Hi Elanlane and thank you for the invitation.
All with have their own ideas and no doubt more sensible than mine. But, nevertheless, here we go...
I think we have an important distinction to make. There will always be a market for the almost classic portrait stance showing a great aviator standing by his or her machine. This is scarcely surprising and also reflects a genre of common period photograph. The standard of many of these figures is becoming very high indeed. For commercial reasons I know and accept that another Richthofen will be just round the corner, but it would be so refreshing to see portrait stances of other renowned aviators: Ball, Mannock, Fonck, Nungesser, Luke etc etc.
My concern is something different. We've recently seen, for example, a beautifully conceived and realised fighting FE2b aircrew. I'd like to see similar thought given to aircrew on the ground. Groups of them, standing around, laughing, joking, pointing, playing around, doing the sort of casual things people do before and after posing for camera.
Again with ground crew, there are some splendid exceptions, but rather too many seem very generic and able to be posed pretty much anywhere. I like to see small groups more closely preoccupied with a task we can relate to - like clustering round to look at an engine problem, a fuel leak, working in tandem checking the rigging etc. and here's an off the wall idea. We spend hours and hours on the markings etc of the aircraft we love to model. Wouldn't it be great to see a model showing someone from the staff actually painting the personal emblem? Imagine a scene in which someone is painstakingly applying the Seven Schwabians!
If we take the idea further, I'd love to do a small diorama in which the hapless painter has done what we all do and made a daft mistake, something which has attracted the attention of others who are pointing and howling with laughter. Now, I recognise that the sales potential probably runs to one - me, and so would never see the light of day but that highlights another problem which might be addressed. I know that I would have to convert existing figures but these don't help too much. Take a look at the stances, particularly, those in the Eduard Great War personnel series. Apart from the individual sitting or kneeling figure they offer a very limited range for the would be converter. More varied stances would be a great help.
Sorry to have gone on for so long, but I do think we have some years of opportunity ahead.
Best wishes
Nigel
