[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!

 

More on these has been posted here now.

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.

1974 [WWII] Afrika Korps (2nd version), 1711 / 01711 / 01711-6 / 9 01711 / A01711 - HO/OO

Some will say the best set (in either scale) ever made. Well...some of the sets by Revell, Zvezda or even now (late 2015) some of the recent stuff by Orion give these a run for their money, but I'm still one for thinking this was the best set ever made...by Airfix.

Several of the poses had already been issued in 1:32 scale when this set appeared to replace the older set which we looked at here. There is a rule here; the HO-OO only poses have shorts and helmets, while the 'both-scale' poses have caps and bloused, baggy trousers, the 'exception that proves the rule' being a crossover figure - prone firing, with shorts and a cap!

Reversed artwork on the 1980 catalogue image, I guess things were a bit hectic in the office what with bankruptcies and takeovers and the like going-on in the background!

Corrected image in the 1985 catalogue, this is one of the 'thumbnails' from the long-boxes, and is generally taken to be Erwin Rommel (the Desert Fox).

Indeed; he's simply described as a 'senior staff officer' in the catalogue blurb from the 1975 catalogue (image courtesy of Blog visitor Kostas), which seems to be a carry-over from the earlier sets with its mention of anti-tank guns!

Box art from the Atlantic effort, as I have no intention of starting an Atlantic Blog (there are two very good ones out there and PSR), it might as well go here, the figures are compared in the next image...

...along with the jingoistic blurb on the back of the box! The ratio was not 10:1 as stated (poor little Fascists bullied by the nasty Allies!) but closer to 2:1 (3:1 is preferred for an offensive against a prepared enemy); from Wikipedia: "195,000 men and 1,029 tanks under Montgomery made their move against the 116,000 men and 547 tanks of Panzer Army Africa."

The figures were rather fine* in a cartoon'ish sort of way, like the British Infantry by the same manufacturer there were a number of dancing loons, but there were also some useful poses*, although the plethora of knives, grenades and such-like in other hands was a bit OTT, and the separate head gear was hilarious, rather than practical, but they looked better if firmly attached with a bit of glue or a blob of filler.

* I'm kidding myself aren't I? The last four are 'OK' the rest are bloody silly! As always with Atlantic the line-drawings on the box seemed to refer to a better set than the contents!

OBE's with this set are minimal, they have had several cleaning sessions over the years and this is all that's come in painted since the last clean. The chaps from the 54mm set can all be painted-up for any other theatre, and both the officer and the grenade thrower (with the grenade removed) make excellent AFV or SPG crew.

Not much of a colour variation until the Heller muck-up (with an F) when they appeared in a dirty-snow grey for some reason!

Ah, yes! Not only did the horrible Allies outnumber poor old Rommel by 10:1 (according to an Italian blurb writer), but a Spanish artist shows us how the Allies devastated the Axis from the air, with squadrons of tank-busting Messerhurriefires in European theatre markings...it's just not cricket...from Montaplex...the copying pirate types!

Although - if they had numbers of 75mm armed AMX13's at their disposal, the DAK should have performed better than they did!

The figures: Quite close copies, and among the better of Montaplex's piracies, the colour isn't bad either compared to some of the stuff you get when you finally open the little envelope...they could have been bright pink or a washy apple-green!

Several of the figures make for easy single-cut conversions, I did some a few years ago, but they must be in storage as they're not in with the main lot, so I quickly cut these up to show a few of the combinations. The OBE on the end is a heat-conversion to save the surrendering man's honour by putting him to directing traffic or an aircraft?

Comparison with the Matchbox set, there's not a lot in it, the matchbox figures are very good, but I think the Airfix figures just take the trophy? The Matchbox MG42-gunner is poor and the 'Rommel' figure is a dwarf! AND...it's those silly bases again!

The 'Kit' set of figures from Esci seems to reference some of the Airfix 1:32nd scale set and some figure poses from - I think - Tamiya (I will look at all this on the main blog one day, as it explains one of the anomalies in Garratt's encyclopedia), anyway there were some nice poses and some straight lifts, however the Esci addition of ammo for the MG was a nice touch, as the Airfix set didn't get the sprulette of four ammunition-boxes scaled down from the 54mm ancestors. The Esci set also had a useful and quite accurate mortar, with ammo-boxes and mortar bombs (not illustrated here)

 2018 catalogue

1974 Battle Picture Weekly!

Comparison with the much elder Lone Star 'Germans, who are really more 'alpine' that Alamein! But the caps will allow for painting into an Afrika Korps army. Scale wise they are a tad smaller as a group, but after paint (and basing?) they would blend in OK, just that flame-thrower to explain!

I seem to have two versions of this image, one cleaner, the other better-coloured, I obviously intended to use one not the other but now can't decide which is the better, so the other is on the Type 1 post and this version can go here! Direct comparison between the two issues.

Links

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1973 [WWII] German Infantry (2nd Version), 1705 / 01705 / 01705-1 / 9 01705 / A01705 - HO/OO

Another of the sets to get a 70's make-over. I was always rather disappointed by this set, although I liked the officer and the guy mooching about with an MG34 over his shoulder, festooned with ammunition belts, overall the set lacked something.

As with the British Infantry redesign, they were a bit clean and - like both the aforementioned set and the 2nd Type 8th Army - there were a couple of silly poses, also; like the US Marines there was an obvious visual difference between the ex-54mm figures and the wholly new sculpts. Something the Desert Rats and DAK don't suffer from.

1980 catalogue, again one of the little 'thumbnail' images from the back of the white 'corner art' boxes, carried over as artwork Long boxes. I've read endless column-inches on the web about this chap's weapon, but I believe the sculptor has admitted it was just a f**k-up. He's also owned-up to using an air-gun for the standing firing pose, which does look like our old BSA Original! Indeed the photographs were/are to be seen in the Plastic Warrior magazines coverage of the 54mm set somewhere.

1985 sees the catalogue artwork reproduced so darkly he looks like an SS-man, just off parade. Compare with the previous image and it's obviously a different print-reproduction process (the technical details of which are beyond me?), lithography versus what? And which is which! but anyway, in my opinion; this image looks like it's been cut from one of Ron Embleton's Trigan Empire stories! Especially as he's clearly been armed with a space-blaster!

Compared to the Atlantic set which clearly used the 1:32nd figures as influence, but not necessarily complete lifts. The blurb on the back of this set is not as fanciful as some of the sets Atlantic did, but it's one where you're left glad that you got the slightly odd looking figures in the box rather than the very odd ones in the line-drawings on the back of the box!

Colour variation - Eric Williamson in his seminal (and missed) website was a great one for telling you exactly when he thought a certain colour was used, by placing it next to the box art as you scrolled down the page. Sadly with this set he used the same grey/pale grey (?) one for every box type! This may mean that pale grey figures were common in the batches that went to North America, or that he was having a lazy-day when he did that page (as far as I know they were all hand-built in HTML).

I can't tell you for sure, but I know I never saw any in the late 1970's (when the Para's and Mountain Troops where being issued in both shades), nor when I picked-up collecting again after a few years in the Army, but by 1990/1 (as the grey window-boxes were being phased-out in favour of the 'new' white boxes) I did buy a set, so they are probably one of General Mills' or Heller's many abortions! Although, a pale grey is reasonable compared to some of the colours they visited on some of the sets between them, so I'm just having a dig!

It's (that first set of mine in the paler shade) also stiffer plastic than the standard Airfix, so an MPC thing looks reasonable. I have since found softer pale greys as well, so they may well have had a bash when the Fallschirmjaeger and Alpenjäger got theirs, or be from more resent years. The originals came in the 'standard' Airfix dark (mid?) grey of the earlier set of the WWI Germans, Luftwaffe etc...

A comparison with the Matchbox set, not much in it really, both too clean, it's like they've almost finished mopping-up in France, 1940, and were about to have a victory parade when someone started firing at them!

Again (like the Atlantic set) there is a clear influence from the Airfix 1:32nd scale figure-sculpts, with additional figures to make-up a typical '50-figure' box of 15-odd poses. As with most of these comparisons, it's the equivalent poses that have lined-up, so no Matchbox mortar team here, as Airfix thought their blokes didn't need any support!

Nitto...well, what can you say? Vaguely based on an old/early Tamiya 1:35 scale 'kit' figure set (or actually the Bandai 1:48th kit? I'll correct this when I've dug them out!), they are pretty awful, certainly no threat to Airfix as a source for large numbers of figures (their kits were pricey imports as well!), the set is now hidden in the Fujimi inventory, as the whole runner is included in quite a few of the AFV kits.

Fujimi's own set (of 10 figures) is in storage, but I managed to cobble this together until a better image can replace it, although as this Blog is aiming for a scrap-book effect - I'll probably just add it further down!

The standing figures are not too bad, being (like the US Infantry) taken from Airfix and the Deetail range from Britains, bit the prone figures - of which there are five, seem to have been sculpted by the same ham-fisted troll who designed for Nitto! Probably a clue to the similar artwork and eventual takeover of the one by the other, in there...

A couple of the poses were also used in the 88mm Flak kit, but the 105mm got separate sculpts.

The 'new' white 'corner artwork' box in the 1975 catalogue (image courtesy of Blog follower Kostas), where they sat alongside pages of the earlier 'blue box' artwork. As with the 2nd Type Afrika Korps: the blurb is referring back to the 1st Type, with mention of the anti-tank guns.

In the upper shot here we see the 8 poses taken from the existing 1:32nd scale range in the line above and the 7 'new' poses in the line underneath. There's not a lot in it, if you look hard you might say a few of the new poses are slighter than the originals, a tad shorter overall maybe, but really?

The kneeling guy is as tall (were he to stand up) as a lot of kneeling figures from a lot of manufacturers, the poses are generally weaker, but there's nothing here to say for definite that they weren't from the same sculptor as the others. There's nothing to say they weren't created at the same time as the chosen 8. Indeed, the fact that Airfix went with 8 poses, when most of the 54mm sets - at that time - typically had 7 might lead one to conclude that the decision-makers had a number to choose from? I'm not saying that, I don't know, but with the later poses being the weaker poses, it's a distinct possibility that the masters all date from the same time.

The lower shot is a comparison between those larger figures with their 'puddle' bases and the smaller ones with their distinctive ogee-cornered oblong bases. The only victim of major change is the No.2 on 'the gun', he loses his rifle and about four rounds of the end of the ammunition belt; I'm guessing here: due to problems with moulding what were the extremities of his sculpt?

 2018's catalogue - one of six, all WWII, all common, very sad state to see the old brand-mark get into.

 Boys Own Invading Poland Annual 1939?

Compared with Lone Star's oldies; they are fine size-wise, and would probably work best as last-ditch home defence (Volkssturm) from 1944/45, or a bunch of cooks and bottle-washers grabbed by a passing unit of Feldjägerkorps to help hold a crossroads - "You don't need helmets where you're going, to the last man; for the fatherland!"

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1960; [WWII] German Infantry (1st Type), S5 / 01705 - HO/OO

Some people hate this set with a vengeance, I actually quite like it. Yes, like the Combat Group they are little nondescript blobs, with dodgy weapons, but...once you'd got your second type, or a few Esci or Revell - or any of the dozens of sets released in the last 12/15 years (how many German sets?), with their good detail and manly 23mm HO-going-on-1:72 sizing, these make fantastic Hitler Youth!

Lots of Panzerfaust, Panzerschrecht and the little AT rifle thing (28mm AT gun Model 41, s.PzB 41) are all lovely for a last stand at the cross-roads. And yes - I know there are Hitler Youth now in one or two of those 20 or more recent issues, but have you seen them? Horrible little dwarven lumps sculpted like metal war-games figures from the '70's.

"Ah!" I hear you say, aren't these the same?...Well, not really, these are steeped in nostalgia for one, and for another they are - if anything - sculpted for/like composition production, not lumpy metal, the masters being sculpted in wax from the look of them?

Aren't they lovely? OK, they're little blobs, but they're rather nice little blobs if you are a child of the late 1960's-early 1970's! The AT rifle was very useful for conversions, particularly for half-tracks. Favourite poses (way back when) were the officer with his riding breeches, his No. 2 (with the binoculars) and - for the pre-pubescent giggle factor - the wounded guy holding his nut-sack like a squirrel!

Favourite poses now include the kneeling ready with SMG, don't know what SMG, but he gives me a nostalgia hit as does the grenade thrower, and I still like the little gun with its wooden crew!

Little bags like these could be either Christmas Cracker gifts or 'novelties' or cake decorators supplies, but were easily as likely to be found included in 'Lucky-bags'. I know we got these jade-green coloured figures in Lucky-bags around the mid/late-1970's, but  don't remember the 'planes or ships at the time, so I suspect Christmas Crackers for these combination bags.

The aircraft are MPC 'Minis' copies and were issued with all sorts of Hong Kong rack-toys, gum-balls and the like, the boats too have been seen with other HK sets.

Comparison between Matchbox's set and the old and tired (retired by the time they came out) Airfix boys. Although the Airfix set had been withdrawn, it continued to be issued in 'fort' play sets for some time after the Matchbox figures were issued (1976). There is no comparison, although we hated the bases when these first came out, and they are a bit 'flat' due to the limits of the moulding technology at Matchbox, the detail is fine, the animation is much better and they had a mortar and proper MG's!

Fujimi comparison shot, not the best sample of the Fujimi, but I may have a better sample made-up in storage so we can re-do this at some point, they were a mix of the then 1:32 scale Airfix (officer) and Britains Deetail poses, along with several prone figure-poses apparently lovingly hand-sculpted from a pile of cow-muck with the blunt-end of a broken shovel!

This set (like most of the sets with figures) continued to clear the 'old type' long after the 2nd version had been released, and it was late issues of this play-set that contained the Japanese contaminant. I'm not sure why I haven't included a photo here yet as I have a couple around somewhere, but he may be in the Japanese bag....although I've done those pictures too, so he may be in storage with the Miscellaneous Airfix box? I'll add them below when it happens as they need to go on the Jap page and the WW1 German page as well.

Aurora copied the set for their Anzio Beach play-set/kit. My mate David Anderson had the set when we were kids, and although he left it at home, he brought to school and gave to me one each of the pile of tentage/tarps, stack of boxes and an oil drum to prove it existed and I still have them, much treasured possessions - despite having a mint set and several part sets now.

Hong Kong copied these prolifically before better figures (to copy) came along, with different companies (the loosest use of the word 'company'!) apparently copying a different 'menu' of poses, although there more than in this shot, which is what has come-in in the last few years, again storage holds the master-collection of these and larger samples will give-up the fuller picture in the future.

Airfix originals are the bottom rank, and sometimes these come with a mix of Airfix 8th Army copies and a falling casualty, who could be from the Combat Group, but is probably taken from the Britains Lilliput set. The blue row are from the same source as the jade ones in the little bags further up the post, and each row is from a different source. We will return to them below when I get the images sorted out and look at the various sets.

Montaplex-Hobbyplast used the figures in various sets and here we see them in the German Combat Group and El Alamein envelopes, equipped with a [captured!] Radar Jeep in the former and a couple of sub-scale trucks (radio-shack and runway control - I think!) in the latter, which also has a runner of 8th Army knock-offs.

Straight comparison, Montaplex really pushed the boat out with this particular act of piracy, copying no less than fourteen of the original poses with no duplicates. Figures are a bit smaller and slighter and suffer from the usual loss of finer detail.

Another set, another colour and a Japanese-looking bomber! France prepares to fold as the Prussians roll across their green, leafy. rural idyll for the third time in 70 years! Will they ever learn?

Nitto's set is the only one capable of claiming to be superior to it's then rival Fujimi (now stable-mates), based - I think - on Tamiya (or Bandai?) 1:35th scale kit figures and with separate weapons, they are still poor sculpts, just not as poor as the Fujimi set!

Sorting sets back in 2007/'08, the reason for laying them out is that it becomes easy to spot damaged, miss-moulded or converted figures by running you eye along the row, also any paint remnants stand-out like a sore thumb - see the brownish prone figure in the top right of the bottom left image.

You can see four sets already sorted on the other box top, and by counting the streatchers (top left) you know you're looking for another six sets, although out of shot were more bags of bits to be added as those seen are picked...I tended to do a light grey set then a dark grey set, fill the gaps and go again, the fifth set would be a more specific colour (there are some blueish-grey sets).

You keep going until you're down to the last few which you do as mixed (colour/shade) bags to knock-out ofr  a couple of quid at a show, the bargains causing customers to stop at your table, hopefully spotting something else while they wait for their change!

The late WWII sets from Atlantic were much bigger (here showing their homage to the Airfix 1:32/late set), and you can see what I mean about the old Airfix set as making good Hitler Youth!

Atlantic 'Hitler and the Brown Shirts', from the earlier sets however, is a much better match, and while the figure stands higher, that is down to the depth of the base. Careful use of a variable-speed belt-sander, held upside-down in a vice can solve that problem for ever!

Eidai-Grip-Arii also copied the 1st version Airfix Germans, three of them, along with the crew of the risible Sd.Kfz.234 Armoured Car from the same company. The whole set was also included in the big German Secret Strong Point play set, issued again by Arii in recent times and not very 'secret' as it's garrisoned by everything in the range!

I've miss-matched the kneeling figure but no matter, you get the idea! As with the HK and Spanish copies, these lose size and detail (but not as much of the latter) through the poor use of a pantograph, to copy from the original figures. The other two figures are - of course - from the Airfix Sd.Kfz.234 eight-wheeled armoured-car model kit, with the idiot mudguards.

First version 'cartoon artwork' boxes are my favourite, although they pretty-much pre-date me as a toy soldier fan, there were still a few on the revolving wire-rack dispensing 'trees', or at the back of the shelf in Webb's newsagents as I grew into Airfix in the late 1960's.

Comparison with the contemporary Lone Star offering, and LS wins hands-down, the detail on their figures wouldn't be seen on Airfix for some time still, and while probably equally invented, the flame-thrower works better with it's loop of hose and the kneeling firer knows how to fire, while kneeling!