Modifying a Pilot Figure

[John Howling Mouse]

Awhile back, while building an F-86 SabreDog, I had wanted to see if I could modify one of my all-time favorite pilot figures from seated to standing...we'll see if I can pull this off. 

The high-quality seated pilot parts as provided in the 1:48 Revell-Monogram F-86D "Dog Sabre" kit:



Note the big void in his posterior:



Here are some of the mods made to convert the figure to a standing pose:



Doing his best "January 2nd in Canada" imitation:



I've resculpted the Bondo filler (red) and styrene wedges (white bits):







The folks at Tamiya and Revell aren't exactly sweating yet, but I think he'll look okay with a coat of paint...from about four feet away.

[John Howling Mouse]

Left arm's on.  It's bent a little more than I'd like but I'll live with it.



Because the right arm was bent even more, he would have looked unnatural (like my ex-wife) so I fixed the arm:



A quick glance shows the feet to be all wrong for actual locomotion:



The modified right arm in place and some of the modifications, including the feet:





He's a work in progress but it's coming along.  Yes, you can buy aftermarket standing pilot figures and some kits come equipped with them, too.  But this guy is now unique, at least on my shelf.

[Captain Canada]

Nice one, Baz. The arms look huge, tho...that dude is ripped !

And his pose might be all wrong for the locomotion, but it's perfect for the moonwalk. Besides, everybody's doing that other dance anyway.....

[nev]

Nice work Barry, but his right arm doesn't look right - too long, and too fat at the top compared to his thin legs.

And I'm trying to remember the name of the green stuff that the guys who do figures use for their sculpting - Duro I think it is.

[ysi_maniac]

And I'm trying to remember the name of the green stuff that the guys who do figures use for their sculpting - Duro I think it is.

Milliput maybe?

[John Howling Mouse]

Nice work Barry, but his right arm doesn't look right - too long, and too fat at the top compared to his thin legs.

And I'm trying to remember the name of the green stuff that the guys who do figures use for their sculpting - Duro I think it is.

I'd say that both arms are, in fact, too long in proportion to his body.  But keep in mind that I'm just using the kit-supplied parts, including the right arm, which I shortened by cutting & straightening, btw.  Oh well, maybe his last name is Schwarzenegger!   

[John Howling Mouse]

Oh man, I knew I had forgotten something!  I forgot to upload some pics of the finished pilot.  If you look real close, you'll see I even gave him a wedding band:

[Patrick H]

Looking great Barry, a unique masterpiece.   

[Brian da Basher]

Is that the Lt. Welch of Pearl Harbor fame? Wow you're going to build a Lt. Taylor next, right? This will really add to the Haleiwa Field diorama you've been working on!

Great work on the pilot Mr Howling Mouse. You always show us how it should be done.

Brian da Basher

[frank2056]

Barry asked me to post a show & tell on how I've been modifying a 1/35 scale figure to match a photograph:



Most of my 1/35 scale figures come from DML (Dragon) and ICM. They have the best details and realistic expressions. I have a few Tamiya figures, but they're generally not as good. If you guys want to see a truly amazing 1/35 figure modeler, take a look at Luc Klinker's scratchbuilt figures.

I have a few bags of body parts:


The DML box shown donated some of the parts for the figure - the guy holding his wounded arm donated both legs (to the waist) and his left arm. The head and torso came from some other DML figure. The right arm came from a Tamiya figure. Here's a view of the figure from all sides:



I had to modify the legs to match the stance in the original picture - left leg forward, right leg slightly back. The figure had them going in opposite directions, so I glued the two lower body parts together then cut the legs off with a #11 saw. I used blue-tac (the sticky rubbery gum used to hang up posters) to hold the legs in position. I then noticed that I would have to reposition the lower legs and feet, so off they went. Once I had everything pretty much in position, I glued the leg and feet parts together with regular styrene cement. When the parts had hardened into place, I filled the gaps with styrene bits, MagicSculp (a two part epoxy putty) and a "special" putty made by mixing cyanoacrylate glue with talc (gysum - not corn starch.) This makes a putty that can be worked for about 30 seconds before it hardens. I usually put a drop of CA into the gap, then dip the area into a container of talc. I may have to repeat the dipping if the area still looks "wet". Once the excess talc is blown off, the putty can be worked with regular tools. I use rubber tipped sculpting tools.

Here are some of the mods I made:



The figure parts didn't have a front pocket like the one seen in the picture, so I made one from Magic Sculp:


You can also see the modified Tamiya right arm. I changed the angle of the forearm and filled the gaps with styrene and the CA putty. Most of the elbow is made out of this stuff. I also rotated the hand and modified the figures to approximate the grip seen in the picture:



The left arm was also modified. I scraped off the bandage molded onto the arm, and rotated the forearm and hand. I also fixed the little finger, which had broken off:



Finally, here's a detail of the head. The guy in the picture has his hat pushed back a bit, so some hair is showing. I replicated that with Magic Sculp.



One of the problems with heavily modifying a figure is that the many cuts will cause the figure to loose both height and proportions, so I used an unmodified built up figure as reference, and made adjustments for lost plastic using styrene or Magic Sculp. One place where there was a noticeable problem was in the neck to torso joint. I added a 0.05" thick sheet of styrene to the base of the neck, rotated the head slightly to the left and glued it in place. This still left a giant gap which I filled in with  Magic Sculp.

It's not going to be an exact match to the picture, but a fairly close approximation.

Frank

[John Howling Mouse]

Wow, thanks, Frank.  Now, that's REALLY modifying a figure.  Seeing the in-progress images really gives one a better appreciation for the work involved.

You've inspired me to try something more difficult next time.

[philp]

Nice work guys.

Barry,
Didn't the other Monogram Sabre (F-86F) come with a nice standing pilot?  Know their Mig-15 has a nice Russian standing pilot.  Might still have him sitting in the parts box, waiting for reassignment.