Dummy pilots

[g_kandylakis]

... and the pilot looks very realistic as well. Is it carved from styrofoam?

Following on from the Sopwith Batboat thread and since the topic in question is of more general interest, here is a short "how to" about the pilot.

Most of my scale pilots are usually carved from balsa or high density insulation foam (pink, blue, grey, whatever...). I have also tried Hearty, an air drying paper putty.

Occasionally I have gone another route as well, that of molding pilots in silicone rubber molds. The two main advantages of this way are a relatively ease of reproduction of more copies if needed and a very light weight of the finished pilot.

The first step for that is to have a prototype"master' pilot. This can be carved from scratch, if you are an artistic person (I am not...) or an existing figure can be used as is or slightly modified. Or a combination of, say a ready head and a custom carved body.

For my needs I found an STL file online that looked like the pilot I wanted to copy, Harry Hawker in 1913. A resin print was made to the needed scale. The STL was at 1/40 scale but it was printed to double the size, at 1/20 scale.

Having suitable pictures of the pilot in question helps a lot in capturing the intended result. A search on colors of 1913 men's clothes provided an appealing color as well.

[g_kandylakis]

Next came two major modifications, a flat cap worn backwards was added to the head, matching existing photographs and the posture was slightly modified, by cutting, reglueing and adding filler when needed.

Could have spent more time to make it perfect but did not have any.

[g_kandylakis]

Once satisfied with the master model, it was time to make the mold. A rectangular "cage" was made using Lego bricks and the master figure was inserted head first into the cage. 2-part silicone rubber was poured inside the cage (liquid rubber + catalyst) and given a full 24 hours to cure.

Next it was removed from the cage and using a sharp knife, it was split in two halfs. The main thing to notice here is to try and be as much to the outer line as possible, in order to reduce negative cavities. The rubber is very elastic and forgiving, so this does not have to be very exact.

Next, the mast was removed from the mold, the mold was again put together inside the same "cage", to stabilise the external shape.

[g_kandylakis]

Last step, the fun part, PU foam was sprayed inside the mold and allowed to expand and fully cure, another day to be sure. PU foam does not stick to the rubber mold so no release agents are needed.

And finally, some hollowing out to further reduce weight and painting for the final visual result.

What you see came at about 0,5 grams finished weight.

Inside the pilot there is a small magnet, with a matching one in the seat. This allows easy removal if and when needed, while keeping him in place during the flight.

Luckily, the Batboat could not loop so there is no risk of him falling out of the cockpit...

[g_kandylakis]

The result is good enough but has some small imperefections.

When time permits I will try to make a better one but for now it will do.

George

[Squirrelnet]

That looks great George.

 I was just considering doing the same for a pilot for the Deperdussin project . I have a 1/12 scale resin figure of an Edwardian gentleman sat at a table coming and I was planning to use the same method of making a silicon mould and using up foam.

Your thread has already altered how I was thinking of doing it, no extra coating is needed for the exterior finish, the pu foam is smooth enough ?

[g_kandylakis]

yes, it is very smooth.

what you see is just with brushed on paint. You might need to make a few parts to get perfection though. The one in the pictures is missing a slight area of the cap. An occasional bubble may appear somewhere. The cost of foam is ridiculous, 3 Euros for a can that can make >50 pilots...

It is also possible to apply neutral color paint on the mold surfaces first, let it dry and then apply the foam. The paint will stick to the foam.

[lincoln]

If you just need a little urethane foam, mix a tiny bit of water with Gorilla Glue or similar.

[Piecost]

This thread is timely as I have been experimenting with moulding pilots and tyres for some time.

For WW1 peanut models there are really nice resin printed 1:35 pilot figures and not so good Scaletrix drivers that can be used.

Hobbycraft, in the Uk, sell a blue and white wo part silicon called Siligum that can be used to make molds. While it it is somewhat expensive, you don't use much each time.

I have experimented with 2 part PU
Polycraft 010 soft foam and Mouldcraft NG09 rigid PU. These I mixed in a plastic shot glass, poared in the mould before they stopped expanding. Even though I closed the mould; I could not get a solid surface. Great for making Spongebob Squarepants, but not for a solid surface suitable for painting.

So, what foam did you use George? Was it bog standard squirty foam from DIY stores?

I have had some success with Delight lightweight air drying clay to make a hollow shell. This material drys once the large packet is opened and I haven't got it back to its original consistancy. It gets close by microwaving the dry material with water.

Hobbycraft also sell a more rubbery Superlight Air drying clay. This seems ideal for moulding tyres, but I have not managed a good example yet. Neoprene O Rings can be bought online with a wide range of sizes and moulds made from them. But, I have not yet made a single useable tyre yet.

[Anyun]

Thanks for the detailed description George! I have used a similar technique making a silicon mould around a master figure, but making the pilot in two half-shells of papier-maché instead of using PU-foam. The weight is about the same, 0.5-0.6 grams for a 1/20 scale pilot.

From where did you get the STL-file? I'm considering recruiting him, he looks just like the chap needed for those tempting Edwardian aircraft projects 

[Squirrelnet]

Unfortunately my plans to mould a figure have come to nought as I actually received the figure in the post. Frankly not worth the effort of moulding from that I'll have to think again

I'll have to have a look for STL files online and see if can someone to print one for me. Can you point me in the right direction George?

[MockwingF]

Over the past weeks I've been experimenting with generating my own STL files for small indoor free‑flight pilots. The files can be created and printed at home without much trouble, but so far I've only used an FDM printer. With my Creality Ender 3 V2 and a 0.2 mm nozzle I'm definitely hitting the limits of what is possible in terms of surface quality and fine detail. For that reason, using a resin printer to produce masters for moulds would make a lot of sense — the resolution is far superior. I haven't had the chance to test this workflow on a resin machine yet, but it's clearly the next step.

A possible workflow looks like this:

Start with reference photos — for example, the pilot figures that George has shown.

Upload the photo to Google Gemini and write a prompt describing the exact figure you want. Getting the wording right takes a bit of practice, but with some trial and error you can get surprisingly accurate results.

Take the generated image and upload it to Bambulab MakerLab – "Image to 3D Model."

MakerLab offers several conversion models. You need to experiment a bit to find out which one works best for which type of image.

Once you get a good result, simply export the STL and refine it as needed.

This approach allows you to create custom parts — pilots, — without having to sculpt them manually. For FDM printing the results are usable, but resin printing would almost certainly produce cleaner, sharper masters suitable for moulding or direct use.

[MockwingF]

These were the original photos from George in this post

[MockwingF]

These were pilot figures I generated with AI for a friend (using either Gemini or Copilot — both have their strengths and weaknesses). I converted the generated images into 3D models using the "image‑to‑3D" function in Bambulab MakerLab, exported the results as STL files, and sliced them in Cura. The prints were done thin‑walled on a Creality Ender 3 V2 using ESUN PLA. I printed them without a bottom layer and then thinned the inside carefully with a Dremel. The final painting was done with Citadel colours from Games Workshop.

[g_kandylakis]

I was left somewhat speechless when I saw these...    

Both for the result and the process... Quite amazing, both.

Markus already sent me the STL file to experiment for a new pilot 

Looking forward to trying it out.

George