GI joes are horribly heavy and also not correct in shape. They do tend to be wider than they should be and harder to get to fit whre yhou need them.

There are other but more expensive pilots which will work much better...however in all cases you should gut them and replace the trunk and upper legs with a cotton or fiber filled fabric replacement.

There are some really nice collectors series of scale pilots if you are willing to spend between 45 and 85 dollars for one.