Oh Boy! I am62 and those boxes and sets were part of my childhood. Those WW1 boxes had dramatic artwork. AirFix did a great job on those boxes! The French figures were probably the best. I used them in my Confederate Army when I had battles since they were gray and matched other gray sets.
There are a couple of books by Roy Cross, that are expensive and/or hard to get hold of, and detail the art word that came on Airfix boxes. They were phenomenal. IIRC Amazon keep claiming to have a couple, but they are £30-£70 depending on the volume.
A memory can turn into a present day reality with some luck and patience. You can recapture the joy of youth with a new collection. I lost everything that I had, but got more on eBay. I
Brings back some serious memories from the late 60s. We all played with Army Men back then and built Models. One day my friend brought some to school to show me. Man those were so tiny and awesomely detailed. I asked where he got them and he said Stan's Hobby Shop. I remember buying for I think 50 cents each a couple of boxes. The British 8th Army was one the the American Paratroopers. I still pass the old Hobby Shop ( now something else ) but I always think of those Air Fix figures .
This is a wonderful memory! Thank you for sharing it with all of us. I personally get very nostalgic over it. I think it actually hurts when I pass the old hobby shop.
I call the book my "Wish Book" I'm Glad you kept your Airfix sokdiers. So many of us lost them over the years and had to spend a lot of money to get them back.
Wow, this brings back memories. Twisting the figures off the sprigs (too young and impatient to use a blade) then borrowing one of my Dad's files to remove the burr, such that the figures would stand flat...happy days!
I love this! Can we talk you into collecting again? That happiness is not lost forever it can be yours again.! I used to get impatient too, but I was too lazy to cut off any flash unless it interfered with them standing. I remember having a Russian T-62 RocoMiniTank that I used with WW1 Germans. I guess I didn't really know much about that back then!
In this cold Far North aspect of North America 🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦 i rooted around my basement found a big box of these HO Airfix soldier sets so colourful kit covers!Painted many sets back in the day and fought heroic battles with them mainly Romans/Britons;ACW;and WW One and Two.Many sets not even opened with cellophane intact and old price stickers!$1.00 Kresge!Time to build some dioramas for the little fellers to fight over!
No sabia que existiera un libro de Airfix tan bonito, completo y bien organizado como el del video,las figuras de airfix son iconicas,quien no las conoce,sus atractivas cajas ,la infanteria francesa ww1 es mitica ,su sodado con las palomas mensajeras maravilloso.
@@iggystoyparadesoldierrevie1092 .. trying to glue the little studs back onto metal stand was a nightmare. My parents were antique dealers. My dad asked if I could swap the Britain's soldiers for boxes of airfix one's. Lol. My parents never sold them they were on display in shop. Finally got some things back ..... German infantry, details box. And the brilliant big tank with machine gun stuff. Sweeeeeeeeeeet
Hi Iggy. For me ,the World War One figures were the best of the small scale sets, mainly because of the variety of imaginitive poses. French, German, British and American were all great, but the French were my favourite.
When I was a Kid I remember liking French too. The Americans with campaign hats and Germans with pickelhaub didn't interest me back then. I really like the French with long coats turned up. They look super cool.
My first Airfix sets were the Union and Confederate soldiers and the Civil War Artillery set. I also had the 8th Army, Afrika Korps and British Combat group and German infantry.
I remember that Train shop! My parents would take us for chicken dinners on Sunday. Do you remember the toy shop across from the restaurant? I'm trying to find pictures of it. They sold German Castles and toy soldiers too When I want to the west coaster last March my brother and I made a trip to Knotts Berry Farm. I talked to a lady about the hobby store and she said it was gone long before
Born in England in 1960. As a boy i had many of these. I recall the first i got was the Confederates. I even got the fort. I must had about 30 different sets. Iv still got 5 or 6 stashed in my loft alongside other child hood mementos.
I like to hear of the love you had for these fabulous toys! Perhaps it is time to ressurect the pleasure they once gave you? You could begin a new collection and proudly display them! Her Majesty is in the hands of God. Long Live the King!
@@iggystoyparadesoldierrevie1092 Yes happy Childhood memories Iggy. We didn't get a lot as children those days compared to children these days. But i recall getting couple boxes of those soldiers at Christmas and for my birthday. They were fairly cheap. I had hours of fun. I give them away years later to nephews. But still got a few Original boxes in the loft. I dont think shops sell Soldiers these days? Here in Britain we also had Boys papers like "Victor" and "Battle" that featured war stories. They were very popular. Iv still got few them from early 1970s in the loft too.
I absolutely love hearing about your memories of these toys! I gave mine to a neighbor who was neither grateful nor interested. I regret that decision. In the late 90's. And 2,000'syou could get G. I. Joe, Ultimate Soldier and Forces of Valor soldiers In stores. Those days are gone now. You can't find a Hobby store anywhere. The kids today know nothing of history and don't care to.
@@iggystoyparadesoldierrevie1092 Another favorite toy was called "Action Transfers" made by a company called "Laterest". Basically a background battle scence, like Battle of little bighorn, and you places the trasfers over a spot, and rubbed over with a pen, pealed the outer paper away, leaving the image transfers to the background. They were popular. Must been around 1967 till about 1973 when i got those. Still got them in my loft too.
Iggy...my brother and I had these back in the 60's. Unfortunately, over the years the heads broke off. We had British, German, American, and a few others. I think I even have a few left.
I gave mine to a neighbor boy when we moved and I could tell he didn't give a fig about them. I sure wish I had them back. I've bought a lot on eBay since then but it isn't quite the same
@@iggystoyparadesoldierrevie1092 I've got a whole box of plastic figures I've saved over the years, Marx playset figures,some of these Airfix soldiers, Multiple men (ring hands) you name it.
Die WW1 Soldaten der Deutschen,Briten und Franzosen ware die allerersten die ich mir als Kind kaufte.Das war in den frühen 1970er Jahren.Heute als Mann mit 59 Jahren liebe ich nur noch die Napoleonlsche Zeit,speziell die Franzosen❤🇨🇵 (schreibe aus Deutschland)
wow, those boxes of Airfix take me way back. and on the sprue! Great points too about HO scale, and the Afrika corp "sqeeze gun" figure-- irritated me too :)
Gosh, I LOVE Airfix models. Last year I went to Newcastle and went to a shop called Fenwick's and got myself some Africa corps and 2 WWI fighter craft. We have Coca Cola bottles here in the UK, but they cost at least £1 per bottle if not even more!!!! I come from England, some people think I'm the real Ronald, I am European!
@@iggystoyparadesoldierrevie1092 I buy Ramune soda from ASDA's, their quite good. I buy them for this Nigerian guy I know called Bryan. I buy them for 2 reasons., 1 their Japanese and taste good and 2 because they use genetically engineered ingredients. I have a bit of thing for them, even though a lot of people would rather I didn't. Freedom of choice I say. I also buy a drink banned in the US called Iron Brue, it's a Scottish soft drink, but the colouring in it is banned in the US. Another thing I enjoy is the Bar soft drinks bubble-gum, it has he same colourant that Parma violets have in them, one of my favourite sweets, I also like those cherry lips everyone seems to hate. But I don't like cream soda!
That is a cool childhood then, isn't it? Today's kids have nothing to compare with that memory. I think that is sad and what's worse is they don't care!
I collected those as a kid . I can tell you for a fact , that the factory quality control was very lacking . Fresh out of the box , you could come across heavy flashing , or in the worst case , partial castings as well . Thin parts were sometimes broken , like that bike tire was . Brand new , not 30 plus year old , like your getting them .
@@iggystoyparadesoldierrevie1092 Memories were good , but it happened often enough to understand the product of the time . By in large , they were good , and had a lot of fun with them , and Roco minitanks .
I think the British I showed you were from the early 70's. I don't remember what they looked like in the sixties. I had only WWI British, American, German and French figures. The reason why that is funny is I played with them and a Soviet T-62! I always put the French and Germans as allies too!
@@iggystoyparadesoldierrevie1092 The figures from the early sixties had the figures wearing the Mk.III helmet, similar in shape to the one worn by British troops until the mid eighties, the rifles were supposed to look like Lee-Enfield No.4's with spike bayonets but it was very hard to tell what they were.
Check out the video I did titled, "Ultimate Soldier Desert Rats." I think I posted that a week ago Anyway, I talk about those subjects. Do you collect 1/32 Airfix?I like those a lot! I guess the 24mm is hard for me to see. You know I never had any WWIi British, so I missed the Turtle helmet and spike bayonet. When I bought my P37 web gear it came with a spike bayonet, a MK Ii helmet net and a first aid bandage. The bayonet was packaged in grease and still got a little rusty! Time is merciless.
Did airfix do ”Robin Hood”, ”Tarzan”, Roman legionaires,and wild west themed sets in 1/72 scale? Because I have those from my father he bought them back in 60s and 70s.
Certainly did, there was a Apollo astronauts set, civilians, and one of the earliest sets was a British marching military band. Unless my memory is shaky I believe Airfix produced hard plastic forts that required assembly for "Robin Hood", the Romans, and Foreign Legionnaires. And as I type this I'm reminded that there were sets of Arabs, and perhaps zoo animals.
@@johnbarnes6832 Aye. I know some of those, as there are also those Roman legionaires, arabs with their camel rides, three dogs from farm (others lost or broken), wild West with settlers and Native Americans (and the settler wagon), some horseback riders what I cannot recognize (dark blue plastic, Gotta take another look of them for details)… 🤔
Yes, they sure did! The Tarzan set was certainly an unusual offering. Ron Ely (Tarzan) opened a real estate office in my hometown when I was a teenager.
@@iggystoyparadesoldierrevie1092 The best score I ever found when I was much younger was when my father was stationed at Newburgh, NY air base. It had a mini base exchange for toys and one fine day when I arrived they had several sets of most Airfix 1/76 available and I just had gotten my allowance. Next day there were several large battles in the living room.
My earliest sets would have been mainly Napoleonic or WWI. British RHA, infantry and the French infantry pictured. Back in the early '70's about 17p a box here in the UK. Bought a sealed mint blue box first edition set of British 8th. army from Alabama off Ebay about 10 years ago, about £60 UK price at the time. Just wish I had kept all of mine. Still collect Airfix catalogues and some of the old kits but try and avoid Ebay!
Do you have Hobby stores still? Here in Florida they all closed up! I found some Britain's Deetail one time at a garage sale, but that is it. Everything is ebay now which is good and bad. I wish I had kept my Airfix from my younger days too!
Admit most of the model shops I went to as a kid have unfortunately all gone now. Even several of the national chains have gone and some of the specialist die cast sellers I have used over the past 15 years. One or two main dealers exist around the UK but ebay has finished off most of the independant dealers. Now hooked on buying metal figures such as the Britains Zulu war figures but although expensive are superb to collect if you have the money.(Did buy the Deetail figures as a kid, the 8th army vickers machine gun my favourite). Sometimes actually use specialist US shops as they work out hell of a lot cheaper than UK shops, Treefrog Treasures is based in Florida, then Michigan Toy Soldier company and Minutemen Toy Soldiers and Hobby bunker based up in Massachusetts are the best. Own two copies of the book that you have in your video, bought the 2nd copy by mistake forgetting I had already bought a copy a few years earlier. A new copy on Amazon is now about £250.00 (about €300.00) last time I looked. Will watching your videos as I am a new subscriber( great hobby which I cannot see me ever giving up, blame my dad for that!) All the best from England.
I vaguley remember buying American Civil war figures....box of Union & a box of Confederate ...it must have been around when we were buying packs of bubble gum with cards & Confederate money ....weird !...PS..I also had French Foreign Legion & something with camels but....
Thank you for sharing your memories! It is fun to remember and it might be time to rediscover your love of those things again. That's how I got started again!
I was an avid fan of Airfix in the 60s and early 70s. I somehow managed to buy every box that they brought out until I found out that girls didn't rate them. My best friend and I were complete nerds about them and we played with them relentlessly. Consequently, some of them slowly, over time got lost or broken. I cannot ever remember seeing a French WW1 bicyclist that did not have either a broken or mended wheel. We just accepted that they left the factory like that. IIRC they had a mold line or a bump on the upper front tyre and they were always broken there. We didn't really care until we started wargaming. The Africa Korp were, pretty much just WW2 Germans in shorts and the two sets shared a lot of poses, including that weird MG/cannon. Later they changed the figures to smaller versions of the 1/32 scale sets they started producing in the late 1960s (IIRC). They were much better quality. Although, again, the Africa Korp were pretty much the same poses but in soft hats and shorts! Oh, and that's not a WW1 French standard-bearer, he's the chap with the white flag ... 🤨
I use to save my lunch money (.35 cents) and buy Roco Minitanks and Airfix figures. I think I held out until I was 14 before I quit. I wish I never stopped! I stopped because of the girls, but none of Them liked me so I should have just continued collecting
I had them all, I had miniature battles on top of my bed, then on a wargame table in the basement. I built shelves to store everything on. Plus, I painted all of them including faces using a 00000 paint brush. I went to College. Discovered a war gaming club. Requirement supply your own figures... I had them... went home to discover that two days after I went to college, my mom cleaned house. Everything was gone. Even the metal Britain's. Scruby's, 25 mm metal miniatures... a box of Airfix miniatures cost fifty cents a box. Started in grade school and through high school. I had a newspaper route and spent my money on war gaming...seeing this video brought back memories.
Childhood! Abd yes realy TOY soldiers. Not high tech ovdtoriced stuff likr today. Affordable. Package in the 60/70 ies : 2.50 Marks in germany,toda, would mean 1.25€. All those companies forgot the" toy factor". Likr Modrl rr too. Sad for kids today.
I agree with you about kids not having the same fun as us. I remember sitting outside under the tree playing with my Germans and Soviet tanks. Those were the days!
the spikes well they had them during the franco prussian and austrian prussian war so the spikes probaly was to make them look scary but they changed the helmet
Thank you for providing the time so I could figure out the comment. I've spoken with some elderly Australians and British and they had the same feelings. I've also talked with Americans who had problems. I'm not surprised by it. I imagine there was Japanese who felt lingering bitterness after the war. War is a nasty business that makes people do wretched things. It must be very hard to cope with that when it is over.
It was a justified reaction since the Japanese were exceptionally cruel to captured British soldiers. The beheadings and torture were alien to western thought. I suppose the Japanese felt what they did to prisoners was perfectly okay. All sides share some guilt when it comes to that, but the beheadings was regarded as over the top and understandably so
You're mistaken, they have never listed HO in the UK as being 1/72. From the time Airfix first started to produce these small figures (in 1959) they were listed as HO/OO meaning they were somewhere between 1/87 and 1/76. This was to make them appear compatible to both the US (HO 1/87) Model Railroad and the UK (OO 1/76) Model Railway systems. It remained like this until 1985 when Airfix's new owners began listing them as 1/72. (this was simply to make them look compatible with the 1/72 figures of other manufacturers. Of course these figures didn't suddenly grow overnight.....in fact they never grew at all and never have been 1/72. The good thing is since Hornby took over Airfix in 2008 they are now more accurately listed as 1/76
That was the longest comment I've ever received just to tell me I'm wrong! I actual liked the information, but what you are saying was not generally known to kids in the 1960's. Perhaps adults knew this, but certainly not kids. We liked getting Airfix to play with instead of actual HO figures because they were a little larger. I remember having a bag of 1/87 American soldiers and I thought they looked like ants. Anyway, I am sorry if I angered you by not knowing that HO/00 was merely a suggetion.. I am a lazy researchers, so I better be more alert. Thank you for your time and I truly appreciate your input. I hope I have not been too ingratuious. Positive criticism is how we learn.
@@iggystoyparadesoldierrevie1092 There was no anger in my comment whatsoever, I'm sorry that you thought there was. I just wanted to explain to you how things developed over the years. Incidentally, I bought my first set way back in 1960 (The Guards Colour Party) when I was 9 years old and continued to collect them as new ones were released. My favourites were the American Civil War figures and of course the WWII sets. Also when the packaging was redesigned I just had to have them too so as you can imagine I still have numerous sets some still on their sprews and never used.
