Toy Pilots

[David Ashby - Moderator]

Absolutely Thomas.

David.

[Aero120]

Surely the main thing is that the pilot matches the spirit of the plane. A scale WWII machine needs a suitable pilot either in WWII clothes or modern jet type if you're modelling a restored spit for example, however what harm does a freaky doll figure do in a fun fly? I've got a mixture in my planes. The default "grinning idiot" was soon ejected out of my Travelair in favour of a Gromit, whilst the Reno racing Mustang I'm building has an accurate latex type pilot with modern bone dome. I've also replaced the horrible blue dash sticker with a decoupaged photo of a real dash edited on the pc.

[Flanker .]

Dear all, before posting DO read all MY posts on the subject. I have been very clear about the whole thing, but I have noticed that many people are NOT reading the background before commenting. I have No PROBLEM with Snoopies etc. I wont re hash all my posts here, but do understand that there is more to this than painting etc, we are talking, posture, weight (not mass) scale, and VERY IMPORTANT scale TRANSPARENCY of the canopy. I am still researching this, but I feel that along with scale and pose (open cockpit) it may be the most important factor of all.

[Kelly]

A scaled down model of an aircraft which carrys a Pilot/aircrew and possibly passengers needs some sort of model Pilot etc to enhance the realism when the model is in the air.The same effort should be put in to create a pilot figure etc as applied to the rest of the model. What is the point of a scale flying model with an empty cockpit,flightdeck??

Why bother with a clear cockpit canopy or open cockpit on a non- scale at all if the intention is not to place a model pilot in it? It may look fine on the ground, but just looks so strange flying around empty.

I think some may feel a pilot figure in a model turns it into a toy :-)

Kelvin

[Martin McIntosh]

I totally agree with Flanker. In the air you can hardly see the damned things most of the time, and on the ground they make even the best scale subjects look like toys. Let us stop deducting marks for their absence.

[Flanker .]

Right on dude !

[Tom Sharp]

There was a wartime variant of the Tiger Moth which was radio controlled. It was called the "Queen Bee" and about 800 were built. It didn't have a pilot, it was a target aircraft for anti aircraft gunnery practice. So a model of this aircraft would be scale without a pilot.
Problem solved.

[Peter Miller]

Tom, see my posting above. you could also build a Fairey Firefly.Or even a B-17 but you would have to remove the top from the windscreen back to the radio position. They called them Aphrodite aircraft and one caused the biggest explosion ever seen in this country.

[Tom Sharp]

Peter; Joe Kennedy elder brother of President Kennedy, was killed in one of the Aphrodite, when it exploded unexpectedly before he could leave the aircraft. But these were modified worn out bombers. The Queen Bee was purpose built for the job not a modification.

[Peter Miller]

I knew about Kennedy. The Queen Bee was basically a Tiger Moth if my memory serves me correctly. It could be flown by a pilot.
Likewise the Fairey Firefly was a modification but we are talking about aircraft that can be flown without a pilot in the cockpit so they both qualify.
I believe that some of the Culver Cadets were also modified in the same way and I am sure that there are dozens of others.

[Laurence Lowe]

I think that some of the problem is that the relationship of the head/trunk with each other and where the pilot is looking are often quite bizarre. Frequently the poor old pilot seems to have a fence post jammed down the back of his/her jacket and is just plonked in at the wrong angle, rigidly gazing up at the sky.
Cheers!

[Flanker .]

This kind of illustrates what I mean. If this was a model of mine, in the air, without a dolly on board, this is what it would look like (only this view would take a little work...). On the ground the pilot is in the bar! (so we don't see him in the plane).

[Former Member]

[This posting has been removed]

[001]

There was an attractive biplane 'pilotless' aircraft called the Airspeed A.S.30 Queen Wasp from 1937 that had a higher performance than the Queen Bee.
There is a photo of this aircraft with a test crew of two in the cockpit, so if this was modelled, everybody could be happy.
These targets did have a 'pilot', on the ground or on a ship. So really they can be called remotely controlled vehicles rather than pilotless. I do not want to bring the definition of Drone into it. 'Remotely controlled pilotless aircraft or missile' in my dictionary!

[Kelly]

The point is scale models are flown low and close so you can see the detail on aircraft including the so called toy pilot,mine winks at me on low passes-honest.

[Aero120]

The real point is that we do this for fun. If you want a pilot of whatever type then have one and if you don't then fine. It doesn't make the plane fly any better, unless the figure adds ballast! What you add to a scale model makes it a characature of the real plane. In the Spitfire shot above you can't see any panel lines, cowls fastners, paint scuffs, access flaps etc. The way to achieve a finish like that would be nice glossy iron on film and no detailing, but I doubt you'd get many compliments.

[Tom Ruut]

Does anyone know where to get a pig pilot for my Astro Hog?

[Myron Beaumont]

May I suggest a small pork chop from Florida !?(Cape Carnavoral ?) Sorry Tom !Grumpy Myron here again .

[Flanker .]

Gamoran (sp?) guard star wars figure ? They are pretty pig like.

[Peter Miller]

There used to be a big collectors range of assorted pigs dressed up in various constumes made in resin. I can't remember who made them nor do I know if they are still around but try searching on eBay.
IN passing, if my tired old memory serves me correctly the Vickers Varsity used to be called "the Pig" I know that ours on MDA Flight, R.A.F. St Mawgan, was always called the pig.
And again talking of pilots. I have just aquired a genuine pilots flying suit from the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight. Even got the pilot's name "Shiney Simmons" and all the badges etc embroidered on it.
Only trouble is, I am to fat to wear it.

[Kelly]

Hope the lanc in the gallery is going to get a 'toy pilot' and gunners in the turrets

[Paul Holmes]

Flanker, how many full size aircraft do you see parked up with a pilot still sitting inside. So when you are not flying and your model is in the pits area for all to see then why not take the pilot out, or have you done the non-scale thing and glued the cockpit down?

[Peter Miller]

If we are going to start comparing full size aircraft and models looking right when parked. For a start why are models not chocked? Then when full size aircraft are parked they don't have their wings removed and are not hung on the hangar wall. They stand on the ground with chocks under the wheels and normally a drip tray under the engine. My workshop isn't big enough to store them taht way.
I photograph my models in flight, most of them look real in the photos. On the ground they are obviously models so why worry if the pilot is still inside.
I was glad to see that the article in the September issue featured the Radio Active pilot. I think he is just about the best and so cheap.

[Prop Nut]

This is something that I have always thought, Flanker, but never had the nerve to say publicly, as so many of my clubmates choose to fit these ridiculous figures in their models. When a full-size Cessna 182 flies over me at 1,200 feet, I can't see the pilot. When my 1/6th scale Cessna 182 flies at 200 feet, I still couldn't see a pilot, so why bother? Fair enough for those who want to fit pilots, if it makes them feel happy, but don't tell me they make a model look better or more realistic, because they don't.

[Kelly]

Yes they do make a model (scale) look better. I fly my Spitfire at low level 80% of the time and I can see my Pilot clearly in fact he sometimes waves honest:-) Why bother with scale at all if you fly high all the time?