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Aircraft crew members


Peter George Stevens

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Hi, I started building Airfix models of all types in 1957 age 12, amongst other makes, with a lul from 1965 to 1997, but what I liked most about Airfix model aircraft were the aircrew supplied in the kits. I am disapointed that some of the new tool kits do not include aircrew, as most other manufacturers are doing, but I suppose this is due to many models ending up in static dioramas. What about offering them as an extra for those kits without aircrew and/or including them in future kits?       

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I'm glad that aircraft crew members have made a bit of a comeback. There was a long period starting in the late 70's when aircrew were considered to make a model aircraft look a bit toylike. This was a strange point of view in my opinion because military vehicle modellers never usually thought twice about adding figures to their work. Ever since I started plastic modelling in the 60's I never thought a plane looked complete with the seats empty. Lets hope we'll soon see every new release from all manufacturers with the option to add figures.  

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I build mostly in 1/48 scale, WW2 fighters and usually have them canopy open with the pilot sitting in the cockpit. I love the challenge of painting them up . ( have to use a magnifying glass these days  ). Airfix have been one of the better companies regarding including aircrew figues so, keep up the good work Airfix.  Cheers, Stuart.

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I'm glad that aircraft crew members have made a bit of a comeback. There was a long period starting in the late 70's when aircrew were considered to make a model aircraft look a bit toylike. This was a strange point of view in my opinion because military vehicle modellers never usually thought twice about adding figures to their work. Ever since I started plastic modelling in the 60's I never thought a plane looked complete with the seats empty. Lets hope we'll soon see every new release from all manufacturers with the option to add figures.  

TBF this was also the era of the "Frog Freak", so named for how unlike an airman of any period he was.

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I agree , whats the point of a plane with no pilot ? I am currently building a Horsa ( made by an Italian company ) It comes with 2 figures standing up , thats no good so I am looking for some sitting down pilots , are these in the Revell kit ? Saw some on the Hannants website but they were out of stock .

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I remember in the late 1950s , 1960s that Monogram 1:48 scale kits often included not only a pilot but often ground crew and equipment as well. Their naval aircraft were particually good in this and the big B17 and B24  included bomb trolleys and a high speed tractor. I still have some of the  figures and they are good even by todays standard. Its a pity these are not produced as separate  sets. Anybody else remember them?

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I remember in the late 1950s , 1960s that Monogram 1:48 scale kits often included not only a pilot but often ground crew and equipment as well. Their naval aircraft were particually good in this and the big B17 and B24  included bomb trolleys and a high speed tractor. I still have some of the  figures and they are good even by todays standard. Its a pity these are not produced as separate  sets. Anybody else remember them?

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Being a pilot, I consider an aeroplane without a crew to be a bit "naked".

I've been building for the past 40+ years, and steal from the "stach" when I can't source some.

I have suggested to Airfix that crew members could be the subject of a kit or two. - WWII, Modern RAF, NATO etc.

PJ Productions have some good quality resin figures, - I keep at least 20 in stock.

Enjoy your modelling.

 

Wombat

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I always put crew in my aircraft unless they are 1/144 scale etc or unless the cockpit space given makes it impossible. Any kits I scrap I recycle many parts and that includes crew members who can then move on to other machines. Often I find I have to file away bums, legs, arms etc to get them in but they nearly always fit. I have ammassed a decent sized reserve pilot pool in my spares box to include both WW2 and modern Jet Jockeys as well as some civilian crew. I'm always on the lookout for more but many of my freinds supply me with them as most build their aircraft unmanned, in which case I adopt their orphans!  It would be a good idea if Airfix were to produce sets of pilots for their aircraft in the same way as the display stands etc. However failing that there are a lot of a/m pilot sets available. Hasegawa in particular do some decent stuff as do Red-Box.

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I agree with almost all members on this page that aircrew are an essential to every kit and it is the reason I have always favoured Airfix aircraft kits over all other pretenders since I started modelling in 1970 aged about 6/7. I have also previously suggested that Airfix should issue a new tool of thier RAF/USAAF & Luftwaffe Ground personel in proper hard palstic (as the original releases are poor and impossible to paint in soft plastic) as many modellers now expand into diorama displays with their grounded aircraft. And I would like to see the odd groundcrew figure or pilot doing 'preflight' checks included in the kits if possible too 😀  

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 I have also previously suggested that Airfix should issue a new tool of thier RAF/USAAF & Luftwaffe Ground personel in proper hard palstic (as the original releases are poor and impossible to paint in soft plastic) as many modellers now expand into diorama displays with their grounded aircraft. And I would like to see the odd groundcrew figure or pilot doing 'preflight' checks included in the kits if possible too 😀  

We can but live in hope. The fact that Airfix went on to release a USAAF re-supply set after doing the RAF set might be cause for optimism. Whislt we're waiting for Airfix to do their thing I would recommend you try and get hold of the RAF and Luftwaffe figure sets released by Revell. The Luftwaffe set is a re-release of the one previously issued by Preiser and is very good, whilst the RAF set is a new tool and is simply outstanding. The only snag is they are both now scarce and prices have risen accordingly. There is one snag with the RAF set, the figures are true to scale at 1/72 which means the seated aircrew or their seats may need to be modified to fit. Both sets have ground crew figures in poses that suggest they are servicing or pre-flighting an aircraft.

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I've already posted about the crew figure debate in my model memories posting, but one thing nmcabecadas and Paul mentioned was true scale 72nd figures. Figures in this scale usually are 25 to 26 mm or 22 to 23 mm sizes, and are based on a figure of 6 feet or 1.8 metres which by to-days standard is more-or-less correct, but in the 1940’s let alone the 1915’s is a bit optimistic

Many years ago I came across a history book that stated the Napoleonic Wars set the average European male height back by over three inches for the next hundred years or more. If you go round HMS Victory in Portsmouth you’ll see that the average height was less than 5 feet 4 inches as that was the height between decks, if you were over 5;4 you were left alone by the press gangs as you; to quote; “took up too much space”. McCudden, Mannock and Ball were all of, shall-we-say diminutive stature, certainly by to-days standards, I believe Ball was only 5;2 or less and often sat on a cushion, and as for Douglas Bader how tall was he 5;6 5;8 anybody know? I do know Sailor Malan was quite a tall guy at almost 6 feet, (Another South African.) and had some trouble fitting into the Spitfire cockpit.

When I start work in the printing industry in the early 60’s; Who were the highest paid “tradesmen” in England and therefore had access to better nutrition very few were of the old WW 2 guys were anywhere near 6 feet most being between 5;6 to 5;10, and as I widened my horizons I found that the vast majority of guys from WW 2 were even less. It’s only in recent times (1950’s onwards) that the European male has grown in height to the now common 6 feet or more, mainly due to access to better nutrition. In WW 2 the big guys usually came from Canada, Australia and South Africa. (Something to do with all the barbeques.)

As an aside in 1987 my son went to high school and they were keeping a record of all stature new pupils, (All schools were doing it on a national bases;) and what was coming out was that for 10 years the 11 year olds were generally getting bigger, but strangely for the previous 3 years the trend had reversed and the boys were getting smaller. I never asked about the girls but assumed the same was true.

So my question is how do you model a 1/72 crew figure? I feel that the 22 to 24 mm figures suit the WW 2 era better than the 25 mm ones, but for the WW 1 era you should be looking at 21 to 23 mm sizes, In both the Airfix and Revell sets all the figures are the same size, Airfix being in the 22 to 23 mm range, (at an old quoted 76 scale but I see they’re now quoted at 72 scale.) while the Revell are all in the 25 to 26 mm range (If you check out the German Naval figures set they all “seem” to be too tall.). So I feel that neither set is really correct, but the better of the two is Airfix as 22.5 mm comes out at 5;4 ins in 72 scale. (In the Airfix set they have included a WRAF, now in 76 scale she would be about 5;7 quite tall for a lass in WW 2, but in 72 scale she’d be about 5;3 5;4 which to my mind seems about right, although my mother was 5;7 but she was a tall lass in her day. So what we really need is a range of figures varying in size from 21 to 24 mm plus a few in the 25 mm sizes and with the officers in the 23 mm sizes. (Officers were never really know for their stature.) I doubt it will ever happen, but we can always live in hope, and again hope the manufactures will finally ditch that horrible polythene type plastic they seem to insist on using.

Remember we do this for fun John the Pom

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John, I think most of your statements are correct.

I found a pre-accident photo of Bader standing at parade rest in front of a Gloster Gamecock (in his Wikipedia article if anyone else wants a look), and that places his head about halfway up the lower side of the spinner, so if anyone has a plan of a Gamecock that shows the ground angle correctly, it should be easy enough to work out how tall he grew. From memory, there's some discussion of the length of his "tin legs" in "Reach for the Sky", and I think they were a couple of inches different to his original height.

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The airforce sets figures are rather small, and the Luftwaffe is by far the worst. The average height is different for each country but 24 mm seems right for representing military personnel in the 40s. We all know people come in different sizes, but most gear and all weapons are identical to any indidual and it become weird to see a full unit with people bellow 1.60 and have nothing to do with the real world.

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I think that we should have standing as well as sitting figures and maybe a mechanic or two.

That's pretty much what Revell did. If Airfix ever did something similar I'd hope they'd make the seated figures skinny enough to fit seats without too much modification.

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I accept to pay a small extra for figures to be placed outside if are specific for a given airplane. I guess these figures don't belong to generic sets. A figure starting the engine of a Bf 109 is just an example. Preiser have one, but seems to me to that make more sense with the aircraft.

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I've just seen the first review of the new B-17G kit, and it looked great... until I read that there was no crew at all! Evan the recent Lancaster had a pilot, though nothing else. Well, that's one customer Airfix has lost unless some enterprising aftermarket person comes up with a full set of aircrew intended to be in all 10 positions as in flight, and preferably in combat like the box painting -- and while they're at it, how about the missing crew for the Lanc?

I really cannot understand why manufacturers bother to spend so much effort making beautiful models of aeroplanes -- y'know, flying machines? -- and then insist that they be made as if parked on the ground. They're meant to fly, fer Pete's sake, so how about giving us the option to build them that way, with full crew, canopies shut, gear up (if appropriate), wings/rotors/whatever fully spread, etc.? Please make the extra effort; there are people out there like me who will love you for it and vote with their wallets.

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