fockewulf37

My Feedback: (102)

Hey guys,
I you have been around the hobby for anytime ya'll can remember a time when the was many 1/6 scale pilots available. There were several companies that had them for sale. The companies were BBI ( Blue Box International) , 21st Century toys, and Dragon models. Well I Dragon is the only one left. They use to make some pilots but not a great deal of them. Dragon does make a lot of Ground troops in 1/6 scale still today. What I am getting at is Dragon still sells the 1/6 scale figures for under $50. The pilots use to come with alot of accessories. Pistols, helmets, goggles, and much more even some with packed parachute bags(not functional).
If you have a minute go to the Dragon site and request that they make more 1/6 sale pilots in the American, German, British, and Japanese pilots. Here is a link and it only take a minute. I sent a message and received a reply in 24 hours that they would forward it to their Planning Department. Here is a link to the place to send a message..

http://www.dragoncare.com/chsmain.asp

Thanks Ty

tankgirlfuzzy

Yeah it's about time the RC community started to talk to the big model makers like Dragon! Great idea Ty!

Dragon has made a fair amount of pilots in the past few years but they are almost all German, and they are never complete. Usually no parachute, wrong or no flight helmet, never an oxygen mask, and they've abandoned updating their Luftwaffe fighter pilots (most are bomber pilots now). The only Allied pilots recently are US bomber pilots/gunners, and we know how many 1/6 scale bombers are being built.

I used to bereally into1/6modeling/customizing before Igot into RC warbirds (still dabble from time to time), and my dream was (and is) to finally fly a warbird in true 1/6 scale so I could fit a pilot in and have cool dioramas in the pits! Now that I'm finally proficient enough to pull the trigger on a bigger planethe pilots have disappeared. I've been trying to collect the pilots that appeal to me on e-bay etc. but the costs are now pretty high. Plus, they're not always that accurate for what you need.

I find it interesting how some of the scale nuts in these forums obsess over every rivet and dimension and painting details in their planes, but will happily throw in any ol' 1/6 figure from the wrong theater just because it's the right country. (like a Luftwaffepilot from North Africa in a BoB Me-109 or Reichs defense FW190) To me, the uniform details of a pilot are just as important as any other cockpit or exterior detail, but it often seems like an afterthought to others. Is it the right helmet or oxygen mask? Was that tunic/flightsuit in use at that particular time? To me these things require just as much research as whether the landing gear is scale or the exhaust stacks are the right ones for that mark. Oftentimes you'll find that you can kitbash the right uniform parts from internet dealers (or e-bay) to get the right mix, but I agree that options are extremely limited.

It really stinks that choices are so limited. Most of us don't want to learn sculpting or sewing to have a scale pilot! (No, I don't sew!)

I really hope to see more crossover between the two hobbies in the future. There are amazingly talented people on both sides, and they could learna ton from each other.

Here are some examples of what I used to do:

I custom built/modified this Schwimmwagento be RC, then painted and weathered it.


The tank is RC too!

WhoDaMan

My Feedback: (164)

you got it Ty

Dave

Terry Bolin

My Feedback: (7)

WOW ! I am amazed...That is great work and very good detaill.. Very nice Tankgirl............Hats off!

Stuka Jon N

My Feedback: (33)

Good idea Ty. I'm fairly lucky I have a friend who buys up the naked bodys andfinds the proper clothing (Internet) to make what i need. Also clothing and accessories from Monkey Depot. Stuka Jon

frets24

My Feedback: (15)

Good post and good idea Ty!
Thanks for the link too. Sent/sending my requests from all six email addresses in our household and would add to Ty's suggestion to everyone to email their requests as well. If you've got several addresses (kids, wife , business, personnal, etc) I would encourage you to use ALL of those as well. Load 'em up! Just not all at once...stagger them a bit

Tankgirlfuzzy,
Nice work there on the dioramas!!

For those of you who have not seen the pilot figures...they are awesome. The detail is really something else. The O2 masks, 'chutes, headgear. etc are not one size fits all, but rather detailed and appropriate to the application. Below are some pics of some of the stuff I've been able to aquire over the years from ebay, monkey depot and others. Note the detail on the mask, and even the labeling on the life vest and on the Luftwaffe chute harness release is in german!

Unfortunately these guys are getting to be quite pricey due to low supply. That's a good reason to try to get the production up again. The last Jap pilot figure I saw auctioned off for over $100. I guess my dude is going to have to do triple duty. Hard to justify that kind of expense for multiples....Oh well.[&o]

frets24

My Feedback: (15)

RCUniverse user name "toggle" had an add not too long ago for custom configured/clothed BBI/Dragon pilot figures and/or individual uniform items for sale. Price was pretty reasonable across the board as well considering that these are getting hard to find NIB and his are custom "built" for the application.


http://www.rcuniverse.com/market/sea...emberID=487708

fockewulf37

My Feedback: (102)

Thanks Guys for your help. I know Dragon plans months out in advance what they are going to put out next. Hopefully by sending a message to them they will make this more of a priority in the future.


Thanks Ty

tankgirlfuzzy

Thanks, guys, for all your kind comments!

Yup, Ty, things can take a while with Dragon. Sometimes they'll tease the market with previews and never come out with the products!On the 1/6 collector boards I used to frequent, people used to beg them to come out with this or that figure, esp. Allied soldiers, but they would just keep coming out with more Germans. I like Wehrmacht figures, but even I got tired of it! It can be hard to get them to listen.

I think one other way to do it is to try to get one or the other Chinese large scale arf makers (CMP or ESM?) to work with Dragon to commission figures that couldfit in their planes.These are all Chinese companies, and it might be a way for these big companies to generate crossover interest in the two hobbies. The question is, how to get ESM or CMP to approach them? Just talking off the top of my head here...

ticketec

My Feedback: (2)

I like where you head is at on this one!

Now this combination could make a real winner!

Thanks

dave

blkbird

You inspired me to do the same. let's hope it works!!!!!!!!

fockewulf37

My Feedback: (102)

Did anyone get a response from Dragon?

blkbird

I got a seemingly generic "we are investigating" response.

frets24

My Feedback: (15)

Here's what I got;

**** PLEASE DO NOT REPLY TO THIS MESSAGE ****
This is an automated e-mail response from the DragonCare system for notification purposes only.

Thank you for using DragonCare!

Your issue has been logged into the DragonCare system. You may check the status of your current issue by logging into the support ticket system at the following address:

http://www.dragoncare.com/chstrackti...cketID=1015912
Your Ticket Number is 1015912
-

Dear Sir, or Ma'am,

It has come to my attention that there have been fewer or no World War 2 pilot figures or accessories available recently. In the past your figures have been perfect for my 1/5 and 1/6 scale Radio Control airplanes.

There are many people in the Radio control community that would be very eager to buy your figures for their Warplanes if the figures were available and advertised in the radio control magazines or numerous internet forums.

A Re-issue of some of the past German, American, British, and Japanese advertised on these sites could be tested for marketing. Many of these forums also allow manufacturers to place polls or surveys to see what the market might be.

There are also many manufacturers, in China, of Radio control airplanes which would be perfect for your figures as well. Perhaps there could be an arrangement for the airplane manufacturers to distribute your figures or advertise them for use in their products.

Thank you, Lee Young



Your satisfaction is important to us. Thank you again for using DragonCare, and your continued support of Dragon Models! Please check out the latest Dragon products at www.dragon-models.com!

Best regards,

DragonCare

frets24

My Feedback: (15)

Then a more personal reply:


**** DO NOT REPLY TO THIS MESSAGE ****
Check the status and history of your tickets by logging into the support ticket system:

http://www.dragoncare.com/chstrackti...cketID=1015912
Your Ticket Number is 1015912
-

Dear Lee,

Thank you very much for taking the time and effort to send us your comments and suggestions. Your note has been forwarded to our planning department for further study, with the intention that your valuable feedback will help us to further improve both our services and the quality of our products. We will certainly read and research all your comments for future development. Any additional suggestions and comments you may have will be very much welcome!

Finally, please stay tuned to the Dragon Models Limited website @ www.dragon-models.com for more updates and surprises you won't be disappointed!

Thanks again, and have a pleasant day!

Best regards,
DragonCare

Armando

tankgirlfuzzy

I hate to be a wet blanket but Ihighly doubt that they will take any action from just a few e-mails to their customer care site. Unless we mobilize all of RCU to flood their inbox (and even then), I think they will just ignore it. You don't know how many times I've heard collectors on all the major 1/6 boardspleading with Dragon to do more pilots. Even on their own fan site, MDFC www.mdfcforum.com/mdfcforum/index.php, people ask them to donon-German pilots and these are routinely ignored. I really think it's going to take a business proposition from an RC manufacturer like ESM or CMP to produce products they can cross promote. How do we do this? Ty, do you have connections with ARFPROS? Iknow you sell your stuff through VQ but do they have a direct relationship with ESM? Perhaps they can talk to ARFPROS to talk to ESM about this? Or maybe someone in the UK could ask YT to talk to ESM? What about Nitroplanes with CMP?

Another way to do this is to contact Dragon's competitors. Yes, Dragon is ruthless and yes they did drive several companies out of 1/6 or just out of business (21st C, BBi, Twisting Toyz), but there are still some rival companies.

[*]Soldier's Story and Hot Toys both make very expensive, high-end figures that might be out of the price range of most RC people ($100-$200), although their quality is superb (Hot Toys made some great looking modern pilots).[/list]

[*]DiD (Dragon in Dream) is probably your best bet. They are probably the only company that went head to head with Dragon and survived, even thrived. They challenged Dragon in the WWII and historical figure market and are known for high quality, fully loaded, and reasonably priced figures. They cost more than Dragon but also offer a lot more in each box. DiD has a history of wanting to tweak Dragon (notice their name!) and may be itching to find another niche segment to corner. They also have a history of working with other manufacturers to produce "OEM" stuff, according to their website www.onlinedid.com/company/about.htm. That might mean they would be very amenable to working with ESM or CMP to produce figures for their planes. The bonus result could be that Dragon, who hates being one-upped by rivals like DiD, would immediately come out with a competing product to try to crush the competition. Competing products usually means we the consumers win. [/list]These are just some ideas. What do you all think? Please don't take any of this the wrong way: I'm glad we all took the time to write messages to Dragon but I'm afraid it's not going to produce results.

kwik

Done. Message sendt.