Automating Pilots
 

Ever since I saw Peter Wales heli transporter driver turning his head when he was towing the trailer out to the take off point I wanted to animate the pilots that are going into my CH53E build. The biggest problem at first was finding the damn pilots! 1/18th scale military / aviation figures are hard to find and anything of quality is even harder.

I opted for the 3.75" characters from a Delta Force set as they had the most points of articulation and were not too far away from being "realistic". OK, they need a bit of work to complete them but for what I want they will suffice.

Here they are in their mock up seats. Some work with the Dremel and a couple of micro servos, threaded rod and voila, heads will turn!

Currently they are running slaved to one channel but I will split them to give independent movement and then rework their joints to have their arms and legs move with the cockpit controls.

Head Motion

For some reason, the guy on the left reminds me of Jeff Dunham's grumpy old man even though they are both the same figure! The scrawny neck will disappear when finalised.

RE: Automating Pilots
 

Pretty clever.............yeah, it ads some eye catching detail for sure.

RE: Automating Pilots
 

Wow, that is pretty cool.<div>It is comical the way they move in unison.</div><div>Maybe if one moved in reverse they would appear to look out the window and then at each other.</div>