Aircraft crew members

[John Symmons]

Here! Here! Tarkas. I counldn't agree more.

I've commented several times in various postings on crew figures, after all if we can have extra parts for retracted wheels and various weapon loads, or mark variations why not crew figures. If you don't want then don't use them. Surely it's better to have and not use them, than to need and not have. Crew figures where always one of Airfix's features why change now?

Remember we do this for fun       John the Pom

[Kenneth ONeill]

I agree too; you can buy (or transfer) figures for pilots, navigators and WSOs, but where will you find a figure for a prone bomb-aimer, or (given where the strand started) a manned ball turret gunner (or even possibly waist gunners)?

[John Symmons]

If I remember correctly didn't the original B 17 release have a full crew complement. Come-on Airfix surely you could have drafted to old crew set into the new tooling.

Remember we do this for fun   John the Pom

[Dad Paul B]

I am a believer in crew figures though most builds in the magazines omit them. There is also the issue of sculpting. Airfix have been using generic figures for many years and various threads here have mentioned the lifeless pose, hands on knees. I would love to see nice crew figures. For a prone bomb aimer in my He-111 I used a light machine gunner from a soldier set with poseable arms. The figure was quite chunky and larger than the airfix crew so needed to have his legs amputated at the knees to fit. Still it worked reasonably well though a properly scaled crewman would have been appreciated.

There are after market options in both resin and poseable styrene. It is worth noting that other manufacterers have been making crewless planes for a while, even in the single crew aircraft. It wouldalso be nice to have an optional tank commander on the vehicles to mark out command vehicles, but that is another thread.

Please keep the crew!

[Dad Paul B]

My He-111 cockpit with prone bomb aimer.

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[the F-111C dude]

ive just recently modelled two F-111 aircrew out of blue tack and it worked out quiet well. 

[S M 1962]

I totally agree with everyone here.  An aircraft without a pilot is not....  Do the boffins at Airfix read these posts - they are Customer Feedback?  For the sake of a simple copy-and-past job in the CAD development of the tooling they could add tuppence worth of plastic for a pilot.  The Airfix pilots are generic (apart from the varying sizes in the same scale!) so it is not difficult to slip them in amongst the spru.  How do Airfix think they increase sales by leaving pilots out!  I have not bought the 1/48 Meteor, Javelin, Defiant, etc nor the 1/72 Swift; add that up Airfix and count the cost of lost sales.

[Hangertime]

Yes indeed, I still have them! Models in themselves.

 

[ironsides]

Crew to my mind are an essential part of an Aircraft otherwise its just an inanimate machine, plus it gives scale to the model, I dont mind so much if airfix dont include crew directly in the kit, but do feel that the option should be made available by producing seperate crew kits at least... I think a scale 23.5mm high or 5 foot 8 inches in 1/72 would be fine, crew should include Pilots, Navigators, Radio men, Gunners, Bomb aimers in appropriate quantitys...... .-)

[Comet4]

On my S25 Hythe I re did the aircrew into civil uniforms and found a trolley-dolly from an old airliner kit to serve tea to the flight engineer!/media/tinymce_upload/ef99290f6aa6d6e519b3318de042e9d9.jpg

[Kenneth ONeill]

ISTR a trolly dolly in the 1/72 scale Airfix DH Heron?

[T2B]

Yes the D.H. Heron has 2 pilots in civilian uniform, 3 passengers (male, female and child) plus the trolley dolly (or female cabin crew as we should now refer to her lol) plus the stairway. Excellent added detail for such an old kit even if the moulds are a little tired but at times showed that Airfix were inspired. Hopefully they will again see the light soon 😇 

[DavidJC]

I'm very much in two minds here. I hear and understand what people are saying about figures being included, but would cost come in to the equation? It might only add a pound or two per kit, but that's still a pound or two per kit which, if you're on a limited budget like pocket money, would make a difference. To my mind, with so many after market figures, many of which I consider beautifully done, it would make sense to buy those as an extra as and when money allowed. Also, imagine having the same sets of personnel being in each kit: how long would it take to build up loads that would never get used?

 

However, there are cases where figures would make sense as has been mentioned, in the form of civilian users. They are few and far between (even if there are any to be had) so airliner passengers and crew would make perfect sense.

 

So, very much in two minds here with figures being included. If pushed for an answer though, I'd have to come down on the side of 'no'.

[Ratch]

 It certainly would not add a single pound to the cost of a kit. OK maybe a pound for 8 - 10 crew members. Once the mould is cut, the amount of plastic to make a pilot/crew is negligible.

[DavidJC]

Whislt that's all true enough Ratch, you wouldn't be able to have a blanket mould for all kits since crews would vary over the ages and aircraft types according to nationality. Gone also are the days when a vague lump of man-shaped plastic would suffice which could fit into any old aircraft (and often did). They'd have to be good, clear, sharp and well detailed crews.

[Ratch]

Of couse David. New subject, appropriate crew. Maybe Airfix need a decent figure sculptor. 

[Chuffing Billy]

Can't 'we' petition Airfix to bring them back as standard ?  There seems to be overwhelming support for crew figures !

[FAAMAN]

I believe that it is a serious error to not have appropriately detailed pilots for an aircraft of any era.

To have a Mod say "no" to appropriate figures in a kit, I must say surprises me.

Most small children (my kids and their friends years ago and lately, Grandkids) will ask me " . . . . where's the men (drivers, pilots etc)? . . " when viewing a model, and get that "sense of wonder" going when the models are crewed, they may even imagine themselves in the cockpit for just an instant (like I did), but I've seen how models without crew are ovelooked by the young, not always but enough to fuel my view.

The hobby will die if we don't get "new" modellers, new modellers start with that little kid seeing a model that inspires them with a crew figure that adds context, life.

This was one of my of my Stepson's favourite models when he was young, he said the pilot looked "cool", he is now an avid SciFi modeller with his own kids,

/media/tinymce_upload/7e5f9932c8c516b17d12700ab3e2b29d.jpg

You may think I'm being simplistic, but I can only go off what I've experienced, it's obviously not the only reason but you cannot discount it.

Probably flogging another "dead horse" though, I don't think Airfix is listening, dollars again ☹️

[FAAMAN]

After market crew figures ?? Yes pease 😆

Would love to know who makes those 😆

I've seen lots of standing crew figs, a crew for B-17's/B-24's etc, but not what we're after.

Could anyone supply links ?

[Kenneth ONeill]

Since this thread has reappeared, may I point out (again) that the new Spey Phantom tool has no crew figures, but as a K includes all the other parts for any of in-flight, cat shot and trapping builds which actively require them?

[T2B]

Just to add my voice again.

 

I know some modellers don't bother with crew, but I feel the vast majority would want the option of a full crew set and I don't think cost is a major issue, I just think Airfix management don't realise modellers want them as other mainstream companies haven't included them for years!

 

But with models becoming more and more detailed, and dioramas becoming the next step for modellers then crew figures and groundcrew/equipment are becoming essential to elevate your finished build to the next level.

 

So come on Airfix PLEASE hear the voices and requests of your customers. You need us to survive, but we also need you to produce the products we want to buy!!! And like many I'm a die hard Airfix fan, so if you produced the product I want I would buy it above any other manufacturers product!

[John Symmons]

But with models becoming more and more detailed, and dioramas becoming the next step for modellers then crew figures and groundcrew/equipment are becoming essential to elevate your finished build to the next level.

 

So come on Airfix PLEASE hear the voices and requests of your customers. You need us to survive, but we also need you to produce the products we want to buy!!! And like many I'm a die hard Airfix fan, so if you produced the product I want I would buy it above any other manufacturers product!

 

 

 

Hear! Hear!

 

Remenber we do this for fun                                 John the Pom

[Gluey fingered Dave]

While we're on the subject of that F-4K/FGR1 and figures, how about a kit of RN ground handling equipment and crew? If ordnance/crew/equipment kits works for a major Japanese manufacturer... 😆

[peebeep]

I'm going to play devil's advocate for a bit. Airfix do include figures with a lot of their kits. I've got half a dozen almost within arms reach issued over the last three or four years that have crew figures included. Yes, some of their kits don't have crew figures, but look at what else you're getting. There's no way I'd trade crew figures in the B-25 kit, for example, for the level/attention to detail contained therein. The nasty decals, remember them? Long consigned to history. Yes, it's surprising that the F-4 can be configured for flight deck ops, but there's no crew, it's a grockle, but it didn't stop the kit flying off the shelves. With regard to costs, as of about 10-15 years ago the mean cost of each component added to the tooling was (IIRC) £1000. If during the course of development it looks like R & D looks like it might go over-budget you can kiss goodbye to things like crew figures. I might surmise that's what happened with the F-4. Personally I'd be in favour of separate sets of figures for the use of and if you do bit of searching there's already lots of aftermarket out there. One of Airfix's main competitors, whose name I won't mention, did some excellent sets of figures, but their availability (or non-availability as it is now) might give us a clue as to the commercial reality of offering such sets for sale.

[T2B]

@ Paul Brown

 

There's no argument over the level of detail the new kits contain or the quality of the current decals but to be honest Airfix had a lot of catching up to do and it's probably why Airfix under Humbrol went bust. Thank goodness Hornby took over and moved the brand a few massive steps forward! Even I didn't realise until recently how far Airfix had been left behind.

 

But I agree separate crew sets and equipment sets would be the way forward for different themes/era's. As you mentioned a competitor does some very good aftermarket crew figures which are now hard to get hold of, but if you look at the crazy prices that are now being paid on a certain auction site, they are certainly in high demand so I think Airfix should consider these for a development area!!