How to modify your dull pilot figures for good

Model Kit: Tamiya 60312
McDonnell Douglas F-15E Strike Eagle
w/Bunker Buster
Scale: 1/32
Modeller: William Tsang from Hong Kong
Email: wewawhoo@yahoo.com
Copyrights: Photos and Text © 2004 by William Tsang
Note: The opinions expressed in this review are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the
F-15E Strike Eagle.com staff. We recommend that readers using new techniques (particularly weathering and painting techniques) contained within this review experiment on an old kit first. We cannot be held accountable for any injury or damage, personal or material, that may arise from employing practices described in these articles.
Most of us built the 1/32 model with either resin seats or photo etched seat belts to detail the cockpit, and the pilot figures that come with the kit are often neglected, the mold is dull, so most of us just don’t bother spending time to color them. Well, I decided to give them a little cheer up, from a set of dull mould to a pair of cheeky Pilot and WSO! Here is the work begin, simple and fun. (Fig.1)

Fig.1
First, you have to figure out where you want to put them, I choose to have the pilot standing next to the ladder with his hand holding it, and the WSO sitting next to the air intake with poise. Now it is the time to butcher those guys, ah…. very crude indeed. They both mold as sitting position, so the legs are bent to the rear and the feet cure up, so we have to cut them into various pieces and reform the posture. I drew lines across the area to be cut, pay attention to depart the joint area at the longest line reference so to restore the correct height proportion of the figure. In this case, I take the rear edge of the buttocks, the knee cap, and the ankle. (Fig.2)

Fig.2
Fig.3
Fig.4
Multiple 1mm holes of at least 3mm depth are drilled into each cutting facet of the piece, prepared for the insert of wiring. I use 0.4 mm wire for its softness and twist them into double strand (Fig.3). This should give it a bit of rough surface to get a grip on the glue after insert the wire into the holes. CA glue is used to fill into the holes and a drop of accelerator afterward to let it cure it fast, this way the twisted wire is buried solidly inside. Now we can fine tune the post of the puppet (Fig 4). For arms and hands, there are several spares on the Tamiya kit, you have to experiment them one after another, or swap hands with arms to get a correct posture you need, I know there isn’t much choice, but I have tried some really funny postures, of course they are not appropriate to be shown here. For the WSO, the right thigh only needs cut and glue, actually a large chunk of plastic was removed and the remaining thigh is then just glued to the body, which forms the perfect shape.

Fig.5
Fig.6
Fig.7
After finding the desire posture, it is the time to fill the gaps. I use mix putty. This is the hard filler like model clay, which you mix 2 sticks together and it turn solid in hours. I fill those into the gap and try to form continuity of the limbs. The fun part is to recreate the missing parts which didn’t come with the sitting figures. (Figure 5).
Now is time to do some sanding. Sand down using 220 sand paper both roughen the surface and get rid of unwanted flashes. Then use Tamiya putty paste to reform the contour of buttocks and the front lower part of the standing Pilot. Dissolved putty is also used to fill in gaps at awkward position such as underarm and behind the knees. (fig. 6)

Fig.8
Then as usual, fine sanding, re-craft of fold lines on the cloth, and the opening of the G suit on the pilot, then hand paintings overall with enamel wash. The result is a pair of lively figures. (fig 7, fig 8)
William Tsang

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