"Airfix 1/72 scale Napoleonics?" Topic

When I was a youngster, had a bunch of Airfix 1/72 scale British and French Napoleonic figures. I still have them, and they are unpainted.

1. Wondering if anyone still has theirs?

2. If yes, have you painted them?

3. And are you using them for gaming?

4. Also do you use other 1/72 scale and 20mm Napoleonic figures with them as well?

Good memories!

I have a lot of them unpainted, including an original Waterloo farmhouse set, and a bunch given me by a friend maybe 20 years ago, that also dated to very early days.

But the pride is a hundred or so French infantry, painted over 40 years ago, using Testors paints and bird quills because I neither had nor could afford brushes, and there was no hobby store anywhere near home.

But we had a trap line, and grouse or partridge regularly wound up in the snares. The painting wasn't pretty, but I have happy memories of carefully boxing some up to take camping with my parents. In between fishing or hiking or playing horse shoes, or when it rained, out they came. Or maybe my small stash of comics. Or a Hardy Boys book.

The comics and all but two of the Hardy Boy books have long gone. But the Airfix lads remain. Not used, as I am mainly 15mm and 1/300 now. But they occupy a place of honour in the hobby bunker, and will leave with me in a pine box.

I still have quite a few of them unpainted – started collecting them back when Woolworths had them

Still use for casual gaming and trying out rules – but more fun was setting them up with my kids and just having fun with them

Use a few other plastic 1/72 with them

I have several hundred still. They were used for skirmish gams and have filled in for Mexican troops in the Texas revolt.

1. Yes 2. Yep. 3. Yes. 4. I have been gaming with them and other plastics and Hinton Hunt/ Der Kriegspielers figs since the 70's. Check out Plastic soldier review for 1/72 figs.

Thanks

John

I sold them or whatever I did with them many years ago. Have fun with yours. As I recall, they were nice figs.

Still have and use 1/72 Napoleoics, though not all of them are Airfix. They're a good travel army--lightweight and hard to damage--and I can get a tactical Napoleonics game on a card table, which is trickier in other scales.

At the time they came out, they were a must-have for all us poor wargamers. For years we had ACW figs painted as Brits & French

Sadly I sold my old Airfix Napoleonics years ago, however I have piles of other 20mm plastic including some other veterans from the 1970s : Airfix Roman Legionaries and Ancient Britons. Tbh the Legionaries are a bit rough and have been replaced with Hat figures, but the Britons had a repaint a few years ago and are mixed in with the other barbarians.

I still have my original Airfix armies for "Battle" as well, US Marines painted as US infantry, and a mix of first and second edition Germans. The enamel paint has stayed on the figures surprisingly well.

I had thousands, I "inherited" a large collection from my brother when he went to uni in 1975, a local model shop closed down and I bought up their entire stock of Napoleonic and ACW sets (plus any that were useful for conversions) and then a friend at school had "contacts" which meant you could ask him for so many figures of specific poses form sets and he could obtain them (so I had many battalions of Confederation of the Rhine and others made from the marching figure from the French artillery set, battalions of the marching French grenadier, etc. Alas all sold off when I went to uni myself. I still regret selling them. We used to play mahoosive games at school during the holidays, tables almost filling a classroom, games lasting 2-3 days. Happy days :)

Used to have 14,000 of them..and several waterloo farmhouses…
and I still paint them

More pics
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The Robinhood set is sill my favourite
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I got rid of them years ago.

Well … I pulled the empty boxes (6 for Brit Hussars, 6 for French Guard, 2 for French Reg, 2 for Brit Reg, 2 for Brit Highlanders, and 1 French Artillery … we mixed and matched to create armies) out of the old paper bag that these had been stored inside, and suspecting the figures would be underneath, but … alas no figures!

Will have to go looking for the figures, and perhaps find them in my parent's attic. My figures from those long ago days were purchased at a classic local store that stocked items for many different hobbies back then, although it has since closed. Recall using money from grandparents at Christmas time to purchase the only boxes they had in the store.

I agree these could make for a good travel set, and for use on small tables for tactical games. Or maybe large tables with lots of figures.

We had a couple of boxes of Britons, and a box of ACW Unions too.

Great to see the British painted by Pauls Bods, congrats!

Yes, I have lots of them, and they can be seen here:

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Originally all of my 1:72 Napoleonic figures were Airfix but over the years I have added other manufacturers, particularly Hat.

Rod

I have about 2,000 of them which I have bought over the last few years and finally started to paint over the winter. They are how I got started in the late 70s.

The British are all pretty good, i.e. look like what they're supposed to be. The French are all NCOs but I have persisted with them for nostalgia reasons. The Guard and cuirassiers are a bit weedy. The guns and limbers in the French artillery set are awful so I have replaced those with HaT. I've also added HaT supply wagons, an ambulance, light dragoons, French lancers and horse grenadiers, and RHA rocket troop. Newline provide flagbearers, French dragoons British heavy cavalry. I use Call to Arms for British foot artillery.

They are as cheap as chips and you can flog on those you don't need. I have all centre companies in the same pose, all elite companies firing and all light troops kneeling. So a kneeling firing guy is always a voltigeur. It works for me.

Yes, I have loads painted. French infantry, artillery, Cuirassiers, British infantry, Hussars, Horse artillery….La Haye Saint farmhouse, painted and based, I have converted many as well, painted as British Waterloo Allies etc. Yes, I use them in General de Brigade. Have added many over the years too, HaT, Revell, as well as Newline designs.

Also have Romans/Britons and the forts (DBA)…FFL/Arabs and the French fort (TSATF)…Robin Hood/Sheriff sets but no castle…

Have mounds of HaT and Revell British and Zulus as well (TSATF) (augmented with some metal (command and such))

A 1/72 plastic FEST!

No Napoleonics remain; but I do still have the Sheriff of Nottingham and Robin Hood sets, plus some WWI US and British infantry. All are painted.

Yes to all! The British have been stripped and are waiting to become Americans. I ditched the highlanders and all the cavalry but the French see quite frequent action as various things…

My Russian army for CLS was highlanders spraypainted green. I ended up switching to 15mm and sold off all my other stuff in the late 70's

I still have them and still buy them as well as other manufacturers.
Plan on more painting and gaming when I retire.
For large battles, the figures are so cheap to buy.

Yes indeed, Napoleonics, Ancients and WW2, with Italeri, Matchbox, ESCI, Hat, Zvezda etc, and some 20mm metals mixed in.

I think the main reason I stuck with them was that my painting speed is so glacial that if I tried to redo in 28mm metal I'd be long dead before I finished.

Stuff intervened and I paused the project a few months ago but these old Airfix guys paint up pretty well.

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I remember when I would young I had about 50 packets of 1/72 figures, mainly WW2, but Civil war and Napoleonic as well. Sadly I got rid of them as I though you would always be able to buy them, who wrong was I, especially for napoloenics. I now wish I never did as I am certain they would still prove useful.

Very nice to see 4th Cuirassier. I like how you have painted the french light infantry!