GUYS, your models are great but get HIM right!!!
02-12-2006, 11:45 PM
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GUYS, your models are great but get HIM right!!!
HIM??
Him is the pilot in your cockpit. The cockpit that you spent a whole week on getting all the dials and switches just right. Now it seems that you just look around you work bench and grab the first thing that resembles a pilot figure and throw him in.
Wrong scale,, wrong size, wrong position in the cockpit/seat,,, I mean it can and does for me really distract from the beautiful piece of machinary that surrounds him.
Go take a look at your pride and joy right now,,, NOW,,, (please) and come back and tell me that your pilot is a good representation of a couple of pictures you have of that aircraft with a man in it.
The biggest erk is too small a pilot sitting too high in cockpit,,,,YUK.
Second erk is proper sized pilot seeming to stare into space out the top of the canopy,,,,,YUK.
9 times out of 10 you see a pilot on the ground looking foward and down serveying the ground ahead and in a fly by he may be looking down at the admiring faces looking up at him so positioning is important to me too.
With modern 'Warbirds' it is not uncommon to have a P51 driver dressed in Jet Jocky atire, that is OK, just make him the right size and look like he is doing some thing scale. He is part of your model.
Some,,, no,, a lot of pilots look fantastic, but to me they are in the minority.
So come on give me some excuses. By the way I am not a master builder like so many of you but i know what looks good and scale.
With all due respect to all.
Brad
Him is the pilot in your cockpit. The cockpit that you spent a whole week on getting all the dials and switches just right. Now it seems that you just look around you work bench and grab the first thing that resembles a pilot figure and throw him in.
Wrong scale,, wrong size, wrong position in the cockpit/seat,,, I mean it can and does for me really distract from the beautiful piece of machinary that surrounds him.
Go take a look at your pride and joy right now,,, NOW,,, (please) and come back and tell me that your pilot is a good representation of a couple of pictures you have of that aircraft with a man in it.
The biggest erk is too small a pilot sitting too high in cockpit,,,,YUK.
Second erk is proper sized pilot seeming to stare into space out the top of the canopy,,,,,YUK.
9 times out of 10 you see a pilot on the ground looking foward and down serveying the ground ahead and in a fly by he may be looking down at the admiring faces looking up at him so positioning is important to me too.
With modern 'Warbirds' it is not uncommon to have a P51 driver dressed in Jet Jocky atire, that is OK, just make him the right size and look like he is doing some thing scale. He is part of your model.
Some,,, no,, a lot of pilots look fantastic, but to me they are in the minority.
So come on give me some excuses. By the way I am not a master builder like so many of you but i know what looks good and scale.
With all due respect to all.
Brad
02-13-2006, 12:16 AM
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RE: GUYS, your models are great but get HIM right!!!
You know I gotta say, those rubber things that people paint aint too impressive. I would like to know of some threads that have pics of really GOOD pilots... I agree with your post wholeheartedly.
02-13-2006, 01:02 AM
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RE: GUYS, your models are great but get HIM right!!!
ORIGINAL: Brad330l
HIM??
HIM??
HIM ???
02-13-2006, 06:55 AM
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RE: GUYS, your models are great but get HIM right!!!
Couldn't agree more - easier said than done though. I bought 4 pilots before finding one even half-close to looking right in my 1/8 Jug. Most are either crappy vac-form stuff, or just the wrong size. My bloke still needed a booster cushoin and leg-reduction surgery to get close. Alot easier once you get to 1/6 and bigger.
Cam
Cam
02-13-2006, 09:16 AM
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RE: GUYS, your models are great but get HIM right!!!
Now that is the right stuff Dr1Driver.
Does it not make a model complete????
And i'm hear'n every body else,, it is difficult, but so is putting on 15000 rivits to your bird.
Does it not make a model complete????
And i'm hear'n every body else,, it is difficult, but so is putting on 15000 rivits to your bird.
02-13-2006, 09:24 AM
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RE: GUYS, your models are great but get HIM right!!!
A crappy photo from a long time ago, but you see the pilot.
Yes that is me at about 27 YoA (now going to 40) and still got the Spitfire.
Pilot was lost along with sliding canopy,, never to be found. Had to buy new canopy.
Brad
Yes that is me at about 27 YoA (now going to 40) and still got the Spitfire.
Pilot was lost along with sliding canopy,, never to be found. Had to buy new canopy.
Brad
02-13-2006, 12:00 PM
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RE: GUYS, your models are great but get HIM right!!!
I totally agree with the poster who talked about having to buy several pilots to get one that looked right. MGA makes great figures, IMO. The "Aces of Iron" treatise on painting them is difficult, but results in VERY good looking airmen. Finding the right size pilot is sometimes very difficult, since some manufacturers tend to make models in scales like 1:4.75, 1:625, and others. In a magazine a couple of months back, they talked about how effeminate the Williams Bros. line of busts is, and how to correct it. The pilot I posted looked ok, but the next one will be better. It takes patience and practice.
Dr.1
Dr.1
02-13-2006, 12:23 PM
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RE: GUYS, your models are great but get HIM right!!!
What gets my goat is warbirds flying without any pilot at all. It just doesn't look right when they taxi up to take off!
Even on my "fun fly" birds, if the plane has a cockpit, the cockpit has a pilot (or the cockpit is blacked out and you can't tell the difference)!
Even on my "fun fly" birds, if the plane has a cockpit, the cockpit has a pilot (or the cockpit is blacked out and you can't tell the difference)!
02-13-2006, 12:42 PM
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RE: GUYS, your models are great but get HIM right!!!
IMHO most people fly without pilots because they ares till flying a "toy" instead of a minature air craft. Pilotless planes have their roots in Trainers, fun fly planes, etc. These are the planes we learn on and that's fine.
Once you make the transition to a scale plane, the attendent pilot , should be part of the whole package.
Once you make the transition to a scale plane, the attendent pilot , should be part of the whole package.
02-13-2006, 12:46 PM
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RE: GUYS, your models are great but get HIM right!!!
ORIGINAL: camdyson
Couldn't agree more - easier said than done though. I bought 4 pilots before finding one even half-close to looking right in my 1/8 Jug. Most are either crappy vac-form stuff, or just the wrong size. My bloke still needed a booster cushoin and leg-reduction surgery to get close. Alot easier once you get to 1/6 and bigger.
Cam
Couldn't agree more - easier said than done though. I bought 4 pilots before finding one even half-close to looking right in my 1/8 Jug. Most are either crappy vac-form stuff, or just the wrong size. My bloke still needed a booster cushoin and leg-reduction surgery to get close. Alot easier once you get to 1/6 and bigger.
Cam
Which pilot did you end up going with? I've just started messing with the "Officers and Gentleman" 1/8 from Roy Vaillancourt. It looks decent at first inspection.
02-13-2006, 03:33 PM
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RE: GUYS, your models are great but get HIM right!!!
Guys,
I totally agree. That is why Michael Johnson of Aces of Iron, produces the finest Pilot bust available. We at PerfectPilots.com, are the exclusive distributor for his pilots and make this topic our personal commitment to the scale guys (and Gals) that you should have a "perfect" pilot for your scale project.
On a side note, any readers of Model Airplane News, they have in thier lastest issue, a collection of pilot reviews. In the article they have "Zombie" Pilots as a manufacturer. They are not. They simply buy pilots from us and paint them and resell them. They are Aces of Iron pilots!
Please don't be confused. IF you have questions please feel free to PM me.
Chuck
I totally agree. That is why Michael Johnson of Aces of Iron, produces the finest Pilot bust available. We at PerfectPilots.com, are the exclusive distributor for his pilots and make this topic our personal commitment to the scale guys (and Gals) that you should have a "perfect" pilot for your scale project.
On a side note, any readers of Model Airplane News, they have in thier lastest issue, a collection of pilot reviews. In the article they have "Zombie" Pilots as a manufacturer. They are not. They simply buy pilots from us and paint them and resell them. They are Aces of Iron pilots!
Please don't be confused. IF you have questions please feel free to PM me.
Chuck
02-13-2006, 04:18 PM
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RE: GUYS, your models are great but get HIM right!!!
Bob and Chad,
Our hope is, once Michael is happy with his Bust line-up he will concentrate on the full bodies. Me personally, I would like to see a Battle of Britian and a US Navy pilot.
Chuck
Our hope is, once Michael is happy with his Bust line-up he will concentrate on the full bodies. Me personally, I would like to see a Battle of Britian and a US Navy pilot.
Chuck
02-13-2006, 04:32 PM
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RE: GUYS, your models are great but get HIM right!!!
Chuck. I agree. If you had 4 WWII guys you could cover WWII ok.. a Britt, a German, Japaneese and a US pilot. For WWI.. same deal but maybe a French, Britt, German and US. So tell Michael to get busy LOL.. I know you/him have all the deminsions..
02-13-2006, 04:52 PM
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RE: GUYS, your models are great but get HIM right!!!
Bob,
I think a very nice civillian pilot for all those nice "other" scale subjects would do well too!
See you at Toledo.
Chuck
I think a very nice civillian pilot for all those nice "other" scale subjects would do well too!
See you at Toledo.
Chuck
02-13-2006, 06:20 PM
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RE: GUYS, your models are great but get HIM right!!!
SMUGator,
It was a long time ago now, but I'm pretty sure it WAS the Vailly Aviation pilot I ended up using. Had to lose the rudder pedals and do some leg surgery to get him in, plus sits on a balsa block about 1/4" high to raise up to scale height.
Cam
It was a long time ago now, but I'm pretty sure it WAS the Vailly Aviation pilot I ended up using. Had to lose the rudder pedals and do some leg surgery to get him in, plus sits on a balsa block about 1/4" high to raise up to scale height.
Cam
