Fisher Model & Pattern | Royal Navy Pilot

Reviewed by Jay Laverty & John Wilkes

I received this astonishing figure last week, and before I had a chance to preview it, I saw that John had finished his in his "In the Works" thread, so I e-mailed him Friday and by Saturday morning I had the below text and now on Sunday here you are reading it! I am very grateful to John for going all out to bring us a quick review of this figure. As I had some text coming together about the figure anyways, and not being one to waste anything, I thought I would combine the preview and review for you all here:

FAA Pilot Figure review by John "Tigger" Wilkes

The figure is very neatly and convincingly sculpted with a tremendous amount of accurately represented detail. The pose itself is equally as well depicted, with all of the aforementioned elements combining to make an all around excellent figure.

Included are a choice of two heads, one in a flying helmet and one without. The head featuring the flying helmet has a noticeably more determined look on his face, while the chapeau-less head is considerably more relaxed.

Price-wise, the figure is good value at $15.00 USD (about £8.00) which compares very favourably with any other figures available, and when taking into consideration the overall quality of the figure, I personally think it is a bit of a bargain!

I highly recommend this figure.

FAA Pilot Figure review by John "Tigger" Wilkes

Anyone who knows the world of figures will have heard of Mike Blank! His world renown work takes no introduction and this being one of his latest masterpieces fits that mould well.

The sculpting, as expected is top notch with a full parachute and harness cast integrally. The separate parts of arms parachute pack and choice of heads is a sensible breakdown of the figure. The choice of pose is a little strange (this is because of the stance of his hips being pushed forward to balance the weight of his parachute) but this does not detract from the quality of the figure. The piece is cast in a light grey resin with no air bubbles and all of the fine detail crisply captured. The uniform is meant to represent the Royal Navy Officers Number One uniform of the time but I rather suspect that pilots of that era wore an overall or early flying suit instead over the normal uniform. the rank bars are repeated on the lower arms and again on the epaulets and although I believe this is wrong to have both it does not take much effort to remove one or the other. I chose to remove the epaulette rank which was achieved with a scalpel in a couple of minutes. I also made the decision early on to promote him to Lieutenant in keeping with the Sea Fury I was making for Lt Carmichael. This modification was easily achieved with a thin strip of Tamiya masking tape stuck in place with thin Super glue.

The choice of heads is useful as you have the choice of a bear head which I chose, or, one with a flying helmet and goggles. Either will look great due to their quality sculpting. Worthy of note are the wings on his left forearm which are just so small but perfectly sculpted.

When I assembled this figure I spotted that there was a slight texture to the surface of the cloth and was concerned that it might be a little heavy but under a coat of paint it is hardly noticeable which is just right. There was little if none of the usual mould split marks and the casting blocks are kept to a minimum through clever positioning, in fact, I kept the figure on his foot casting blocks throughout panting and only cut them off once completed.

Although I will not give a blow by blow account of how I paint figures I did use Vallejo acrylics throughout. Giving the final item a coat of Humbrol Matt coat to flatten all of the colours a little and bring him together.

All in all I would recommend this figure for the sculpting and quality of casting. The subject matter is also one which is overlooked and all too often the use of a figure will enhance the final appearance of the model it goes with, this one definitely enhanced the appearance of my Sea Fury taking it to another level.

My special thanks to Paul Fisher for the early sample

Additional images:

Fisher Model & Pattern | Royal Navy Pilot

Reviewed by Jay Laverty & John Wilkes

This product is available from the following LSP sponsors

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