1/48th seated WWII-era pilots

[Mainly28s]

Besides some fancy resin figures (which would end up being pretty costly), does anyone know of where I can find seated pilots to fill the seats of constructed aircraft? I'm a little old-school, and want filled seats, not those gaping open spaces, as my construction skills are way below many of the members here.

[Troy Smith]

other modellers

A lot of 1/48th Airfix kits, especially the older ones, had seated pilot figures, many with separate arms, as did 60-70's Monogram kits.

From memory these are neatly sculpted, thinking about it the new tool Hurricane and Spitfire have seated figures.

When you hit 100 posts you can ask in the Wanted section, but you may get offers of some from this posting.

HTH

T

[Jure Miljevic]

As Troy Smith said, Airfix sitting pilots look pretty realistic, unlike Tamiya's, which are usually a bit on a chubby side. I put a pilot from Airfix Spitfire Vb into Tamiya's Mustang III of BAF and it does not look that bad. Both Monogram's P-61 Black Widow and B-25J Mitchell have several figures, at least one of them sitting. Airfix pilots are usually molded in flying gear, parachute straps, helmet, oxygen mask etc. all included. Monogram's figures mostly look like a cliche Yank in Saturday night's outfit, leather jacket, 50 mission cap, typical Hollywood flyboy. Still, they look quite convincing. Regards

Jure

[Bonehammer]

Besides some fancy resin figures (which would end up being pretty costly), does anyone know of where I can find seated pilots to fill the seats of constructed aircraft? I'm a little old-school, and want filled seats, not those gaping open spaces, as my construction skills are way below many of the members here.

Do you look for aircraft kits with pilots included or pilot figures?

In the former case, I recommend Monogram, Tamiya and Zvezda's most recent products.

In the latter, ICM and Hasegawa have dedicated sets, which include seated pilots.

Because most modellers don't use pilot figures, they may pop up in lots on the electronic car boot sale from time to time.

Edited May 26, 2016 by Bonehammer

[Mainly28s]

Thank you, guys. Some things to think about.

Basically, I have a number of kits from a variety of manufacturers. The newer ones don't have pilots in them and, TBH, I don't really care about 100% accuracy in the gear they're wearing anymore, as long as I get a body in the seats. I guess I'll be scouting around for some of the recommendations, as well as trying e-bay!

[Bigglesof266]

Besides some fancy resin figures (which would end up being pretty costly), does anyone know of where I can find seated pilots to fill the seats of constructed aircraft?

There are some decent IM (injection moulded) figures available in various poses suitable for ground based dioramas, mostly of the WWII era and in 1/48, but a dearth of aircrew in flight poses.

TMK there aren't any specific r(e)tail sources other than limited, difficult to source and relatively expensive resin options.

As Troy mentioned above, a seated pilot figure was generally included in older era Tamiya kits. Those I have from their Japanese subjects scrub up respectably within the typical WWII era glasshouse, although it is akin 'robbing Peter to pay Paul' Their limiting factor will more often than not be figure painting as it is in my case. Newer Zvezda kits get the thumbs up in this regard. Although they don't include a stand which I wish they would, they do include IM aircrew in flight pose. Their IM VVS figurines in the 1/48 PE-2 (four for three positions) are particularly fine, although those in their La-5s, Yak-3 and Bf 109Fs are non too shabby either. Two thumbs up to Zvezda.

Airifx are a bit of a mixed bag. The 1/48 scale buyer has never been their core target demographic, and until the beginning of this decade was poorly catered to by the brand. That's both a good and a bad thing. Good in that most of their 1/48 range now is recent tooling and is -or was ?, expanding in range. Some of their 1/48 kits have included seated pilot figures, but you have to know which ones. Where it's a dogfight double kit, there's a stand in the box too rendering those offering particularly good buying. e.g. Their Bf 109E (/Trop) and Spitfire Vb Trop. Although not actually accurate timeline adversaries as supplied with the included decals, they are both new mould kits, each of which is rather fine in its own right, are supplied with decently sculpted pilot figures and include a doubles stand. If you an get these at a good price, it's win-win-win.

An opportunity there for Mini Art, Master Box who specialise in figurines or even Zvezda methinks.

[Grey Beema]

Both the new tool Airfix 1/48 Spitfire I &Hurricane have pilots. A lot have been built by members of this forum w/o seated pilots - so as said earlier 100 posts and of to the wanted section with you. Personally I've earmarked mine for other projects..

[Mainly28s]

Thank you, everyone!

[Don149]

Hello there, in my parts dept.(drawer), there are about 20x1/48th figures mostly WW2 from models scrapped when

I converted full time to 1/32nd.Seven are seated pilots, 1 RAF and 6 USAAF/USN.The RAF bod is in the Tami Beau'

cockpit with another in the P51 cockpit,another three have seats. I will swop them for a couple of seated pilots

in 1/32nd from recent Tami kits/Mike Good figures.My intent is to put a full crew into the big Lanc,if it ever

touches down in my lifetime!.Are you interested?.

[tempestfan]

ICM have a couple of sets, but they seem more suitable for diorama/vignette purposes - the RAF set apparently only includes the "cockpit climber" coming close to your requirement. As has been said, the 1st Gen Airfix kits (Spit Vb, 109F, Hurri, Fury, Ju 87, Mosquito) have figures that are a bit soft but quite nicely sculpted and with posable arms. I never bothered to check whether they are generic or have service-specific gear on them, though.

[Mainly28s]

Thanks, Don 149- PM inbound.

tempestfan- I'm "old-school" in that I used to build a long time ago (the 80's), and still prefer crew in seats. I'm not into dioramas, which seems to be the main focus of the available figure sets. Unfortunately for me, I picked 1/48th, so I seem to be limited in my choices. Still, at least I have some options now- ebay and assorted hobby forums are bound to get me enough to suit my purposes.

[Bonehammer]

Have you tried Aerobonus? They make, among much else, resin seats + seated pilot ensembles. Costlier than plastic, yes, but I thought you might be interested.

Probably the best option is finding a figure you like + RTV + resin...