PJ Production

1/32 U.S. Navy Pilot ('80's and '90's era)

Kit Number: 321106

Reviewed by  Bart Cusumano, IPMS# 31882

MSRP: 10.50 Euros Available from Available from PJ Productions, Belgium www.pjproduction.net With the increase in 1:32 aircraft kits, it's nice to have some good quality figures available to add a sense of scale to your finished model. PJ Production of Belgium offer a good selection of resin figure kits in various scales for aircraft models. Product number 321106 is a U.S. Navy pilot from the 1980's to 1990's era. This all-resin kit comes in a blue cardboard box with a color photo of the finished figure on the box. There is a small black and white sheet included with color call-outs pointing to a picture of the finished figure. The kit parts are packed in a small, clear poly zip-lock bag. The kit itself is cast in five beige colored resin parts on 2 carrier strips: one carries the torso/legs, the other carries the helmeted head, two arms and separate oxygen hose. All parts in my sample were cleanly and crisply cast requiring very little in the way of cleanup in the form of a small amount of very thin resin flash. There were no air bubbles in my sample. Details are appropriate for this scale and are well defined. The face itself is not that great - about a 6 on a scale of 1 to 10, but you can see very little of it (due to the oxygen mask) and it does not detract from the over-all appeal of the figure. The fingers on this figure are all very distinct and clearly cast. One hand appears to be gripping the control-stick; the other a throttle. The figure looks the part once assembled and painted and I liked it except for two nit-picks:   - The left hand appears a tad-bit small, and the left arm seems a tad-bit too long - perhaps in compensation to the hand size?   - There are two rear harness straps on the figure's shoulders that are supplied as solid triangular castings - perhaps two simple separate castings would look better? It can be painted 'creatively' to hide the look (as I did on this review sample) but I would recommend removing this and replacing it with some tape or lead-foil replacements. First of all parts was excellent - I used no putty or filler (other than my super-glue) to obtain a clean join for the arms. I would think that you could 'customize' arm placement to fit a particular cockpit and then use some filler to make it all look good. The head can only be positioned in one way, due to the need to fit the hard resin oxygen hose. I painted my figure with Humbrol enamels for most of the finish. Silver printer's ink mixed with raw umber oils was used for the metal fittings. Future was used to give the helmet a nice gloss finish. This is a really nice kit and I would recommend it without reservation. Thank you to PJ Production for the sample and to John Noack for allowing me to review it. Check out the PJ Production website (see site info above) for other aircraft-related figures in various scales.

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