The only figures available when I was a kid in the '60s and'70s were the Airfix range. My friend and I would save up our pocket money for a few weeks and then go to the shop - it was actually a fishing and bait shop - which had a couple of stands of Airfix figures and a small range of kits. We always bought the1:72 range because you got more men for the money! We bought opposing sides, I would buy the Arabs or German infantry etc. and he would buy the Foreign Legion or British infantry etc. I remember we hardly ever fought any battles with them. It took us all morning or afternoon to set them up how we wanted them, hiding them here or there for ambushes and then mother would call me for lunch or tea and my friend had to pack up and go home!
Lol that´s such a funny story because the same thing happened to me as a kid and my son (now 15). I have over a thousand loose 1/32 scale Airfix soldiers and he got to use them with his friends (they were about 9-10). They set them up and worked on different rules taken from computer games. Of course it took for ever and when he had to come inside and eat they were not even close to done.
Very Nostalgic reading reading your letter. It brought back so many memories. My brother & I experienced the same as you wrote. He lives in other town now so we never see each other anymore but Thank you for reviving a memory
Great video. I really enjoyed your fun in the unpacking. I really was blessed to grow up in the 50/60’s when Airfix ruled..Looking forward to your next post. Stay safe..👵🇦🇺🇺🇸
I remember getting a model kit in a bag it was priced at 1shilling and sixpence wish I could go back in time to the good old days,the kids need these things now in stead of the games console learn to play again and have a childhood
"Zweden" is Sweden in Dutch and since the box is coming from the Netherlands, we could argue that it"s correct. Very nice to see this youth memories. After I watched a few of your videos, I immediately bought some boxes with soldiers myself!
I'm very jealous of all those packages being opened. Back in the 1970s I had so many toy soldiers. I still remember some really nice ones. Airfix and Matchbox we're the two popular ones at the time. My favorites was the German infantry and the German Afrika Korps. The German Mountain troops were good on skis but they did not connect properly at the ankle joint eass the feet were separated from bottom of legs. I collected many Airfix and Matchbox but I also did collect the copied versions you could buy at the local Chemist News agency and the milk bar shop. Then some came out that had a metal light green glossy painted base I think they we're from England. Figures were prepainted and were made of hard flexible plastic. They were individually sold. Unless you had lots of change in your pocket you can buy two or four at a time. I still have an interest in those and I'm in my late 50s. The kid of the 1970s is still in me. Now I collect mostly model Aircraft and various other from military to fantasy to SciFi. Model figures I also collect in place of the plastic Airfix. Interesting collection you have. I'm watching to see the boxes open. The matchbox HO scale had plenty of those and Airfix but eyes not as good as they use to be so 1/72 and HO scale is not for me anymore. But 1/32 still love. From Melbourne Victoria Australia 👍🇭🇲🦘🐨✌️
Nice. Back in the 70s, we find a sandy spot, deployed the two opposing (1/32) sides of the players choice. Partial covers for the figurines were allowed, then the 2 players would assumed position behind our troops respectively and threw finger nail size pebbles one at a time at each other's enemy. Either total annihilation wins or the enemy's Rupert took a hit, whichever came first. The width of " No Men's Land " depended on the mood that day. Usually not more than 4m.
We threw small stones as well. But if I remember correctly we made caves for reinforcement troops that you could use rocks a bit bigger to try to make them cave in and kill the reinforcements. You kinda had to guess were they could be.
I remember having airfix soldiers as a kid , I think my favourite one was the US cavalry in navy blue, you used to be able to fit the horses on little plastic stands so they wouldn't fall over. Happy childhood memories.
That Warerloo set! I was obsessed with Napoleonics after the 70's movie. Birthday and Christmas all I wanted was more packs of the soldiers.I think there were 8 different packs and between myself and my mate we probably fielded about 30 boxes eventually. We had a book about war games from the library and ended up with quite complicated set of rules to fight our battles.
My older brother was into war gaming and we applied rule to our "miniature" battles - largely based on Squad Leader for WW2 and based on some other game(s)... Wellington's Victory, maybe? For the Napoleonics we used a scale that had 1:75 on it and figured that was close enough to figure out movement distances per turn and odds based on ranges, drew up some charts and then used some Dungeons and Dragons 10 sided dice to role "percentages". Worked great! The tough part was that a movement phase would take ages because we had thousands of troops - but we loved it.
Najs video. Brings back some memories from being a kid in the 70's. I probably still have quite many of the old Airfix plastic soldiers in their boxes packed down in the basemanet storage. Big and small ones: I remember buying so many boxes of the small size cavalry set, as well as the Civil War North and South boxes. I had a plan to make a huge battlefield diorama. I even made the large diorama base in wood class in school, using some plaster to build up a hole, even made some canon craters across the battlefield and started picking small branches from bushes to make burnt up trees. Then it all came to a stop and other stuff in life came inbetween. I still had that huge diorama base put in my basement storage well into the 2000's. Then an old ex of mine threw it away, along with some boxes of old comics and magazines I had saved, like Star Wars, Planet Of The Apes, Prince Valiant, Linda And Valentin/Valérian and Laureline, Starlog Magazines etc. A huge photo of Ronnie Petersson with his hand-signed autograph on, since he visited our home back in the 70's and ate dinner with us (before his terrible accident and death during a race). It was through my dads work at Polarvagnen/Caravans who sponsored him. I even got to wear his racing helmet in our home when he vistited us. A dream for a kid. I still should have those photos in some old album from my parents. I was devastated when I found out all that she had thrown away, but then it was too late to save them. Someone had already scavanged the small house in the yard where trash is thrown out. Oh well, I don't think she threw away any of the toys though. At least she said she didn't, so I'm hoping they are still all down there packed in various boxes. A lot of Star Wars, Space: 1999/Moonbase Alpha, Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica etc plastic kit models. Some Dinky Toys die-cast versions, some larger action figures/dolls from both Star Trek and Space: 1999 etc. As well as a lot of those Airfix soldiers. My brother and I used to have huge battles, putting up our armies and using rubber bands to shoot at each other soldiers, to see who managed to knock all the other ones down. Those were the days. 😎
Wow you realy need to get into that basement to check for all those old toys. Ronny Petersson together with Ingemar Stenmark and Björn Borg were all our childhood heroes. Heja Sverige för fan :)
@@toysoldiernostalgia Yeah, funny that you mention Björn Borg. My parents actually had dinner with Björn Borg as well at one of the Hotels at that time up at Kungsportsavenyn in GBG. I think it was Park Aveny or maybe one of the others that were located there at that time. I did not participate. As a kid I felt it was boring to sit at a dinner table for hours at some fancy restaurant and I wasn't particularu interested in tennis, so I went out walking around in GBG. Something I regret today. It would have been a fun memory to have had dinner with Björn Borg back then. Although I dfid see concerts with both Sammy Davis Jr at Scandinavium and with Johnny Cash in Stockholm in my youth. Those are fun memories to have. Yeah the storage is filled from top to bottom and I had plans to dive in there i few years back and even started, but after a while it was a pain, since most moving boxes are so old the bottoms fall out when lifting them. Plastic bags crumbling to dust as I lifted them. Also the light in the basement being on a timer is a pain in the butt. As soon as I started digging, it would get pitch black and I had crawl out of there and hit the light and barely get back in and then it would turn pitch black again, but one day I will get my thumb out of my butt and dig into the bottom. I remember also having a full Stormtrooper helmet from the 70's. I think I ordered it via an ad in a Starlog Magazine and shipped from US back then. It was very expensive for it's time. Not just the more toy like face masks (although I had those too), but a full helmet. I was also a member of the Star Wars Fan club in US back then as a kid and got monthly newsletters. I fear those got trashed at the same time oner of my ex threw away all other boxes with comics and magazines. *sadface* Hopefully all my old Movie posters from back then are still down there. Star Wars, 2001, Close Encounters Of The Third Kind, Alien, The Warriors etc. I also had a lot of unbuilt plastic model kits of Aircraft Carriers. The movie "The Final Countdown" got me hooked on Aircraft carriers. I remember having 1/700 (or maybe it was 1/600) scale Nimitz, Carl Vinson, also the large 1/400 scale Monogram Enterprise/Big E and a lot of other aircraft carriers kits I never got around to building. I built a few but many should be unbuilt and in their boxes. I did get around to starting to paint Nimitz and I did paint and build a 1/72 Tomcat and a 1/72 Sea Harrier after following the Falkland war on TV. Since that was a Aircraft carrier based airplane. I think I felt like Aircraft carriers were just like large spaceships, just on the oceans and not in space. lol Your videos has definetly woken up some old memories of those times. I had the Airfix (I think it was) desert like plastic diorama and I think a D-Day diorama. The size fitting for the small plastic soldiers. They weren't really big, but supposed to be painted and used with the tiny soldiers. Wasn't there some silly law coming into effect here as well back then, that toy stores could not have military toys from after WWI or even from before WWI. So that they could not sell for example WWII and Vietnam era military toys? I remember being upset as a kid over something like that. I had to go to Denmark to buy such stuff. Plstic kit models however copuld still be sold, just not toy soldiers, vehicles and guns which required no painting and assembly.
When you opened that Desert Combat Pack .....I couldn't help Ooooooooooin! too. Life doesn't get much better even if I was being a bit vicarious. Joyful video.
I guess it's the inner child in us. I regret getting rid of my train sets. My first action man had tank boat and cannon. Now you mentioned Lego I used to love Lego
@@IndieVolken- The default colour was soapy yellow, but they went through phases and did occasionally add colour to the plastic. More recent production of the Napoleonic French is in blue plastic. I believe some of the British were in red though have never seen them. Only artillery that I’ve seen in a brick-red (rather than red) was the old American Civil War arty made in the 1960s.
I had the one with the Churchill tank and the pillboxes and the halftrack. So many hours of fun shooting those discs at my army men on the linoleum (and fishing them out from under the stove and couch with a long yardstick halfway through the battle when I ran out of ammo). Great memories. Great video.
We played with out Airfix figures in the garden in the 70’s, I still dig them up here and there in all different colours lol. Big ones and small ones. Nice memories especially when I saw the commando figures box, always remember that picture on the cover. 👍🍻
Managed to purchase the rare 1/72nd scale Fort Apache and Roman Fort for my collection about 14 odd years ago.Also Ist issue 8th Army from the US in H/O. Decided to leave them them sealed for now as perhaps worth more in the future. Can only find Sahara fort second hand unfortunately, cannot understand why Airfix have never reissued them and the Desert Outpost.Reissue of Waterloo set , original worth a fortune if you can find a decent set.Managed to get a copy of the Desert Outpost in 1/72 scale a couple of years ago and Airfix are now beginning to reissue the old 1/72 /HO figures such as the Russian infantry and US para's.Looks like you shop abroad more than I do! Great video, obviously addicted more than myself.
I don't collect, I make up sets of toy soldiers to give away to less well off folks. Popular themes are World War Two (not least as so much is available), knights and knaves (bugger to paint, colourful lot the medieval chaps) and Sci-Fi. I also do the occasional fantasy set, it's usually someone with a little girl that asks for those. I use 1:32 for 3-7 year olds and 1:72 for 7-and-up because those remain the cheapest scales to buy. Sci Fi is the most difficult, you have to make things like space ships and vehicles, but you can use Stalkers sets 1 and 2 from Dark Alliance (a brand of Red Box apparently) as 'space pirates with the old Airfix 'paratroopers' as the Space Force with various 'ground crew' and model railway civilians to staff and populate the 'space base'. Back in the 50's you could buy individual pre-painted (or pre-coloured) 1:32 figures at pocket money prices and you could save up for a Swoppets mortar and crew, but the big sets were too expensive for me. I always drooled over the catalogue illustrations and one year Dad got me a boxed set with a vac-formed ruined village and British and German soldiers. The idea was nice but the soldiers didn't stand well on the lumpy surface and you ended up having the same battle over and over. For my sets I make up bunkers, trenches, hills, houses, rivers and bridges etc. to include, all the things I would have liked when I was ten years old and all designed so the soldiers can stand on them. As I give them away I don't have to find room to store them away and it is satisfying knowing they are being played with. Buying new they typically cost me about £40-£50 a go for the tanks and troops with a bit more for the paint, transfers) and things to make up the scenery (cardboard, paper mashe, sawdust and dried tea-leaves mostly). To date every kid seems to have got something from my sets, the main complaint I get is 'I want my dining room table back!' (I also supply a drop-cloth, usually felt, but playing on a table is more comfortable than playing on the floor). So, if you have part-sets rather than sell them to collectors why not make up a set to give away? You get to play like you did as a kid while you put it all together and the kid who gets it benefits (this has been experimentally verified, imaginative play is important for development). It seems (based on a sample of two) to be especially good for autistic kids. In doing so you will kindle a new generation's interest and that will in turn see entrepreneurial types producing more stuff at pocket money prices (I use quite a lot of cheap 3-D printed vehicles these days).
Fantastic! That is incredibly thoughtful, passing it on is what it's ALL about, you're getting just as much joy now, as when you were younger, quite inspiring, very pleasant to hear. 👍
Great find on the combat pack. I remember opening this up as a kid and had many hours of fun I have since been putting this collection together now for a couple of years since I purchased the pill boxes as separate items in with a job lot.
I had most of those airfix soldiers but when you opened the Waterloo French and British artillery also had the Waterloo battle set so that was a trip down memory lane. I also had loads of Britons toy soldiers on the green metal stands hand painted but they were really expensive in the 70's.
Hello friend from George. I forgot to mention speaking to a Swedish person I remembered I bought many years back a Swedish helmet with the camoflauge cover from an Army Disposal. I saw it looked interesting not very expensive so I bought it. You see it wasn't just toy soldiers I like I also wanted to step up to a real uniform...or reproduction I should say. I went through different phases in my life. I did buy several variant German helmets. I have four different makes of the usual German WWII. Reproduction of course.I did also order two German Afrika korps helmets MK1 and MK2 but they sent me two of the same. I had to include the Werhmacht field caps and assorted imitation Afrika Korps hats too. I do have a full Wehrmacht uniform with the accessories no weapons but full kit. Also have incomplete Fallshermjager Tunic or jacket which ever you call it with the yellow shoulder bars and yellow collar rank insignia, helmet and lace up boots. I didn't manage to find the jump suit and webbing or pants. Some things difficult to find and too costly. Once I thought to join a reanackment group but didn't happen. So was a crazy time for me purchasing these things. And I can't wear anywhere. I do have the Jackboots also. I know the webbing from German infantry uniform I could use for the paratrooper but not complete without the overall jump suit. That's my craziest purchases ever done. Spent lots of money and in the end nothing to show for it. I could have bought heaps of toy soldiers and back then when I spent there was lots of great toys. weird or what? I put a box of the 7th Cavalry on watch list and asked seller what deal can he help me with. But so far no answer. I'll leave it at that. Also did get offer on Airfix western cowboys but is too much just for a few figures. AU 135.00+ Not sure if complete. Doesn't say.The problems of being a collector. Have a good time.👍🇭🇲🦘🐨✌️
It's amazing what's about when you look. We have a local council tip where I live and they pick out stuff that still has some value and sell it at drop dead cheap prices. I picked up 5 Airfix kits, all bagged but intact and one of them was the D Day beach gun emplacement. There were several Matchbox kits, all complete but no boxes or instructions and I picked the lot up for Au$1, talk about a bargain.
I got the Seakings harbour set by Matchbox around 1978-79 and I was kept very busy that Chrimbo rolling those little ships around and setting up the port installations/cranes etc and then blasting the lot to kingdom come... gReat memories, mate! I never even got a sniff of the 1/32 action combat packs but how lovely for you to get these (finally!) in later life... boys and their toys for sure! Enjoy, buddy. Great gear STILL giving immense pleasure setting up and larking around with! That Panzer IV is the dog's bolly's 🙂
I´m not a physical mathematician but I think your amount of toy soldiers are constant even though some one else have more or less. But what do I know :)
Airfix and matchbox and frog kits were the one,s i use to build the only model shop I know off is in Southport the guy that owned it died his family are trying to keep it open ,just going in and talking to the guy about the kits it was part of my childhood like I said good days
I miss those kinda shops. The last realy good one here was in Stockholm and closed only 5-6 years ago. My son bought his first Tiger 1 1/72 scale there about 10 years ago. He was 7 and the guy in shop asked him what he was looking for and he said a Tiger. He took my son over to the shelf with 1/72 armour and spent at least 10 minutes telling him about the different models of that tank. My son picked one I was just amazed at the level of respect he showed a young starting scale modeler.
The seakings harbour was one of my favourite toys. Which is funny as I had the Triang Minics display set from Hornby HQ after one of their bankruptcies but the sea kings stole the day. I had all the matchbox playsets, I think I may have been a play tester, as one of my late father's friends was the a main distributor and I seem to remember them a year earlier than release dates I see on the Internet and I don't recall any other kids having them at the same time.
I just got some more Matchbox playsets on Ebay and Vectis. One has arrived the others are still on their way. Can`t wait to open and set up the Container Port and Railway Goods Yard playsets.
I'd like it if Airfix re launched their French Foreign legion fort, as well as Fort Apache, Sherwood castle and Caesars Gate Roman fort the old ones go for ridiculous amounts one ebay
I have that Tiger 1 you bought from Sweden...massive nostalgia...you can compress the barrel to launch a plastic shell...Corgi Toys...made in Hong Kong....#144...there is a white german helmet emblem front left side next to the drivers port...I thing it is the Gross Deutschland Division emblem?
I had that as well and still have mine eventhough it´s seen better days. Can´t stop bying more of that one though. My absolute favorite tank when I was a kid.
it used to really annoy me when someone bought me something in another sale to 00 scale, I think I had every Airfix soldier set and vehicle Woolworths sold, you showed two of my favourites, the commandos and Russian infantry with heavy machine gun and crew, classic, how anyone manages to get through life not playing battlefields is something I don't understand TBH, they must be people who need other people and are unable to be by themselves,
Years ago I was at the Museum of Childhood in Edinburgh and spent time with the Curator identifying the various Airfix 1/72 military figures for their WWII display. If you are interested I have some Matchbox French, Polish , and British troops in Napoleonic Series. All unpainted. All I'd ask is the cost of postage to you. I also have the full Airfix models of Napoleonic troops, cavalry, artillery, infantry,guards and Prussian landwher. If you want them they are free.
I had thousands of these soldiers German's Americans Japanese and British commandos I also had thousands of didis little soldiers tanks and whatnot Put them in the atic in my childhood home probably still in there 50yrs later
I don't know if you know this or not but I bought a Tiger tank in the 80s and it was all steel, same camo color. You can push the barrel in and cock the barrel in and press the button on the turret and it will shoot a red plastic projectile. Did you know that ?
Jerry, I really, really liked the Airfix outpost! Do you have soldier clubs and conventions in Sweden? Why were boys in Sweden into soldiers so much? I never hear anyone say anything about Norway. Do they collect in Finland? Why do Swedish people have such excellent english? Is everyone in Sweden good looking? It seems that way. Sorry to bother you.
We have no real conventions for toy soldiers over here. I think boys all over the world played with toy soldiers. I think people in almost every country collects something. I think it´s because we have a pretty good educational system. Nope it´s just me. All the others are pretty ugly :)
I have no lo nger anything because my Collection has been solten from me in 2020. A disaster for me,for my Life . Airfix,Matchbox,,Britains,Historex,Dulcop,First Legion,King & Country ,Oryon ... and many others for ever lost.
I don´t think so. Panzer III had three support small support wheels for the tracks and the Panzer IV had four wheels. The Airfix model have four so I think it would be a Panzer IV.
Eh…Zweden is the correct spelling for the Dutch…ik kan het weten want ik ben een nederlander….dus je kan er lacherig om doen maar er is dus niets verkeerd aan de spelling….misschien had je even moeten checken voordat je wat zegt beste kerel.
My airfix Favourite figures were the German army,the Africa Korps and eight army,to the extent that I collect the warlord Africa Korps and 8th Army armies in 28mm
The only figures available when I was a kid in the '60s and'70s were the Airfix range. My friend and I would save up our pocket money for a few weeks and then go to the shop - it was actually a fishing and bait shop - which had a couple of stands of Airfix figures and a small range of kits. We always bought the1:72 range because you got more men for the money! We bought opposing sides, I would buy the Arabs or German infantry etc. and he would buy the Foreign Legion or British infantry etc. I remember we hardly ever fought any battles with them. It took us all morning or afternoon to set them up how we wanted them, hiding them here or there for ambushes and then mother would call me for lunch or tea and my friend had to pack up and go home!
Lol that´s such a funny story because the same thing happened to me as a kid and my son (now 15). I have over a thousand loose 1/32 scale Airfix soldiers and he got to use them with his friends (they were about 9-10).
They set them up and worked on different rules taken from computer games. Of course it took for ever and when he had to come inside and eat they were not even close to done.
Very Nostalgic reading reading your letter. It brought back so many memories. My brother & I experienced the same as you wrote. He lives in other town now so we never see each other anymore but Thank you for reviving a memory
brings back so many memories for a 64 year old, i had all these many times over
Great video. I really enjoyed your fun in the unpacking. I really was blessed to grow up in the 50/60’s when Airfix ruled..Looking forward to your next post. Stay safe..👵🇦🇺🇺🇸
Battle of Waterloo set is my favourite. Christmas 1979, i must have asked for this because everything else was star war's. 😊
I remember getting a model kit in a bag it was priced at 1shilling and sixpence wish I could go back in time to the good old days,the kids need these things now in stead of the games console learn to play again and have a childhood
"Zweden" is Sweden in Dutch and since the box is coming from the Netherlands, we could argue that it"s correct. Very nice to see this youth memories. After I watched a few of your videos, I immediately bought some boxes with soldiers myself!
Which sets did you get?
I'm very jealous of all those packages being opened. Back in the 1970s I had so many toy soldiers. I still remember some really nice ones. Airfix and Matchbox we're the two popular ones at the time. My favorites was the German infantry and the German Afrika Korps. The German Mountain troops were good on skis but they did not connect properly at the ankle joint eass the feet were separated from bottom of legs. I collected many Airfix and Matchbox but I also did collect the copied versions you could buy at the local Chemist News agency and the milk bar shop. Then some came out that had a metal light green glossy painted base I think they we're from England. Figures were prepainted and were made of hard flexible plastic. They were individually sold. Unless you had lots of change in your pocket you can buy two or four at a time. I still have an interest in those and I'm in my late 50s. The kid of the 1970s is still in me. Now I collect mostly model Aircraft and various other from military to fantasy to SciFi. Model figures I also collect in place of the plastic Airfix. Interesting collection you have. I'm watching to see the boxes open. The matchbox HO scale had plenty of those and Airfix but eyes not as good as they use to be so 1/72 and HO scale is not for me anymore. But 1/32 still love. From Melbourne Victoria Australia 👍🇭🇲🦘🐨✌️
Christmas presents 1979. Just loved the battle sets. Waterloo is my favourite.
Not a bad present.
Christmas comes every day when one is a collector, outstanding additions to your collection !
I loved my waterloo set, I still have it in the attic
Gorgeous my friend .. i had so much fun playing with toy soldiers . Nice to see all those familiar faces again . Still have all in my basement .
That takes me back. The pill boxes and sandbags from mine lasted the longest. What memories
Always feel a bit jealous of people who had that set as a kid. I think my head would have exploded if I´d gotten it for my birthday.
Forgot l bought this ... if you have that problem , life is good , great to see all the stuff l wanted as a kid . Fond memories.
Great that I could bring back some good memories.
Nice. Back in the 70s, we find a sandy spot, deployed the two opposing (1/32) sides of the players choice.
Partial covers for the figurines were allowed,
then the 2 players would assumed position behind our troops respectively and threw finger nail size pebbles one at a time at each other's
enemy.
Either total annihilation wins or the enemy's Rupert took a hit, whichever came first.
The width of " No Men's Land " depended on the mood that day.
Usually not more than 4m.
We threw small stones as well. But if I remember correctly we made caves for reinforcement troops that you could use rocks a bit bigger to try to make them cave in and kill the reinforcements. You kinda had to guess were they could be.
I used to love those small soldiers gave em to my little niece when she had her first boy
Nice of you to pass them on.
I remember having airfix soldiers as a kid , I think my favourite one was the US cavalry in navy blue, you used to be able to fit the horses on little plastic stands so they wouldn't fall over. Happy childhood memories.
I guess those were the 1/72 scale figures if they were in blue?
That Warerloo set! I was obsessed with Napoleonics after the 70's movie. Birthday and Christmas all I wanted was more packs of the soldiers.I think there were 8 different packs and between myself and my mate we probably fielded about 30 boxes eventually. We had a book about war games from the library and ended up with quite complicated set of rules to fight our battles.
I wish I had gotten into war gaming back then. Had no clue that was a thing until I was about 13-14 and found Squad Leader.
My older brother was into war gaming and we applied rule to our "miniature" battles - largely based on Squad Leader for WW2 and based on some other game(s)... Wellington's Victory, maybe? For the Napoleonics we used a scale that had 1:75 on it and figured that was close enough to figure out movement distances per turn and odds based on ranges, drew up some charts and then used some Dungeons and Dragons 10 sided dice to role "percentages". Worked great! The tough part was that a movement phase would take ages because we had thousands of troops - but we loved it.
GOOD VIDEO,ENJOY YOUR NEW FOUND TREASURES.I STILL LIKE GOING THROUGH MY COLLECTION,NO BOXES BUT LOOSE IN BAGS..TAKE CARE
Just at the view of the Airfix boxes makes my heart go faster ...That has been my monomaniac craving between 7 and 13 !!!
I had so many of these Airfix figures (and kits)when I was a kid in the 70s.
Great memories.
Najs video. Brings back some memories from being a kid in the 70's. I probably still have quite many of the old Airfix plastic soldiers in their boxes packed down in the basemanet storage. Big and small ones: I remember buying so many boxes of the small size cavalry set, as well as the Civil War North and South boxes. I had a plan to make a huge battlefield diorama. I even made the large diorama base in wood class in school, using some plaster to build up a hole, even made some canon craters across the battlefield and started picking small branches from bushes to make burnt up trees. Then it all came to a stop and other stuff in life came inbetween. I still had that huge diorama base put in my basement storage well into the 2000's.
Then an old ex of mine threw it away, along with some boxes of old comics and magazines I had saved, like Star Wars, Planet Of The Apes, Prince Valiant, Linda And Valentin/Valérian and Laureline, Starlog Magazines etc. A huge photo of Ronnie Petersson with his hand-signed autograph on, since he visited our home back in the 70's and ate dinner with us (before his terrible accident and death during a race). It was through my dads work at Polarvagnen/Caravans who sponsored him. I even got to wear his racing helmet in our home when he vistited us. A dream for a kid. I still should have those photos in some old album from my parents. I was devastated when I found out all that she had thrown away, but then it was too late to save them. Someone had already scavanged the small house in the yard where trash is thrown out. Oh well, I don't think she threw away any of the toys though. At least she said she didn't, so I'm hoping they are still all down there packed in various boxes. A lot of Star Wars, Space: 1999/Moonbase Alpha, Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica etc plastic kit models. Some Dinky Toys die-cast versions, some larger action figures/dolls from both Star Trek and Space: 1999 etc. As well as a lot of those Airfix soldiers. My brother and I used to have huge battles, putting up our armies and using rubber bands to shoot at each other soldiers, to see who managed to knock all the other ones down. Those were the days. 😎
Wow you realy need to get into that basement to check for all those old toys.
Ronny Petersson together with Ingemar Stenmark and Björn Borg were all our childhood heroes.
Heja Sverige för fan :)
@@toysoldiernostalgia Yeah, funny that you mention Björn Borg. My parents actually had dinner with Björn Borg as well at one of the Hotels at that time up at Kungsportsavenyn in GBG. I think it was Park Aveny or maybe one of the others that were located there at that time. I did not participate. As a kid I felt it was boring to sit at a dinner table for hours at some fancy restaurant and I wasn't particularu interested in tennis, so I went out walking around in GBG. Something I regret today. It would have been a fun memory to have had dinner with Björn Borg back then. Although I dfid see concerts with both Sammy Davis Jr at Scandinavium and with Johnny Cash in Stockholm in my youth. Those are fun memories to have.
Yeah the storage is filled from top to bottom and I had plans to dive in there i few years back and even started, but after a while it was a pain, since most moving boxes are so old the bottoms fall out when lifting them. Plastic bags crumbling to dust as I lifted them. Also the light in the basement being on a timer is a pain in the butt. As soon as I started digging, it would get pitch black and I had crawl out of there and hit the light and barely get back in and then it would turn pitch black again, but one day I will get my thumb out of my butt and dig into the bottom.
I remember also having a full Stormtrooper helmet from the 70's. I think I ordered it via an ad in a Starlog Magazine and shipped from US back then. It was very expensive for it's time. Not just the more toy like face masks (although I had those too), but a full helmet. I was also a member of the Star Wars Fan club in US back then as a kid and got monthly newsletters. I fear those got trashed at the same time oner of my ex threw away all other boxes with comics and magazines. *sadface* Hopefully all my old Movie posters from back then are still down there. Star Wars, 2001, Close Encounters Of The Third Kind, Alien, The Warriors etc.
I also had a lot of unbuilt plastic model kits of Aircraft Carriers. The movie "The Final Countdown" got me hooked on Aircraft carriers. I remember having 1/700 (or maybe it was 1/600) scale Nimitz, Carl Vinson, also the large 1/400 scale Monogram Enterprise/Big E and a lot of other aircraft carriers kits I never got around to building. I built a few but many should be unbuilt and in their boxes. I did get around to starting to paint Nimitz and I did paint and build a 1/72 Tomcat and a 1/72 Sea Harrier after following the Falkland war on TV. Since that was a Aircraft carrier based airplane. I think I felt like Aircraft carriers were just like large spaceships, just on the oceans and not in space. lol
Your videos has definetly woken up some old memories of those times. I had the Airfix (I think it was) desert like plastic diorama and I think a D-Day diorama. The size fitting for the small plastic soldiers. They weren't really big, but supposed to be painted and used with the tiny soldiers.
Wasn't there some silly law coming into effect here as well back then, that toy stores could not have military toys from after WWI or even from before WWI. So that they could not sell for example WWII and Vietnam era military toys? I remember being upset as a kid over something like that. I had to go to Denmark to buy such stuff. Plstic kit models however copuld still be sold, just not toy soldiers, vehicles and guns which required no painting and assembly.
When you opened that Desert Combat Pack .....I couldn't help Ooooooooooin! too. Life doesn't get much better even if I was being a bit vicarious. Joyful video.
That´s whats makes TH-cam so great. I do the same thing with other chanels :)
I guess it's the inner child in us. I regret getting rid of my train sets. My first action man had tank boat and cannon.
Now you mentioned Lego I used to love Lego
I loved the 1/72 scale soldiers as a kid, but good lord, they look TINY to me now. I couldn't paint them if I tried. 😢
As a boy in 1970s New Zealand I only ever saw the pictures of the Combat Pack in the catalogue. It was a fantasy piece. I'd love to see your review.
I will do videos on both combat packs.
Lots of cool stuff from the early to mid 1970s!! Love watching your videos!,
Thanks man.
I love the Waterloo sets. Never saw them when I was young
I did have a few of the regular figure sets but never saw the big playset.
kind of weird that most armies were yellow plastic - prussians blue - imp guard grey ? - artillery was red maybe ....
@@IndieVolken- The default colour was soapy yellow, but they went through phases and did occasionally add colour to the plastic. More recent production of the Napoleonic French is in blue plastic. I believe some of the British were in red though have never seen them. Only artillery that I’ve seen in a brick-red (rather than red) was the old American Civil War arty made in the 1960s.
The desert combat pack, wow! Just awesome. I had the European ons.
I had the other Combat Pack when I was a kid, but I didn't know there was a desert version, that Panzer IV is amazing, I'd love to see it all set out
I will do videos on both Combat Packs all set up.
I had the one with the Churchill tank and the pillboxes and the halftrack. So many hours of fun shooting those discs at my army men on the linoleum (and fishing them out from under the stove and couch with a long yardstick halfway through the battle when I ran out of ammo). Great memories. Great video.
The thing with discs are that they were hard to replace. If you lost all your shells for ”canons” you could just use toothpicks or matches.
Yeah, my mother didn't have to clean the floor after having me roll around on it for 4hrs....... Still got yelled at for doing it. 🙄
@@jason-hy8ci child labour lol.
I had that set with the Paras, but the tank was definitely a Cromwell. That said, many hours of fun with those deadly disc shooting pillboxes!
lol. You're absolutely right. All these years later and I never picked up on that it was a Cromwell. I always used it as a Churchill. @@robanderson473
This is like Christmas for me, love it
Belive me I love it to :)
Airfix always put out high quality castings especially tanks and planes
We played with out Airfix figures in the garden in the 70’s, I still dig them up here and there in all different colours lol. Big ones and small ones. Nice memories especially when I saw the commando figures box, always remember that picture on the cover. 👍🍻
In 1/32 scale I think my favorite was the commandos. I wonder how much plastic we put in the ground back in the 70s from lost toy soldiers.
Managed to purchase the rare 1/72nd scale Fort Apache and Roman Fort for my collection about 14 odd years ago.Also Ist issue 8th Army from the US in H/O. Decided to leave them them sealed for now as perhaps worth more in the future. Can only find Sahara fort second hand unfortunately, cannot understand why Airfix have never reissued them and the Desert Outpost.Reissue of Waterloo set , original worth a fortune if you can find a decent set.Managed to get a copy of the Desert Outpost in 1/72 scale a couple of years ago and Airfix are now beginning to reissue the old 1/72 /HO figures such as the Russian infantry and US para's.Looks like you shop abroad more than I do! Great video, obviously addicted more than myself.
Yup but it`a fun addiction.
I don't collect, I make up sets of toy soldiers to give away to less well off folks. Popular themes are World War Two (not least as so much is available), knights and knaves (bugger to paint, colourful lot the medieval chaps) and Sci-Fi. I also do the occasional fantasy set, it's usually someone with a little girl that asks for those. I use 1:32 for 3-7 year olds and 1:72 for 7-and-up because those remain the cheapest scales to buy. Sci Fi is the most difficult, you have to make things like space ships and vehicles, but you can use Stalkers sets 1 and 2 from Dark Alliance (a brand of Red Box apparently) as 'space pirates with the old Airfix 'paratroopers' as the Space Force with various 'ground crew' and model railway civilians to staff and populate the 'space base'.
Back in the 50's you could buy individual pre-painted (or pre-coloured) 1:32 figures at pocket money prices and you could save up for a Swoppets mortar and crew, but the big sets were too expensive for me. I always drooled over the catalogue illustrations and one year Dad got me a boxed set with a vac-formed ruined village and British and German soldiers. The idea was nice but the soldiers didn't stand well on the lumpy surface and you ended up having the same battle over and over. For my sets I make up bunkers, trenches, hills, houses, rivers and bridges etc. to include, all the things I would have liked when I was ten years old and all designed so the soldiers can stand on them. As I give them away I don't have to find room to store them away and it is satisfying knowing they are being played with.
Buying new they typically cost me about £40-£50 a go for the tanks and troops with a bit more for the paint, transfers) and things to make up the scenery (cardboard, paper mashe, sawdust and dried tea-leaves mostly). To date every kid seems to have got something from my sets, the main complaint I get is 'I want my dining room table back!' (I also supply a drop-cloth, usually felt, but playing on a table is more comfortable than playing on the floor).
So, if you have part-sets rather than sell them to collectors why not make up a set to give away? You get to play like you did as a kid while you put it all together and the kid who gets it benefits (this has been experimentally verified, imaginative play is important for development). It seems (based on a sample of two) to be especially good for autistic kids. In doing so you will kindle a new generation's interest and that will in turn see entrepreneurial types producing more stuff at pocket money prices (I use quite a lot of cheap 3-D printed vehicles these days).
Fantastic! That is incredibly thoughtful, passing it on is what it's ALL about, you're getting just as much joy now, as when you were younger, quite inspiring, very pleasant to hear. 👍
Infantry Support Group was one of the best.
The Modern German infantry were a gift to you my friend, as was the rare Airfix Scalextric figure
Very much appreciated :)
A lot of cool things! Congrats 👏
Thanks.
Great find on the combat pack. I remember opening this up as a kid and had many hours of fun
I have since been putting this collection together now for a couple of years since I purchased the pill boxes as separate items in with a job lot.
I had that very airfix desert combat set repleat with buildings and pillbox as a kid...happy christmas memories 😁😁😁
What's Getting ME Excited Apart from the artwork I Had This Same Kit Pill Box's an all Love The Brit Car 😊
man this a Stop Motion Animation Dream to have this stuff....
Love it. I had both airfix battle packs.
I had most of those airfix soldiers but when you opened the Waterloo French and British artillery also had the Waterloo battle set so that was a trip down memory lane. I also had loads of Britons toy soldiers on the green metal stands hand painted but they were really expensive in the 70's.
You must have everything! Maybe one day you could open a museum?
I don´t know Iggy. Seem like the more I collect the more I feel I´m missing in the collection.
@@toysoldiernostalgia interesting observation. Knowledge is similar in that regard.
2:37 Lol, looks like a soldier playing with a toy cannon. And his homie watching on the side giving a thumbs up.
Lol never saw it that way.
So awesome!
I had that desert combat pack when I was young.
Lucky kid :)
Great video and some really great figures and play set
Hello friend from George. I forgot to mention speaking to a Swedish person I remembered I bought many years back a Swedish helmet with the camoflauge cover from an Army Disposal. I saw it looked interesting not very expensive so I bought it. You see it wasn't just toy soldiers I like I also wanted to step up to a real uniform...or reproduction I should say. I went through different phases in my life. I did buy several variant German helmets. I have four different makes of the usual German WWII. Reproduction of course.I did also order two German Afrika korps helmets MK1 and MK2 but they sent me two of the same. I had to include the Werhmacht field caps and assorted imitation Afrika Korps hats too. I do have a full Wehrmacht uniform with the accessories no weapons but full kit. Also have incomplete Fallshermjager Tunic or jacket which ever you call it with the yellow shoulder bars and yellow collar rank insignia, helmet and lace up boots. I didn't manage to find the jump suit and webbing or pants. Some things difficult to find and too costly. Once I thought to join a reanackment group but didn't happen. So was a crazy time for me purchasing these things. And I can't wear anywhere. I do have the Jackboots also. I know the webbing from German infantry uniform I could use for the paratrooper but not complete without the overall jump suit. That's my craziest purchases ever done. Spent lots of money and in the end nothing to show for it. I could have bought heaps of toy soldiers and back then when I spent there was lots of great toys. weird or what? I put a box of the 7th Cavalry on watch list and asked seller what deal can he help me with. But so far no answer. I'll leave it at that. Also did get offer on Airfix western cowboys but is too much just for a few figures. AU 135.00+ Not sure if complete. Doesn't say.The problems of being a collector. Have a good time.👍🇭🇲🦘🐨✌️
It's amazing what's about when you look. We have a local council tip where I live and they pick out stuff that still has some value and sell it at drop dead cheap prices. I picked up 5 Airfix kits, all bagged but intact and one of them was the D Day beach gun emplacement. There were several Matchbox kits, all complete but no boxes or instructions and I picked the lot up for Au$1, talk about a bargain.
Here in Sweden it`s pretty much impossible to find deals like that. Great find 😀
I had the Airfix British Commandos, would have been 1976. I wanted them for ages before I finally got them.
I got the Seakings harbour set by Matchbox around 1978-79 and I was kept very busy that Chrimbo rolling those little ships around and setting up the port installations/cranes etc and then blasting the lot to kingdom come... gReat memories, mate! I never even got a sniff of the 1/32 action combat packs but how lovely for you to get these (finally!) in later life... boys and their toys for sure! Enjoy, buddy. Great gear STILL giving immense pleasure setting up and larking around with! That Panzer IV is the dog's bolly's 🙂
Wow what a christmas present. Setting the harbor up in different configurations must have been so cool.
I thought I had too many soldiers but after watching this video I realise I don’t have anything.
I´m not a physical mathematician but I think your amount of toy soldiers are constant even though some one else have more or less. But what do I know :)
@@toysoldiernostalgia do you know any way to repair a soldier’s broken weapon. Some of them are so thin and fragile that they break very easily.
Those pill boxes break really easily and quickly I remember.
Hopefully mine should be ok as I´m not gonna play with them.................or.
Airfix and matchbox and frog kits were the one,s i use to build the only model shop I know off is in Southport the guy that owned it died his family are trying to keep it open ,just going in and talking to the guy about the kits it was part of my childhood like I said good days
I miss those kinda shops. The last realy good one here was in Stockholm and closed only 5-6 years ago. My son bought his first Tiger 1 1/72 scale there about 10 years ago.
He was 7 and the guy in shop asked him what he was looking for and he said a Tiger.
He took my son over to the shelf with 1/72 armour and spent at least 10 minutes telling him about the different models of that tank. My son picked one I was just amazed at the level of respect he showed a young starting scale modeler.
thats amazing!
75 cents a box in the seventies. I had everyone. HO 1/72 scale. 1/32 was really hard for me to find back in the day before internet cell phones.
The harbour set was the best 👌
The seakings harbour was one of my favourite toys. Which is funny as I had the Triang Minics display set from Hornby HQ after one of their bankruptcies but the sea kings stole the day. I had all the matchbox playsets, I think I may have been a play tester, as one of my late father's friends was the a main distributor and I seem to remember them a year earlier than release dates I see on the Internet and I don't recall any other kids having them at the same time.
I just got some more Matchbox playsets on Ebay and Vectis. One has arrived the others are still on their way. Can`t wait to open and set up the Container Port and Railway Goods Yard playsets.
i remember having the British waterloo set when i was a kid that was many years ago
Wow that must have been awesome. The only napolenic soldiers I had I traded with a friend.
Always wanted these!!!! Ironically I ended up owning most of the parts separately
I'd like it if Airfix re launched their French Foreign legion fort, as well as Fort Apache, Sherwood castle and Caesars Gate Roman fort the old ones go for ridiculous amounts one ebay
Nice stuf. We bought it in shops in 70s..now I only collect the 1,35.but nice to collect
Sweden:Zweden in Dutch 😉😊. Really love your channel,brings back memories from my time as a kid 👍🏻.
Ok I see. Didn´t know that spelling.
Thanks for watching :)
Do you remember the game 'Tank Command' or 'Tank Battle' from the 1970s? Loved those games!
I don´t think we got those here in Sweden back then but I have them now. Bought both of Ebay about 20 years ago.
Wanted one so bad as a kid ... look at it for hours in the catologues
All those hours spent drooling over cool shit in toy catalogues.
I have that Tiger 1 you bought from Sweden...massive nostalgia...you can compress the barrel to launch a plastic shell...Corgi Toys...made in Hong Kong....#144...there is a white german helmet emblem front left side next to the drivers port...I thing it is the Gross Deutschland Division emblem?
I had that as well and still have mine eventhough it´s seen better days. Can´t stop bying more of that one though. My absolute favorite tank when I was a kid.
@@toysoldiernostalgia Nothing rumbles better than a Tiger
I've got loads of old 00 scale soldiers but they have all seemed to have perished, you just touched them and they fall
apart!
That´s a bummer. I guess it depends a lot on how they were stored.
In a box in a loft, like so many I expect!
@@billgriffin7346 such a shame they ended up so brittle.
it used to really annoy me when someone bought me something in another sale to 00 scale, I think I had every Airfix soldier set and vehicle Woolworths sold, you showed two of my favourites, the commandos and Russian infantry with heavy machine gun and crew, classic, how anyone manages to get through life not playing battlefields is something I don't understand TBH, they must be people who need other people and are unable to be by themselves,
I love to buy some of the old airfix toys but I don't know where to buy them from I'm from the UK
Either Ebay or toy collector fairs (there’s quit a few of those in the UK).
Years ago I was at the Museum of Childhood in Edinburgh and spent time with the Curator identifying the various Airfix 1/72 military figures for their WWII display. If you are interested I have some Matchbox French, Polish , and British troops in Napoleonic Series. All unpainted. All I'd ask is the cost of postage to you. I also have the full Airfix models of Napoleonic troops, cavalry, artillery, infantry,guards and Prussian landwher. If you want them they are free.
I had thousands of these soldiers German's Americans Japanese and British commandos
I also had thousands of didis little soldiers tanks and whatnot
Put them in the atic in my childhood home probably still in there 50yrs later
You should go get them :)
In Dutch we say or write “Zweden”, when we talking about your country “Sverige”😀
I don't know if you know this or not but I bought a Tiger tank in the 80s and it was all steel, same camo color. You can push the barrel in and cock the barrel in and press the button on the turret and it will shoot a red plastic projectile. Did you know that ?
Yup I new that because I had that tanks as a kid :)
I remember that. Possibly sold by Matchbox or Corgi. Think they also sold a Tiger 2 in the same range
Nice
love it
Jerry, I really, really liked the Airfix outpost! Do you have soldier clubs and conventions in Sweden? Why were boys in Sweden into soldiers so much? I never hear anyone say anything about Norway. Do they collect in Finland? Why do Swedish people have such excellent english? Is everyone in Sweden good looking? It seems that way. Sorry to bother you.
We have no real conventions for toy soldiers over here.
I think boys all over the world played with toy soldiers.
I think people in almost every country collects something.
I think it´s because we have a pretty good educational system.
Nope it´s just me. All the others are pretty ugly :)
Who made that Tiger tank? I had one as a boy and it was sold on by my parents when I moved out of home years ago! Would love to get hold of one again.
Corgi.
Subbed !
Thanks. Much appriciated.
ZWEDEN is the DUTCH FOR sweden
Where did you get all that stuff from?!😮
Mostly Ebay. But also Facebook, Vectis and a swedish auction site called Tradera.
I have them in 1/32scale Airflix comandos
Hi from México city , I like your videos
Where buy these figures Airflix? How much?
Usually I use Ebay and the cost differs a lot.
Sea Kings Harbour!!!
I got to wonder how many survived in the U.S. with all the firecrackers and bb guns 🇺🇸
I think kids all over the world subjected these to firecrackers and bb guns :)
Красота!!!
Can you buy these Airfix items in Edinburgh?
I have no idea. I live in Sweden :)
I have no lo nger anything because my Collection has been solten from me in 2020.
A disaster for me,for my Life .
Airfix,Matchbox,,Britains,Historex,Dulcop,First Legion,King & Country ,Oryon ... and many others for ever lost.
Oh no that´s so sad.
panzer lll, not lV
I don´t think so. Panzer III had three support small support wheels for the tracks and the Panzer IV had four wheels.
The Airfix model have four so I think it would be a Panzer IV.
Panzer IV
Can you please send me all the army men in your collection
Sure no problem 😉
Eh…Zweden is the correct spelling for the Dutch…ik kan het weten want ik ben een nederlander….dus je kan er lacherig om doen maar er is dus niets verkeerd aan de spelling….misschien had je even moeten checken voordat je wat zegt beste kerel.
ooops sorry :)
My airfix Favourite figures were the German army,the Africa Korps and eight army,to the extent that I collect the warlord Africa Korps and 8th Army armies in 28mm
It looks amazing! Get to know the secret - "promosm" !!!