PJ Production

1/72 U.S. Pilots (WWII) For any USAAF WW2 aircraft

Stock Number: 721116

Reviewed By  Howie Belkin, IPMS# 16

MSRP: €4.20 ($5.45) Web Site: www.pjproduction.net PJ Production in Belgium has been producing some very fine resin scale model military aircraft kits, aviation-related dioramas, accessories and 1/72nd, 1/48th and 1/32nd scale RAF, USAF, Armée de l'Air, Japanese and German WW1, WW2 and modern pilot figures. I was glad to receive for review PJ Production's US WWII pilots. Kits hardly ever include pilot figures these days, and "back in the day" they were usually keratinous blobs of plastic that weren't very representative of humans, much less properly attired aviators! If you intend to display your aircraft model in the air, you need a pilot! If you want to add some life to your model or obvious scale size, you need a pilot. From what I've read of PJ's 1/32 resin pilots, I wondered if they could still capture all their fine detail in 1/72 scale. PJ does not disappoint. The two figures come in a resealable poly bag with a full color insert that shows the assembled, painted pilots. One is seated with one separate arm, the other is standing with both arms as separate parts. Their open scale thin hands could be posed gripping a joystick or the standing pilot could be holding a machine gun, climbing in or out of a cockpit or gesturing a dogfight. Both are wearing what appears to be khakis under their brown leather flying jackets (the standing pilot has sheepskin lining), brown A-6 type flying boots, black A-type oxygen mask hanging off to the side, A-11 brown leather helmet with B-8 goggles. The goggles could have clear or green tinted lenses and should have two separate lenses. It would be easy, and wrong for WWII, to paint across the bottom to look more like later visors. They both have parachutes though you won't see the seated pilot's chute inside a model; the standing pilot's chute is nicely detailed. The straps should be an off white to beige as should the jacket's sheepskin collar. Simply follow the photo of the painted pilots and you can't go wrong. I didn't have to 'prep' the resin before I painted my figures with enamel paints. These figures represent USAAF pilots found in virtually all theatres. Don't let the flying boots or sheepskin lining fool you, it got cold the higher you flew. For those of us who cry poverty, these pilots are a very good buy for such finely defined resin figures. Heck, you have a vague idea how much it costs the USAF to create one single pilot! Seriously, in 1/72 or 1/76 scales I'm aware that Airfix had some WWII pilots and crew that were released back in the 1960s, Hasegawa had released a set of WWII pilots of different nationalities, Preiser has WWII Germans and more recently US pilots and Fujimi has some modern pilots and crew. A hard to find soft plastic set of WWI pilots was released by DDS of the Ukraine with 48 figures in 24 poses, four of which represent an ace from each of the major combatants (one seated figure is giving a universal arm signal to an unseen enemy pilot). It seems like PJ Production has just about any pilot figure you'd want, perfectly sculpted and researched at a fair price. Thanks to PJ Production for the review sample. Visit them at www.pjproduction.net. Their US Distributor is Hutchins Hobbies, 4608 Tahoe Place, Chubbock ID 83202-2632 or check your favorite hobby shop. References World War II Combat Uniforms and Insignia by Martin Windrow. Army Uniforms of World War II by Andrew Mollo. The Armed Forces of World War II by Andrew Mollo. The U.S. Army in World War II by Mark Henry.

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