Introduction / Explanation

This will always be a 'work in progress' as photographs are added or upgraded and missing bits are slotted in. Aiming to be no more than a guide to the figural production of Airfix Products.

Wherever possible it will quash urban myths or commonly held beliefs which are incorrect, most of which have grown-up during the 'Internet Years'.

As many search terms as possible will be used in order that anyone visiting whether familiar with Airfix or a new collector/casual browser will be able to find what they want, either singly or in groups of similar size, period or subject matter using the 'Click-on Index' to the right. Likewise the title-blocks will be as comprehensive as possible so they can be discerned in the 'Blog Archive' feature on the left of the page.

As this is designed to be a sort of second page for the Small Scale World blog, there was going to be no 'comments' feature, but I've enabled it, still, anyone with an issue concerning the factual accuracy of any entry can eMail me with supporting evidence and will be fully acknowledged for any resulting change or update.

I will also not use the Pink/Khaki thing here as I have on the general Blog, I want it to be cleaner and more streamlined, so people can find what they're looking for with ease, although I will date additions if I think it's relevant.

Eventually, every post/page will have the figure set complete, a one-of-each-pose numbered line-up for ready reckoning, a set on the runners ('sprues') - if applicable - box types/artwork, inserts, copies/piracies, comparisons with other versions and other makes, moulding variations, conversions, painted figures both my own (when I get round to them!) and tatty old OBE's (Other Bugger's Efforts) from way back when, close-ups of the vignettes and anything else pertaining to each set I (or you - contributions welcome) feel is relevant, interesting, funny or weird!

1975; [WWII] U.S. Paratroopers, 51464 / 51464-8 / 51564-7 / 951564 - 1:32 Scale (54mm)

One of the late sets which received all the poses of the smaller 1:76th scale or 'HO/OO' set, a set which - itself - had a high number of poses, also a set which quite quickly appeared in a second colour, and it seems to be also that like the HO/OO set, the first; Airfix 'neutral' light grey, is more common than the second; Airfix 'army' green colour, suggesting that a top-up (or end-of-run?) of both scales was produced in the green, to use up some green or because the Ghurkhas or someone else green were also going through the production plant?

Much looked-forwards to when I was a kid, it was strangely disappointing when it finally arrived, having far too many figures doing nothing, standing around doing nothing or prone doing not much. But that was an illusion caused by the number of poses and in fact six of them are fighting/firing, which is more than some of the seven-pose sets.

The bottom right-hand trio are Hong Kong copies we will return to down the page.

29 figures in total, all pretty clearly numbered, in a mint set a drum-like ‘sprulette’ should be present on the following prone/lying figures.

·         9 – on the heel of the right foot

·         10 – on the heel of the right foot

·         11 – on right foot

·         12 – on right foot

The set was pirated at least thrice, with interim second-generation copies also resulting, the near same-size copies were issued with a HONG KONG mark on the base undersides, these were further copied, smaller, and issued as generics.

In the UK the larger figures were carried by Henbrandt of North London/East Anglia, and while the card is similar to the generic there are enough differences, not lest that these are passed-off as Germans on a little label-box!

The generic version were probably earlier (but probably only by a few months or a year at the most) due to the fuller/co-ordinated artwork and at least the nationality matches the uniforms this time! Other than the artwork differences, however, these are the same figures as carried by Henbrandt.

Meanwhile, around 1986 (a bit later than the above sets?) the Artform Industrial Co., of the New Territories, also pirated them (probably separately to the other source) with heavier but neater bases and of a smaller size, matching one of my other copy-samples; which is probably a sub-piracy of the Artform set.

Here's a close-up of the three types with those probable Artform sub-piracies in the middle, the larger generic/Henbrandt to the left and Artform's on the right.

Fourteen poses would have allowed the duplicates to be blanked-off the tool when Airfix switched to the 14-figure boxes, ensuring that each box got all the poses.

The 1985 catalogue carried part of the artwork from the rear of the 29-figure boxes, showing a painting of one of the figure poses from both sides and some like-wise rendered militaria.

♪♫♪♪♫ Let's dance . . . pick up your best grenade and dance the blues

Let's dance; to the song they're playin' on the Werffer of Nebels
Let's sway, while color lights up the foxhole
Let's sway, sway through the line to a safe-throwing space!♪♫♫♫♪

[WWII / Brush Fire Wars] Australian Infantry, 51458-3 / 1809 / 51558-2 - 1:32 scale (54mm)

At the time of writing (October 2019) I am still way behind with the 54mm entries (I think this will be six of 33?), while lots of the HO-OO stuff still needs text-blurb doing, but I'll keep plugging away and one day it will all be here!

Today it's the Australian Infantry, although they can just as easily be British, New Zealand or any of a number of troops in the Indian- or 14th Army's from about '42 through to 1945, and the main clothing and equipment carried-on into many of the end-of-Empire 'brush fire' wars.

The basic seven, like most of the early sets, all technically World War Two, and while some people credit Cameron with the sculpting I suspect someone else (Stadden?) may have been responsible for the first few 'sevens', Cameron doing the higher pose-count, later sets, and the additional poses for the [Stadden] sets which were reduced to HO-OO in the mid-1970's?

All the 1:32nd scale posts will get one of these (where applicable; not all the sets have obvious cavity indicators) from the never taken to fruition book project, and if you are bidding on an unsealed 'Mint'-described set, it needs to contain one each of the above, colour-matched to within an hair's-breadth of a gnat's-crotch!

While all sets will get one of these! This is the standard contents of a large or 29-figure box.

Compared with JIM's figures; being a French toy maker they are probably representing the troops who lost Indochina in the early 1950's, relying on a string of forts (like, err . . . the Maginot Line!) which the CT annoyingly went round! The chap in shorts could also suit the Algerian campaign . . . which went so much better!

Lone Star back here in the UK were producing a set nearly-all in shorts, which came as Aussies or African Rifles (darker skin tones), but contains mostly the short-wearers who would be unlikely to be found in the Jungle.

Shorts may have been OK back in India, but in the bush you need constant protection from leeches, ticks/kegs (keds), poisonous insects and spiders, ants, snakes etc . . . etc . . . etc . . . so long trousers, puttees, leggings or gaiters were an absolute.

The unpainted one is a Woolworth's sale and the white ones are recent re-issues, they are a tad heavier in the body as well, so while the marching chap (putting real effort into moving his tired bones) is a useful addition, the rest can be left in the Western Desert!

Also a bit well-fed, the Trojan figures do at least have the right apparel, if being a little dark in the material for the OG's (Olive Greens) issued, however the customary looseness of the garments is as well carried-off by Trojan's sculptor as it was by Airfix's.

Almost a better colour, these are believed to have been meant to represent the North African ANZAC forces. All the trojan's are nice sculpts but they lack the finesse of Airfix's figures, and this guy's damaged weapon-tip would make it longer than the Airfix SMLE.

Box art courtesy of Kostas; a solid and determined crew doing a serious job, but the burning hut in the background is rather reminiscent of the German push across the steps of Russia in '41, as covered by Signal magazine!

Timpo, we loved them at the time, but to be honest, they reveal their juvenile credentials when compared to just about any other figures (bar the Cherilea UN troops!) out there; also the fact that they are equipped with things vaguely resembling an FN and some experimental Italian SMG doesn't help! But the officer and the Bren-gunner can thicken the Antipodean ranks, while the rifleman (far-left) can go a bit  'Audie Murphy' with a Bren-LMG wedged in his mitts instead of his rifle.

With eternal thanks to Glenn Sibald we get to compare them to the New Zealand National Army Museum's fund-raising competition figures, neither of which are close, being a turn-of-the-19th/20th-century's colonial militiaman and a desert soldier, also they are a bit smaller, but they are out there.

The Airfix Ghurkha's probably are all Cameron's work, you can see some of the less comfortable poses he tended to include once the 'standards' had been ticked-off, particularly the Kukri 'challenger' and the chap on the far right, this set has more than seven poses but they will get their own page.

A bit of a problem with these; all of it stemming from Paul Stadinger's Blog and it's de' facto N^o2, one Erwin Sell, who though to tell everyone the Ri-Toys (Rado Industries) figures (insipid greens, lumpy sculpting and duplicated posing) were Blue Box, and that the Blue Box conversely, were Rado! Not content to state this as fact once, he managed to repeat it twice more in two different places, ensuring as many people as possible might believe the idiocy.

I can assure you the Blue Box are the better figures in a sandy-tan with the factory-paint typical of the rest of the line, and the smaller, pantograph-reduced lumps are a second generation copy with nothing-more than box-ticking to recommend them.

As they are mostly wearing shorts, it's off to Monty for some of 'em anyway! But note how the Ri-Toys officer is a cut'n'shut of the Blue Box grenade thrower and the Airfix officer (Erwin further claimed it was 'unique Blue Box'), while the marching guy, signaller and MMG-operator can be used with the Airfix and make useful additions, despite being slightly smaller, they fit in quite well, and would - more-so - if all were painted to match.

Although 'small-scale' the two main types of Hong Kong diminutives, were taken from the 1:32nd Scale set, long before Airfix reduced them to HO-OO and added the extra (Cameron) poses, so technically they belong here, being taken only from the original 7 poses, although the figure comparisons will probably go in the HO-set's entry. These are various brandings of the larger of the two types at around 1:72nd scale.

Hans Postler was a German importer (jobber) shipping stuff into France, Germany and the low-countries, from the early (?) 1970's, although enough of their sets appeared over here (before the onset of the Internet) to reason on either a deal with a UK importer, or stock-clearance? And this set is in their later 1980/90's graphics.

Aglow were a late (2000's) French imprint, while I was buying the Toy Galaxy stuff around 1993/4 at a shop in Clapham Junction which is sadly no longer there.

This set dates from the 1980's and was the earlier, smaller (approximately 1:76th scale) set, although the quality is so poor they look like 2nd-generation copies of the larger figures above, they were probably independently pirated. Hong Kong Toy Exporters had offices in Central District, HK, and - as their name suggests - were probably middle-men/agents or shippers.

There are not as many copies in the larger scales as there are of other sets, but with colour variations and the 45mm lot (who can stiffen the backbone of the Rado dwarves!), there's a few to track-down.

I don't have branding for these yet, but they are part of a wider line which includes equal quality/finish Afrika Korps, Japanese and German Infantry also taken from Airfix and they may turn out to be from the Wing Wah Plastic Factory (The inset logo)? I have even less idea on the two smaller ones, but it'll all come out of the wash one day!

Bird-eye view of the seven figures to finish-off for now.

Thanks' go to Andreas Dittmann for the Aglow set, Glenn Sibald for the NZNAM figures, Kostas for the box-scan, and Bill B, Brian Berke & Peter Evans for info.

1981 [Sci-Fi] Space Warriors, 51577-3 / 9 51577 / 5170NB - 1:32nd Scale (54mm)

Coming shortly after the medievals (in my memory) just as childhood gave way to teenage pursuits, we never had these as kids, although we did have two sets of the medievals and made-up some rules for them which we . . . I'll tell this one on their page! It's immaterial anyway as by 1980, my brother had taken command of all large scale and I had the small scale stash!

I did manage to pick-up a set in a car-boot lot in the late-1990's and while later passing-on the rest of the bag, had already painted these up and stuck them in (on) the 'cabinet of curiosities' where we looked at them briefly (and fuzzily) about ten years ago; we'll be looking at them again, in a minute, below.

I should have an undecorated human male, but can't find him so for now it'll have to be Ensign Jeffrey standing in. Seven poses, and they were an odd selection, seeming a bit dated, yet actually referencing various tropes (or troops!) that were in the public or cultural conscience in the late 1970's or early 1980's.

This is the numbered contents of a set, and numbering is pretty clear on all sculpts on the upper side of the bases, so anyone buying a boxed-set described as 'mint' or complete, but lacking the sealed, poly-foil outer wrapping needs to have one each of all the above; numbered as above.

Examples of base numbering on figures 5, 7 and 13, you can see how clear they are and all 14 will be needed to 'make' a set. Equally a set needs to be either grey (early, getting scarcer), and matched-grey at that, or silver (later, commoner), not mixed together!

The pose quantities were also a bit odd, as it's no lie to state the two worst poses are the 3x's (padded cricket/baseball body-armour and 'Frisbee' man) while the two single issues (Romanesque humans) are among the best sculpts, with a fourteen-count, two of each would have been the best way to go, indeed - the obvious way to go!

Playing with a mirror, not as easy as it looks, you have to hold the 'background' (which is actually between you and the camera) in one hand, aim and fire the camera with the other hand and ensure the flash-reflection doesn't show; you can see it slightly in the top left corner of a couple of the shots!

You also have to keep one eye on the camera's screen which is away from you and held at an odd angle, to ensure the 'background sheet' covers the whole of the figure/likely crop-area. Weirdly; the mirror steals some of the light, so the reflections are a bit darker, and not because it's the back-side, the bases are darker too?

We'll start a look at each pose, starting with the 'Disney' characters!

Ensign Jeffrey

He's adequate enough if you're looking for an over-enthusiastic junior officer to blame in a crisis, but you don't want to be relying on him in an emergency; what he carries in geldt he pays for in missing 'grey-matter' if you know what I mean.

He's a bit of a clicktivist, more interested in his comm's gadgets than his guns; his father was Lord Hetherington Fothergill Cholmondeley-Fahqquar-Popinjay (two 'Q's, no e, hyphens added to inherit), the third Earth Emissary to Alpha Centuri, which explains everything!

[Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, Lando Calrisian (was later?), Blake's Seven?]

Grace

Sexy, spunky, space-babe, what's not to like? And she's a better shot that Jeffrey!!

[Wilma Deering, Princess Leia, Blake's Seven, Logans Run?]

Busso Bad Bot

That's all you need to know, isn't it? He's not called Busso Bad Bot for nothing! He's as mean as his sheen and can use that Mk.4 sonic-katana to carve an ice-swan or a butterfly from a watermelon in 2.6 seconds, but he'd rather carve something out of your head.

He's wanted on seventeen alien worlds, forty-seven Terran-fed worlds, and sixty-two independent or non-aligned human worlds, he's also being hunted by five of the six largest crime syndicates. His rap-sheet has no empty tick-boxes and his last (empty when found) hideaway was located in the outer mantle of a large star.

[Features of any number of bots, Shogun?]

Darth Gaylord Condominit

His suit of the finest pharmaceutical grade Dildastatesman silicon, his hood manufactured from hypo-allergenic synthetic latex with built-in gimp-mask, he's armed with the very latest vaginator upgrade for his Penetrator Parabellum, which is tooled in Venusian jade-crystal, he fights for Luurve against the haters of Hate, the Walrus of War cums to save us from ourselves!

[Darth Vader, Blake's Seven?]

Grod from Krud

Unspeakably awful, but a very useful mercenary, his diet is basically carrion, but he will fall back on other animal's droppings if he gets really hungry and he's not fussy as to species, consequently feeding an army of them is not much of a problem, cost wise, indeed the more fighting's involved, the lower the messing-bill!

Which brings me to their motto; "Kill them all!" you won't be surprised to hear this means they are quite easy to hire, at the lower end of the budgetary-constraint scale, for jobs that are likely to include a lot of killing, but they aren't the brightest buttons in the box, so no complicated missions - they are best employed on slash & burn or full planetary-invasions. However they do need to be barracked a long way from other buildings, preferably - off-world . . . the smell, you see.

['V', Dr Who?]

Clonecorpsman

The galaxy's sonic-cannon fodder, genetically engineered to do what they are told, you can send them as fast as you can grow them until the job's done or you find something more interesting to do elsewhere! Basic sonic-lance, basic body-armour with basic HUD, basic breather-kit . . . very expendable - but they just don't mind!

[Dr Who?]

Chinpol Interplanetary Investigator

Once Trump had taken the US off the world stage, and following the Sino-Russia war of '37, China became first the world's policemen and then the Galaxy's main police force. These interplanetary officers are fully trained (brain-jack immersion-learning) in sixteen martial arts and are to be found throughout Terra's spiral arm, operating in the Galactic core, providing support on most transit routes and the intermediaries or hubs, as well as operating in small teams out on the rim, hunting down the Galaxy's most wanted.

[THX1138, Dr Who?]

Scale comparator with the contemporary Britains-killer; they all match-up, if the Airfix are all given the same idiot-base the Britains figures have. You can also - of course - take the idiot-bases off the Britains figures, but then they are left with very silly shoes! The idea that the range may have contributed to the demise of Britains is no surprise really, when you think about it!

I will get a load more comparisons done in the fullness of time; the beauty of sci-fi/fantasy is that anything can technically go with anything else. While, less wacky or outrageous pairings can be achieved between most other sets and - at least one of - the Airfix sculpts, given the spread of subjects/genres covered by the seven sculpts.

Some old evilBay sales images of mine from the Berkshire days I found and used for playing with the heat-map tool in Picasa - 1970's psychedelia - groovy man!

Single-figure comparison between a late, probably Poplar Plastic Products polyethylene figure (ex-Thomas Toys tooling) and the Airfix reveals a slight smallness on the part of the later figures.

The Terran Federation's Security Service worked closely with other agencies to keep the developed universe as safe as possible (when organised crime could base itself on uncharted planets) and here we see two agents on exchange/secondment going through one-to-one mentored refresher training in urban CQB, at Spectrum's HQ in leafy Surrey!

While a lot of sci-fi styling is 'of its time' and can become quite dated, the Captain Scarlet uniforms still manage a futuristic look - here from Timpo - years after they left the popular stage, to join the nostalgia club! The gull-winged jerkin with side zip and bi-coloured lumber-jack cap being still quite distinctive; not so sure about the Mary Quant booties though!

Lik Be (LB, formally 'LP')'s spacemen/astronauts look a bit out of place next to the Airfix figures, taller, less animated and slightly underfed, they are doing a good impression of gawky kids on the dance-floor where the guys from Haldane Place have popped an E, downed a few shots and let go! Wer-wer-wer-whyyyype'ouut!

Robo-friends and fem-bots; The [possibly/probably] Hing Fat figures of 'BraveStarr' robot 'Cowboys & Sheriffs' (link to my post) are a little small, but being robotic can be any size, a minor stretch of the imagination and they can be quite-compatible!

Definitely Hing Fat on the right, generics on the left and surprisingly not as small as I thought they'd be, nor that incompatible animation-wise (as I was also expecting) when placed side-by-side with the Airfix, so really only styling which keeps them in separate universes!

Torgano's figures are huge, but style-wise fit in quite well, albeit with a slight two-dimensionality. These are I believe - the third version of this Italian maker's figures which began with a polystyrene iteration glued to separate bases, then an integrated base design (which may be someone-else's copies) and finally; these heavier, softer polyethylene sculpts.

Also from Italy and produced around, what; thirty years earlier (?) than the Airfix release; Chromoplast's synthetic PVC-rubber figures are quite similar (ignoring the leery paint-job) fashion/style-wise, but thinner, taller and a bit two-dimensional.

I've posed two pairs with similar features, 'hood, gloves & cloak' on the right, with - on the left - several similarities from the Roman Gladiatorial'esque 'Thracian helmet' and heavy collar, through to the bulgy-weapon with weird disc feature, via the padded-underpants/leotard.