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When you finish a model, you will want
to display it. Just putting the plane on a shelf is nice, but to add
realism to it you can buy accessories for the models. Ground crew, pilots,
support equipment, and weapons are the main accessories. I will talk
briefly about each one.
Ground Crew
come in packages of assorted number and positions. Each is unpainted but
offers good detail for as small a they are. I have bought numerous sets of
people for my aircraft. Painting them is a pain, but if you have a
professional’s brush, it makes it a bit easier. Most people will wear
green uniforms, so simply spray them with green paint, then let dry. After
that use a brush and paint their skin brown or tan. Boots are normally
black as are gloves.
To make them stand up, I would suggest
to buy a package of overhead projection sheets. These are clear and if you
cut them into small squares and glue them to the people to them with super
glue, they will stand up and most people won’t even notice their stands.
This helps it look more realistic too.
Pilots
usually come with ground crew packages, but you can also by packs of just
pilots. I like to use these pilot more than the ones that come with the
model since they are more detailed. Once again spray the flight suit
green, and paint the boots and gloves. The helmet color is up to you. I
have painted them blue, red, white, and yellow, but any color is fine.
Sometimes I have even put artwork or decals on the helmets.
Something to do with pilots is to keep
the joystick out of the model until the pilot is ready to be put in. Glue
the stick into the pilot’s hand and it will look like he is flying the
plane. one other thing to remember is that some pilots are standing or
walking, so use the clear plastic trick to have them stand by their
planes.
One final note is that if the planes
are to be on the ground (shelves) then you might want to keep the canopy
open to show off your pilot. Also, some pilots are made to climb their
access ladders. Paint them and glue them to the ladders. This might be
boring after a while to paint them, but it adds to the plane.
Support Equipment
comes in packages with people sometimes. Power carts, air starters, cones,
tow bars, and even chocks come in these packages. They are build just like
any other plane, but their purpose is to supplement the plane on display.
Place them around the plane and you will have more detail and more
realism.
Weapons
are very important for any military plane. Once again they come in kits
themselves. Hasegawa makes the best weapons kits, and have three or four
on the market. They include air-to-air, -ground, and -guided munitions.
Each weapon is highly detailed and once again I would suggest to use these
instead of the weapons that come with the kit. In fact, many weapons in
the separate kits are ones that aren’t in kits such as smart weapons,
TV-guided, laser-guided, and even napalm. There is a color key
to paint them accurately and decals to add even more detail.
One addition to the weapons that I did
with my A-10 is to add red streamers on the weapons. These streamers are
common in real life for "remove before flight" to arm the
weapons. These do add a little more detail and demand attention.
These are all suggestions, but they do
add more realism to every plane and display.
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