Small Scale Military Headquarters

Hello all. New here and this is my first post. I've started collecting bbi and 21st century figures this past spring. It started with the German soldiers from the Ultimate Soldier series (my son needed some real bad guys). Since then I think I've become addicted and have continued to purchase them (some-most for myself).

My son is only 5 and so it's been hard to talk myself into paying $50 for one of the bbi/21st 1:18 aircraft but I finally excercised my well-rehearsed argument to my wife this afternoon who gave me the OK. When I found the first of these on the shelf at Walmart a few months back I went home and decided to build a 1:18 scale aircraft myself. It turned out much better than I ever expected. I'm now a few days away from completing my second aircraft and again I'm pretty pleased with the results. Now I need pilots.

What I've done is take the bbi Navy (seal?) helicopter pilot and paint the helmet neutral grey. From models that I've built, the helmet color for the HGU-55 helmet is either neutral or ghost grey. Anyway it worked. I then took the oxygen mask from the Ultimate Soldier P-51 pilot and glued it on. It looks pretty good.

I purchased one of the bbi "chopper Harris" figures this past weekend. My plan now is to purchase another bbi seal/helicopter figure where my plan is to take the head and helmet from harris (night stalker) figure and apply it to the body of the Navy pilot. What I need is a better mask and so my thinking is that if I'm gonna purchase a 1:18 scale aircraft, get a bbi P-51 (instead of a XD version) as my guess is the mask is a lot better detailed then any of the 21st century pilots.

Any suggestions/opinions as to what the bbi 1:18 scale pilots look like? Any ideas regarding how/where I can get oxygen masks or at least better quality pilots is greatly appreciated.

Thanks

You are correct that the BBI pilots are better detailed than the 21c pilots, for the most part. I wouldn't let the small factor of an O2 mask determine which plane you purchase... You may be able to obtain a 21c O2 mask from one of their carded WWII pilots, which you can still find at some small online retailers. That way, you don't have to get a whole plane for nothing

That's actually what I've done. Right now I'm looking for the best place to purchase 2 of the BBI Navy Seal (Helicopter pilot) figures and at least 1 of the 21c P-51 pilots. As I detailed above, I'll use the head and helmet from the new BBI Chopper Harris (Night stalker) figure and put them on the body of the Seal/pilot figure. I'll then used the mask from the 21c figure and (unless I get a better suggestion) should have at least a decent looking pilot. I'll paint the helmet a Neutral/Ghost grey and from about 2 feet and a vodka tonic it should look pretty good.

Also, as per my other post regarding the P-51, how detailed is the mask for the BBI P-51 figure?

Something else to take a look at are the carded Soldier Force IV and V pilots you can find at Big Lots.

Not the quality of BBI, but getting closer every year.

Red helmets w/ lightning bolts, visor, ox mask, web harness, etc.. and for $.99 you can't beat the price.

A very bad picture here:
http://www.saks.ru/private/saks/shop_load/83/328003.jpg

It's the carded guy at the top right corner.

aviatornut has both helicopter pilots figures (desert tan and field green) in stock and priced at $5.99

Grunt1 - thanks, I'll be checkin' them out tomorrow! From what I can tell, there's parts throughout the package that I can use. I'll post what I find tomorrow afternoon/evening. Thanks again.

Aviatornut - I went to the website but all I found were aircraft for bbi and 21st and the sabre with admiral. I only got a text response for Corgi and Dragon. Can you give me a link to the pilot figures?

I have all of the pilots from all three of the major lines (BBI, 21 C, and AT) with the exception of the BBI Zero pilot. I would have to say that the best pilot is either the BBI Apache pilot and helment for helos or the BBI Corsair Pilot with helment (it is better than the P-51 version and helment). The F-16/F-18 Pilot is awesome as well. In all of this, I would say for you to go with the BBI Corsair piot and helment if you want the best overall figure. The BBI P-51 pilot is cool in the fact that he comes with an extra aviators hat.

Oh and don't forget about the Dusty Trail halo jumper:

http://www.sshqdb.com/coppermine/index.php?cat=99

Great price, comes with a working chute. You'd have to modify the arms to fit him into the cockpit.

You can still get him in the modern 3 pack from goodstufftogo.

Grunt1, I went to several of the Big Lots around town but no joy. They had a single figure with a motorbike but none of the figures you detailed in your picture. I know that they get stuff pretty regularly and so I'll check again on Monday/Tuesday. As for the Halo jumper, I spoke (wrote) to someone who suggested that using the head alone would be too much work. I think with you suggesting using the whole figure with the arms cut in place might work. If I can find 1-2 at a price I can't say no too I'll get 'um.

Thanks again.