Commonwealth Troops Don't Sell? (1 Viewer)

[Rob]

Yes its an odd one this isn't it.When i was kid and myself and all my friends played with those plastic Airfix soldiers,German Infantry,Afrika Corps were always popular. It seemed (and i may well be wrong on this)that these soldiers and the US infantry were more readily available than were British soldiers(apart from 8th Army that we all had).Perhaps as kids it was the excitement of having 'Bad guy' soldiers!.Bad guys that we saw all the time in the War films of the 60's/70's.Or perhaps in those days we simply didn't have the wide range of choice.Those Airfix boxes are such an evocative image from my childhood,along with Action man and those war comics.

Maybe today its something to do with the uniforms that attract collectors to the German figures more than the Khaki of the allied troops.Their camo patterns do offer up some great choices.However after years of collecting mainly German troops i'm really enjoying the Allied figures of recent years.From the D Day figures of sometime back right up to the Arnhem releases its good to see the Allies getting a look in.

It seems these days things are changing.Recently i looked at a website of 1/72nd Plastic soldiers and there was a whole raft of allied troops available and coming soon.

I'm hoping for more Allied releases next year from K&C.But lets face it the German toy soldiers will always be very popular, ' Himmel' !! .

Rob

 

[Eazy]

Interesting stuff.
Thinking back to my Airfix 1/32 collection (i still have them all!) there were only 6 Axis sets:
German Infantry
German Mountain Troops
German Paratroopers
Afrika Korps
Italian Infantry
Japanese Infantry

However the Allied stuff had 10 sets
British infantry
British commandos
British Infantry Support
British paratroopers
British 8th Army
US Infantry
US paras
Russians
Australians
Gurkhas

Not sure if there's a point here but it's nostalgic

have i missed any?

 

[redhugh]

Interesting stuff.
Thinking back to my Airfix 1/32 collection (i still have them all!) there were only 6 Axis sets:
German Infantry
German Mountain Troops
German Paratroopers
Afrika Korps
Italian Infantry
Japanese Infantry

However the Allied stuff had 10 sets
British infantry
British commandos
British Infantry Support
British paratroopers
British 8th Army
US Infantry
US paras
Russians
Australians
Gurkhas

Not sure if there's a point here but it's nostalgic

have i missed any?

Matchbox The wilkepedia page says it better than i could
"in the late '70s, Matchbox produced a small range of 1:32 and 1:76 Second World War toy soldiers in direct competition to Airfix. These sets included British, German, and American infantry, the British 8th Army and the German Afrika Korps, and British Commandos. Though Matchbox's sets featured fewer figures than comparable Airfix sets (15 vs. 29 in 1:32), they included weapons that Airfix did not model (flame-throwers, heavy machine guns), and Montgomery and Rommel figures in the Desert War sets. The figures were popular for their high-quality moulding and their different extra weapons and poses as compared to the more common Airfix sets."

 

[Eazy]

Matchbox The wilkepedia page says it better than i could
"in the late '70s, Matchbox produced a small range of 1:32 and 1:76 Second World War toy soldiers in direct competition to Airfix. These sets included British, German, and American infantry, the British 8th Army and the German Afrika Korps, and British Commandos. Though Matchbox's sets featured fewer figures than comparable Airfix sets (15 vs. 29 in 1:32), they included weapons that Airfix did not model (flame-throwers, heavy machine guns), and Montgomery and Rommel figures in the Desert War sets. The figures were popular for their high-quality moulding and their different extra weapons and poses as compared to the more common Airfix sets."

Hehe yeah i have the Matchbox ones too. They produced some really great poses and sculpts especially the AK and EA figures and their commandoes.

Two of the best ever sets were the matchbox 1/72 Japanese infantry and Anzacs. My own 1/72 collection has disappeared somewhere and I really miss those 2 sets. Unfortunately Matchbox didn't make the Japanese and Anzacs in 1/32.

Matchbox 1/32

British Infantry
British 8th army
British Commandos
US infantry
German Infantry
Afrika Korps

 

[Wraith]

Interesting stuff.
Thinking back to my Airfix 1/32 collection (i still have them all!) there were only 6 Axis sets:
German Infantry
German Mountain Troops
German Paratroopers
Afrika Korps
Italian Infantry
Japanese Infantry

However the Allied stuff had 10 sets
British infantry
British commandos
British Infantry Support
British paratroopers
British 8th Army
US Infantry
US paras
Russians
Australians
Gurkhas

Not sure if there's a point here but it's nostalgic

have i missed any?

I think you've nailed them all, unless you want to include the 1st version British Paratroops as an 11th Allied set.

Same with the 'modern' series.

Warsaw Pact (1):
Modern Russian Infantry

NATO (4):
German (West) Infantry
British Infantry
US Infantry and
SAS (which have got to be some of the coolest poses in plastic out there)

Simon