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"What did you use Airfix figures for in the 70s?" Topic


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882 hits since 21 Oct 2024
©1994-2024 Bill Armintrout
Comments or corrections?

Personal logo John the OFM Supporting Member of TMP22 Oct 2024 8:43 p.m. PST

Back in the day when a poor starving student appreciated boxed for $1.00 USD!

Romans, of course.
Roman Heavy Cavalry were French Cuirassiers with thumbtack shields.
Cowboys took on many Light Cavalry.

Carthaginians used Robin Hood archers converted to Spanish with Stroh's beans for shields, and pins for spears.
Do Roman head transplants for same, or peltasts.
Zoo Set #2 had a fine elephant.

Knights and Robin Hood. Medieval.

A friend took American Indians, wrapped glue and cloth around them and made Ancient Indians.

I wasn't into AWI back then, but I see many uses.

Sadly, some needed metal figures. 😢

What did you do?

Personal logo Dal Gavan Supporting Member of TMP22 Oct 2024 9:54 p.m. PST

Napoleonics,

Roman invasion of Britain (the Ancient Britons and Romans were two of their better sets),

ACW,

WWII Western Desert and PNG (Airfix Australians and 8th army versus some Japanese- made by a company I can't remember*.)

SYW (using the Brit grenadiers and Washington's Army for both Austrian and Prussian forces, "completed" with Napoleonic artillery and British "Waterloo" hussars- which you can do quite happily at age 14).

*Does anyone remember a plastic soldier range from the early '70's which were a bit larger than Airfix, but close enough? They came with the flesh (faces and hands) blob-painted. Most were nice figures, too, for the time. They came out, at least here, in the early 70's, possibly even '69. Sold in bags of 20 or so figures for about 10c, though later on the bags were only six to 10 figures. They had the usual suspects from WWII, including some Japanese, which nicely filled a gap in the Airfix line. There were also Spanish Republicans from the SCW, who came with a Spanish ensign carrying a (roughly) painted Spanish Flag. Some WWII sets, eg 8th Army and Japanese, included crew served MG and mortars. Each set was moulded in the approximate uniform colour.

PS Sorry, John, not trying to hijack the thread.

Martin Rapier22 Oct 2024 10:40 p.m. PST

I didn't do much in the way of convertng as I mainly used them for WW2 and Napoleonic, just paint conversions and chopping some figures around to make heavy weapons crews or change head gear. I do convert a lot of vehicles though.

Dexter Ward23 Oct 2024 12:56 a.m. PST

Horse Archers were the top half of Robin Hood archers on ACW cavalry bottom halves.

GildasFacit Sponsoring Member of TMP23 Oct 2024 1:08 a.m. PST

I had a Celtic army with some minor conversions for standard bearers more impressive than the originals. I did a small number of Romans converted to Greeks but they were too much work to do more.
I did a medieval army that had men with pin spears/lances and drawing pin shields, even barding made from toothpaste tubes for the knights.
Sadly all of them crumbled to dust many years ago.

myxemail23 Oct 2024 2:21 a.m. PST

WW II : US marines, Africa Corps
WW I: British, Germans
Napoleonics: French artillery
Miscellaneous: farm animals

Those are the sets that I can specifically can recall, even though I had several more sets

Personal logo John the OFM Supporting Member of TMP23 Oct 2024 2:34 a.m. PST

Spanish with Stroh's beans for shields

I bet that's rather confusing…
"Stroh's beer can tabs for shields…"
They pulled off back then. Proper oval shields, with them cut away with sheets, and filed.

How could I leave out the Gauls? Nice chariots.

Personal logo Flashman14 Supporting Member of TMP23 Oct 2024 2:52 a.m. PST

ACW Union for Legionnaires. I can't recall what we used for Arabs. American Indians?

It wasn't for long and Viking Hobby carried the full range of Minifigs so we transitioned quickly into lead for our Colonial games.

bobspruster Supporting Member of TMP23 Oct 2024 3:34 a.m. PST

I sold my 2,000 Airfix figures (and Roco armor collection) when I turned 13 in 1966. I knew nothing about miniature wargaming until I learned of it's existence around 1977 at which time I immediately started with Airfix Napoleonics.

Alakamassa23 Oct 2024 5:08 a.m. PST

Set up German WW2 and Roco armor in the TV room on Friday night while watching Wild Wild West and Hogan's Heroes. Those were the days in the 1960s before discovering gaming. First gamed with Airfix ACW. Bought a ton of Naps while bicycling through Wales in 1974 which I tried to paint in 1980 and gave up on. Dug out the WW2 and Roco toys when I got more involved with gaming in college 1974-8. Switched to lead during my D&D period and save for a few simple games with my son never returned to Airfix. Funny, I was just thinking about repainting all the Airifix WW2 this morning. An old man longing for the days of youth.

Personal logo ColCampbell Supporting Member of TMP23 Oct 2024 5:54 a.m. PST

Robin Hood figures armed with insect pins for pikemen. Dangerous if you accidently rested your forearm on a unit with vertical pikes. Ouch!

WW1 Germans minus the spike on the helmet for British colonials in pith helmets.

French Napoleonic dragoons with a paint job as British Napoleonic heavy dragoons.

Plus I'm sure there were others but can't recall any details.

And I still have the very first unit I painted – the British Napoleonic Highlanders as the 42nd Black Watch!

Jim

79thPA Supporting Member of TMP23 Oct 2024 6:15 a.m. PST

I was boring; I just used them for whatever they were.

Col Durnford Supporting Member of TMP23 Oct 2024 6:32 a.m. PST

Cowboys for CSA Calvary.

French foreign legion, with cut off neck cloth, for 1870 French. WWI Germans appropriate painted for their enemy. Waterloo British infantry for Austrian. Even a few Union infantry for Italians.

Even before that the color party (in bearskins) painted up in two different colors to fight it out.

JMcCarroll23 Oct 2024 6:47 a.m. PST

I was a strange kid, I keep buying French WW1 boxes and to this day I can not tell you why.
I did have WW2 stuff later and had the Zoo pack and African safari pack. I had a nice zoo in the back yard until a summer storm came threw. Still can't find my cheetah, which was my favorite.

Personal logo FingerandToeGlenn Sponsoring Member of TMP23 Oct 2024 7:06 a.m. PST

Mexican War: Civil War US infantry and cavalry for bodies with WWI British infantry for heads. Napoleonic Brits for Mexican infantry with some cutting on the shakos. Chapaultepec cadets were the Brit Guards with shakos trimmed to garrison hats. Cuirassiers for, well, curiassiers (most painted as 1st regiment).

Gear Pilot23 Oct 2024 7:09 a.m. PST

I collected the WWI and WWII boxes. I had plenty of battles fought on my bed. Dominoes were used for artillery.

Dagwood23 Oct 2024 7:49 a.m. PST

Romans, Ancient Britons or Gauls, WW2, Napoleonics, Medieval, ACW, FFL and Arabs all intended to be used for what they were. I still have most of them, the WW2 still unpainted.

Some Ancient British Cavalry were converts from WW2 figures, not particularly successful. Infantry converts (mostly just adding shields) were more so.

The Romans were painted in a silly blue colour scheme back in about 1972. I have recently been repainting the legionaries in red, last 8 figures on my painting table ATM. They will have more recent HAT figures added for cavalry and auxiliaries. Shame about the silly "lances".

Martian Root Canal23 Oct 2024 7:52 a.m. PST

Many of my Airfix troops became 'crash test dummies' in my model rockets or in my firecracker demolition experiments.

I also used them for wargaming.

khanscom23 Oct 2024 8:18 a.m. PST

WWII mainly-- did a "paint conversion" of Japanese to Italians . Some ACW cavalry were converted to Russians with Roco heads transplanted.

Wackmole923 Oct 2024 8:20 a.m. PST

Arabs vs French foreign legion in the Sahara fort

ChrisBrantley23 Oct 2024 8:42 a.m. PST

Rules According to Ral battles with Airfix Robin Hood vs. Sheriff of Nottingham.

Used Airfix to create J. B. Gordon Brigade for Civil War battles using Rally 'Round the Flag rules at the club.

Bought Airfix AWI (Americans & Brits), cowboys, arabs and foreign legion, but never used them.

Micman Supporting Member of TMP23 Oct 2024 9:07 a.m. PST

ACW, Marines, Africa Corps, Airborne. Also still have them.

Red Jacket Supporting Member of TMP23 Oct 2024 9:19 a.m. PST

Started with the Civil War and then WWI and WWII. I had Arfix-like figures that I ordered from an ad in my Weird War Tales comic book for the American Revolutionary War. They were nowhere close to the Arfix quality. I then bought (or had Dad buy) different periods. A great way to get more "army men" was to explain that I needed both sides of a conflict. What good was the Foreign Legion without Arab tribesmen to battle with. Come to think of it, I may have been spoiled as a kid?

I had three ping pong tables set-up over which units could move so fast that it was like they were teleporting from end to end, depending upon who I wanted to win. History was unimportant, my Roman fort worked perfectly for the castle from the movie "Castle Keep." The French Foreign Legion fort worked fine for European castles or Fort Ticonderoga. Artillery was augmented by cannon purchased during family vacations to various historical sites. Scale was unimportant. All I needed for hours of entertainment was my imagination.

Perris0707 Supporting Member of TMP23 Oct 2024 10:56 a.m. PST

I converted WWI French and Foreign Legion into Franco Prussian War French. I used WWI Germans for the Prussian forces. For Cavalry forces I used Waterloo French Cuirassiers and British Hussars. I also converted many of the Robin Hood figures into ancient Israelite warriors.

belasirius23 Oct 2024 12:52 p.m. PST

I used WW1 French for WW2 French and Belgians, I used Confederates for German Colonials. I used the French Foreign Legion for Peruvians and ACW for Chileans for the Great Pacific war.

Personal logo Parzival Supporting Member of TMP23 Oct 2024 1:07 p.m. PST

I wasn't really into what I only knew of as "Army Men." I did long for the various medieval and ancient figures in the Sears catalog, but couldn't afford them. (I was a kid, not a college student.) By the time I could afford ‘em, I was playing with Star Wars action figures (still have them) and their in-scale spacecraft (still have those). Otherwise I spent the money on video games.
My friends had Army Men, which wound up the victims of "hand grenades" (firecrackers) or "nukes" (lighter fluid), or were targets for close-range BB fire.

I did have a set of plastic British Royal Guards (with bearskin hats), bought for me by my older sister on a trip to England. These stalwart fellows served as infantry in the wars between the stuffed animals on my bed (which I favored) vs. the strange toys on my bookshelf across the room (who were the bad guys. One was an extremely ugly poseable clown doll given to me by a great aunt, and thus not "disposable." Yegad that thing was hideous. Perfect evil general.)

I also had some generic Flash Gordon style spacemen, and they joined in the wars as well. My childhood bedroom was a dangerous war zone for imaginary people.

Frederick Supporting Member of TMP23 Oct 2024 1:19 p.m. PST

ACW for – ACW

ron skirmisher23 Oct 2024 1:19 p.m. PST

1/32th or the little guys? We still game with the 1/32th in
our WWII Bolt-Action Games/Battles.

14Bore23 Oct 2024 2:03 p.m. PST

Had German WW2 and 8th Army British, just played with them on a train set. Wish I had them now

Personal logo 20thmaine Supporting Member of TMP23 Oct 2024 2:26 p.m. PST

French Foreign Legion for ACW Zouves.

FusilierDan Supporting Member of TMP23 Oct 2024 3:18 p.m. PST

While reading the Classic Illustrated "Conspiracy of Pontiac" I used my newly acquired WWI French and WWI Germans as well as the Plains Indians.

For awhile I played Revolution and Worker's strikes games.
Any figures with a pick, shovel, surrendering or throwing a hand grenade was a protester. Cowboys were all protesters. WWII Germans were either firemen and medics or elite guards for the Dictator (German officer saluting) Infantry Combat Group was the National Guard, WWI Americans State Police, US Marines National Guard except the guys that had no weapons.
Wagon Train and civilians were civilians. US Cavalry were Cossacks running down anyone in their way as in Dr. Zhivago.

Sydney Gamer23 Oct 2024 5:33 p.m. PST

Fired Britain's cannons and rolled marbles at the them, at first. Then got Don Featherstone's Wargames first book and the light went on!

Bunkermeister Supporting Member of TMP23 Oct 2024 5:34 p.m. PST

link

I have a Facebook group that asks that same question, with 15,000 members.

I used them for what they were, mostly, but since then I convert stuff all the time, mostly 20th Century, mostly head swaps.

Bunmkermeister

Oberlindes Sol LIC Supporting Member of TMP23 Oct 2024 10:44 p.m. PST

The medieval sets -- Robin Hood and the Sheriff of Nottingham, as I recall -- found their way into Dungeons & Dragons games.

I remember using one of Robin Hood's archers as ninja in Bushido.

I painted some Napoleonics, but somehow the French Cuirassiers ended up mounted on rhinoceroses. I don't they ever got into a battle, but they looked cool on my shelf staring down the Highlanders.

I did a few little conversions for Traveller, like gluing a thread from rifle to gas mask canister of an Afrika Korps trooper, and calling it a laser rifle and power pack.

And my Roman legionnaires are green for some forgotten reason. I think maybe they were humanoid aliens opposing my Giant brand round aliens.

Personal logo Saber6 Supporting Member of TMP Fezian24 Oct 2024 7:36 a.m. PST

WW-I and WW-II

First sets were Afrika Korps and US Marines

LOTS of WW-I Germans and Brits too.

Personal logo John the OFM Supporting Member of TMP24 Oct 2024 9:12 a.m. PST

I painted some Napoleonics, but somehow the French Cuirassiers ended up mounted on rhinoceroses. I don't they ever got into a battle…

So, heavy Cav get heavy mounts. My giraffes got Hussars, so light mounts for light cavalry.
All makes sense.
Hey. It was the 70s, Man. 😁

Personal logo 20thmaine Supporting Member of TMP25 Oct 2024 1:00 a.m. PST

When the armies of Mordor were too small, Romans were recruited in for orcs and goblins….

dapeters25 Oct 2024 9:11 a.m. PST

Everything

TimePortal26 Oct 2024 1:28 p.m. PST

In small towns in the South during the 1960s, 1/72 was not easily available. I played with mainly 1/32 plastic. My grandfather had several sand piles since he had a cemetery company. So I had plenty of room to shot BBS at them and explode fireworks for many hours. He got tired of finding bits in his cement mixer, he made me a large pile of sand of my own. Lol.

Zephyr126 Oct 2024 2:24 p.m. PST

I used the WWII Germans as proxies for Japanese island defenders (as well as for D-Day beach defenders.) I've always liked doing invasions… ;-)

Personal logo Virtualscratchbuilder Supporting Member of TMP Fezian28 Oct 2024 3:55 a.m. PST

Circa 1978…. Took a box of British AWI grenadiers, added halberd blades to bayonets, vaunted everything black, and then green skin and silver blades and voila! Orcs! From two feet away anyway.

Personal logo piper909 Supporting Member of TMP29 Oct 2024 8:37 p.m. PST

Sadly, many of mine wound up fighting dinosaurs and dragons on Terror Island somewhere in the South Seas and were melted in a resulting inferno (gasoline on the ground followed by a match).

That's what boys did.

Oh, and firecrackers!!

Lets party with Cossacks Supporting Member of TMP30 Oct 2024 2:23 p.m. PST

At 13 tried to do a Waterloo diorama for a school project. Lots of non napoleonics pressed into service to meet up with their nap comrades. Had a 110mm Napoleon who towered over the ping pong table battlefield. No one seemed to understand how essential it was that it remained after the project was completed & marked…

forrester02 Nov 2024 2:28 a.m. PST

ACW infantry with bits of sprue added as French shakos. Also with Belgic shakos added with paper and plasticene as British Cuirassiers painted as British heavies. Guards Colour Party as Old Guard. Ghastly

Personal logo Old Contemptible Supporting Member of TMP02 Nov 2024 5:36 p.m. PST

I was playing board games in the 70s.

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