Hi everyone... I'm about to start a 1/35 AH-1W Cobra and was wondering if there are AM figures for it either sitting or standing? Even appropriate non-pilot crew would work. Thanks!

Hi Michael

Kirin (the offspring of Dragon --- literally) had two sets. Two pilots and two mechanics. Ther were pretty nice. With a little luck you can stil find them. (I gave my sets away some months ago.)

best wishes

Steffen

Edit: pictures can be found here
Ground crew
Pilots

Thanks! Searches have so far turned up nothing. Any ideas on where to find them?

Here is a rundown of helo pilots available. None specifically for a Cobra, but any of them can be used in a Cobra.

Helo pilots

Hello Mike,
Verlinden makes a 1/35 Cobra pilot that's in a standing postion. They can be found on ebay most often. Megahobby has them for $8.95. How old or new is your AH-1W Cobra, why I ask is I have a set of figures that you can have from the Academy OH-58D and with some work and a few spare parts you may be able to come up with something. If you need I'll help out what I can.

Joe

Gino, you must have been adding to this as I was....
Mike, Gino is the man for Q/A's, he's pretty sharp

Thanks Joe. Just a note though. The pilot you have linked to at Megahobby is a modern jet pilot. He has a g-suit and oxygen mask. He won't work for a modern helo pilot. Verlinden did make a 1/32 Cobra pilot, but it is long OOP. There is a pic of him at the link in my post.

Thanks for the help so far guys!

Mother: My Cobra (which I'm picking up tonight at my IPMS meeting) is the 1/35 AH-1W. I ordered a Verlinden update set as well, mostly since I've never added an update set to something so I figured it'd be good practice/experience. I believe the Verlinden set comes with some helmets so your figs may work. What do you guys think? I'd just replace the heads of your figs with non-helmeted ones more than likely.

I am thinking of doing a Amphibious Assault Ship Marines version with the black/"whitish?"/green camo (any specific Tamiya Colors for that?) and placing it on a deck section for a base. So even flight crew from a carrier in 1/32 would probably work. Does Hasegawa make one in 1/32? They do in 1/48 and 1/72. I want to do a base like this:

http://public.carnet.hr/ak_zagreb/Cobra/ah1w/ah-1w-19.jpg

Just a small raised sliver of that deck with the rigging/fencing at the back. Will have to scratch the "trailer" dealie as well. Anyone got larger/better image sof this?

Really, I probably don't need any figs, but I find that they help "sell" the scale of the piece and add a nice extra element to it. I just finished a JGSDF Type 74 and added some figs and it really makes the piece better. http://fichtenfoo.com/

Anyway, thanks for all the help so far guys! Much appriciated!

The tri-color Med camo was black, medium green, and medium gray. The colors are called out by number in the kit instructions. The Med scheme was replaced by the two-tone gray that is seen today in the late '90s. All were pretty much repainted by 2000. Just about any of the pilots that I listed will work for 1980s to about 2000 USMC helo pilots. I believe Verlinden has some 1/32 modern Navy deck crew that would work. Also, most USMC deck crew wear BDU pants and boots with t-shirts or full BDUs. You could probably modify some standard soldiers as deck hands too.

Doh I linked the wrong figure, anyhow I found a set on ebay you maybe interested in, under $5.00 and a day and a half left to go. Down side is that they are in the UK. Really no big deal...and the seller has a 100% feedback with almost 500 sales.

U.S.Cobra Gunship Pilot figures

Joe

Those look nice. The old Kirin set is OOP too. Good find.