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The Model Pilot thread


Gemma Jane
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Well I've started this thread as I want to see what you are getting up to with your pilot painting. I thought it would be a good place to talk about pilots for models in general, likes dislikes etc and share information.
 
Here are my first two painted pilots Bertie and Frederick.
 
 

 

Freds not quite done in the picture above, there was a lot more washes that went on and the Ryan Giggs eyes were eventually toned down also. I did like the effect on the jacket though on this one, farily pleased that it looked like worn leather/sheepskin


These are my first attempts at painting pilots for RC models, though I guess you might realise I can weild a paint brush on canvas also , so painting little figures comes reasonably naturally.
 
Biggest problem I have had so far is the finishing varnishes, matt came out... eer gloss and satin came out eeer glossier than matt - very annoying!
 
I don't know if I'm just fussy but generally the pilots in models really catch my eye. Bertie came about because I simply could not stand the 'thing' that was in the e-flite Fury cockpit, it was just too toyish, Fred because I need a pilot for my Green RC Sopwith Camel and as I found I liked painting them thought why not go for it. Both btw are casts from Pete on Ebay, I guess most of you have heard of him because he has been around quite a while selling pilot figures.. Be interested in what others think,  do you think we should get better pilots for our models as standard?
 
PS this guy insisted on being included, OK he isn't painted, so noexcuse really other than he is cute!
 

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That makes a fun read David  Trouble is, in the air an empty office just looks wrong, like it is a ghost plane, remember the Green RC Sopwith Camel shots in the mag, oh how it needed a pilot - you just can't have that potter past on a summer evening with nobody flying it!  I think the same as your comment on page 1 of Flanker's thread, good pilots can enhance a model, but they have to be good. It seems though for very many years unless you can paint a good pilot yourself, your sort of stuck with the awful gargoyles that are supplied to us.

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I'll leave you guys to your private conversation then, I hadn't actaully started the thread to debate weather or not you wanted to put dolls in your toys, rather to communicate with those who put some effort into their models and liked to avoid sticking pre-painted plastic blobs in them. 
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Looks like this might settle down a bit now Gemma
 
I do have models with the "office" occupied. I am just not very artistic, although I do admit to enjoying someones efforts when they put thier best into what they do. Perhaps strangely, I have been put off occupied cockpits by the mainly unrealistic "real pilots" which seem to adorn most of todays offerings.
 
I look forward to more offerings on this thread too, as well as helpful methods to make them look more realistic.
 
I should have mentioned that your subjects at the start of the thread put my efforts to shame.
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Ok guys and gals this is a Williams bros 1/12th bust it comes in 2 bits you have to get the old airfix cement out and the goggles are supplied loose. the figure as supplied leans more to classic car racing than classic plane pilot but with a sharp scalpel to remove the helmet peak and a little kleenex tissue for a scarf with a drop of cyano to hold it on. oh and some paint and patience he makes a passable Tigger pilot (no I did mean Tigger not tiggie) very old english stiff upper lip sort of a chap. cheap too about £2.50 plus patience from blackburn models/balsamart. he could do with a little more body as he's on a huge lump of epp
 

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As a skant excuse for a first post here, and to have a bash at posting a piccy, here's a pic of the driver in my (Ian Easton-designed) Hild Marshonet bipe.
 
Hand-carved form balsa by (ex-Pat) Graham McAllister, who now lives in the US, this curmudgeonly bloke has occupied this seat for a few years now....
 
tim
 



 
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