What's It all About ???

This page is all about the building and flying of radio controlled model aircraft. It's a highly diversified hobby that takes in as many skills as you like to use. Everything from electronics to carpentry, to painting, to drawing and designing with a little bit of metal work thrown in. Some builders even go into doing their own machining, pattern designing, fibre glassing, moulding and engine design. You can use electric motors, 2 stroke or 4 stroke internal combustion engines or even minature turbine (jet) engines for power. My own models use 2 and 4 stroke internal combustion engines and range in size from about a metre in wingspan to well over 3 metres from tip to tip!


Monday, December 31, 2012

You need a Pilot in the Cockpit!


One of the problems for scale builders, and some others who believe there should be a pilot on board, is finding a suitable figure to fill that vacant space in the cockpit.  A real problem comes when there is enough room and you want to fit a full length figure, there are commercial items available but some of them cost a small ransom to buy. I have a couple of the excellent Blue Box figures which are now unfortunately out of production. Another alternative is the Dragon line but they are, at least in this country, very hard to find. Which brings us down to the readily available  12 inch dolls from Action Man and similar sources. A 12 inch doll gives you a 6 foot tall figure in 1/6th scale or a short arse 5 foot in 1/5th. Given the often restricted space available in some cockpits the 12 inch doll can be ideal in that scale.

 The only problem with the Action Man type dolls is finding suitable clothing and / or uniforms. Your alternative there is to find one of the  Limited Editions (I have the GI Joe Action Pilot). The other alternative is to grovel to your Wife / Girl Friend / Mother in Law / Grand Mother and talk her into pulling out the sowing machine and running up some suitable clothes for your doll. I've found sources for things like Mae Wests, parachutes and the like available from China and Hong Kong at very reasonable prices.

 As I build mostly scale in 1/6th and 1/5th I've built up a small collection of suitable pilot figures, I have a couple of  Blue Box - the Battle of Britain Pilot and the Western Desert Pilot, The Dragon Pearl Harbor Pilot and the previously mentioned GI Joe. As well as that I have a number of pilots I've made up myself with clothes kindly made by a Lady Friend of mine and accessories that I found on eBay.

 There are a number of specialist manufacturers of pilot figures both here in Australia and in Britain and the United States. The figures range from cartoon like characters to carefully detailed and accurate representations of actual pilots. You can even get your own head sculptured if you are vain enough! The prices for these models vary from modest to fabulously expensive for the very best.

 Check out the photos in  "Blue Box and other Pilot Figures" on the right hand side of this page for a few updates and new photos. You might also like to check out the links to "Proper Little People" and "Cosmic Pilots" as well.
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