Regarding pilots...

[kingofmarigolds]

Hey all! Thought I'd sign up to this no doubt extremely knowledgeable forum, as I have a few questions that I have searched the interweb in vain to answer.

I'm usually a fantasy/sci-fi painter, and tbh I tend to stick to just painting, so I'd like to think I'm reasonably competent at it! However with the festive season approaching (if you believe what the supermarkets are peddling at any rate) I've started to ponder ways to use my hobby to create gifts.

Now I have heard talk on some fantasy/sci-fi forums of wives and girlfriends being thrilled to receive a lovingly painted, skull-laden, weapon toting miniature as a Christmas present. However I don't think my significant other would react quite so well! My father however (like me) is a bit of a history buff, particularly when it comes to WW2 aircraft.

What I thought I'd do is give him a kind of airfield diorama in 1/48 scale. Specifically a pilot posing with one of my dad's favourite aircraft, possibly a Mosquito or Hurricane.



Here's the problem as I see it. Most minis I tend to deal with are between 28 and 54mm. Now at 54mm I've found some stunning pilot miniatures based off of historical aces, as well as just some generic pilot ones. However when I search at 1/48 I find that the (somewhat limited) miniatures I find are... Well, a bit lacking in presence and detail. I can see how they'd be perfect for creating a large battlefield or suchlike diorama, but I'm really after something that can stand up to intense scrutiny as a display figure.

Any suggestions regarding stunning 1/48 pilots?

Thanks for making it to the end!

[Airframes]

Hi, and welcome from the north of England.
There are a lot of possibilities when it comes to 1/48th scale, but forget the mainstream 'miniatures', and look at the normal plastic kit market. Companies such as Tamiya and Hasegawa have kits for various aircrew and ground crew figures, and there are also some separate, resin figures around. The latter tend to be fairly expensive and, to be honest, can leave a lot to be desired. Don't confine yourself to looking for just 'aviation' figures, as many 'soldier' types can very easily be converted to air and ground crew figures, such as the Tamiya 'Panzer Servicing Crew', examples of which can be seen with a Douglas Boston I built for one of the forum's Group Builds. This can be viewed in the 'Heavy Hitters' Group Build threads.
Hope this helps.

[Njaco]

Terry took the words right out of my mouth!