Little Dudes

I once knew a fellow who really liked the cookies called “E.L. Fudge” from the Keebler Company, which is apparently run by elves.

Little dudes.

My friend would explain that not only were these cookies tasty, they “looked like little dudes!”

When I read about somebody in a forum who complains of “losing his mojo” I am properly sympathetic. I read the replies (I don’t reply to these mysef) in which the mojo loser is advised to “build something simple” and “return to basics.”

Good advice, there. But just slamming together another old kit isn’t going to do it for me this time. I’ve hit the big wall. The final whamma-slamma. I won’t build anything that smells of The Internet or the way that we build today.

I’m done with it.

I’m not saying that you can’t find some wise old souls on The Airfix Tribute or Unauthorized Airfix or even Hyperscale who build in the old ways. No, I’m not saying that. What I’m saying, is that I don’t remember what I’m saying because I don’t have time for it anymore. I don’t care what they do. It all blends together in my mind. The few helpful folks online will not really change the fundamental relationship between my old, fun hobby and the distorted, evil monster it became as I absorbed more and more of the mechanical, soul-less version of what was once a joy.

The way home is difficult to find. It’s not as simple as it may first appear. To begin with, we’ll need some companions to go on our quest with us. A fellowship.

Little dudes. We need some little dudes.

I have collected a few of these, and so, as a part of my ongoing “upgrade in place” policy, I’m going to add some figures to my models. Here’s the first one, added to a Revell CR. 42.

A brave pilot with reflective goggles.

I’m just learning to paint figures. My efforts on The Golden Hind worked out well, and that was 1/87 scale so I’m feeling confident. I’m fortunate in that, at the age of 63, I have excellent “up close” vision. I have horrible “out far” vison but who needs it?

Hellcats of the Italian Air Force.

I chose the colors based on “feel” and “coolness.”

Ciao!

The pilot adds something. Life. Drama. Scale. It’s critical. Thank whatever God that made me that Airfix still puts aircrew in their kits. However, this particular one, with goggles in place, came from an old Monogram kit of a Curtiss F11C Goshawk. I have a quite a collection of little dudes to play with, and I’m looking at putting somebody in a few open cockpits.

“Switch on!”

“Contact!”

VAROOOOOOOM!!!!!

5 Replies to “Little Dudes”

  1. Hey Dan,
    I hate it when there are no figures in a kit. Unless the kit is really the best kit for that aircraft in the world, I boycott kits that don’t have pilots. Hence, Airfix and Tamiya (mostly) are my mainstay for kitbuying these days.

    The only other way to get ‘little guys’ is to buy the expensive resin mold pilot sets. They are nice little guys, but can be cost prohibitive especially over here.

    Glad you joined the little guy fan club!

  2. Nice little Pilot-dude! 🙂
    So a pilot instead of detailing the cockpit; ok.
    Only do pilots on aircraft in the air; so just a few and not necessarily the kit one(s) – a nice number of little dudes in various sizes are needed for those models with too little space for the pilot and I don’t like to put a legless Bader in the cockpit! Really! Not really a member of the little dude club just watching from the sidelines.

    1. No, not instead of detailing the cockpit. I can tell you have lived out in the cold for quite a while…

      Look, my brother–THERE’S A LITTLE DUDE!! You have to embrace the magic. To paraphrase Leslie Nielsen in “Forbidden Planet”– I’LL HAVE MORE DREAMING ABOARD THIS SHIP!

  3. I have a small collection of little dudes. Best one is pilot from Aurora SBC-3, I built about 1956.

    1. Old dudes are good dudes. Revell would make little dudes about ten times larger and then scale them down using a pentograph or pantograph or a pair of pants. On the newer side, the figures in the new 1/72 Airfix Stuka are amazing. I’m sorry I didn’t put them in the Stuka but they are going to go into something. Really amazing detail.

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