PJ Productions makes what you need:

https://www.pj-production.be/en/9-figures-1-48

HTH

Also Hasegawa used to make a nice set of pilots from different nationalities, not sure they still do or not. If not you can probably still find it on Ebay. Doesn't look like any are seated though... 

Yeah, you'd have to do some surgery on that one, to put him in a seated position.

Those Hasegawa figures are a little dumpy, too, in terms of their proportions.

CMK is a source I check (no pun intended, but I'll take it) when looking for figures, and sure enough, they make a 1/48 Zero pilot, seated:

https://www.cmkkits.com/en/figures/japanese-aces-s-sakai-1-fig-for-a6m2-zero/

The bill the figure as Saburo Sakai.

I've ordered from their online shop and have never had any issues with ordering or shipping from the Czech Republic to the US.

ICM is another source I check out, but they don't have any Japanese pilots, seated or standing.  They don't have any set of Japanese ground crew, either, as they do for the US, USSR, UK, and Germany.  Not that I can find on their website, in any case.

Hope that helps!

Best regards,

Brad

To illustrate what I mean about the proportions of Hasegawa's pilots in that set, here is a shot of the American pilot:

He's definitely short, and you can see, he's stocky, dumpy.

Actually, someone observed that in that scale, he looks a little like Pappy Boyington.

Or Lou Costello.  I heard that one, too.

The 1970s era Tamiya Zeroes like the 1/48 A6M3 ‘Hamp’ kit had a seated pilot as well as several standing ground crewmen, too. And are still decent kits, even in 2019. 

MJames70

The 1970s era Tamiya Zeroes like the 1/48 A6M3 ‘Hamp’ kit had a seated pilot as well as several standing ground crewmen, too. And are still decent kits, even in 2019. 

That's a good suggestion, too.  Tamiya's pilot figures are pretty nice.

There are also some newer makers, probably using 3D printing technology, whose figures you might consider.

I found this one, from PJ Productions:

https://www.pj-production.be/en/figures-1-48/67-481106-japanese-fighter-pilot-seated-in-ac-wwii.html

PJ Production is in Belgium.  I have not used their product myself, but the figure looks pretty good.

I've got figures of similar quality from an outfit called Djiti Production.  They don't produce any Japanese figures, unfortunately, but their casting or printing is crisp.  I picked up some USAAF, RAF, and Luftwaffe figures, in 1/48.

Real G

PJ Productions makes what you need:

https://www.pj-production.be/en/9-figures-1-48

HTH

 

I made an order through here so will see when arrives!

Josh

the Baron

There are also some newer makers, probably using 3D printing technology, whose figures you might consider.

I found this one, from PJ Productions:

https://www.pj-production.be/en/figures-1-48/67-481106-japanese-fighter-pilot-seated-in-ac-wwii.html

PJ Production is in Belgium.  I have not used their product myself, but the figure looks pretty good.

I've got figures of similar quality from an outfit called Djiti Production.  They don't produce any Japanese figures, unfortunately, but their casting or printing is crisp.  I picked up some USAAF, RAF, and Luftwaffe figures, in 1/48.

 

Thankyou to yourself and everyones replies. I did end up ordering this figure but think the CMK ones look pretty decent as well. I see what you mean in regards to the stumpy hasegawa figures. Reminds me of the langley figures in model railways. They have character but seem disproportionate.  But still some great resources there. I think ill order some 1/72 bomber crew from CMK.

Josh

Hasegawa makes a nice 1/72 IJN crew figure set:

https://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10502206

Oh, duh!  My apologies, Real G, but I completely missed that you had already suggested PJ Productions.

No problem Baron, we all play nice here!   

The only thing that bothers me about the PJ Productions IJN pilot is that he is in a kind of “thumbs up” pose.  You can’t have your entire IJN squadron doing that - that would be weird!

I did buy the guy as well as a number of his friends, and they look pretty good.  I think PJ needs a better painter, because some of the product photos are awful!

I hope Djiti comes out with some Japanese figures, too.  The ones I got are pretty nice.

It's interesting to see, across all of the various makers, that compared to their offerings for USAAF, RAF, and Luftwaffe, they don't produce very many Japanese at all.