Many of us of a certain age are gamers because of Airfix and we owe a lot to them. But even so, there's no denying that some of their figures were total mingers :) Whats your favourite rubbish Airfix figure (or Matchbox or Esci or any.....) ?
My personal favourites come from the original British Paratroopers box. This promised so much with fantastic artwork, but open the box and you get total bobbins. The 2 best in my view are
Shooting-up-in-the-air-man. The only people to shoot at up there are....... my own colleagues :-\
(http://i615.photobucket.com/albums/tt239/goatmajor/up.jpg)
Doing-physical-jerks-man. You'll never make the grade at the Arnhem Fat Club if you cant touch your toes while waving a piece of paper
(http://i615.photobucket.com/albums/tt239/goatmajor/down.jpg)
I'm amazed you've still got them - or pictures of them, at least. But rubbish figures weren't confined to Airfix. Who remembers the original Minifigs Napoleonic horsemen with their pistol-grip swords and half-moon faces? ;D
In't the 2nd one supposed to have a container with him. As to first - street fighting on a 60's council estate.
IanS
I cant remember what set but some of the figures were amorphous blobs. However I remember standing for hours just looking at the gorgeous box art :)
The luftwaffe set has the nice figure from the step aerobics session :D :D :D
http://www.plasticsoldierreview.com/Review.aspx?id=466
Last year my son ebayed about 2000 ww2 and 1500 napoleonic airfix I had given him a few years back from my childhood.
They went for just short of £400 to a chap in france. They might be sh*t :o but you can always guarantee some mug will want them!
They were great - and really bad too!
The British paras were really bad - its a shame as the 1/32nd ones were great. The British infantry were almost the opposite, in verging on the anorexic.
The DAK and 8th Army figures were pretty good.
http://www.plasticsoldierreview.com/Review.aspx?id=363 - though mine were a nice desert yellow
The WWI figures were odd, with 1914 British and Germans, late war French, and the strange US pack who look like they are on pre-war manoeuvres.
I think I had nearly all the WWII sets (and still have a fair few, though I ebay'd a lot a few years ago.)
I remember that the US Paras were really good as well as the German Mountain troops.
Their alleged ancients pushed back the frontiers of pure junk.
Quote from: Steve J on 17 March 2011, 07:34:52 AM
I remember that the US Paras were really good .
Apart from the bloke waving his spade about. ;D
In my view the figs that were scaled down from their 1/32 sets were generally excellent but the additional poses/figs tended not to be so good are were noticeably smaller in most cases.
HAHA Goat Major, I literally fell about when I saw the photos of those two Paras you included... my Paula came through to see what I was laughing about, and I had to spend five minutes explaining about Airfix, my youth (aye... a different age back then) and the mingers the different set contained as that inevitable useless compulsory inclusion - haha.
I too, am impressed you still have any left. I wish I did.
I think for me, as far as memory serves, my worst mingers were:
(A ) the WW2 American Marine being shot and half falling backwards with his arms raised like he was falling off a crucifixion cross.
(B ) The second were ALL the ACW Cavalry.... how many of us actually owned plastic cement back then, and how many who DID actually got their plastic riders to stay on their mounts for more than five minutes?
Six ;D
suppose i must clarify that i havent got any left - i found those pics on the interweb - plastic soldier review i think.
The Mk1 US marines box was a doozy wasnt it ? - lots of men randomly waving their arms around with no weapons. It did however contain a very animated flamethrower man who made up for his otherwise p*sspoor comrades
I think physical jerks man is handing a napkin to the guy behind him.
WWI - the French carrier pigeon, the two BEF blokes with barbed wire, the Americans all in boyscout hats - if only there had been some Mexicans. I mean who were they supposed to fight? All the Germans were in pickelhaubes!
2 commandos carrying canoe over their heads.
Why?
"Right lads, Smudger you rush up to the gun emplacement the krauts can't get to clip together properly, Ginger, you use the scaling ladder to get at the MG nest, Chalky, you and dusty wander around with a kayak"
Quote from: Last Hussar on 16 April 2011, 01:05:18 AM
"Right lads, Smudger you rush up to the gun emplacement the krauts can't get to clip together properly, Ginger, you use the scaling ladder to get at the MG nest, Chalky, you and dusty wander around with a kayak"
;D
sadly a lot of this stuff only appeals to ageing guys reliving their childhoods (if you want proof watch James Mays Toy stories) hence 300 pounds for a Juventus Subbuteo team. A lot of plastic figures seem designed to be made into dioramas rather than for wargaming hence the guy with the tube and waving paper, or guys bayoneting the ground, I think the guy firing up is supposed to be firing at a sniper on a roof or spire, I have a huge box of Airfix but will never sell it, you never though, but I cant imagine painting any whilst the lead mountain is as high as it is.
Cheers
Myron
Quote from: ronshippau on 25 April 2011, 01:32:45 PM
sadly a lot of this stuff only appeals to ageing guys reliving their childhoods (if you want proof watch James Mays Toy stories) hence 300 pounds for a Juventus Subbuteo team. A lot of plastic figures seem designed to be made into dioramas rather than for wargaming hence the guy with the tube and waving paper, or guys bayoneting the ground, I think the guy firing up is supposed to be firing at a sniper on a roof or spire, I have a huge box of Airfix but will never sell it, you never though, but I cant imagine painting any whilst the lead mountain is as high as it is.
Cheers
Myron
That reminded me, they werea teal pain to paint ....or to get the paint to stay on!! >:(
Apparently the re-released 1/32 sets are in harder plastic which takes paint quite well. I am seriously tempted to relive part of my childhood and see if I can do a better job of the Brit Paras than I did over 30 years ago with gloss oil paints from my painting by numbers sets.
there was a very nice Arnhem game at Salute using lots of those 1/32 Brit Paras
Quote from: goat major on 25 April 2011, 08:16:11 PM
there was a very nice Arnhem game at Salute using lots of those 1/32 Brit Paras
One of the few games I spent a long time watching.
I never liked the airfix figures and fell out with them completely after spending hours helping a mate paint naps and then saw half the paint flake off in the first game... maybe we should have used banana oil?
Mind you I did have loads of the plastic kits, aircraft hanging from the ceiling etc. but my pride and joy was the Saturn V rocket, a great model.
Quote2 commandos carrying canoe over their heads.
Why?
"Right lads, Smudger you rush up to the gun emplacement the krauts can't get to clip together properly, Ginger, you use the scaling ladder to get at the MG nest, Chalky, you and dusty wander around with a kayak"
;D =O :-bd
Quote from: alnewhaven on 25 April 2011, 03:58:35 PM
That reminded me, they werea teal pain to paint ....or to get the paint to stay on!! >:(
I have at times painted with a matchstick, but never with a duck. I salute your initiative, Sir!
Quote from: FierceKitty on 02 May 2011, 01:55:08 PM
I have at times painted with a matchstick, but never with a duck. I salute your initiative, Sir!
Maybe that's where I went wrong. Should have used a matchstick
The blogs and images of plastic Airfix brought back a few memories. I believe there were two distinct Airfix styles/scales. In the early 1960s the 2/= (two shilling) box was styled H0 &00 and clearly meant to compliment the railway kits. Early soldiers - Guards Band, Colour Party, Civilians, Eight Army, Russians,
early Germans and ..the Infantry Combat Group (1960s British in 58 web and SLRs) were close to 1/87- indeed it was a book by Charles Grant using
Airfix Russians/Germans and Roco T34s etc that got me into serious gaming.
Later releases began to get bigger as the scale perhaps matched the 1/76 being used in the AFV model kits. Some as you say - US Marines etc- had two scales in one box!
Whatever the faults, and some rubbish poses they were cheap and cheerful and got us started.
Thanks for the memories
Sunray Out