John Elliott from Virginia was our first CUSTOMER to try the process. John wanted a different pilot to go in his 1/4 scale Albatros. We discussed the possibilities with That'sMyFace and he agreed to give it a go with a 1/4 scale Lothar von Richthofen except with Lothar's face removed and John's inserted! John ordered the pilot's body unpainted since he wanted to do that himself but the Face will arrive painted. The results were a success and John couldn't have been happier. Some of John's buddies at the flying field commented that the pilot looks like he could talk!
CUSTOM BEST PILOTS
Dick Charbonneau's P-47 will be a tribute to his late brother, with a pilot that looks like his brother in the cockpit.
P-51 Triple Ace Clarence "Bud" Anderson made for Michael Radu of California. This pilot is going into a 1/5 scale museum quality model that will be presented to Col Anderson!
Jeff Fiscus won Best of Show at the 2015 WRAM! The pilot in his FW190 bore a striking resemblance, thanks to Best Pilots, of this master craftsman!
Top Gun competitor, Greg Wright had a pilot that looks like him flying his awesome looking COMP ARF P-47. This model flew in Top Gun.
America Garcia of Mexico surprised her boyfriend with a pilot that looks like him! His mini-me is destined for a Top Flite P-51. Custom Face Bob Sweeney gear.
Ian Sweeney of New Zealand is building a sport scale Hawker Hurricane to commemorate the life of "Cobber" Kain, the New Zealand born pilot that was the first RAF DFC and Ace of WW2. The B&W photo was colorized and the 3D head was placed in our Best Pilots Sailor Malan pilot.
Tony Stead of England, had built a fantastic looking 1/4 scale Balsa USA Sopwith Pup and chose to do a pilot that looks just like him with. We inserted his 3D printed portrait into a custom painted Lothar von Richtofen Best Pilots figure.
Senior Editor of Model Airplane News, Gerry Yarrish, incorporated a 3D printed portrait of his magnificent self in our Lothar von Richthofen that looks great in his 1/4 scale Balsa USA Sopwith Camel.
Although Best Pilots doesn't offer jet pilots...yet, Anton Kebler of Germany wanted his and his father's face in his 1/5 scale F-18 Super Hornet. In the top picture, you just can't tell it isn't full scale! From Anton:
Hey Lyle,
today the pilots (me and dad) have arrived! Wow, i am soooo happy with these little works of art. Great job Lyle!!!!! Look at the pics in attachment! They looks sooo real! wow!!!! - Anton Kebler
Lee Watkins of Indiana, ordered a custom face of Wildcat ace Donald Runyon to go in his Wildcat F4F. Lee thought the pilot looked great and fit perfectly. After posting a picture of the pilot on Facebook, Lee commented "That's why they call 'em Best Pilots folks!"
Chris DePinto of Florida thought his Sailor Malan was getting lonley tooling around the Florida skies in Chris' DeHaviland Tiger Moth. So who better to keep him company than Chris himself! I'm really proud of the pictures of the two pilots in the model, they look convincingly real!
Jack Murray of Florida created a tribute to the WASP of WWII by creating a 1/5 scale PT-19a flown by Nancy Love. Nancy's portrait was colorized and printed in 3D and then mortised into Best Pilots Pappy Boyington. Seeing the first female Best Pilot in Jack's PT-19 is uncanny to how close we got the look of this heroic aviator. Read the full story by clicking HERE.
Gary Owen from Iowa has a few Fock-Wolfs and needed a pilots to man them. Two of Best PIlots Gunther Ralls now look remarkably like Gary! Gary, like a few of us, is past the "recruitment" age, and wanted his pilot to look like his younger self. With a few pics from Gary's past, I was able to photoshop a few - just a few! - years from Gary's portrait to arrive at a younger, more historically aged pilot. Here is an article that includes Gary's Top Flite FW-190... Click HERE
Jay Maguire of Colorado, thought we did a "super job" with his custom pilot. He is now known as "Baron Von Maguire" to his flying buddies. Jay's face was combined with 1/4 Lothar von Richthofen.
Nothing is as thrilling as recreating a historical figure. This is Maj. Bob Owens face, colorized from black & white, then mortised into our Pappy Boyington figure. This is a project by Dave Gianakos of Major (later General) Ownen's WWII Corsair. The Corsair is a modified ESM Corsair kit and will be on permanent display in the Spirit of Flight Museum, Denver Colorado. There is something keenly satisfying in having the aircraft replicated right down to the actual face of the pilot!
Fred Upshaw's face was used on our Pappy Boyington figure. When Fred sent photos of the pilot in the plane, his friends thought it was actually him in a full-scale Corsair!