I've liked toy soldiers at a distance all my life. I'm 62 and recently, I've decided I don't care what people think, I'm buying myself some toy soldiers! I've bought several now and I love it!
@@toysoldiernostalgiaI think that’s why we ended up becoming avid Collectors, in the 70s as a kid you were always ridiculed about playing w toys if you were past 10-12 years old which was an awful thing. I remember hiding toys i loved from my friends for fear of being teased. Now those “cool” toys are worth tons of money. I always liked packaging (and tried to save & preserve it) even when I was young. I could care less why anyone things at my age now…Albeit six decades later.😂😂
I had the Gun Emplacement. I remember being shocked when out of the blue in Woolworths my dad (who was a bit tight lol) just said do you want it. He was obviously into it himself. Many happy hours along with Subbuteo of course. Re the commandos balancing one on the ladder was fun.
The seventies, I am so grateful to have been a boy during that time. We could only afford a little of these treasures, but this little was our greatest happiness. Thanx for the video.
Come across this by accident. I collected these, along with airfix soldiers, and made the model planes through the 1960s in my childhood. I couldn't wait for Saturday morning, when I'd go into town to our local Woolworths, and see what my pocket money, and whatever pennies I had come across that week would buy.
Sounds exactly like what I used to do. I was lucky in that the small town I lived in had two model shops. Two shillings and sixpence could go a long way.
I too bought Airfix kits in Woolworths in the early 1970's. I have a Westland Scout Helicopter which I finally made last year and an Aerospatiale Gazelle still to be made. Both cost 23 pence.
Used to buy these in the 60’s 70’s with my pocket money. These models were cheap, remember buy three or four a week. They also complemented the packs of soldiers Airfix sold. The Antar tank transporter was a favourite. I had four of them with the various tanks available. Thank you for bringing back some of my childhood memories back.
Went to Military museum in Aldershot as a kid mid seventies, they had a massive WW1 Airfix dispaly , absolutely mind blowing as a child .. thanks for showing all your collections.
These things are little works of art. Can you imagine what it must have been like working on the production line putting these together and being surrounded by all that awesome green and grey plastic and using your staff discount to buy a bag full. I think I need a time machine.
I´m not so sure the workers (mostly women back then) saw them the same we see them. But their kids and friends and families kids probably got a lot of cool toys free or dirt cheap.
Ohhh YES absolutely ! My grand father was, in the 1970's and 1980's, actually a PANTOGRAPH worker for Matchbox and after for Airfix. And, YES we did get fantastic presents for Xmas ! 😊
Ah so many memories of these cool Airfix vehicles! Back in the day I had several of them. It's funny that I eventually gave them away. Now I'm trying to collect them again 😂. I'm happy to be in my second childhood! 🪖
I had a few of these and also built a number of the Airfix 1/72 diorama kits. They helped get me into plastic modelling and miniature wargaming! Still doing it at 64! Thanks for the video!
I was born in 1958, and toy soldiers were my favorite until I was 18 (It really was a different world back then). I drooled over these back in the day, but never owned them because they were the wrong scale. I believe a key factor in the success of these toys (they had a long production run) was the wonderful box art and even better catalogue art, which was readily available to me because I lived near several toy factories. As good as these toys are, they look better on the box! Thanks for another trip down memory lane!
I love your enthusiasm, being born in 1961....i grew up with played with and collect these simple but joyful models along with making many Airfix kits ......happy days ,thanks for bringing back so many wonderful childhood memories.....love Airfix
Glad truck got to you OK and you're happy with it 😄. So many happy memories when I watch your films! Keep filming!😃 You've got me searching toy fairs for Airfix I've lost over years.
Perfect. These Poly AFVs were an excellent addition to the HO/OO range. Availability was a bit spotty during the 1960s & 70s though. Finally, after all these years I have a full set, Mint in Box (Several times over). Thank you for this lovely trip down memory lane.
I love your enthusiasm for these. I had most of them when I was a kid and bought most if them from a local electrical/toy shop out of my pocket money. I had the 1/32 and 1/72 scale ones.
I was thinking about these toys this week then as if by magic your channel popped into my feed. I had a collection of Airfix ho-oo soldiers and tanks, and several of the bridges and dioramas. The hours and hours of fun they gave me. Watching your channel It's like over 40 years have fallen away. I wish I knew what happened to my collection, and I wish I still had them. The quality and detail of the models was so good, and they can't have been expensive as I had quite a lot and we didn't have a lot of money. Thanks for taking me back, will work my way through your back catalogue, thankyou.
Excellent models, when painted and customized. Perfect wargame pieces. I have a couple of centurians on my channel used for Australian vietnam task force.
Thank you for sharing. As a child during the 60's my friends and I often played with small army men and vehicles. I recognize a few armored vehicles from your collection my friend had. I'd never seen AirFix toys here on the West Coast US as a child and I would have noticed. I did have a number of matchbox cars and trucks that were well played with.
Fantastic, fella. You just brought my mid 70s childhood back to life...I just need a Chopper bike now and I am SORTED! Great, great memories of setting up toy soldier and vehicle battles with my mates way back when... Cheers, buddy!
Excellent video as always my friend. I really enjoy watching these man it's fun. Love your enthusiasm. It's 2 am here in the states what better to do when one cant sleep than to relive ones youth. Thank you sir very much you have no idea how much this helps me. Had to bury 2 more of my friends who tragically took their own life. Sad to say they're number 7 and 8. I know to many who've done that. So for me alone in the dark having trouble sleeping trying to cope with it all to be transported back to a simpler time is FANTASTIC. You've really help lift my spirits. Don't change a thing and keep the good times coming. 😁
Thanks so much. Glad you enjoy my little videos. They are fun to make and it makes even more fun when people like them. Nostalgia is a fantastic tool for better mental health. For me it´s just very calming and kinda grounding if you know what I mean.
@@toysoldiernostalgia boy do I. I think that's what "Grown ups" forgot how to do. Having your own little world to escape to was awesome for me as a kid. Like you I had toys that aided my imagination the possibilities were endless. I remember watching a video about WWII airplanes back in the 70s and a guy saying "Nostalgia is wonderful for those who live long enough to experience it" how right he was.
BRILLIANT VIDEO & THANKS... I had loads of these and enjoyed playing with them for years with the toy soldiers, me and my mates eventually got into war gaming and bought even more as they were a cheap back then, my biggest regret is selling off my German armour etc of which I had 40 pieces in the form of mostly the Tiger and Panther... but I had 4 Elephants and half tracks etc ... I'm gonna have to buy some now :)
@@toysoldiernostalgia we played huge tank and infrantry war games using dice and score card for each type of tank, armour level etc, thing is these were all a quite common toy for the time with lads so we used to trade to get more tanks etc … a friend of mine had about 70 such vehicles that he’d swapped unwanted toys for … some very happy times in these models for me and my friends
I’m 57 years old. I had all this sort of thing when I was younger. I can remember them being 40p. I wish I had kept hold of them but they were thrown away and shot with the air rifle great Fun . lol
At one time or another, I had all of those, apart from the Elephant. the last one that was available to buy here was the T-34/85. The only models I had in grey were the Tiger, Panther and half track and 37mm gun. I think the photos of the Tiger and 'Panther' in the catalogue were of completed model kits of the Tiger and Pz4, crudely painted green, to look like the polythene tanks, rather than actual polythene tanks. These were wonderfully cheap and great for building up a collections to use with the HO/OO figures. They were my gateway to wargaming. I still have a 6x6 Truck and three FV432 Troop Carriers, as part of my nostalgia project.
When I was a kid, I had a big collection of "Roco Minitanks" wich was looking like these Airfix-models you showed us, but I think with better details. If I remember right, the Roco-models was from the 70´s - 80´s.
I think this is the best catalogue I can find. But as I understand it, they are not made anymore? www.gaugemasterretail.com/media/downloads/MinitanksCatalogue2016.pdf
Wow, I was just thinking about these Airfix AFV toys the other day and my Panther tank in particular!! My brother and I had quite a few of them and the matching figure sets. I remember that they were impossible to paint though, even with enamel paints, as they were cast from polyurethane. Great video and thanks for sharing👍🏻
GOOD VIDEO SIR,HAVE A FEW OF THE VEHICLES FROM BACK IN THE 70S.I REMEMBER A FEW OF WARGAME BOOKS BACK THEN HAD GREAT PHOTOS OF THESE ITEMS IN THEM,MOSTLY THE AIRFIX BOOKS. HAVE A GREAT WEEK,TAKE CARE
Just seen your video...wow , just reminded me of my childhood. I had loads of this stuff , nearly everything your are showing, loads of soldiers, ... army kid, so it's in the blood ... thanks for showing this ... nice memories
I had so many of these. Every time my mum would take me shopping at the “Big Co-op” in Fratton Road Portsmouth she would let me choose one and buy it for me. They were only pennies in those days. I had a whole Panzer division of Tigers. 😂😂😂 So many hours spent playing with these and my Airfix soldiers.
My father was a soldier and when I was about 10 he took me to see a big board that had been set up for war gaming exercises on the barracks and it had terrain, camo, and lots of model vehicles, some of which I had. It was the best playing field I saw. Dad must of known how much I liked my airfix soldiers and tanks which would have been why he took me.
I too like older things, I used to have this old PC from 1993, but my dad threw it away in 2001 when I was 12!!!! I went berserk and have been looking for a replacement ever since. I love old films, music, figurines, games etc! I too have a collection of army stuff, many of them are BMC toys! You may like the 3DO games simply called army men, I recommend playing army men toys in space. Sometimes I got to charity and antique shops to buy old army men. I have all the colours of the rainbow, including pink soldiers too!!
I never had the toys, born in 1954, went for the Airfix models, Tiger, panther, Sherman, Churchill, 5.5 inch field gun etc. And of course the WW2 aircraft and warships.
I mixed them in with 1/72 scale Airfix, Atlantic, Matchbox and whatever I could find in that scale(have forgotten the brand names) , to build huge Diorama tables. I used a detergent to prepare them for primer paint, to handpaint a hundred models ( Soldiers, Vehicles, Artillery, Tanks and what not) with Tamiya paint. That was 30-50 years ago, until I switched over to the Panzer General PC Games, which I still play today. I still have my collection in 4 120 liter containers stored away. You may contact me, if you are interested.
Great vid again,had a few and still got most of the ones from early 70s,before I had the airfix landing craft had one about the same size but with a round two gun turret on the stern,same sort of plastic as the early airfix ones,possibly bluebox,but hours of fun doing beach assaults with marines and Japanese.
I'm of an earlier [50's] generation, had lots of lead soldiers from Woolworth's, military vehicles mostly Dinky Toys but i had a Britains howitzer to fire matchsticks and a clockwork Tri-Ang Centurion tank. Still have a few. Visited London in 1960, age 13, bought a bunch of Airfix model plane kits because they cost much less than the Revell kits I was building. Spitfire, Hurricane, Me109, Stuka, Mosquito. And no, I never saved a single box - I was a kid and I played with them.... Cheers from Canada !
The troop transporter is loosely based on the British FV432, which incredibly is still in service. I always remember as a child the crazily over scale mg on the roof!
After 20 years of collecting, I finally managed to get the DUKW in grey with the box. It only cost £25. I now have a complete collection. I can now sleep soundly 😂
@@tonyrobinson362 yes, in the box and in excellent condition. I think I paid £90 for it about 4 years ago. The DUKW is by far the hardest to find, in fact, I’ve only ever seen it come up twice, I got out bid the first time.
Best time for detailed toys and fun to play with , the option also was there to paint them up although they had no decals still cool and cheap to buy at the time .
The German vehicles, the Sherman, the DUKW and the Matador with 25 pdr field gun I often saw being used in WW2 games. Easy to add detail and there was a time when these were cheaper alternatives than expensive (then) Japanese kits. Armourfast snap-together kits would be a modern equivalent. It's a fab collection, I've never seen the green landing craft or german gun before.
Awesome collection. If I had some of these I would have never left my room. Regaring war toys I'm reminded of a scene in the 80's TV show Thirty Something. One mom is telling another mom that she refused to buy her son war toys so she bought him a toy farm. When she saw him playing with it he was having a war between the pigs and cows.
I remember buying the landing craft and when I got home I found some kid had stuffed two German tanks in it. Happy days! No idea what happened to them or my pontoon assault set and gun emplacement set. 🙁
Nice to see the different models, i was always disappointed when i had them with my assault bridge set , which i had for 2yrs running . When i got older at 14 they were all used for target practice for my air rifle 😊👍
I think i have comment on these items already. I couldn't find. Rather than repeating myself just that's nice Airfix toy vehicles ive never had. Great video as usual.👍🇭🇲✌️
Made loads of Airfix kits in the 60s and played with the soldiers, helped in my career as an engineer, visualisation of 3d objects from 2d drawings, management and manpower planning.
I grew up in the 1960s and loved airfix kits everything from sailing ships, war planes jumbo jet hercules with land rover and blood hound missile great memories
I have a whole load of these that I bought back in the 70's with my pocket money. They have all seen a lot of play and have the scars to prove it. I could never quite understand the decisions on the models produced: In the early 70's the allied models were all late or post-war, (centurians and pattons) but the axis were panthers and tigers. This lead to interesting if not historically accurate battles! Sadly the boxes are long gone 😢
That is the big mystery with some of the military toys Airfix produced. They did the same with the 1/32 scale vehicles and the first sets of cold war 1/32 toy soldiers which were both NATO countries (Germany and Britain)
The artwork from Airfix was on par with war comics from the same time period and was just timeless- a lot of the time I bought airfix sets because of the artwork. Spent hours having battles with the DAK and US Airborne troopers ha ha
Recognised some of these from my childhood. I think that I had started to specialise in ancient warfare by 1972 as I don't remember the German tanks. I used to get an Airfix catalogue and spend hours looking through it as s kid in the 60s. Now I spend hours looking through Ebay for my Flames of War collection!
Flames of war seem like good game. I have both a German army and a British army. We kinda started painting them (me and my son) but haven´t gotten around to play it yet.
@toysoldiernostalgia I am in the process of completing a German and a Soviet force, which I hope to get to the table in the next few weeks. Painting 15mm figures is a challenge for my 62 year old eyes?!
I never noticed these in any local hobby shop in my area. But as far as hobby shops go, in this area it was hit or miss as the city population was around 60,000. Even the selection of Airfix boxed figures was limited. I believe a friend of mine had two of those LCs, but I am not sure where he bought them.
Same here. The town I grew up in, in Sweden was about 80-100k population. Then Sweden was and is a small country so some things the importers didn´t even bother getting as they would sell to few of them.
Think this is something that could do with a re release have built most of the vehicles in kit form but how nice would it be to be able to fill a big diorama with a few of these in background where all you've had to do is paint them up
Nice, comprehensive review of all of the HO scale stuff! I'm the same age as you, but I don't think we really got Airfix stuff here in the U.S...... or at least I never saw it as a kid. Cool shirt, looks like a tactical flannel.
They were not all that common in Sweden eather. Have a few catalogs with price lists and they are listed but there´s no price so some years they weren´t available. It´s my favorite range shirt from Helikon Tex.
Another good video. Just out of curiosity (don't think I've seen a video) but you like the Airfix Pontoon Bridge, Gun emplacement sets etc ? These were excellent toys in the late 70's. Pretty sure the Dukw, self propelled gun & chieftain tank with my set. Wish I still had them.
I have a couple of those sets, think I´m only missing the pontoon bridge. I´m going to get all the building sets and the assault sets but I have to take it slow as I don´t have unlimited funds. The DUKW and the Self proppled gun were in a couple of the assault sets.
@@toysoldiernostalgia 👍 they were my favorites growing up. My brother had the Waterloo farmhouse. Probably the best value for money at that time as you got 5 boxes of soldiers with it. Hope share them with us soon. Great work btw👌
Great video. Loved these models and baffled why Airfix don't release an updated version. However, when I was a kid I bought some similar Atlantic vehicles on a school trip to France including a T34 and a brilliant German AA gun and towing vehicle. They were amazing - and nowhere near as shiny as the Airfix tanks.
The Atlantic ones are great. Some are kinda funly but I think they work better in 1/72 then 1/32. Did you check out my videos on Atlantic 1/32 vehicles and guns?
4:43 Of all these wonderful Airfix toys I only had the grey landing craft, to accompany my 1/72 soldiers. I could have bought more soft plastic vehicles but I preferred and stil prefer building hard plastic model kits.
@@toysoldiernostalgia Well I played a lot with my toy soldiers, often with my friends (and with their toy soldiers). Some of them had quite a collection of soft plastic vehicles which were easier (and safer😄) to play with than hard plastic toys. Too brittle and vulnerable especially during transport. However at a certain moment I got more and more interested in building just all sorts of model kits which are more suited for static display. I still have all of my toy soldier sets. I lost a few figures. Many have guns with broken off barrels. Many of my hard plastic models haven't survived the decades - and because of limited space I've had to throw many away. But I kept the best! 😊
Remember as a kid in the UK going to the hardware store, they sold these, I loved the Centurion tank, had a few of the others. I'm not certain what if any boxes they came in.
Those are all very nice toy vehicles. Your fortunate to have those. Im surprised that they're just the shell no interior but i guess it's to accommodate the toy soldier collection.👍🇭🇲
Hi. Another great film!!! So many happy memories of playing with these!! 😃😃 As i commented before you've inspired me to search out my boxes from the loft.!! I found my 1/76 scale hence me watching this film and I've only got one good 6x6 truck and it's grey in a box!!! Now i don't intend collecting boxed models, so would you like to do a swop ? I'm not after rare items , so couple of unboxed items from range suits me. Dave
@toysoldiernostalgia I would still like you to have it as you're have a fantastic collection and are so enthusiastic about this wonderful vehicles. I just need a replacement for mine? I'm sure we can work something out : )
I think you may be missing one. I seem to recall them doing a jeep and trailer, which was actually a limber for the 25pdr gun. Though it may have come in the earlier packageing.
The Cold War APC is the British FV432 like the US M113 it ids still in service. The DUKW stayed in service with the British army until at least the 70’s.
Thanks 👍 One of my favourite childhoodtoys ever (: but never had the german halftruck with cannon in my own hands. Only the british 4 times free to play. I like this thick softplastik and till today it is nearly unbreakable. In some 1:72 figures over the years the softmaker bursting the old material and so the softplastik mutating to hardplastik 😢 What a shame, exspecially under my sons bare foot 😂 Nice video for our next father and son weekend. In time we are waiting for the brandnew 2024 Airfix Releases. 1:72 bearhelms and 1:35 quickbuild Sherman and Tiger. Wow ! Our world of toysoldiers got some new stuff to play now 💪😉👍
@@toysoldiernostalgia Funny Fantasy: A big naked Gulliverfoot over 65 Years old breakable bearhelmet Originals. Not one of these Liliputians will get out alive under this Big foot circumstances. 😨😜🤣
I think that the troop transporter was based on the British FV-432. The Sherman is a bit odd - the long gun says to me, '17 pounder', so therefore, it's a British Mk V ' Firefly'. However, there is no bustle on the turret for the 17 pound gun to recoil into. I always cut the gun barrels short, using the Airfix 1/76 kit Sherman's gun as a rough guide. If you coated these toy tanks with watered down PVA (wood) glue, let it dry completely, then gave them a coat of grey car primer paint, they would then take model paints. And they looked good painted. Excellent for wargaming.
3:19 DUKW or “Duckboats” lived a long life here in the US. After the war, tour companies bought them up in coastal and river harbor cities like Boston and Philadelphia. Many are still used today. I think even earlier this year the Boston Celtics basketball team had one in their parade after they won the finals
I've liked toy soldiers at a distance all my life. I'm 62 and recently, I've decided I don't care what people think, I'm buying myself some toy soldiers! I've bought several now and I love it!
Great for you. We get one try at this life. Caring what others think is not an option.
Good for you!
@@toysoldiernostalgiaI think that’s why we ended up becoming avid Collectors, in the 70s as a kid you were always ridiculed about playing w toys if you were past 10-12 years old which was an awful thing. I remember hiding toys i loved from my friends for fear of being teased. Now those “cool” toys are worth tons of money. I always liked packaging (and tried to save & preserve it) even when I was young. I could care less why anyone things at my age now…Albeit six decades later.😂😂
I’m 57 now … these are such good memories of being a child and spending hours playing with these and figures … what a time!!!
Four words: Pontoon Bridge Assault Set. - god I loved that thing! 🙂 - Favourite part: the two commandos in the canoe.
I had the Gun Emplacement. I remember being shocked when out of the blue in Woolworths my dad (who was a bit tight lol) just said do you want it. He was obviously into it himself. Many happy hours along with Subbuteo of course. Re the commandos balancing one on the ladder was fun.
The seventies, I am so grateful to have been a boy during that time. We could only afford a little of these treasures, but this little was our greatest happiness.
Thanx for the video.
Nicely put. Cheers 😀
Come across this by accident. I collected these, along with airfix soldiers, and made the model planes through the 1960s in my childhood. I couldn't wait for Saturday morning, when I'd go into town to our local Woolworths, and see what my pocket money, and whatever pennies I had come across that week would buy.
Sounds exactly like what I used to do. I was lucky in that the small town I lived in had two model shops. Two shillings and sixpence could go a long way.
@@backrowbrighton shop like a Prince on 2/6
I too bought Airfix kits in Woolworths in the early 1970's. I have a Westland Scout Helicopter which I finally made last year and an Aerospatiale Gazelle still to be made. Both cost 23 pence.
me too in the 70's. Shermans model shop in Scunthorpe
Used to buy these in the 60’s 70’s with my pocket money. These models were cheap, remember buy three or four a week. They also complemented the packs of soldiers Airfix sold. The Antar tank transporter was a favourite. I had four of them with the various tanks available. Thank you for bringing back some of my childhood memories back.
I had most of those when I was a boy. Many many hours of fun. Happy memories
I'm the same age, same memories. Your collection is outstanding. Thanks for sharing 👍
Went to Military museum in Aldershot as a kid mid seventies, they had a massive WW1 Airfix dispaly , absolutely mind blowing as a child .. thanks for showing all your collections.
Thanks 😀
These things are little works of art. Can you imagine what it must have been like working on the production line putting these together and being surrounded by all that awesome green and grey plastic and using your staff discount to buy a bag full. I think I need a time machine.
I´m not so sure the workers (mostly women back then) saw them the same we see them. But their kids and friends and families kids probably got a lot of cool toys free or dirt cheap.
Ohhh YES absolutely ! My grand father was, in the 1970's and 1980's, actually a PANTOGRAPH worker for Matchbox and after for Airfix. And, YES we did get fantastic presents for Xmas ! 😊
Wow that´s sooo cool. Must have been so much fun.@@simonbrown9310
Ah so many memories of these cool Airfix vehicles! Back in the day I had several of them. It's funny that I eventually gave them away. Now I'm trying to collect them again 😂. I'm happy to be in my second childhood! 🪖
I had a few of these and also built a number of the Airfix 1/72 diorama kits. They helped get me into plastic modelling and miniature wargaming! Still doing it at 64! Thanks for the video!
I was born in 1958, and toy soldiers were my favorite until I was 18 (It really was a different world back then). I drooled over these back in the day, but never owned them because they were the wrong scale. I believe a key factor in the success of these toys (they had a long production run) was the wonderful box art and even better catalogue art, which was readily available to me because I lived near several toy factories. As good as these toys are, they look better on the box! Thanks for another trip down memory lane!
The boxes are at least half of the reason to collect these.
It would be nice to see these again particularly the way things are now. War gaming is suffering because of prices these will help to keep it alive
I love your enthusiasm, being born in 1961....i grew up with played with and collect these simple but joyful models along with making many Airfix kits ......happy days ,thanks for bringing back so many wonderful childhood memories.....love Airfix
Thanks 😀
Thanks 😀
I had the dodge truck and the grey landing craft as a kid in the 70s. So much nostalgia in these videos. Thank you 😊
I remember those models in the early to mid 1970’s. As a child I loved the they got me interested in scale model armor
I had many of these in my youth, 1970s and 80s. Thanks for taking me back to happy times.
Glad truck got to you OK and you're happy with it 😄. So many happy memories when I watch your films! Keep filming!😃
You've got me searching toy fairs for Airfix I've lost over years.
Thank you so much for that. I´ll send yours out next week.
Perfect. These Poly AFVs were an excellent addition to the HO/OO range. Availability was a bit spotty during the 1960s & 70s though. Finally, after all these years I have a full set, Mint in Box (Several times over). Thank you for this lovely trip down memory lane.
They realy are some pretty darn nice little toys.
I completely forgot that I had the landing craft when I was a UK kid in the 70`s, until I watched this video!
I love your enthusiasm for these. I had most of them when I was a kid and bought most if them from a local electrical/toy shop out of my pocket money. I had the 1/32 and 1/72 scale ones.
I was thinking about these toys this week then as if by magic your channel popped into my feed. I had a collection of Airfix ho-oo soldiers and tanks, and several of the bridges and dioramas. The hours and hours of fun they gave me. Watching your channel It's like over 40 years have fallen away. I wish I knew what happened to my collection, and I wish I still had them. The quality and detail of the models was so good, and they can't have been expensive as I had quite a lot and we didn't have a lot of money. Thanks for taking me back, will work my way through your back catalogue, thankyou.
Thanks for watching and commenting. This was our childhood.
Excellent models, when painted and customized. Perfect wargame pieces. I have a couple of centurians on my channel used for Australian vietnam task force.
Thank you for sharing. As a child during the 60's my friends and I often played with small army men and vehicles. I recognize a few armored vehicles from your collection my friend had. I'd never seen AirFix toys here on the West Coast US as a child and I would have noticed.
I did have a number of matchbox cars and trucks that were well played with.
Fantastic, fella. You just brought my mid 70s childhood back to life...I just need a Chopper bike now and I am SORTED! Great, great memories of setting up toy soldier and vehicle battles with my mates way back when... Cheers, buddy!
The best of times. Cheers.
Excellent video as always my friend. I really enjoy watching these man it's fun. Love your enthusiasm. It's 2 am here in the states what better to do when one cant sleep than to relive ones youth. Thank you sir very much you have no idea how much this helps me. Had to bury 2 more of my friends who tragically took their own life. Sad to say they're number 7 and 8. I know to many who've done that. So for me alone in the dark having trouble sleeping trying to cope with it all to be transported back to a simpler time is FANTASTIC. You've really help lift my spirits. Don't change a thing and keep the good times coming. 😁
Thanks so much. Glad you enjoy my little videos. They are fun to make and it makes even more fun when people like them. Nostalgia is a fantastic tool for better mental health. For me it´s just very calming and kinda grounding if you know what I mean.
@@toysoldiernostalgia boy do I. I think that's what "Grown ups" forgot how to do. Having your own little world to escape to was awesome for me as a kid. Like you I had toys that aided my imagination the possibilities were endless. I remember watching a video about WWII airplanes back in the 70s and a guy saying "Nostalgia is wonderful for those who live long enough to experience it" how right he was.
BRILLIANT VIDEO & THANKS... I had loads of these and enjoyed playing with them for years with the toy soldiers, me and my mates eventually got into war gaming and bought even more as they were a cheap back then, my biggest regret is selling off my German armour etc of which I had 40 pieces in the form of mostly the Tiger and Panther... but I had 4 Elephants and half tracks etc ... I'm gonna have to buy some now :)
4 Elephants would be worth a bit of cash these days. Sounds like fun to do wargaming with that many units.
@@toysoldiernostalgia we played huge tank and infrantry war games using dice and score card for each type of tank, armour level etc, thing is these were all a quite common toy for the time with lads so we used to trade to get more tanks etc … a friend of mine had about 70 such vehicles that he’d swapped unwanted toys for … some very happy times in these models for me and my friends
One of my favourite sets of toys
I’m 57 years old. I had all this sort of thing when I was younger. I can remember them being 40p. I wish I had kept hold of them but they were thrown away and shot with the air rifle great Fun . lol
Great collection, brought back some long forgotten happy memories. 👍
At one time or another, I had all of those, apart from the Elephant. the last one that was available to buy here was the T-34/85. The only models I had in grey were the Tiger, Panther and half track and 37mm gun. I think the photos of the Tiger and 'Panther' in the catalogue were of completed model kits of the Tiger and Pz4, crudely painted green, to look like the polythene tanks, rather than actual polythene tanks. These were wonderfully cheap and great for building up a collections to use with the HO/OO figures. They were my gateway to wargaming. I still have a 6x6 Truck and three FV432 Troop Carriers, as part of my nostalgia project.
You´re probably right on the Tiger and Pz4. No reason for them to make one and then not release it.
When I was a kid, I had a big collection of "Roco Minitanks" wich was looking like these Airfix-models you showed us, but I think with better details. If I remember right, the Roco-models was from the 70´s - 80´s.
I need to get me some of those.
@@toysoldiernostalgia www.87thscale.info/images/Catalogues/Peetzy-2.jpg
I think this is the best catalogue I can find. But as I understand it, they are not made anymore? www.gaugemasterretail.com/media/downloads/MinitanksCatalogue2016.pdf
nice collections , congrats 👌👍
Thanks 😃
Thanks 😃
Wow, I was just thinking about these Airfix AFV toys the other day and my Panther tank in particular!! My brother and I had quite a few of them and the matching figure sets. I remember that they were impossible to paint though, even with enamel paints, as they were cast from polyurethane. Great video and thanks for sharing👍🏻
Sounds like you and your brother had it made 😃
GOOD VIDEO SIR,HAVE A FEW OF THE VEHICLES FROM BACK IN THE 70S.I REMEMBER A FEW OF WARGAME BOOKS BACK THEN HAD GREAT PHOTOS OF THESE ITEMS IN THEM,MOSTLY THE AIRFIX BOOKS. HAVE A GREAT WEEK,TAKE CARE
You to, cheers 😃
Just seen your video...wow , just reminded me of my childhood. I had loads of this stuff , nearly everything your are showing, loads of soldiers, ... army kid, so it's in the blood ... thanks for showing this ... nice memories
Glad you enjoyed it :)
Brings back good memories. Thanks for the videos 😊
I had so many of these. Every time my mum would take me shopping at the “Big Co-op” in Fratton Road Portsmouth she would let me choose one and buy it for me. They were only pennies in those days. I had a whole Panzer division of Tigers. 😂😂😂 So many hours spent playing with these and my Airfix soldiers.
Wow what a boss mom 😃
Nice collection, I wish they had that many in the 1/32 scale.
That would have been awesome. I´m thinking about getting most of the BMC 1/32 scale vehicles so that I have a bigger variety.
My father was a soldier and when I was about 10 he took me to see a big board that had been set up for war gaming exercises on the barracks and it had terrain, camo, and lots of model vehicles, some of which I had. It was the best playing field I saw. Dad must of known how much I liked my airfix soldiers and tanks which would have been why he took me.
I too like older things, I used to have this old PC from 1993, but my dad threw it away in 2001 when I was 12!!!! I went berserk and have been looking for a replacement ever since. I love old films, music, figurines, games etc! I too have a collection of army stuff, many of them are BMC toys! You may like the 3DO games simply called army men, I recommend playing army men toys in space. Sometimes I got to charity and antique shops to buy old army men. I have all the colours of the rainbow, including pink soldiers too!!
I never had the toys, born in 1954, went for the Airfix models, Tiger, panther, Sherman, Churchill, 5.5 inch field gun etc. And of course the WW2 aircraft and warships.
I mixed them in with 1/72 scale Airfix, Atlantic, Matchbox and whatever I could find in that scale(have forgotten the brand names) , to build huge Diorama tables. I used a detergent to prepare them for primer paint, to handpaint a hundred models ( Soldiers, Vehicles, Artillery, Tanks and what not) with Tamiya paint. That was 30-50 years ago, until I switched over to the Panzer General PC Games, which I still play today.
I still have my collection in 4 120 liter containers stored away.
You may contact me, if you are interested.
Wow that´s a lot. I wouldn´t know what to do with all that stuff.
great colection congratulations
Thanks 😃
Great vid again,had a few and still got most of the ones from early 70s,before I had the airfix landing craft had one about the same size but with a round two gun turret on the stern,same sort of plastic as the early airfix ones,possibly bluebox,but hours of fun doing beach assaults with marines and Japanese.
The first Attack Force landingcraft had one turret with two machine guns. So yeah maybe a Blue Box or other Hong Kong manufaturer.
After reading The Victor and Commando comics l would recreate the battles l read about using Airfix soldiers, magical 70s memories.
In Sweden they were called different "series" comics. Like Patrol Series or Attack Series.
Loved them and still have some.
@@toysoldiernostalgia Excellent, the British always won in our comics during the 70s 😉😊
I used to allow the Airfix Africa korps beat the 8th army 👌
That's a lot of cool veichles man!!! I saw a few boxes of airfixs from the 60 at the local vintage mall
I'm of an earlier [50's] generation, had lots of lead soldiers from Woolworth's, military vehicles mostly Dinky Toys but i had a Britains howitzer to fire matchsticks and a clockwork Tri-Ang Centurion tank. Still have a few. Visited London in 1960, age 13, bought a bunch of Airfix model plane kits because they cost much less than the Revell kits I was building. Spitfire, Hurricane, Me109, Stuka, Mosquito. And no, I never saved a single box - I was a kid and I played with them.... Cheers from Canada !
Cheers!
The troop transporter is loosely based on the British FV432, which incredibly is still in service. I always remember as a child the crazily over scale mg on the roof!
After 20 years of collecting, I finally managed to get the DUKW in grey with the box. It only cost £25. I now have a complete collection. I can now sleep soundly 😂
That´s a great price for the grey DUKW. Congrats 😃
Have you got the elephant because that's worth nice money, I've got 2 perfect no box would never sell them.
I have the Elephant. it´s in the video@@tonyrobinson362
@@tonyrobinson362 yes, in the box and in excellent condition. I think I paid £90 for it about 4 years ago. The DUKW is by far the hardest to find, in fact, I’ve only ever seen it come up twice, I got out bid the first time.
Awesome time capsule! Txs for sharing 👍🏻
Best time for detailed toys and fun to play with , the option also was there to paint them up although they had no decals still cool and cheap to buy at the time .
The German vehicles, the Sherman, the DUKW and the Matador with 25 pdr field gun I often saw being used in WW2 games. Easy to add detail and there was a time when these were cheaper alternatives than expensive (then) Japanese kits. Armourfast snap-together kits would be a modern equivalent. It's a fab collection, I've never seen the green landing craft or german gun before.
Had a lot of these as a kid in the 70's.
Had many of these as a kid they were great fun & there were compleate battle sets available.
Awesome collection. If I had some of these I would have never left my room.
Regaring war toys I'm reminded of a scene in the 80's TV show Thirty Something. One mom is telling another mom that she refused to buy her son war toys so she bought him a toy farm. When she saw him playing with it he was having a war between the pigs and cows.
Young boys will always play out conflict.
The best way to learn when to use Brains or Brawn.
LOL😂😂😂
You can take away war toys from boys but you can't stop boys from playing war.
Fun to see you enjoying yourself. Cool video.
I remember buying the landing craft and when I got home I found some kid had stuffed two German tanks in it. Happy days! No idea what happened to them or my pontoon assault set and gun emplacement set. 🙁
Had all of this sometimes more than one of each.. Still have some but most got ‘blown up’ one way or another 😂😂 Top channel 🙏🏼
Nice to see the different models, i was always disappointed when i had them with my assault bridge set , which i had for 2yrs running . When i got older at 14 they were all used for target practice for my air rifle 😊👍
I think i have comment on these items already. I couldn't find. Rather than repeating myself just that's nice Airfix toy vehicles ive never had. Great video as usual.👍🇭🇲✌️
Thanks George.
@@toysoldiernostalgia 👍👍👍
Ah man, I was forgotten all about these. I even had the landing vessels. Memories….
Made loads of Airfix kits in the 60s and played with the soldiers, helped in my career as an engineer, visualisation of 3d objects from 2d drawings, management and manpower planning.
Freaking sick collection brother. Awesome.
Thanks dude.
I grew up in the 1960s and loved airfix kits everything from sailing ships, war planes jumbo jet hercules with land rover and blood hound missile great memories
I have a whole load of these that I bought back in the 70's with my pocket money. They have all seen a lot of play and have the scars to prove it. I could never quite understand the decisions on the models produced: In the early 70's the allied models were all late or post-war, (centurians and pattons) but the axis were panthers and tigers. This lead to interesting if not historically accurate battles! Sadly the boxes are long gone 😢
That is the big mystery with some of the military toys Airfix produced. They did the same with the 1/32 scale vehicles and the first sets of cold war 1/32 toy soldiers which were both NATO countries (Germany and Britain)
They coincide with the war movies of the the time Hollywood used anything and slapped a white star or a cross on it
Yes they are, I like so many others, had a ball playing with these for many a year.
The artwork from Airfix was on par with war comics from the same time period and was just timeless- a lot of the time I bought airfix sets because of the artwork. Spent hours having battles with the DAK and US Airborne troopers ha ha
Recognised some of these from my childhood. I think that I had started to specialise in ancient warfare by 1972 as I don't remember the German tanks. I used to get an Airfix catalogue and spend hours looking through it as s kid in the 60s. Now I spend hours looking through Ebay for my Flames of War collection!
Flames of war seem like good game. I have both a German army and a British army. We kinda started painting them (me and my son) but haven´t gotten around to play it yet.
@toysoldiernostalgia I am in the process of completing a German and a Soviet force, which I hope to get to the table in the next few weeks. Painting 15mm figures is a challenge for my 62 year old eyes?!
I never noticed these in any local hobby shop in my area. But as far as hobby shops go, in this area it was hit or miss as the city population was around 60,000. Even the selection of Airfix boxed figures was limited. I believe a friend of mine had two of those LCs, but I am not sure where he bought them.
Same here. The town I grew up in, in Sweden was about 80-100k population. Then Sweden was and is a small country so some things the importers didn´t even bother getting as they would sell to few of them.
This is the video i wanted
And now you have it 😃
Do you think they will ever come out again with cool sets like these?
I doubt it.
Think this is something that could do with a re release have built most of the vehicles in kit form but how nice would it be to be able to fill a big diorama with a few of these in background where all you've had to do is paint them up
the "elephant gun" is quite rare! and yes i had these as toys in the 70s!
Nice, comprehensive review of all of the HO scale stuff! I'm the same age as you, but I don't think we really got Airfix stuff here in the U.S...... or at least I never saw it as a kid. Cool shirt, looks like a tactical flannel.
They were not all that common in Sweden eather. Have a few catalogs with price lists and they are listed but there´s no price so some years they weren´t available.
It´s my favorite range shirt from Helikon Tex.
My main gripe was that the hinges on the ramp on the landing craft eventually broke.
It kinda looks like it could be the weak point on an otherwise very sturdy toy.
Nice vídeo, great regrets, congratulations!
Thanks :)
Another good video. Just out of curiosity (don't think I've seen a video) but you like the Airfix Pontoon Bridge, Gun emplacement sets etc ? These were excellent toys in the late 70's. Pretty sure the Dukw, self propelled gun & chieftain tank with my set. Wish I still had them.
I have a couple of those sets, think I´m only missing the pontoon bridge. I´m going to get all the building sets and the assault sets but I have to take it slow as I don´t have unlimited funds.
The DUKW and the Self proppled gun were in a couple of the assault sets.
@@toysoldiernostalgia 👍 they were my favorites growing up. My brother had the Waterloo farmhouse. Probably the best value for money at that time as you got 5 boxes of soldiers with it. Hope share them with us soon. Great work btw👌
I have two of the large Waterloo playsets and will do videos on those. I have a bunch of other videos out want to get out first though@@smcon6467
@@toysoldiernostalgia Excellent just keep them coming.👌
Great video. Loved these models and baffled why Airfix don't release an updated version. However, when I was a kid I bought some similar Atlantic vehicles on a school trip to France including a T34 and a brilliant German AA gun and towing vehicle. They were amazing - and nowhere near as shiny as the Airfix tanks.
The Atlantic ones are great. Some are kinda funly but I think they work better in 1/72 then 1/32. Did you check out my videos on Atlantic 1/32 vehicles and guns?
@toysoldiernostalgia I certainly will do now. Thanks.
4:43 Of all these wonderful Airfix toys I only had the grey landing craft, to accompany my 1/72 soldiers. I could have bought more soft plastic vehicles but I preferred and stil prefer building hard plastic model kits.
The plastic kits were great to. Did you use them to play with or just build and display?
@@toysoldiernostalgia Well I played a lot with my toy soldiers, often with my friends (and with their toy soldiers). Some of them had quite a collection of soft plastic vehicles which were easier (and safer😄) to play with than hard plastic toys. Too brittle and vulnerable especially during transport. However at a certain moment I got more and more interested in building just all sorts of model kits which are more suited for static display.
I still have all of my toy soldier sets. I lost a few figures. Many have guns with broken off barrels. Many of my hard plastic models haven't survived the decades - and because of limited space I've had to throw many away. But I kept the best! 😊
Fantastic.....
Thank God for Airfix😂
Remember as a kid in the UK going to the hardware store, they sold these, I loved the Centurion tank, had a few of the others. I'm not certain what if any boxes they came in.
Those are all very nice toy vehicles. Your fortunate to have those. Im surprised that they're just the shell no interior but i guess it's to accommodate the toy soldier collection.👍🇭🇲
Omg i never knew they did a half-track . I would of killed for that
OMG! 😮
I too was born in 68 (July), who hoo 🎉
December 😃
Hi. Another great film!!! So many happy memories of playing with these!! 😃😃
As i commented before you've inspired me to search out my boxes from the loft.!! I found my 1/76 scale hence me watching this film and I've only got one good 6x6 truck and it's grey in a box!!!
Now i don't intend collecting boxed models, so would you like to do a swop ?
I'm not after rare items , so couple of unboxed items from range suits me.
Dave
That would be awesome but I don´t realy have any unboxed vehicles though.
@toysoldiernostalgia
I would still like you to have it as you're have a fantastic collection and are so enthusiastic about this wonderful vehicles.
I just need a replacement for mine?
I'm sure we can work something out : )
I can trade you for a green truck. I have two boxed.@@DavidEast-u7m
@toysoldiernostalgia
Yes, that would be great 👍
Now, how do you want me to send it?
I have a contact email on my RUclips home page. @@DavidEast-u7m
Fantastic!
Sure is 😃
I think you may be missing one. I seem to recall them doing a jeep and trailer, which was actually a limber for the 25pdr gun. Though it may have come in the earlier packageing.
Yes that was part of the Attack Force and didn´t carry over to these.
had the set of these in the 70's
The Cold War APC is the British FV432 like the US M113 it ids still in service. The DUKW stayed in service with the British army until at least the 70’s.
Great. Thanks for the info 😃
Thanks 👍 One of my favourite childhoodtoys ever (: but never had the german halftruck with cannon in my own hands. Only the british 4 times free to play. I like this thick softplastik and till today it is nearly unbreakable. In some 1:72 figures over the years the softmaker bursting the old material and so the softplastik mutating to hardplastik 😢 What a shame, exspecially under my sons bare foot 😂 Nice video for our next father and son weekend. In time we are waiting for the brandnew 2024 Airfix Releases. 1:72 bearhelms and 1:35 quickbuild Sherman and Tiger. Wow ! Our world of toysoldiers got some new stuff to play now 💪😉👍
Yes I can´t wait to get the two 1/72 sets of Guards. I have the original sets from 1959.
@@toysoldiernostalgia Funny Fantasy: A big naked Gulliverfoot over 65 Years old breakable bearhelmet Originals. Not one of these Liliputians will get out alive under this Big foot circumstances. 😨😜🤣
Didn't the duck landing craft also come with the pontoon bridge set ?
Yes the assault set. But also in the coastal defence assault set.
I think that the troop transporter was based on the British FV-432.
The Sherman is a bit odd - the long gun says to me, '17 pounder', so therefore, it's a British Mk V ' Firefly'. However, there is no bustle on the turret for the 17 pound gun to recoil into. I always cut the gun barrels short, using the Airfix 1/76 kit Sherman's gun as a rough guide.
If you coated these toy tanks with watered down PVA (wood) glue, let it dry completely, then gave them a coat of grey car primer paint, they would then take model paints. And they looked good painted. Excellent for wargaming.
Yes, definitely an FV-432 (note the moulded mortar hatch in the roof).
The elephant fetches nice money its very rare.
Luckily I bought it probably 20 years and it wasn´t as pricey as these days.
3:19 DUKW or “Duckboats” lived a long life here in the US. After the war, tour companies bought them up in coastal and river harbor cities like Boston and Philadelphia. Many are still used today. I think even earlier this year the Boston Celtics basketball team had one in their parade after they won the finals
They will probably last forever.
Dunno why Airfix never did a kit of the Elefant/Ferdinand - I'd have probably bought it repeatedly!
Good video thanks, interesting that the T34 was in grey not green....maybe a reflection on the geo politics of the 60s and 70s
I´m not sure that the Airfix toy departement looked much at geopolitics when designing toys. But who knows 😃
Didnt someone do the Airfix 1/32 scale vehicles the other day? I would like to see that one also.
I did. Just go to my channel and you will find it :)