Hi all,
I'm Aksu from Helsinki, Finland. I started wargaming with Airfix Napoleonics back in the Bruce Quarrie days of the grim 1970s, and after all these years dabbling in 6, 15 and 20 mm I've finally discovered the wonderful world of 10 mm figures. My first project will be ACW armies for Longstreet. I hope to be able to show my efforts to you soon, and I hope to get painting and basing tips and tricks from you veterans.
Cheers,
Aksu
Hi to you too, Aksu. :-h
A very warm welcome to the madhouse forum.
Cheers - Phil
Welcome.
Howdy Aksu,
ACW; good choice! A big Rebel 'Yeeeeehaaaaw' to that! :-bd
Cheers,
Rob
Welcome Aksu; I started wargaming in 1967 using Airfix ACW, eventually moving on to 15mm in the late 80s. If I had my time again I would do it in 10mm as the Pendraken range is fantastic. Take a look at the thread where Leon has commissioned all the ACW figures to be painted for the online catalogue. You will certainly get lots of help on this forum.
Hi there!
Hi Aksu. Airfix were probably the granddaddy of all wargaming, I certainly started out that way too. Welcome to the forum.
Mmmm. My grandfather was a useless, boozing layabout. The Airfix comparison is most apt.
Meanwhile, welcome, Aksu. I hope we'll get to see your collection of Scandanavian credit cards some day.
Hi Aksu
Welcome to the club
Welcome on board Aksu. I too started with Airfix, albeit WWII in the early '70's.
More foreginers getting in, must speak to border control.
Welcome.
IanS (Angry of Birkenhead)
Don't worry about Ian, you get used to him after a while.
Ah yes, Christmas Day, 1962 or 63, Sek Kong Village, Hong Kong, Frank Ifield singing 'I Remember You' on Forces Favourites. Halcyon days. My first introduction to little chaps. My father had bought me two packs of Airfix Afrika Korps and 8th Army. Never looked back.
Welcome Aksu.
Hi Aksu, welcome to the forum!
Apparently I started gaming with Airfix figures in 1961-62 though it was Little Wars style gaming with gunfire simulated with marbles flicked Subbuteo style at the opposing army!
Subedai, I must have boosted my forces with those same two sets at about the same time you got yours. No problem in those days with having the vaguely NATO combat group and the 8th Army take on the German infantry and Afrika "Corpse" in a fight over a clearly English Pub/ Cottage/ Parish Church or a Signal Box clearly marked "Oakham."
My father was sure it was a craze I'd grow out of ... over half a century later he's still waiting :)
Hi Aksu, welcome to the Forum!
8)
What Ian doesn't know is we have secretly traced is DNA:
15% Serb
11% Finnish
10% Andalusian
7.89% Trinidadian
0.45% creole
0.1111111% Italianate Swiss
0.0000006% Orc
The rest is identified as 'Not of terrestrial origin'!
;)
Ultimately, we are all star stuff. The journey's our ancestors took to get us to where we are now, insignificant in terms of time and space.
Quote from: Ithoriel on 26 August 2014, 01:42:44 PM
Ultimately, we are all star stuff. The journey's our ancestors took to get us to where we are now, insignificant in terms of time and space.
Yeh man, far out. Pass the smoke....
Quote from: Ithoriel on 26 August 2014, 12:22:04 PM
...... or a Signal Box clearly marked "Oakham."
I'm not picking on you quoting two posts. :) I just had to say I drive past this signal box quite often. It is in the centre of Oakham overlooking a level crossing.
I'll shut up now. :)
Aksu you are very welcome and I hope you enjoy the new scale. There is a danger of overbuying and exceeding painting speed capacity, you'll know when you get to that stage as Leon comes and visits you, he then massages your shoulders and puts the paintbrush back in your hands. :D :D
Quote from: Rob on 26 August 2014, 02:07:59 PM
I'm not picking on you quoting two posts. :) I just had to say I drive past this signal box quite often. It is in the centre of Oakham overlooking a level crossing.
Not feeling picked on at all :)
My Airfix equivalent sat next to the level crossing on my little Hornby 3-rail train set layout. Games often involved a German assault on the outpost defending the level crossing which had to hold out long enough to allow the Brits to set up a defence in the village in the middle of the board.
Hello Aksu, and welcome to the place where it all happens.
I too started with Airfix and the wise words of Don Featherstone. Still have most of the Airfix stuff today, including a Churchill tank with a bent gun.
Quote from: fsn on 26 August 2014, 04:22:30 PM
the wise words of Don Featherstone
As in "4, 5, 6 there's a kill"?
Certainly!
Thank you all for the warm welcome! This certainly sounds like a jolly nice place to be :)
This might be a bit of a faux pas to post this on this thread, apologies, but anyway I'll try and attach my first ever pic of my first ever 10 mm paint job, a Union regiment marching.
Ooh! Nice! I like those.
Lots of ACW paint jobs on the forum just now. I'm beginning to feel I'm missing out :)
Not a faux pas at all, great painting!
Nice work on the figures, and welcome
Welcome, Aksu - nice ACW figures 8)
As if we really needed someone else who's a decent paintsmith!
Lovely stuff, and I like the size of that unit.
Very nice painting and looking excellent en masse.
:-bd =D> :-bd =D> :-bd
Very very nice
Given your hope to pick up tips you might find this thread on Magic Wash interesting http://www.pendrakenforum.co.uk/index.php/topic,10438.0.html (http://www.pendrakenforum.co.uk/index.php/topic,10438.0.html)
Hi Aksu,
Great painting,
kev
Now that's what I call a unit, Aksu. Excellent.
Quote from: mad lemmey on 26 August 2014, 01:13:40 PM
What Ian doesn't know is we have secretly traced is DNA:
0.0000006% Orc
;)
Nothing wrong with a bit or Orc !
Welcome Asku - you will soon get used to the banter and jokes - many are ondoing ones that go back months if not years.
Just for the record - I am the only sane one.
No your not!
Hullo,
Thanks for the magic wash tip. Looks like that particular Pledge product is not available up here, so I'll have yet another reason to raise some eybrows at the customs next time I pop over to Blighty. Perhaps I should start a petition to get some proper wargaming-related products into my local supermarket. And proper teabags of course - none of those silly sachets with bits of string attached nonsense. A painter needs his builders tea to get through a mountain of lead!
Cheers,
Aksu
Cool!
I like the big units, though I do prefer them to wear grey but that could be personal :D
Cheers,
Rob
No, personal would be to call you a slave keeping reactionary.
Quote from: Just a few Orcs on 27 August 2014, 12:04:22 PM
Nothing wrong with a bit or Orc !
Just so long as it's not the bit that rends, tears, bites or mangles.
Not a lot of Orc on the Totty thread though, is there?
You seen a female Orc !!!?
IanS
Oddly enough, no! Didn't think there was such a thing. :o
Just try it in Google Images...
:-&
I'm sure I posted some pics of orcs and goblins in the top totty thread a while back
Quote from: Ithoriel on 27 August 2014, 05:10:40 PM
I'm sure I posted some pics of orcs and goblins in the top totty thread a while back
Yes, yes you did. Not sure if we've forgiven you yet... ;)
Welcome Aksu. Love that unit, forty men look the part in a way that sixteen don't! Also like the unusual way you have done your flags - very realistic :-bd :-bd =D> =D>
Mollinary
Very nice work indeed Aksu 8).
Quote from: Dour Puritan on 27 August 2014, 01:56:36 PM
No, personal would be to call you a slave keeping reactionary.
It wouldn't be personal; it would be historically incorrect ;)
Cheers,
Rob
Oooooh Airfix! Those were the days....I remember having a (very) varied selection from Ancient Britons to ACW; all fighting on the D-Day beaches!!!
Peter
Quote from: LondonPete51 on 04 November 2014, 02:26:51 PM
Oooooh Airfix! Those were the days....I remember having a (very) varied selection from Ancient Britons to ACW; all fighting on the D-Day beaches!!!
Peter
Oh, very Doctor Who! Some sort of temporal hitch, perhaps?
Are all of the old Airfix boxes of soldiers still for sale ?.....Seen odd ones recently, but I seem to remember (Hah !) there were a load of different ones ?.....Some real 'goodies' too.
Cheers - Phil.
Some are now being reproduced bij HäT but still not all as far as I know. The old sets to go with the trains and the sets with the zoo animals are no longer available and neither are the old British 'Guards' and 'Guards Band' being done by anyone. Most WW-1 and WW-2 sets are still being marketed either by Airfix, Heller or HäT.
Cheers,
Rob
Ta, Rob !
Cheers - Phil
Hi Rob
Quote from: Ace of Spades on 05 November 2014, 01:00:12 PM
Some are now being reproduced bij HäT but still not all as far as I know. The old sets to go with the trains and the sets with the zoo animals are no longer available and neither are the old British 'Guards' and 'Guards Band' being done by anyone. Most WW-1 and WW-2 sets are still being marketed either by Airfix, Heller or HäT.
Cheers,
Rob
The figures to go with the trains are still available in a fashion from Dapol http://www.plasticsoldierreview.com/ManufacturerList.aspx?id=51 (http://www.plasticsoldierreview.com/ManufacturerList.aspx?id=51) along with the old Airfix buildings. http://dapol.co.uk/index.php?route=product/category&path=177_62_155 (http://dapol.co.uk/index.php?route=product/category&path=177_62_155).
The others are in eBay cloud cuckoo land as far as prices go :) I wish I still had my Guards band that I converted to a an ACW Union band. This set was brought out by BUM http://bennosfiguresforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=7096 (http://bennosfiguresforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=7096) but I can't find any currnet link.
(http://www.picturestack.com/420/337/8HKDSCN72254WO.jpg)
Cheers
GrumpyOldMan
False memory syndrome ?.....But I remember them looking a lot crisper than that.
(Maybe the colour of the plastic ?....Think the ones I had were almost pink)
Cheers - Phil
Could be age-related FMS. I remember the Guards band as being pretty ropey.
Wasn't it the first Airfix figure pack?
(He he - they're called 'BUM')
Heavy is the hand of age upon the shoulder of - FSN
I think I'm getting them mixed up with another pack ??
Was there a pack with just (almost all) marching figures with the rifles over t'shoulder ?
And do I remember packs of cowboys ?......Norman knights ?....A Robin Hood pack ?
Cheers - Mr Dazed and Confused. 8-}
There was a pack of marching guardsmen, of similar style and quality to the band.
Cowboys in a dark brown plastic, Robin Hood and his merry band in green and, not Norman Knights but, The Sheriff of Nottingham in grey.
The Robin Hood figures I had were converted into Gothic Infantry using info from Airfix Magazine on how to do the conversion; using pins, drawing pins, Plasticine and banana oil.
Happy Days
Quote from: Ithoriel on 06 November 2014, 11:39:14 AM
There was a pack of marching guardsmen, of similar style and quality to the band.
Cowboys in a dark brown plastic, Robin Hood and his merry band in green and, not Norman Knights but, The Sheriff of Nottingham in grey.
Happy Days
Cowboys ?...Dark brown ?......That sounds right !......Robin Hood in green ?......Yep !.......Ahhhh.....That makes sense...The Sherriff and his nasty men, rather than Norman's ;) knights.
Were there 'red indians' in a 'terracotta' hue ?
Others.....ACW Union troops in almost navy ?.....The Confederates in grey ?.
Definitely happy days. ;) :) :) :) :)
Cheers - Phil
Phil Cowboys, Romans, Sheriff of Notingham and Robin Hood for certain. The last had 2 firing(sp) longbowmen, once had a unit of 30...
IanS -11?
Quote from: Techno on 06 November 2014, 12:32:38 PM
Were there 'red indians' in a 'terracotta' hue ?
Others.....ACW Union troops in almost navy ?.....The Confederates in grey ?.
Yes, yes and yes!!
Also ACW Artillery in similar coloured plastic to the Red Indians (perhaps I should call them Native Americans nowadays) and blue plastic US Cavalry. Discovering the joys of painting the figures meant the Confederates finally got some cavalry!
Ithoriel - 1190 :)
Waggon Train? With wimmin and children. Also is a terracotta - or as we say - reddish-brown.
Old like fine whisky - FSN
Quote from: fsn on 06 November 2014, 02:06:07 PM
Waggon Train? With wimmin and children. Also is a terracotta - or as we say - reddish-brown.
As unpredictable as moonshine - FSN (FIFY - Ith)
Wagon Train was filled with the barrels from Buccaneer in my case. Supposedly black powder rather than rum, though if the troops were being supplied with the latter it might explain my success rate.
Hullo,
For plastic figs of all kinds, including Vintage Airfix, the Plastic Soldier Review site is well worth checking out: http://www.plasticsoldierreview.com/ManufacturerList.aspx?id=3
They have pics of both the Guards Colour Party and the Guards Band. Both in exquisite spaghetti-coloured plastic.
Cheers,
Aksu
PS I have fond memories of converting Airfix ACW cavalry into Ancient Greeks. There is nothing you couldn't do when armed with a needle stuck into a cork and heated over a candle. Except maybe good looking Ancient Greeks...
Thanks, Aksu !
Stroll on........Lots there that I don't think I ever saw !
Cheers - Phil
Quote from: Aksu on 06 November 2014, 04:49:11 PM
PS I have fond memories of converting Airfix ACW cavalry into Ancient Greeks. There is nothing you couldn't do when armed with a needle stuck into a cork and heated over a candle. Except maybe good looking Ancient Greeks...
We always used a miniature soldering-iron. Same result, however.
Quote from: Ithoriel on 06 November 2014, 02:43:10 PM
Wagon Train was filled with the barrels from Buccaneer in my case. Supposedly black powder rather than rum, though if the troops were being supplied with the latter it might explain my success rate.
There's a name that brings back memories. Mostly of me bursting into tears (even when I'd won).
I hasten to add that was a long time ago. Perhaps as far back as 2011.