find by the piles at almost any store? They're very near 1/32nd-1/35th scale, and provide a great source of human Extra's for a project!

Frank

I primarily do 1/72 AC Im no good at figure painting in 1/35th so why would I even attempt a 1/72nd one! LOL Most of my figs wind up in a box....I've amassed quite a collection and if I ever seriously take up figure painting....well I'll have plenty to keep me busy!

I have to agree with both merlin and jonny. I cant seem to paint a figure to save my life. All the figures i have from all the kits I have built find themselves sitting in my spares parts box. Maybe one day I will have the patience to paint a figure till then I guess they will be just spare parts lol.

Out of a 24 hour period an aircraft will have a pilot or crew setting it only a max of about 3 hours a day. That is if it flyes twice a day at 1.5 hours per flight average. Maybe that is why I pose my aircraft without a crew. The only exception is when I have to have a crew in it. It would look funny to have a F-14 ready to launch with no crew.

I have also seen models with panels open, redome open, radar exposed, fully armed, tail section removed, showing the engine, all with a pilot in the cockpit. It just don't look right.

the last time I put a crew in the cockpit was for an F4B and F14 in the 'ready to launch' config, other than that it just doesnt look right.

I'll have to go with Merlin and Johnny. With few exceptions kit crew figures arent very convincing.

Perhaps worse than a missing crew is the absent ordnance in recent Hasegawa releases. Youd have to buy the weapons set to arm your planes. I hope the other manufacturers dont follow suit.

I'm with you Merlin. I have not put a pilot inside an aircraft for 15 years. But I think the main reason for this is I can't paint figures to save my life HAHA JOHN

I never put the "crewmembers" in at all..To me it just seems to give the model a toylike quality. I don't know why that is, but it just does.

The only time I have ever seen a fighter completely armed and ready with nobody in the drivers seat, is at Langley AFB. They have two F-16's from the Va Air Guard on ready alert 100% of the time. So most of the time when I do a model armed up, I put the Pilot in and ready to go. In Saudi, every plane on the bannana ramp was armed and ready but they were flying CAPs all the time.

Wroper

thats strange...all the kits i have have either all the pilots or none...Any way the fashion is not to include the pilots as this would hide some cockpit details. (But do that if the cockpit is poor)

Sometimes I like to forgo the cockpit detailing and paint the canopy Gold or silver. So I don't use the crew. I save all of these pilots. Next thing I know I have a drawer full of them.

be thankful you get a front seater. most people dont even give you that.

Most kits don't even have a pilot which really annoys me.

I seem to remember the Mongram F-105G had a WSO. Bully for them. I feel your frustration, though.