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Ferruz

Importance of the driver figure

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@Ferruz I totally agree with your original post. 

If a buggy has no driver figure or the driver can't see past the front shock mount/tower then the buggy is of no interest to me.

My most recent driver figure...
DSCF6725.JPG

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I am of the firm belief that ghosts don't drive cars. Thus, unless on static display, any vaguely realistic model with an open or visible cockpit should have some form of driver in it, even if it is just a disembodied head as is the case with some F1 shells.

Cars with heavily tinted windows or canopies however don't need drivers in my mind, and race blobs that aren't even trying to be realistic don't need them either.

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I am not good at painting drivers, but I always put one in. A buggy in motion doesn't look right without one, and what do we buy a Tamiya buggy for, if not for the scale-like looks? 

As a kid building plastic and wood-and-fabric model planes, it occurred to me that all my pilots were little white dudes. So I made black pilots and crew members from time to time. And a Zlin 526 got a pilot that looked Latin.

No Asians that I recall, don't know why. Pretty sure no women either, but female fighter pilots weren't really a thing, at the time. No reason a buggy couldn't have a female driver.

Not sure what to do if my driver figure suddenly insists that she personally identifies as a 1:1 female.

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Ive got one in My Bowler. Was going to put one in the FH12 but when i`ve looked the windows are that dark they are almost opaque so seems a waste of time

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1 hour ago, Mrowka said:

Not sure what to do if my driver figure suddenly insists that she personally identifies as a 1:1 female.

Momoko man boy dolls...

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@NulnOilTycoon I agree with your philosophy about a buggy and its driver.

Your driver figure looks ace and so does your yellow Bigwig: personally the best I've ever seen, and by a long shot 👍

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Finally finished that driver

20210117-153719.jpg

More pics in the what done today thread.

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Heads you win

DE03FB11-FD2A-418D-829F-7CA3C5950681.jpeg.b3ae1431727c234e578bb0e4dfabdcce.jpeg4FAAF8E9-C68A-422C-9DC2-AF0CA17D6B18.jpeg.1a7fa72dfbe3820a24f9898b81c3171d.jpeg12EE09A6-DDAF-4611-A96A-1F338D9323AD.jpeg.b8309645754bb958e7bcf5669da675b8.jpegF19DB972-4241-4D41-8770-740B9A5DC446.jpeg.ae7fe08fb78e095eea46c77dcea35993.jpeg895CA0A5-68A7-40A6-B619-99321C1EB240.jpeg.bdd5e5a4577014f460a3e6f938f633d5.jpeg3D7A6B6A-1D50-41E3-A601-38E8C63C1875.jpeg.60fd5d1f1afd6c4bf83863ee436cdcac.jpeg13CF1EC9-853C-405C-B783-FBA717630607.jpeg.9b7fe2682afd58fc03dbbfb7129e5ae7.jpeg

I do like a driver. In fact I need a few more. 1 or maybe 2 for the Jimny and 2 for the Escort when it arrives. None of my stadium style trucks have drivers, not sure why but they don’t seem to need it. I have always put figures on my rc boats and generally on static planes and armour. Strangely enough none of my static cars have drivers!

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@Mrowka good point about different etnies and gender drivers. I've been thinking about doing a lady one for a while, also because I'm still secretly hoping to get my wife more involved with RC, maybe even with a build of her own someday, and I know that a female driver -along with loads of purple everywhere- would help. 

It should be fun and easy. Just stick some hair under the helmet and paint up loads of makeup and eyelashes for a total cliche, et voila :P

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31 minutes ago, Ferruz said:

@NulnOilTycoon I agree with your philosophy about a buggy and its driver.

Your driver figure looks ace and so does your yellow Bigwig: personally the best I've ever seen, and by a long shot 👍

Thank you very much!  Doing it yellow seemed like the obvious solution to the "problem" of so much of the plastic on it being yellow. :)

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4 hours ago, Frog Jumper said:

Momoko man boy dolls...

Well, a friend was commenting on the incredible detail and realism that scale crawler models and figures achieve, and I commented that, on the one hand, it was impressive.

On the other hand, please tell me exactly how this differs from playing with dolls? Other than when it's marketed to boys they call them "action figures".

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2 minutes ago, Mrowka said:

Well, a friend was commenting on the incredible detail and realism that scale crawler models and figures achieve, and I commented that, on the one hand, it was impressive.

On the other hand, please tell me exactly how this differs from playing with dolls? Other than when it's marketed to boys they call them "action figures".

It’s only playing with dolls if the dolls have pretend conversations with each other. But yeah we are essentially playing with kids toys!  LOL!

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17 hours ago, Frog Jumper said:

It’s my daughters BarbieFoot 2.  I don’t think she will like the GIJoe look...

https://i.imgur.com/ClJOyh6.jpg

That's a cool build you have for your daughter, it combines 2 toys she likes to play with.

It still makes me wonder how that Barbie would look if she had a ammo belt, short crop hair and a weapon or a nail file sword as she attacks the people while hunting Gorgonites...

 

Kudos to those who get the reference without using google.

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On my end the driver is important but it just depends on the kit.

If it's a kit that comes with it (especially a Tamiya kit) then I'll work on it and add it.

If the kit is supposed to be tinted (like the black edition Porsche, Egress, or new Escort MkII) then I probably won't bother.

Modern racing buggies I won't even bother since it doesn't work with the look or theme. 

With crawlers, I don't mind it as long as it looks right. I'm still on the fence when I see a driver where the scale is mismatched with the crawler scale--makes it more toy-like.

With Kyosho kits, I don't seem to fancy their drivers so I use Tamiya drivers.

If there's a theme or concept then I'll use a driver. 

I'm trying to finish this Blitzer Beetle and the driver is a woman. I'm also always looking to diversify the drivers by picking out different skin tones and eye pigment. I do want to make an African American driver but I don't know yet how to mix the skin tone/paint properly. I want to do it right. 

 

 

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6 hours ago, Mechanic AH said:

With Kyosho kits, I don't seem to fancy their drivers so I use Tamiya drivers.

I agree , but on my last build I used an Optima driver to cover over the receiver on the upper deck , so in that way it worked out better than a Tamiya driver . I did like the fact that the Optima driver was pre-cut out and ready to go , the crash helmet was in 2 halves and fitted together really well and a great match in the molds , but I did glue it tigether to make sure then prepped and sprayed the crash helmet as usual and painted the face in although you do get a visor sticker to cover the face if you don't want to paint the face . The drivers harness is a sticker and there is no detail on the driver mold to paint one , the sticker looks good , but shiny so I applied it and coated it with a matt coat clear , much better .

P1150005.JPG

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The driver figure is important in the tamiya buggies i think as it just adds that bit of realism.This is the driver in my vintage never run fox which i got off ebay.The person that did this driver did a great job.

20210118_142914.jpg

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3 minutes ago, wolfdogstinkus said:

I'm pretty sure you don't need a pilot.

Here's my proof.

 

But it crash landed as soon as he was decapitated🥺

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Just now, Busdriver said:

But it crash landed as soon as he was decapitated🥺

Now we just need to see a smoother landing with the head still attached. Lol

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5 hours ago, wolfdogstinkus said:

Now we just need to see a smoother landing with the head still attached. Lol

Do you mean the bird ?  ;)

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5 minutes ago, Beetlemankurt said:

Only my 'Herbie' m-chassis Beetle doesn't have a driver figure.....reckons he dont need one :)...

Neithers mine:huh:

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2 hours ago, Beetlemankurt said:

Only my 'Herbie' m-chassis Beetle doesn't have a driver figure.....reckons he dont need one :)...

In the case of models representing fictitious or real-world full-size cars with self-driving capabilities, I'd say the absence of a driver figure is entirely authentic. KITT, Herbie, Christine, Brum, that little Google blob - all would be fine running without driver figures IMO.

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