These matchbox videosvofcthec5anks are great and ive bought a couple as youve rekindled my love of these from the 70s. Also bought the V2 as its way past time to build a kit again. Thanks Peter for the mojo boost 😊
This was my childhood, Matchbox armour and the diorama. Built almost all of them, the panther my first and favourite. Thanks for this celebration of these wonderful kits.
Also loved the Wespe model…. One my favourites too. Lovely compact little vehicle. Still have mine. Was thinking of using the chap with spanner as a ‘mechanical damage’ marker for wargaming.
In my humble opinion Matchbox made the best small scale armour kits of the 1970's. Much better than Airfix (or anyone else in 1/76th scale). Your absolutely spot on when you say each kit told a story with those wonderful diaramas. The only other tank models that were truly special to me in those days were the Tamiya 1/35 scale products.........but they weren't 25p! I simply couldn't afford them. (My older cousin had quite a few of them, they were beautiful!) However for me Matchbox were the go to brand for tanks!
wow i built eight of those armor kits. wonderful kits to build. great review. I had the Firefly, Panther, Chaffee, Comet. Tiger, M16 Halftrack. Humbler and Jagdpanther. They were so much fun and in my mind some of the best box artwork at the time
There are 3 box versions of the PK-83 Hanomag , one is this one you have with the German flag , one other the same scene without the German flag , and the last without flag and white background .I have made all during early 80's and re-collect them again all with back window box about 15 years ago and kept them in their boxes as a childhood rememberance ....
Beautiful Peter, it brings me back into time when i was a kid. The magic of the box-art, the 2 or 3 colours of plastic and last but not least the dio. Even the fitting of the parts and no flash on the sprues or parts!! Other brands in that time never get close to it! And don't forget the big boxes. The re- editions of revell are nothing compare " the matchbox magic".
Ah yes, Warlord comic with Lord Peter Flint! I used to get that too, my Grandmother used to get me and my two brothers our comics, cakes and coca-cola every Friday. In the 70s and 80s, this was a real treat! Paid us generous pocket money too, which we invariably spent on.....Matchbox models. Between the three of us, I'd say we bought, built and painted about 95 percent of all Matchbox vehicles and aircraft over many years. Now, some still remain, and reside in my attic, with instructions, and I take them out once or twice a year to marvel at the ingenuity of Matchbox and wallow in the nostalgia of times past. What beautiful, care-free days, when the sun always shone.....thanks, Nana! X :)
Sir thank you for taking me back to my childhood in all your videos. In honour of 50 year's of Matchbox I've just started the old Revell/Matchbox Wellington a friend has given me some original Matchbox decals. Thank you again for such fantastic videos. I built a number of those models back in the day . Cheers son
Ah bless. I made all of these when I was a kid. You're right about the Humber. What a great kit along with all of these 😘 Thanks for showing this. You've made me feel 100 years old 😜
Sherman firefly, my first Matchbox armor kit. Bought it in autumn 1976. FIM 5,- ( ~£.70) at local convenience store/newsstand thing. We were there with friends and fresh pocket money, asked for "assemblables". The old guy asked do we want tanks or planes? Then he lifted a big cardboard box under the counter. Full of Matchbox purple range. I liked the cool cover art and there was an interesting picture with a bridge on the backside. When I got home and opened the box - There actually was a bridge ! I did not see that coming.
The French set consisted of the Char B and the Renault FT 17, superb kits,and I wish I had them now. If I remember correctly they were a good deal more expensive, but you did get two kits plus diorama base. Excellent value.
These little gems were my first model kits. In my town in Canada, I could pick them up at the local Drug store. Combined with the excellent figure sets, you could have a wonderful collection
Really good models, really good value for money and most subjects not covered elsewhere. Excellent. I think the caption on the Comet illustration said it was used in the Battle of the Bulge, which, of course it wasn't. Great video!
Ah what memories. I had the advantage that my parents owned a shop and I was able to buy the wholesale, so they must have been something like 19p for me to buy, and buy them I did 😄
Brilliant again Peter, I'd forgot all about these, remember the jagdpanther, wespe, pzIII and the puma..... Remember those tracks were horrible, the glue didn't stick them together, you don't know when you're 9 do you
@@Peter-Oxley-Modelling-Lab Don't know if this is true for Matchbox in particular but in general those merely interlocked tracks don't hold when you try to fit them on the sprockets, too much tension. One risky solution was melting both halves together, stapling them together was another, less "elegant", solution.
Loved the armour. The Panzer IV / 70 built up really well. My brother and me did a lot of war gaming and between us we bought all the armour apart from a couple of the late ones the Churchill AVRE and challenger. All of them were cracking models. And I still have most of them
Loved those miniature dioramas....I didn't always put them together however, too much in a rush to get the tank, or whatever it was, ready for my Airfix and Matchbox figures.... Those 1/76 (and 1/32) figures, I kept them around for many years....ah the memories! ☺️😌
I loved their armour kits and the soldier boxes which were superior over their flashy Airfix counterparts. A shame they didn’t do a Rolls Royce Armoured Car. Just imagine a sand brown sprue and a olive green sprue, the diorama being a piece of desert with some barbed wire (…and probably looking out for the Italians: “No sir, those Italian tanks didn’t travel that far to bid us a mere buon giorno!”) The decal options are for two North Africa versions in 1940/41. *sighs!* Just a dream…
Of the twelve kits displayed here, I had the Mark III, the Firefly, the Comet; middle row the Jagdpanther, bottow row the Jagdpanzer IV, the Panther and the Chaffee. I painted maybe half of them.
A quick side note on the T-34, if you look in matchboxes catalogue for 1975 1976 the T-34 depicted appears to be the Airfix kit ‘mocked up’ on the Matchbox base. It is labelled as available later.
Joe . Wow memory lane . Too. Keep up the good work.. i still have some of these matchbox . Many lost to nephiews when they were v young. Memory lane . The art work . Works of art
Wow, thanks for this trip down memory lane. Built many of the kits in this line. Used to save my pennies and bottle money to buy one about once a month. They were just over 2 dollars Canadian in the early 80s. The whole ritual involved, when I'd saved up enough, was so exciting for me. Friday after school I'd take the bus downtown to the hobby shop ( quite a journey for a kid by himself at that age)and spend too much time deciding which one to buy then take all weekend savouring the experience of building it. A banner month included enough money to buy a D&D Endless Quest book as well.
That was great. I loved the matchbox tanks. I still have a humber and T-34 still in one piece that I built 40 years ago (the others are but bits of plastic!). I bought several of the revell reboxes but unfortunately they don't seem to have reboxed the Panther or the Panzer III which is a pity as I'd loved the Panzer III especially (I guess because Revell have their own 1/72 Panther and Panzer III). By the way, I've a (dusty) street for the Hanomag (that's all I have left of the model, the street), stamped 1976. If you're interested in it.
I had a few of these kits over the years. When I was younger had Sherman Firefly, Panther, Jagdpanther. I've still got the Panzer III I got for my 9th-10th? birthday upstairs, only part missing is the cattle skull. I still have the complete boxed M16 halftrack, M7 Priest Howitzer, Panzerjager IV L70, M40 GMC 155mm gun carriage & the Hanomag halftrack. Don't know if I will build them or just keep them as they are. Later I got more into the 1/35th Tamiya kits which in a way seemed like up scaled versions of Matchbox kits.
l was a model builder in the mid to late 60's , Revell , Frog , Airfix and Monogram were the kits l built then but these Matchbox kits came out in the early 70's when l was in my mid to late teens and modelmaking had been replaced with pubs , lads nights out and girls so l missed out on them . Got back into modelling in my late 40's and have been since then . Now in my 60's l have started getting the Revell reissus of these lovely little kits as original Matchbox editions are rare and expensive . Really like the diorama's and figures which add to the charm of the models . Enjoyed your video Peter .l have subscribed .
They are very good models, enough so that you almost wish you only collected 1/76 scale instead of 1/72. Many of the moulds seem to have been taken over by Revell, complete with dioramas, so they live on today.
Hi again, Peter! The M16 is a beautiful little kit. Imagine all that for 25p! About the Hanomag and the flag. The thing is that in many countries it was/is illegal to display that flag. I agree it was, it happened, and we shouldn't shy away from the history -- indeed we should learn from it and always be vigilant because it could easily happen again. However, these kits were designed for, and marketed to, children in many nations, especially in Western Europe. So, maybe don't be so hard on them on that. Having said that, it was ridiculous to remove the aircraft and the flashes from the guns.
That's a strange coincidence I also didnt have the sturmpanzer 4 but I had all the others and my favourite was the Chaffee, I liked it so much I had 2 of them and i think I painted it in Humbrol 30 or 33.
Lovely stuff! 👍🏻 I remember having a few of these back in the early/mid 70s and loved 'em.... yes, the dioramas just made the model, made it look a part of something! 😏 It's good though that Revell are still selling these old kits for very bargain-basement prices (most are under £10), complete with all the scenery, although they've actually updated the decal sheets.... so good for them! 😃 It would be good if Airfix/Revell started releasing new kits with new dioramas included, but the extra tooling costs would probably stop them! Sadly..... 😒
Another great video, Peter. I have the Revell re-boxing of the Jagdpanther, but nowhere on the box does it mention the diorama! I thought I had the wrong kit until I looked inside the box. Talk about a missed marketing opportunity!
Hello Peter really enjoyed the show. I always liked the Panther tank. Brought the Airfix one then the Matchbox one, what a difference, so much easier to put together and better looking. Didn't matchbox make a Honey light tank as well? Great show keep up the good work 👍
The shape of the Airfix Panther’s hull was completely wrong. I guess they never found a surviving vehicle to take measurements from. Still remember those interleaving wheels and how tricky they were to put on correctly!
I LOVED these as a kid in the 70s. I've started to recollect the original Matchbox kits again just lately. Finding them on eBay has great, but postage to Australia is crippling. I'm about halfway through so far and looking forward to getting them all.
Good morning Peter. As far as the Hanomags street is concerned, you could add your own street detail and then, with a very small drill bit, drill down through the drain slots and square them off with a very fine file. Don’t you think that would make the diorama hum, lol.
@@Peter-Oxley-Modelling-Lab Ah yes, Warlord comic with Lord Peter Flint! I used to get that too, my Grandmother used to get me and my two brothers our comics, cakes and coca-cola every Friday. In the 70s and 80s, this was a real treat! Paid us generous pocket money too, which we invariably spent on.....Matchbox models. Between the three of us, I'd say we bought, built and painted about 95 percent of all Matchbox vehicles and aircraft over many years. Now, some still remain, and reside in my attic, with instructions, and I take them out once or twice a year to marvel at the ingenuity of Matchbox and wallow in the nostalgia of times past. What beautiful, care-free days, when the sun always shone.....thanks, Nana! X :)
The artwork was amazing. I had all these and I have just finished collecting them all again now, 40 years later. Always wanted the other part of the bridge for the Sherman 😞
Que maravilla estos kits, me hubiera gustado armarlos a todos, solo conseguí algunos, nunca los había visto con codigo de barras, son ediciones posteriores? Saludos
Oh yes, quite a few, though in one colour only...most of the armour for example. Spitfire Mk 22/24, etc. To be sure, look up the Matchbox kits on Scalemates.com 😃
I think the Chi-Ha was the Type 94 or Type 98? The Matchbox kit was one of the last ones I built in the 1970s. Still have it, though the tracks never seemed to fit properly and the turret antenna was always terribly fragile.
I had the Hanomag kit, but I don't remember the flak tower decal. I think the decal might have been what you have on the back of the box: the Waffen SS thing.
The waffen ss poster came with the earlier produced kits and the flak tower came with later kits as was the swastika flag not shown on the half track on the box art i have both early and later kits
Still have my Matchbox M40 GMC ‘Long Tom’ SP Gun which came out in 1978. Bought it just as I started to get interested in girls, and it remains only half-built to this day!
I don't understand how Matchbox made the mistakes they did with these kits. No skirts on the Panther or Jagpanther that should have them but added skirts to the Firefly and Chaffee that shouldn't have had them. I remember the T34/76 in particular as I built it for the first time in hospital as a teenager sick with pneumonia. Must have been 1986 I think.
The skirts on the Sherman are the beach 'sand skirts' which are correct for how they looked on arrival in Normandy in June 44 but later dropped or removed. The Panthers & Jagd were the opposite and didn't start life with skirts, they were optional and often not fitted, there are plenty ofphotos of them without skirts.
You wont believe this.......or maybe you will, lol, the Sherman Firefly has recently been released again under the Revell banner here in Australia, this time labelled as "First Diorama" and priced at $43.00, you've got to be kidding me!!
I'm paying in Euros since 2002 and comparing modern prices with pre-2002 prices in my former currency is just not possible. I still know the original rate, and when I convert the current prices of model kits to pre-2002 prices I really don't get it... I know that 20 years of inflation has to do with it but I have the suspicion that plastic model prices are really higher than they used to be.
@@Emdee5632- Yes, I once worked it out using the price labels on some of my old models. The average model bought in 1970 for 10p was selling for about £5.00 fifty years later in 2020. That’s roughly a 5000% increase. I think UK inflation over that same period was just 2000% - 2500%.
@@Emdee5632- But it’s very hard to compare inflation over such a long period. House prices have risen 100-fold (10,000%) whereas the cheapest wine in 1970 cost 10/- (£0.50) whereas you can buy one now for £4.00/£4.50, which is only an 8-fold increase.
I think the English pound in the 70s was worth about 5 dollars Canadian? So 25p would have been $1.25 Canadian. Pretty inexpensive. But I don't think they actually were that cheap this side of the pond.
I have a street for the puma and 2 hannomag streets. They are not quite perfect, small signs of liquid poly, if you are interested. These are from when they went to circular fasteners . As are 9 unbuilt kits. Firefly x2 Panzer 1V L/70 Morris plus 17 pounder M24 Chaffe M7 Priest Wespe M40 spg M19 transporter
Good Day sir, I have a question. If I remember correctly wasn't there a King Tiger Matchbox kit? I recall my brother building one back in the 70's or am I mistaken? Of course it's been 40 years so my memory is a bit fuzzy and I could be wrong. Thank you and have a nice day.
Fujimi also made a King Tiger in 1/76 scale. It was one of the first non-Airfix, non-Matchbox kits I ever made, must’ve been about … 45 years ago! Still have it today.
Turns out the grey/brown & desert paint scemes of the Wespe are both wrong. The Wespe didn't come out until 1943. All my life I've imagined the Wespe in colors schemes they never had...
These matchbox videosvofcthec5anks are great and ive bought a couple as youve rekindled my love of these from the 70s. Also bought the V2 as its way past time to build a kit again. Thanks Peter for the mojo boost 😊
This was my childhood, Matchbox armour and the diorama. Built almost all of them, the panther my first and favourite. Thanks for this celebration of these wonderful kits.
Waspe was my all time favourite, I loved the palm tree and the chap looking out to the distance, brilliant.
...And the mechanic with his big spanner! 😆
@@Peter-Oxley-Modelling-Lab he would have needed his spinach before he used that!
Also loved the Wespe model…. One my favourites too. Lovely compact little vehicle.
Still have mine. Was thinking of using the chap with spanner as a ‘mechanical damage’ marker for wargaming.
In my humble opinion Matchbox made the best small scale armour kits of the 1970's. Much better than Airfix (or anyone else in 1/76th scale). Your absolutely spot on when you say each kit told a story with those wonderful diaramas.
The only other tank models that were truly special to me in those days were the Tamiya 1/35 scale products.........but they weren't 25p! I simply couldn't afford them. (My older cousin had quite a few of them, they were beautiful!) However for me Matchbox were the go to brand for tanks!
thanks for bringing back memories of going to the local toy shop and buying most of these as a kid.
wow i built eight of those armor kits. wonderful kits to build. great review. I had the Firefly, Panther, Chaffee, Comet. Tiger, M16 Halftrack. Humbler and Jagdpanther. They were so much fun and in my mind some of the best box artwork at the time
The build of the Chaffee is just brilliant and i love that movie too!
There are 3 box versions of the PK-83 Hanomag , one is this one you have with the German flag , one other the same scene without the German flag , and the last without flag and white background .I have made all during early 80's and re-collect them again all with back window box about 15 years ago and kept them in their boxes as a childhood rememberance ....
By far my favourite model builders channel mate, really enjoying the back catalog, plenty to watch.... !
Thanks Guy, A couple more Matchbox gems to come before month end. 😬
Beautiful Peter, it brings me back into time when i was a kid. The magic of the box-art, the 2 or 3 colours of plastic and last but not least the dio. Even the fitting of the parts and no flash on the sprues or parts!! Other brands in that time never get close to it! And don't forget the big boxes. The re- editions of revell are nothing compare " the matchbox magic".
Ah yes, Warlord comic with Lord Peter Flint! I used to get that too, my Grandmother used to get me and my two brothers our comics, cakes and coca-cola every Friday. In the 70s and 80s, this was a real treat! Paid us generous pocket money too, which we invariably spent on.....Matchbox models. Between the three of us, I'd say we bought, built and painted about 95 percent of all Matchbox vehicles and aircraft over many years. Now, some still remain, and reside in my attic, with instructions, and I take them out once or twice a year to marvel at the ingenuity of Matchbox and wallow in the nostalgia of times past. What beautiful, care-free days, when the sun always shone.....thanks, Nana! X :)
Sir thank you for taking me back to my childhood in all your videos.
In honour of 50 year's of Matchbox I've just started the old Revell/Matchbox Wellington a friend has given me some original Matchbox decals.
Thank you again for such fantastic videos.
I built a number of those models back in the day .
Cheers son
The M16 meatchopper and the wespe were my perfect kits.loved them both.
Ah bless. I made all of these when I was a kid. You're right about the Humber. What a great kit along with all of these 😘
Thanks for showing this. You've made me feel 100 years old 😜
The meatchopper! I thought it was the coolest kit in the world when it came out.
Sherman firefly, my first Matchbox armor kit. Bought it in autumn 1976. FIM 5,- ( ~£.70) at local convenience store/newsstand thing. We were there with friends and fresh pocket money, asked for "assemblables".
The old guy asked do we want tanks or planes? Then he lifted a big cardboard box under the counter. Full of Matchbox purple range. I liked the cool cover art and there was an interesting picture with a bridge on the backside. When I got home and opened the box - There actually was a bridge !
I did not see that coming.
The French set consisted of the Char B and the Renault FT 17, superb kits,and I wish I had them now. If I remember correctly they were a good deal more expensive, but you did get two kits plus diorama base. Excellent value.
Yes and punk rock music what a choice tank,s for the music 👍
These little gems were my first model kits. In my town in Canada, I could pick them up at the local Drug store. Combined with the excellent figure sets, you could have a wonderful collection
Those were great days to be a modeler. I did the Comet and the Sherman Firefly painted in Humbrol's wonderful Bronze Green....
Really good models, really good value for money and most subjects not covered elsewhere. Excellent. I think the caption on the Comet illustration said it was used in the Battle of the Bulge, which, of course it wasn't. Great video!
No Steve it mentions the Weser bridgehead in Germany April ‘45 👍🏻 See: th-cam.com/video/8XeA7QYgdFQ/w-d-xo.htmlsi=Lc8XT2DmJAtTDJlE
Ah what memories. I had the advantage that my parents owned a shop and I was able to buy the wholesale, so they must have been something like 19p for me to buy, and buy them I did 😄
Loved these diorama kits
Brilliant again Peter, I'd forgot all about these, remember the jagdpanther, wespe, pzIII and the puma..... Remember those tracks were horrible, the glue didn't stick them together, you don't know when you're 9 do you
But most of the Matchbox tracks interlocked, didn't they? 🤔
@@Peter-Oxley-Modelling-Lab Don't know if this is true for Matchbox in particular but in general those merely interlocked tracks don't hold when you try to fit them on the sprockets, too much tension. One risky solution was melting both halves together, stapling them together was another, less "elegant", solution.
Wow love this. They were a massive part of my childhood. Thanks so much for the video
Cheers Keith. Same here. ☺️
Loved the armour. The Panzer IV / 70 built up really well. My brother and me did a lot of war gaming and between us we bought all the armour apart from a couple of the late ones the Churchill AVRE and challenger. All of them were cracking models. And I still have most of them
Loved those miniature dioramas....I didn't always put them together however, too much in a rush to get the tank, or whatever it was, ready for my Airfix and Matchbox figures....
Those 1/76 (and 1/32) figures, I kept them around for many years....ah the memories! ☺️😌
Always loved the little dioramas that came with them! Especially the 2-3 piece model kits they did 👌
I loved their armour kits and the soldier boxes which were superior over their flashy Airfix counterparts.
A shame they didn’t do a Rolls Royce Armoured Car.
Just imagine a sand brown sprue and a olive green sprue, the diorama being a piece of desert with some barbed wire (…and probably looking out for the Italians: “No sir, those Italian tanks didn’t travel that far to bid us a mere buon giorno!”)
The decal options are for two North Africa versions in 1940/41.
*sighs!*
Just a dream…
Of the twelve kits displayed here, I had the Mark III, the Firefly, the Comet; middle row the Jagdpanther, bottow row the Jagdpanzer IV, the Panther and the Chaffee. I painted maybe half of them.
Great little kits...☺️
Ols school paint job fits these models so well.
Loved them, and built them all or at least what I could find in the states in my youth
very good colection, congratulations, enjoy a lot watch the models tanks
A quick side note on the T-34, if you look in matchboxes catalogue for 1975 1976 the T-34 depicted appears to be the Airfix kit ‘mocked up’ on the Matchbox base.
It is labelled as available later.
Joe . Wow memory lane . Too. Keep up the good work.. i still have some of these matchbox . Many lost to nephiews when they were v young. Memory lane . The art work . Works of art
Wow, thanks for this trip down memory lane. Built many of the kits in this line. Used to save my pennies and bottle money to buy one about once a month. They were just over 2 dollars Canadian in the early 80s. The whole ritual involved, when I'd saved up enough, was so exciting for me. Friday after school I'd take the bus downtown to the hobby shop ( quite a journey for a kid by himself at that age)and spend too much time deciding which one to buy then take all weekend savouring the experience of building it. A banner month included enough money to buy a D&D Endless Quest book as well.
That was great. I loved the matchbox tanks. I still have a humber and T-34 still in one piece that I built 40 years ago (the others are but bits of plastic!). I bought several of the revell reboxes but unfortunately they don't seem to have reboxed the Panther or the Panzer III which is a pity as I'd loved the Panzer III especially (I guess because Revell have their own 1/72 Panther and Panzer III). By the way, I've a (dusty) street for the Hanomag (that's all I have left of the model, the street), stamped 1976. If you're interested in it.
loved these kits as a kid
I miss my marchbox kits, got all in except the comet...my brother threw them away
I had a few of these kits over the years. When I was younger had Sherman Firefly, Panther, Jagdpanther. I've still got the Panzer III I got for my 9th-10th? birthday upstairs, only part missing is the cattle skull. I still have the complete boxed M16 halftrack, M7 Priest Howitzer, Panzerjager IV L70, M40 GMC 155mm gun carriage & the Hanomag halftrack. Don't know if I will build them or just keep them as they are. Later I got more into the 1/35th Tamiya kits which in a way seemed like up scaled versions of Matchbox kits.
l was a model builder in the mid to late 60's , Revell , Frog , Airfix and Monogram were the kits l built then but these Matchbox kits came out in the early 70's when l was in my mid to late teens and modelmaking had been replaced with pubs , lads nights out and girls so l missed out on them . Got back into modelling in my late 40's and have been since then . Now in my 60's l have started getting the Revell reissus of these lovely little kits as original Matchbox editions are rare and expensive . Really like the diorama's and figures which add to the charm of the models . Enjoyed your video Peter .l have subscribed .
They are very good models, enough so that you almost wish you only collected 1/76 scale instead of 1/72. Many of the moulds seem to have been taken over by Revell, complete with dioramas, so they live on today.
Oh Peter, what have you done! I've just won two revell reboxes, and I'm still looking. Already in trouble with the wife!
Hi again, Peter! The M16 is a beautiful little kit. Imagine all that for 25p! About the Hanomag and the flag. The thing is that in many countries it was/is illegal to display that flag. I agree it was, it happened, and we shouldn't shy away from the history -- indeed we should learn from it and always be vigilant because it could easily happen again. However, these kits were designed for, and marketed to, children in many nations, especially in Western Europe. So, maybe don't be so hard on them on that. Having said that, it was ridiculous to remove the aircraft and the flashes from the guns.
That's a strange coincidence I also didnt have the sturmpanzer 4 but I had all the others and my favourite was the Chaffee, I liked it so much I had 2 of them and i think I painted it in Humbrol 30 or 33.
Lovely stuff! 👍🏻 I remember having a few of these back in the early/mid 70s and loved 'em.... yes, the dioramas just made the model, made it look a part of something! 😏 It's good though that Revell are still selling these old kits for very bargain-basement prices (most are under £10), complete with all the scenery, although they've actually updated the decal sheets.... so good for them! 😃
It would be good if Airfix/Revell started releasing new kits with new dioramas included, but the extra tooling costs would probably stop them! Sadly..... 😒
What a nice collection!
Another great video, Peter. I have the Revell re-boxing of the Jagdpanther, but nowhere on the box does it mention the diorama! I thought I had the wrong kit until I looked inside the box. Talk about a missed marketing opportunity!
Remember these wonderful models now they are rather expensive. May grab some at Telford this year.
Hello Peter really enjoyed the show. I always liked the Panther tank. Brought the Airfix one then the Matchbox one, what a difference, so much easier to put together and better looking. Didn't matchbox make a Honey light tank as well? Great show keep up the good work 👍
Yes, I remember having the Honey,
The shape of the Airfix Panther’s hull was completely wrong. I guess they never found a surviving vehicle to take measurements from. Still remember those interleaving wheels and how tricky they were to put on correctly!
I LOVED these as a kid in the 70s. I've started to recollect the original Matchbox kits again just lately. Finding them on eBay has great, but postage to Australia is crippling. I'm about halfway through so far and looking forward to getting them all.
Good morning Peter. As far as the Hanomags street is concerned, you could add your own street detail and then, with a very small drill bit, drill down through the drain slots and square them off with a very fine file. Don’t you think that would make the diorama hum, lol.
How good were the 70s, Matchbox kit, Commando comic and fish and chips once every few weeks.
Lol! YES! I used to get Warlord comic and we had F&C every Saturday lunchtime. 😃
@@Peter-Oxley-Modelling-Lab Ah yes, Warlord comic with Lord Peter Flint! I used to get that too, my Grandmother used to get me and my two brothers our comics, cakes and coca-cola every Friday. In the 70s and 80s, this was a real treat! Paid us generous pocket money too, which we invariably spent on.....Matchbox models. Between the three of us, I'd say we bought, built and painted about 95 percent of all Matchbox vehicles and aircraft over many years. Now, some still remain, and reside in my attic, with instructions, and I take them out once or twice a year to marvel at the ingenuity of Matchbox and wallow in the nostalgia of times past. What beautiful, care-free days, when the sun always shone.....thanks, Nana! X :)
The artwork was amazing. I had all these and I have just finished collecting them all again now, 40 years later. Always wanted the other part of the bridge for the Sherman 😞
Lol...I know what you mean. 😜
Agree re the silly PC police. Leave the decals and artwork as it was.
Que maravilla estos kits, me hubiera gustado armarlos a todos, solo conseguí algunos, nunca los había visto con codigo de barras, son ediciones posteriores? Saludos
Yes, the barcode is the later edition under Chinese (Macau) ownership.👍🏻
@@Peter-Oxley-Modelling-Lab Thanks, very good information,..
it turns out Revell still makes the Puma kit, do you know if any other matchbox kits are still in production?
Oh yes, quite a few, though in one colour only...most of the armour for example. Spitfire Mk 22/24, etc. To be sure, look up the Matchbox kits on Scalemates.com 😃
Matchbox also did the Japanese type 49 chi ha, I’ve never seen one for sale anywhere 😢
I think the Chi-Ha was the Type 94 or Type 98? The Matchbox kit was one of the last ones I built in the 1970s. Still have it, though the tracks never seemed to fit properly and the turret antenna was always terribly fragile.
I had the Hanomag kit, but I don't remember the flak tower decal. I think the decal might have been what you have on the back of the box: the Waffen SS thing.
The waffen ss poster came with the earlier produced kits and the flak tower came with later kits as was the swastika flag not shown on the half track on the box art i have both early and later kits
Did matchbox do a long range desert patrol set? I seem to remember a set that had a pink panther and a Willis jeep.
Yes. You are looking for PK-173 LRDG.
Still have my Matchbox M40 GMC ‘Long Tom’ SP Gun which came out in 1978.
Bought it just as I started to get interested in girls, and it remains only half-built to this day!
Lol...See: th-cam.com/video/F4cLudhaD_w/w-d-xo.htmlsi=rPJohYCHcomh0yUg
I don't understand how Matchbox made the mistakes they did with these kits. No skirts on the Panther or Jagpanther that should have them but added skirts to the Firefly and Chaffee that shouldn't have had them.
I remember the T34/76 in particular as I built it for the first time in hospital as a teenager sick with pneumonia. Must have been 1986 I think.
The skirts on the Sherman are the beach 'sand skirts' which are correct for how they looked on arrival in Normandy in June 44 but later dropped or removed. The Panthers & Jagd were the opposite and didn't start life with skirts, they were optional and often not fitted, there are plenty ofphotos of them without skirts.
Matchbox’s Panther is far more accurate than Airfix’s, which has a hull of completely the wrong shape!
That is true - but they did have the mounting rails for the skirts - which the kits don't have
@@sirrathersplendid4825 That is true - but except for the horrendous tracks I'd honestly prefer the Nitto kit for 1/76 Panther.
You wont believe this.......or maybe you will, lol, the Sherman Firefly has recently been released again under the Revell banner here in Australia, this time labelled as "First Diorama" and priced at $43.00, you've got to be kidding me!!
Yes, I am going to talk (RANT!) about the Revell policy of misrepresenting the old kits 😡 in my remaining episodes tomorrow & Weds.👍🏻
I'm paying in Euros since 2002 and comparing modern prices with pre-2002 prices in my former currency is just not possible. I still know the original rate, and when I convert the current prices of model kits to pre-2002 prices I really don't get it... I know that 20 years of inflation has to do with it but I have the suspicion that plastic model prices are really higher than they used to be.
@@Emdee5632- Yes, I once worked it out using the price labels on some of my old models. The average model bought in 1970 for 10p was selling for about £5.00 fifty years later in 2020. That’s roughly a 5000% increase. I think UK inflation over that same period was just 2000% - 2500%.
@@Emdee5632- But it’s very hard to compare inflation over such a long period. House prices have risen 100-fold (10,000%) whereas the cheapest wine in 1970 cost 10/- (£0.50) whereas you can buy one now for £4.00/£4.50, which is only an 8-fold increase.
Revell still produce some of these!
What this series has done is make me consider growing a mutton chop beard 😀
Be sure to watch the last 2 episodes, tomorrow and Weds!
The only one I ever built (aircraft specialist) was the FT-17/Char B1.
👍👍
I think the English pound in the 70s was worth about 5 dollars Canadian? So 25p would have been $1.25 Canadian. Pretty inexpensive. But I don't think they actually were that cheap this side of the pond.
I have a street for the puma and 2 hannomag streets. They are not quite perfect, small signs of liquid poly, if you are interested. These are from when they went to circular fasteners . As are 9 unbuilt kits.
Firefly x2
Panzer 1V L/70
Morris plus 17 pounder
M24 Chaffe
M7 Priest
Wespe
M40 spg
M19 transporter
Prøv et matsbox panzer 3. Det er et virkeligt. Godt sæt.👍
Good Day sir, I have a question. If I remember correctly wasn't there a King Tiger Matchbox kit? I recall my brother building one back in the 70's or am I mistaken? Of course it's been 40 years so my memory is a bit fuzzy and I could be wrong. Thank you and have a nice day.
No, I am afraid they never did a Tiger, just the panther...must have been an Airfix?
Fujimi also made a King Tiger in 1/76 scale. It was one of the first non-Airfix, non-Matchbox kits I ever made, must’ve been about … 45 years ago! Still have it today.
Turns out the grey/brown & desert paint scemes of the Wespe are both wrong.
The Wespe didn't come out until 1943.
All my life I've imagined the Wespe in colors schemes they never had...
25p was half of 50 p which was a lot of money then,,
Panzer 3... France 40 not 44 !!..
Er no...the L model seen here only produced 41 & 42 but then used beyond.