by Len Buffinton
When it comes to finishing off your latest creation, you just can’t leave the front office unattended!!
But all too many times, people do. Nothing kills the scale illusion more than seeing an empty cockpit. Watching videos with the camera mounted on the wing, looking at a huge empty glass canopy makes one cringe.
Swift With A Turbine, But No Pilot
Ugly paint scheme, but a pilot would make it look a little better
Getting a pilot for your plane has become much easier over the years. The days of raiding the child toy box for Barbie, or putting a Smurf in the front seat have thankfully passed. (for most anyway)
Scale sailplanes, more than any other RC modeling niche, demands there be a pilot in the front seat. Due to the large seats, wide open canopy and highly detailed cockpits, the need for full body pilots is critical to maintain the illusion.
What are the option?
When it comes to sailplane pilots, you need to look a little further than the local hobby shop. Not many sailplanes allow for a plastic bust pilot. Scale Pilot manufacturers and suppliers are out there, but you need to hunt them down. As will all good things, you may have to wait a little to get what you want. Some of these sources have long lead times to get the pilot, most are hand made, and as the quality and realism goes up, so does the cost.
These are a few of the most popular choices available today. In no particular order.
- Premier Pilots. Ren DiLeo, from CA, has done a wonderful job offering a reasonable cost solution for a scale pilot. These pilots are plastic molded, painted and dressed up with a nice shirt and pants. Ren also supplies a bunch of accessories for the pilots at no additional cost. These accessories include a hat, sunglasses, parachute harness, etc. For the price of these little pilots, this is an excellent option for filling the seat.. As of now, these pilots are only available in 1/4 scale, however, in talking to Ren, I understand a larger pilot is in the works.
Premier Pilot, holding down the fort
- Denu Pilots, available from HKM USA, are very nice, high quality pilots hand made in Germany. These pilots are very realistic, but you pay for it too. They have many size available, so you’re sure to find the size you need.
Denu Pilots
- Axle Pilots are the standard which all others are measured. This is THE pilot. They don’t get any better than this. These pilots are the most realistic of them all.
Axel Pilots, The Best Of The Best
Axel hand paints these pilots to look how you like. Do you want a beard? How about a little gray in it? Like the Yankee’s? How about a hat with NY on it? The options are endless. The clothing is better than the stuff I wear. The watch, sunglasses,hats, everything is suburb. Now for the down side. They are expensive.. And, it will take about 6 months to get the pilot. I order a few at a time, anticipating the need in the next year. Regardless of the wait, if its affordable, this is the best option for realism in the cockpit. Axel also offers some very nice scale cockpit accessories too.
- Pilot Portraits How about a pilot that looks exactly like you, or your son or daughter, or for that matter, anyone? Pilot Portraits is a new comer to the pilot market. Mike Brent, the owner and artist, offers hand carved pilots made to look exactly like you. All you do it send in some photos, he does the rest. This is an nice way to personalize that special project. These pilots are very reasonable and highly detailed. Give it a try, you’ll be glad you did.
- Little Soaring Fleet Another excellent source for Pilots is my friend Michael at the Little Soaring Fleet. Michael has accumulated some excellent accessories for sailplanes. Everything from retracts to pilots.
Two offerings from Little Soaring Fleet
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