Kitty Posted February 22, 2001 Share Posted February 22, 2001 Originally posted by malthoff: Anyone remember collecting Airfix soldiers. They were plastic and came in 1/32 and 1/48 scale. Haha! Believe it or not, yes. Maybe they were common in the UK or elsewhere, but in CA I felt that I had scored a major coup when I first saw them (1/32 scale...1/72 scale is lame) at a hobby store about a mile away from my house. =) This was when I was 9 years old and I had just seen "A Bridge Too Far" for the third time in the theatre. I saw Airfix's British Airborne Troops" in the store and kicked my dad's shins 'til he bought them for me. This was especially satisfying for me as I recall that they charged a HUGE amount of money for them. Although I can't remember exactly how much, the fact that even at age nine I was able to recognize that the price was high should tell you something. I thereafter secretly (girls aren't allowed to play with plastic army men; although they are allowed to play with real army men after a certain age) bought as many of these as I could each weekend. I had 2 boxes of British Airborne (I decided that one box didn't contain nearly enough men for me to recreate the battle for Arnhem Bridge in my bedroom as I did using Lincoln Logs, cardboard boxes, and a two story metal dollhouse to recreate the city), 1 German Mtn. Troops, 1 German Wermacht, 1 German Paratroopers, 1 US Infantry, 1 British Heavy Weapons, 1 Ghurkas, 1 British Desert Rats (or whatever they called that set), 1 Japanese Infantry (I made sure they never one any game I used them in) . . . well anyway, I had a lot and they ruled! =D Although Airfix was the best (and I painted as many of the lil' buggers as I could), most of my plastic army personel consisted of two types of plastic dudes: The WW2 variety made by Marx Toys which could be purchased in small bags and also came with their "Battleground" playset and "Guns of Navarone" playset, both of which I have, and the post-Korean war US infantry kind that also came in plastic bags. Yes, I was weird and I still am, but guess what? Not only did I have all the above mentioned items and more as a child, I STILL HAVE THEM! =) Although I don't play with them now (CM is a much more "adult" way to play army men), every single one of my plastic soldiers, all their vehicles and equipment, silver-grey barbed wires, is still sitting in their original boxes (mostly) in my mother's garage. Anyone want to play? =) Kitty ------------------ Hamsters at War! Chicks With Tanks Lorak's FTX "I'd rather the Bees than your Mask of Shame." - Stuka The True Blue Aussie Slang Source The Unofficial Vic Bitter Website Jesus Dress Up! The McNoldy Group [This message has been edited by Kitty (edited 02-22-2001).] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevetherat Posted February 22, 2001 Share Posted February 22, 2001 I never had soldiers as a nipper. Something I regret even now. I bought my first about a year ago; four Airfix M3 halftracks and a white metal platoon of Brits. I went to a wargame show and just thought "what the hell" and brought them home. They're still there. I've half made the M3s but haven't touched the blokes. They are looking for a good home if anyone is interested. StR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt Steiner Posted February 22, 2001 Share Posted February 22, 2001 Hi Crepitis Hi Sgt Steiner,I inherited a slightly beat-up Johnny seven from an older cousin.Apart from its huge size(The gun,not my cousin!) the thing I remember best about it was the "ratchet"(bolt?)on the right hand side which I pulled back with some difficuilty, but the resulting noise when you pulled the trigger more than made up for the effort. Yes thats the one with a adjustable grenade launcher on top, a belt of plastic MG ammo a Red rocket/bomb fired from front, a bipod single fire etc sheer bliss [Quote}Thanks for reminding me of the Pupchen thing from the 1/72 Airfix Germans.If memory serves me well there was a little guy to sit on a kind of seat attached to it. Yes there was and the set a a very basic looking PzShrek and PzFaust figs (something the later improved sets lacked). I also had an Atlantic wall set with a different emplacement with 2 Guns Of Navarone type naval gins which also fired matches .Possibly the most reviled set was the "civilians" Ahh no for reasons you state I liked those (especially lady walking dog) My personal hate was the High Chaparall set which was exactly the same as the Cowboys set just in different shade of brown. Loved the covered wagon though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe F Posted February 22, 2001 Share Posted February 22, 2001 Hello all.. Fun reading, i love the PIC's, certainly brings back memories... I also had heaps of them, i loved the little green plastic tanks - landing crafts etc, (not the hard airfix kits that needed assembly). I also had a green fortification with a huge battery with 2 "Guns". I used to stage grand shore landings like D-Day. I always had a weak spot for the German troops and i can remember the allied taking severe beatings! (My favorite German was running forward with his rifle, i also liked the german officer firing his pistol) I also used the german officers as policemen with my matchbox cars. I also had some 7'th cavalry and lots of indians and cowboys - i used to play with my 8 year younger brother and build houses out of LEGOES make trades with the indians - rob banks etc etc - great times..... But my alltime FAVORITES was the Divers set, i used to play underwater wars and often took them to the TUB!!! Now ive got a 5 year old son and think its time to dig out the old plastic troopers!!!! ;o) Ps Kitty - Great letter, I wish i had known you as a kid!!! *S I was embarressed that i still liked playing with toy soldiers even when i was 14-15 years old. [This message has been edited by Joe F (edited 02-22-2001).] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pvt. Ryan Posted February 22, 2001 Share Posted February 22, 2001 Originally posted by Joe F: Ps Kitty - Great letter, I wish i had known you as a kid!!! *S I wish I knew Kitty now!!! I still have many of my plastic army men. Most of them were the Marx type, which I painted. I still have all the Britains is a large plastic bag somewhere. The bulk of my collection met their fate in one of two cataclysmic events: 1) The day the hose was left on in the backyard submerging my entire American Revolutionary War collection under a foot of mud (I am sure they will be unearthed as interesting fossils in pristine condition someday) and 2) The day the gardener decapitated most of my WWII soldiers with a weedwhacker after they had spent a two month stalemate entrenched in the front yard. The remainder of my collection is marked with dents from BBs and scorch marks from firecrackers. Life was good. [This message has been edited by Pvt. Ryan (edited 02-22-2001).] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Holien Posted February 22, 2001 Share Posted February 22, 2001 Wow we have the AA group, Airfix Anonymous. What a small world we live in when so many people have had the same experiences over and with these small plastic figures. I looked at the web site and my childhood memories came rushing back and brought a wide grin to my face. I guess BTS were afflicted with this pleasure when they were young and thank god they were as this game recreates the fantasy games I played on my bed room floor with the Germans fighting off the allied invaders. I used to collect lichen from old railway embankments to make life like hedges and stuck on twigs, trees... Ahh those were the days. Hmmm I wonder if I can use my new garden shed for a wargames den and rescue all those old toys from the attic. Anyone in the Banbury area (UK) fancy a game? H [This message has been edited by Holien (edited 02-22-2001).] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mace Posted February 23, 2001 Share Posted February 23, 2001 Originally posted by Kitty: Anyone want to play? =) OK! I'm up to the challenge! Setup: 1/32 scale commandos vs Germans Terrain: green cloth with surgical bandages for roads and steel wool (painted green) for bushes. Buildings: should of course be lego, but cardboard boxes with windows and doors drawn on will suffice. Rules: will be generated on the fly, and outcomes based on the roll of 1D6. Mace Say, what are the rest of you looking at? She did ask! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kitty Posted February 23, 2001 Share Posted February 23, 2001 Originally posted by Pvt. Ryan: The bulk of my collection met their fate in one of two cataclysmic events . . . Hehe, a lot of mine were chewed to death by the family Golden Retriever, and a few met their demise via the match or lighter. Only the lame ones like the post-Korea type guys holding their M16s with fixed bayonets upside down over their heads . . . I mean what's up with that? =) But even these were never completely melted though. I'd just take off an arm or a maybe a leg or two and then used them to represent casualties in later battles. Kitty And no, I never pulled the wings off of flies. ------------------ Hamsters at War! Chicks With Tanks Lorak's FTX "I'd rather the Bees than your Mask of Shame." - Stuka The True Blue Aussie Slang Source The Unofficial Vic Bitter Website Jesus Dress Up! The McNoldy Group Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forever Babra Posted February 23, 2001 Share Posted February 23, 2001 I hate to pull a grog on you gents, but HO scale is 1:87. OO scale is 1:76. I never did figure out what HO/OO scale was. And yeah, I had billions of the little bitches. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kitty Posted February 23, 2001 Share Posted February 23, 2001 Originally posted by Forever Babra: I hate to pull a grog on you gents, but HO scale is 1:87. OO scale is 1:76. I never did figure out what HO/OO scale was. And yeah, I had billions of the little bitches. Forever Grogra; who cares? The only ones worth having were the 1/32nd ones. Kitty ------------------ Hamsters at War! Chicks With Tanks Lorak's FTX "I'd rather the Bees than your Mask of Shame." - Stuka The True Blue Aussie Slang Source The Unofficial Vic Bitter Website Jesus Dress Up! The McNoldy Group Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolfpack Posted February 23, 2001 Share Posted February 23, 2001 Originally posted by Pvt. Ryan: 2) The day the gardener decapitated most of my WWII soldiers with a weedwhacker after they had spent a two month stalemate entrenched in the front yard. Ah yes...mine met with a similar fate, the infamous death from above attack, aka Dad on his Riding Lawnmower. I remember that for about a year afterward, I would still find little bits and pieces laying around in my yard...poor guys never knew what hit them. sniffle sniffle ------------------ Go thou, and fill another room in hell. [This message has been edited by Wolfpack (edited 02-22-2001).] [This message has been edited by Wolfpack (edited 02-22-2001).] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fernando Posted February 23, 2001 Share Posted February 23, 2001 Airfix soldiers!!!! I LOVE those little soldiers. I've collected them since I was a child. The worst tragedy I had to suffer during my chilhood was when my mother "demobilized" my Afrika Korps and 8th Army little soldiers. They were the new second version figures in the now very hard to find blue box. I had them for only a few weeks before she threw them away. Now (I'm 39), I've got more than 200 blue and white Airfix boxes and I've at least one white and blue box of each HO/OO figure set produce by Airfix. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanks a Lot Posted February 23, 2001 Share Posted February 23, 2001 I used to hide them behind forts built from lego type bricks and launch rubber tipped darts at them. I don't know if they can model giant rubber darts into CM2. Maybe they can call them V2 rockets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pvt. Ryan Posted February 23, 2001 Share Posted February 23, 2001 Originally posted by Kitty: the post-Korea type guys holding their M16s with fixed bayonets upside down over their heads . . . I mean what's up with that? =) LOL!!! I hated those guys too! Looking back, I think those guys were wading a river and trying to keep their weapons dry. I wasn't so creative then to realize it. But they were as useless as mine detector guy and sitting down guy. They never gave us anything for them to sit in. The halftracks and jeeps weren't the same scale. Marx please fix! or do somefink!. I know I had the 1/32 Airfix soldiers, but I got them at the end of my army men days, so they may actually be in the survivors bag. A friend and I once placed an order from a catalog for the HO/OO scale Airfix soldiers. We didn't know what HO/OO scale was. I knew HO because I had the trains, but I figured OO was like O scale (Lionel) trains and would be close to the size of normal army men. So we ordered boxes and boxes of them since they were so cheap and we circled the OO part on the form. Needless to say we were disapointed with the tiny little guys that arrived. I think I let my friend keep them all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crepitis Posted February 23, 2001 Share Posted February 23, 2001 Other "special" pieces I remember were the chariots from the Ancient Romans and Ancient Britons,The moon buggy from the astronauts,the horse drawn gun carriages from the union/confederates and WWI Royal artillery.I can also remember a "Robin Hood and his merry men" set.My mates and I never had the benefit of add-on sound mods,and "battles" would invariably be accompanied by wild shrieks,screams and whistling shell sounds,mixed in with the ocassional "Die,Britisher pig-dog"and "Banzai" ,"take that,Square heads",etc etc as the engagement required.There were also amazing "What if?"scenarios(although we didnt know thats what they were called at the time!)where Napoleonic imperial Guards would take on The French Foreign Legion for control of a WWII pontoon bridge.Happy Days! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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