F-14 pilots and carrier catapult crew in 1/72

[marques]

Hi everybody,

my first post and, as usual in the forums, is a question. I have a tomcat A in 1/72 in my stash that I intend to tackle sooner than later. It´s a hasegawa kit with some goodies and I´d love to do it in a scene, on a verge to be launched. For that I need, minimum, a crew and, ideally the catapult personnel. I´ve done some research and there is not much in 1/72 and I´m not sure if the ones that I found depict the uniform and helmet of navy pilots of the eighties or early nineties, as I´m planning to have a traditional hiviz tomcat.

Any suggestions?

[Giorgio N]

First of all, welcome to the forum !

Good choice, a Tomcat ready to be launched makes for a very good scene in model form.

Fujimi had a couple of boxes that included US Navy flight deck crew from the era you're interested in. One included a fire engine and the other a tow tractor. The figures were the same in both. As the set was released in the early '90s, they figures would be perfect for your setting.

Pilots can be found in resin by a number of sources, for example PJ and Aerobonus. Fujimi included a couple of pilots in their Tomcat kits, may be also worth checking if someone has a pair going spare.

 

Speaking of the hasegawa kit, you may already know that for a more accurate model the flaps need some modification. Even if unmodified though the model still looks great with all flaps and slats down

[marques]

Graccie mille, @Giorgio N

Those fujimi boxes look perfect for my plan, but sadly it appears they are difficult to find. They even have walking pilots, that could be useful for another project because, as you have guessed, my intention is to show the turkey with all it´s featers deployed.

the pilots are kinda difficult, searching in scalemates, pj does not have them in 1/72 and Aerobonus may be the only option. the problem with aerobonus is that they are expensive and, most importantly, they include the seats that I already have in the aires cockpit.

Well....

[Eric B.]

Hi Marques, 

 

You may want to try Reedoak models. They do figures in all major scales. Price maybe on a high range but poses are natural and figures are extremelly sharp being 3D prints. I have seen some and they really enlight a diorama.

I know the do pilots and US deck crews in 1/72nd scale, not sure they have crews in lauch attitudes though. 

 

http://reedoak.com/

 

This is a very nice project indeed... 

 

Cheers

 

Eric B. 

Edited January 23, 2021 by Eric B.