Broznitsky Posted 6 November , 2003 Share Posted 6 November , 2003 My brother and I spent many hours in the 60's playing on the carpet and in the garden with our armies. I know we had soft cap English troops and pickelhaub Germans; does anybody know if Airfix ever made tinlid (after summer '16) forces? How about steel helmet Germans? Does Airfix still make 1/72 figures? If so, is the quality still the same as those sold in the 60's and 70's? Does any other manufacturer make 1/72 or larger scale plastic soldiers of the Great War period? I don't mean fancy ones like Pal Roger spends time on, but more "mass-produced on a sprue" types like the Airfix. Peter (dreamy eyed in Vancouver) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Pete Wood Posted 6 November , 2003 Share Posted 6 November , 2003 Peter Take a look at: http://www.plasticsoldierreview.com/Period...dWorldWar1.html The wounded/dead German soldier is the figure I remember best. His leg was crooked and his back had been sculpted, flat - still with his helmet on. I used to worry my Mum, with my judicious use of a scalpel in order to make every figure different; cut off their heads and arms to reposition their limbs and direction that they were looking. The Horse Artillery were my favourite, in muddy brown. You've just whipped me back in time by 30 years, so I thank you for that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Hone Posted 6 November , 2003 Share Posted 6 November , 2003 The French set was my favourite, with cyclists and a chap with a pigeon basket. I was very disappionted when I came to clear my Dad's house and didn't manage to find them amongst my old toys. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staffsyeoman Posted 6 November , 2003 Share Posted 6 November , 2003 Crikey.. the Airfix 1:72 French Infantry set was hard to find... I remember the bugler being forefront on the box art. My favourite in the 'WW1 British Infantry' was the 'two ice skaters with hula hoop'. (Apparently they were meant to be two soldiers with a roll of barbed wire!) They never made a set with helmets, in any scale... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeppoSapone Posted 6 November , 2003 Share Posted 6 November , 2003 Crikey.. the Airfix 1:72 French Infantry set was hard to find... I remember the bugler being forefront on the box art. My favourite in the 'WW1 British Infantry' was the 'two ice skaters with hula hoop'. (Apparently they were meant to be two soldiers with a roll of barbed wire!) They never made a set with helmets, in any scale... The "trick" was to buy a box of WW2 8th Army, or similar, then cut off the helmeted heads and stick them on the WW1 soldiers. This sort of thing looked ok painted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David_Blanchard Posted 6 November , 2003 Share Posted 6 November , 2003 You can still get them on ebay, at nearly £15 a box http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...5&category=2642 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Pete Wood Posted 6 November , 2003 Share Posted 6 November , 2003 You can still get them on ebay, at nearly £15 a box Yes, but that is for the original 1960s packaging. Most are still being made, under the Revell, HaT or Emhar trademarks etc. Look at http://www.hat.com/current7.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David_Blanchard Posted 6 November , 2003 Share Posted 6 November , 2003 But to complete our trip down nostalgia road where would we be without the orginal packaging.The beastly hun firing down that immaculate trench (obviously not the first of July 1916, judging by the two Tommies giving it big legs over No Mans Land, must be Old Contemptibles) , the British Officer pistol aloft lit up by a verey light, and the French Army foraging through a bomb-blasted village. I can also picture some doughboys, but cannot remember the background. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Reed Posted 6 November , 2003 Share Posted 6 November , 2003 Forget plastics - you should have a look at some of the lead figures that are around these days. Bit more expensive than Airfix, but look a lot nicer. And you can get them in any scale from tiny 6mm to 28mm+. eg. have a look at this website: http://www.geocities.com/terry1813/ and have a look at this: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nshighlander Posted 6 November , 2003 Share Posted 6 November , 2003 It`s amazing.I forgot about those.I still have all mine.No boxes but still in great shape. The hours spent playing with them or should I say years Cheers Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Reed Posted 6 November , 2003 Share Posted 6 November , 2003 They even make trenches now! For a review see: http://battlefields1418.50megs.com/ww1_mod...el_trenches.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ian Bowbrick Posted 6 November , 2003 Share Posted 6 November , 2003 Happy memories - very happy memories Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HERITAGE PLUS Posted 6 November , 2003 Share Posted 6 November , 2003 I wasn't into fighting soldiers but I had several sets of guards band and colour party painted and laid out as trooping the colour. Magic! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Broznitsky Posted 6 November , 2003 Author Share Posted 6 November , 2003 I'm pleased to see that my post has warmed some hearts ! I found this: The following article appeared in Airfix Magazine on May 1966 introducing the two W.W.I sets; German W.W.I Infantry and British W.W.I Infantry. Mons In Miniature With the fiftieth anniversary of the Great War came numerous memoirs, books, magazine articles, and a memorable television series. Modellers and wargamers were among the many who found much to interest them in a study of the subject and the big demand for soldiers of this period which arose has now been answered by Airfix with the release of both Germans and British infantry sets. Both contain 48 OO/HO scale pieces, including machine gunners and their gun, advancing, marching, crawling, firing, standing and kneeling riflemen, and stretcher parties with wounded men. In the British set there are also signallers, first aid men, a wiring party, and one officer. The German set includes two officers in characteristic long overcoats, two flame throwers, soldiers surrendering, Bangalore torpedoes, and stick bombers. The Germans are moulded in field grey plastic and the British in Khaki, so that only face, hands, boots and equipment need painting. Detailing on these figure sets standards even higher than before; even the grips on the bayonet handles are moulded and such details as buttons and badges are all perfectly clear despite the small size of each individual soldier. The Germans, incidently, wear the spiked 'pickalhaube' helmets, while the British are in soft service caps, thus making both sets suitable for the early period of the Great War, including Mons, before steel helmets were introduced. Each set costs 2s. I think in Canada they were 50 cents! Reading about thugs attacking poppy sellers makes me wish I could timewarp back to 1967, when the world was a nicer place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Posted 6 November , 2003 Share Posted 6 November , 2003 You've just whipped me back in time by 30 years, so I thank you for that. Here, here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annette Burgoyne Posted 6 November , 2003 Share Posted 6 November , 2003 I also still have mine, every time mum took me shopping I had to buy a box. Me and my brother used to fight big battles but some times to make very large forces, Romans and others were added, we had little Artillary guns that fired match sticks (Second World War paton). I too would cut off heads and legs Annette Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Hussar Posted 7 November , 2003 Share Posted 7 November , 2003 Ah, those were the days...... remember the Foreign Legion and the Arabs? The Romans and the Britons? Spacemen? The High Chapparal set? And all the different Napoleonic sets.. I had hundreds of them, all hand painted and, of course, the Scottish Infantry were my favourites. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Posted 7 November , 2003 Share Posted 7 November , 2003 I was a 1/32 scale lad myself. Do you remember that Japanese mortar guy who you could never get to stand up? I do remember having the 1/72 scale coastal gun set. There were German infantry and British commandos equipped with ladders and canoes. Michael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragon Posted 7 November , 2003 Share Posted 7 November , 2003 I didn’t make soldiers, so no dismembered bodies for me (except biting the feet off jelly babies), but I made planes and had Battles of Britain suspended from the ceiling, ready to be shot down by plasticine missiles. My brother made warships and we used to attack each other. My favourite is a Beaufighter made by my dad out of metal and shrapnel. I still have his lead soldiers somewhere but I’ve forgotten which war they were from, because we were discouraged from hurling these at each other in battles. Having said that, I have a scar between my eyes as a result of a particularly ferocious attack on my dolls house. I still guilt-trip my brother about that. This is making me think. How did any of us ever manage to grow up with developed brains and talents without the Early Learning Centre, books on Trigonometry Tests For Two Year Olds, or manuals for parents on How to Raise a Genius? Gwyn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Birch Posted 7 November , 2003 Share Posted 7 November , 2003 I used to play with die cast painted metal soldiers. They were a mixture of WW2 and a few WW1 figures. My sister and I used to fire matchsticks at them from a 13 pounder and a couple of 25 pounders which also fired caps, until I got my first airgun in about 1957. Then my more powerful heavy artillery blew many of them to bits! I still have few survivors and a large collection of 1930s, 40s and 50s die cast Dinky military and civil vehicles and aircraft, including an Inter-War Renault Light Tank, The Queen Mary, the Flying Scotsman, a Sunderland Flying Boat, and a Catalina, a 1930's Schneider Trophy Sea Plane, and a squadron each of of ME 110s, Tempests and Meteors, etc etc. There are also a Spitfire and a Hurricane made during WW2 to a very small scale due to metal shortages. I also have two WW1 lead cavalrymen with flat caps, drawn sabres and carbines in a holdster behind the saddle with includes a bedding roll. Tim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Historian Posted 7 November , 2003 Share Posted 7 November , 2003 Hi, I went into the Airfix website recently (Humbrol own the trademark now), and went all dewy-eyed too. When I counted up all the figure sets (HO/OO) I owned, my parents should have been poverty stricken in their old age! When you see the range offered by other companies now, Airfix do look a bit basic. But hey, the fun! My favourites were the WW2 Britsh Infantry, brought out to replace the old Infantry Combat Group set' Yours, wallowing in nostalgia, Gordon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Hussar Posted 7 November , 2003 Share Posted 7 November , 2003 I do remember having the 1/72 scale coastal gun set. There were German infantry and British commandos equipped with ladders and canoes. Michael Yeh, my mate had that....and I was sooooo jealous!!!! I used to do the Aeroplane kits too, remember when Airfix used to knock them out, at pocket money prices, in the plastic bags? I made a whole WWII Airfield, Control Tower, Ambulance, Fuel Bowser the lot.. and the HO/OO scale R.A.F Personnel set Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve_McGarry Posted 7 November , 2003 Share Posted 7 November , 2003 Sounds like we all had the same childhood .. perhaps thats where it all started A box of cars and a box of soldiers ....am i right happy days Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Posted 7 November , 2003 Share Posted 7 November , 2003 A box of cars and a box of soldiers ....am i right Nearly, mine was an old suitcase full of cars Michael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will O'Brien Posted 7 November , 2003 Share Posted 7 November , 2003 I'll admit to still having mine British infantry (by the way can anyone tell me what that tyre like round thing 2 of the figures are carrying was?) French Infantry (I love the figures on the bicycles) US Infantry (the damn figure with the Hotchkiss MG would never stand up properly) German Infantry (always outnumbered having to fight the other three nationalities) Happy days indeed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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