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What do you guys do for pilots where none or poor options are available?


Richb77

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As the title states.

 

I am in the process of building two models. One Revells 1:32 Mosquito and Revells 1:32 Hawker Hunter.

 

The Mozzy came with the worst two pilot options i have ever seen with concave chests and face, poor detail and wrong poses.

 

The Hawker came with nothing.

 

I have seen resin casts but when i pay €30 for a model i am a little begrudging to spend another €20 on the pilot (or €40 in the Mozzies case). I have a resin 3D printer but the STL files i can buy are the same issue...in fact worse. €30-over €100 for the CAD.

 

So what do you chaps do? scult your own? Kitbash?

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I very rarely use figures with my builds as the cockpit detail is often one of the best features of a kit and a pilot would hide much of the detail. 

 

Of course, if you believe Trumpeter, then a pilot isn't necessary anyway:

ULApvkYl.jpg

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Resin is always more expensive than plastic injected figures.  That is why the shock when comparing resin figure price to plastic injected vehicle/aircraft kits.   Also, this hobby tends to get pricier the larger the scale.

 

Hannants show seated pilots for £8.33:

https://www.hannants.co.uk/search/index.php?adv=1&product_category_id=&product_division_id=&manufacturer_id=&product_type_id=&code=&scale_id=953&keyword_search=seated+pilot&setPerPage=25&sort=0&search_direction=0&save_search_name=&save_search=

 

Not familiar with the 3D print scene, but imagine free downloads will tend to be less detailed generic pilots?

 

regards,

Jack

 

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On 8/24/2021 at 10:59 AM, Richb77 said:

I am in the process of building two models. One Revells 1:32 Mosquito and Revells 1:32 Hawker Hunter.

 

The Mozzy came with the worst two pilot options i have ever seen with concave chests and face, poor detail and wrong poses.

Yes it's a game of dare with your wallet I'm afraid. PJ Productions do excellent pilot figures, CMK can be hit or miss with some weird face shapes but are generally very well detailed and built skinny enough to fit most kits.

 

I have taken to adapting kit figures where they're provided, but in the Revell Mossie case it was hard labour!

tn_Mosquito VI (8)

Alan

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I very rarely add pilots to my model and as a result not only I rarely have this problem but I also have a decent size collection of unused pilot figures (nothing in 1/32 though, otherwise I'd have offered something).

With a number of figures in the spare box, when I need them I can select from there the better looking ones. Sometime I have to resort to kitbashing, that mostly means replacing the head with a better one, where better may mean better sculpted or just one with a more correct helmet for the timeframe of my model.

 

Keep in mind that there are also pilot sets in plastic, ICM for example has a number of WW2 sets in 1/32 scale. These generally only offer one seated figure and sometime none at all, but at least they can be decent sources of heads for poorly sculpted figures. CMK has a set of resin heads that can be good value for money, however they are moulded with postwar helmets so no use for the Mosquito.

While it's possible to find figures for the Mosquito, the Hunter will be more difficult as cold war pilots in plastc are likely not available, so it's resin or nothing. Fortunately PJ have addressed this era too so I'm sure one of their pilots will fit. Looking at the link posted by Jack I can see a '60s RAF seated pilot for a tenner, not too bad, even more considering that prices at Hannants are generally at the top end of the scale

Edited by Giorgio N
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