WHO WILL MAKE PILOT"s for the Dauntless ?

[skorzeny]

I know some Pilots from 21 Cent may works on the plane .but start getting hard to find on Ebay .
.
imagine after Release .those price will go UP for 21 c Pilot"s
.
21 c Pilots prices now is around
$9.00
$10.00
$14.50
it from P38 , to P 51
Corsair Pilot -$19.99
take look
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Ultimate-Soldie ... 500wt_1202
.
And I doubt the Merit will make Pilot's for the plane .
.
i Just saw the news pic on Merit website cockpit LOOKS GREAT


http://www.merit-intl.com/month/mil-88001.html

[flyboy_fx]

Well duh, it would be Plasticboy!

[ram04]

Ditto on Plasticboy, you guys want great figures hes the man

[skorzeny]

Great I Hope He (Plasticboy) make !!!!!!!

[aferguson]

i'm still hoping that merit will make some kind of deal with bbi to use their pacific pilot.

[Jay]

I haven't seen plasticboy here for awhile. Anyone know what he's up too?

[ram04]

Yeah, I miss his stuff too, a really talented guy, always great to see what he will make next.

[flyboy_fx]

He made an awesome dio on a 1/6 forum a little while ago!

[Dauntless]

Guess we can just put Wild Bill in there meantime EEHAW!!

[Jason of Admiral Toys]

I think it will be difficult to fit both crew members in Merit's SBD in its current design/configuration. When Admiral Toys was working with the SBD we ran into several issues with fitting both crew members in the cockpit.

First, the ring that the rear gunner sits in is very narrow. it is almost impossible to slide a 1:18 figure in the ring. Furthermore, the rear seat is very low on the actual model. It is very difficult for the shoulders and arms to work in conjunction with the ring and gun position. We had to modify its design. We made the ring a semicircle, raised the seat and removed the foot pedals in the rear.

Now look at the pictures on Merit's site. How are you going to close the third sliding section of the canopy with a crew member in the rear position? The only way this will work is to have a very, very, very short gunner, or design the canopy so that the rear section can be removed from the SBD, a pilot placed in the cockpit , and then the canopy is reinstalled on the aircraft. The rear gunner must have been a contortionist to fit in the 1:1 SBD. Admiral Toys designed three canopies in anticipation of this issue. We had a static closed rear section that was plug and play, a static open rear section that was plug and play, and a fully working canopy. We had not made a decision on which way to proceed.

The pilot is not as difficult. The only problem with the Merit model, that I see, is the distance between the seat back and the pedals. They would have to move the pedals back a bit to fit a standard 1:18 pilot .

Admiral Toys made horrible pilots and wanted to go the pilotless route the entire time. It appears that is the direction Merit is taking. I don't blame them. A pilot costs about $4K to tool and adds about $1.50 production cost, per model.

[dragon53]

JASON,

Welcome back.
Can you update us on Admiral's 1/18 projects such as the F-4 Phantom, World War I fighters and the Mosquito?

Thanks.

[Jason of Admiral Toys]

JASON,

Welcome back.
Can you update us on Admiral's 1/18 projects such as the F-4 Phantom, World War I fighters and the Mosquito?

Thanks.

Thank you for the warm reception. I never left; I read the post on this forum at least once a week. I still enjoy this hobby.

As for Admiral Toys: I am no longer with Admiral Toys in an official capacity. I work for a company called Limelite Technologies; however, I have been advising Admiral Toys on several projects that they hope to get moving. You will not see a tooling of the F-4 or Mosquito anytime soon, from any company. Those days are gone. 5 years ago the tooling quote was $135K for the F-4 and ordinance package. I still work in China and know the costs of production have raised about 20% across the board in this short time.

Limelite Technologies manufactures the majority of its products here in the US. We even inject our own plastic. I received a quote from our facility in China just last week that was 3% over the price I can inject the parts here in the US. China is not cheap...

The new projects Admiral wants to begin are very financially responsible for the company and would be a huge hit with the diehard collectors. No pre-orders will be taken, but I am certain every model would be sold before the boat hit the shore.

I do not want to hijack this thread so I will stop.

[Buckyroo]

JASON,

Welcome back.
Can you update us on Admiral's 1/18 projects such as the F-4 Phantom, World War I fighters and the Mosquito?

Thanks.

Thank you for the warm reception. I never left; I read the post on this forum at least once a week. I still enjoy this hobby.

As for Admiral Toys: I am no longer with Admiral Toys in an official capacity. I work for a company called Limelite Technologies; however, I have been advising Admiral Toys on several projects that they hope to get moving. You will not see a tooling of the F-4 or Mosquito anytime soon, from any company. Those days are gone. 5 years ago the tooling quote was $135K for the F-4 and ordinance package. I still work in China and know the costs of production have raised about 20% across the board in this short time.

Limelite Technologies manufactures the majority of its products here in the US. We even inject our own plastic. I received a quote from our facility in China just last week that was 3% over the price I can inject the parts here in the US. China is not cheap...

The new projects Admiral wants to begin are very financial responsible for the company and would be a huge hit with the diehard collectors. No pre-orders will be taken, but I am certain every model would be sold before the boat hit the shore.

I do not want to hijack this thread so I will stop.

your such a tease.......

[aferguson]

Jason, by all means, hijack away...

[dragon53]

JASON,

Thanks for the reply.
How about starting a new thread?
Since the Admiral Phantom and Mosquito are dead, what about Admiral's 1/18 World War I fighters?

[Jnewboy]

who made the T-34 ride on figures? those were cool, I like the idea of custom figures but they require painting and I hate super detail painting like faces.

[flyboy_fx]

Pilots are stupid anyway, I never put them in my planes.

[normandy]

How about the 21st Corsair Pilot......
http://www.badcattoys.com/f4ucopi1by21.html ....we'll make him fit....

[tmanthegreat]

I have a couple of the BBI Corsair/Hellcat pilots that I got when places like Badcat were selling them for $2 a piece. I'm counting on those working just fine...

The 21c Corsair pilot is a good idea - as well as cheap and available. The 21c Avenger crew figures could work as well.

[Snake Man]

........And what leads us to believe there will ever actually BE a Dauntless to put pilots in ????

[CW4USARMY]

........And what leads us to believe there will ever actually BE a Dauntless to put pilots in ????

See this thread......
http://www.warbird-photos.com/gpxd/view ... &start=200

[MG-42]

who made the T-34 ride on figures? those were cool, I like the idea of custom figures but they require painting and I hate super detail painting like faces.

>>> Plasticboy ! ! !


- MG

[gliderdwm]

........And what leads us to believe there will ever actually BE a Dauntless to put pilots in ????

Looking at this there will be one and maybe by April.
http://www.badcattoys.com/sbdacosea1me.html

[skorzeny]

looks great !!!!!!!!!

[Snake Man]

........And what leads us to believe there will ever actually BE a Dauntless to put pilots in ????

Looking at this there will be one and maybe by April.
http://www.badcattoys.com/sbdacosea1me.html

My point being that we have been lied to so many times in the past that I'm taking a "wait and see" attitude. If it actually gets into the hands of collectors, I'll happily sit down and shut up !!