RAF Pilot battle of Britain, 1940

[Jeff]

Actually Mike this figure is pretty generic as far as his kit. Pilots who had the 36 pattern boots held on to them and did not change them out as newer boots became available. They were superior to the replacements in many ways. Gabby Gabreski kept his and wore them even after his service as a liaison officer in the RAF. The Mae West life vest changed materials from a green color to bright yellow fabric. Some pilots even kept their old ones and just painted them yellow. The early flight gauntlets were also a prized item and were also keep by pilots late into the war. So even though he is classic Battle of Britain. If he survived that battle he is likely to have kept a lot of his early kit. It was really common. A lot of the US pilots who were in the Eagle squadron also kept parts of their British kit when they transfered to USAAF. Helmets boots what ever they could get away with.

And with all of that being said I will still get a late war pilot if you sculpt one.

 

[Brent Fordham]

Good to know, both Mike's "heads-up" and Jeff's comments - thanks for the info to both of you . Whichever version I end up with, it will add a great "human touch" to the aircraft model.

It's interesting to watch people viewing aircraft models and seeing their reactions when they see a figure(s) on the base next to the main subject. The figure really adds a sense of context to the inanimate object and draws the viewer's interest in more than if there is no figure present.

 

[bwildfong]

Some of the flight gear had changed by the time the Mk.IX came out in 1942. Ultracast has plans to deal with that issue in the near future....

/

Hi Mike,

Does this mean you and Kevin will be releasing a "later" style figgie in RAF BD ? If so, hot dog! Another Canadian conversion for me!

Congrats though on another great figure - another gotta have for my "grey squadron".

Cheers,

Brian

 

[Jeff]

I was just looking at your figure of Gabby and you put him in the 36 pattern boots and his RAF helmet. So in a way one of your own figures kind of makes my point. The 36 pattern boots can be made in to latter war version (I think it it is the 39 pattern) by painting the tops of the boots as if they were made of canvas and leaving the foot part of the boot and the top strap black.

 

[bonehead]

Thanks Jeff,

Of course, when I did Gabby, I knew that he was wearing his old RAF flying boots. And, far from being unusual, the British helmet worn by Gabby was almost universally worn by USAAF fighter pilots in Europe. The truth is, I found it nearly impossible to find a photo of a USAAF pilot wearing an American helmet! I suspect that the few I did find were of stateside fliers or from different theaters.

Anyway, you figure out a lot of this stuff by just doing it and following the photos. I wonder how many USAAF fighter pilots have been done with the "correct" American helmets? That is what research into American equipment turns up, and it is plain wrong for the ETO.

Mike

 

[Jeff]

I wonder what it was about those helmets that you see them so much, and they were preferred over the american version? They seem to have a few more goggle hold downs and the like. But it took modification to fit US receivers and oxygen masks but as you say they are common in photos. You can see a lot of modified RAF helmets in the book "Gear Up! WWII USAAF Flight Clothing & Equipment by: Jon Maguire." I was just looking through my copy and Maguire says that "the British C Type was probably worn as frequently as any U.S. helmet by American flyers."

I also thought it worth mentioning that the reason pilots preferred the 36 pattern boots over the 39 was that the canvas tops would get wet while the pilots were walking or running to their planes, and the canvas tops would freeze when they reached altitude. That was not a problem with the all leather 36's.

 

[bryanac625]

Hello,
I just discovered this forum as well as just finding out about the new Battle of Britain figure by Mike Good. I think his figures are a 12 on a scale of 1 to 10. They are much more lifelike and dramatic than the plastic figures often included in kits.

A couple of questions for Mike. I am a 1/48 scale aircraft modeler and I would like to know if this RAF figure and your other 1/32 figures will ever be released in 1/48 scale. I know this was done for the Werner Molders figure. It would be great to see this done for the other figures as well.

And could you please do an island-based USMC pilot?
Thanks
Bryan

 

[bonehead]

Hello,
I just discovered this forum as well as just finding out about the new Battle of Britain figure by Mike Good. I think his figures are a 12 on a scale of 1 to 10. They are much more lifelike and dramatic than the plastic figures often included in kits.

A couple of questions for Mike. I am a 1/48 scale aircraft modeler and I would like to know if this RAF figure and your other 1/32 figures will ever be released in 1/48 scale. I know this was done for the Werner Molders figure. It would be great to see this done for the other figures as well.

I love the way you put that! I have seen the same thing repeated at various times by other people as well. The implication is that in order to do the same figure in a smaller scale, all that is needed is to shrink it down to size. If things were that easy, then I would be a happy camper. But, the figures all must be sculpted from scratch each time.

I intend to do more 1/48th scale figures for Ultracast. But Kevin seems to be on a 1/32nd kick right now. Time will tell.

And could you please do an island-based USMC pilot?
Thanks
Bryan

Ultracast already does one:

http://www.ultracast.ca/products/54/005/default.htm

Visually, there is no difference between a Navy flier and a Marine flier. They both wore the same style of uniforms and equipment.

Mike

 

[Barke02]

Mike,

I thought you still had that magic wand, the one that Harry Potter gave you...you know... the 'Magicus forty-eightieth'. You haven't lost it have you?

I've heard that somewhere there exists the 'ultimate wand', a wand that can convert a figure to any scale from 1/76th to 1/6th, the legendary 'Wandus Pantographus', but the wand was greedy and demanded too much gold for its use!

To my knowledge the legendary wand was last imprisoned by the warlock 'Tamiyus' to convert all his 'Thirty Fivius' collection to 'Forty-Eigthius'!

 

[Jeff]

I wonder if Tom Meier has the 'ultimate wand' it would explain a lot.


I got my casting of this piece and it is a wonderful figure. It has more pieces then I expected. Great work as always Mike.