I got these one year as a stocking filler and played with them for hours and hours. All the Airfix soldiers are my favourite but these are definitely in my top five favourites. 👍👍👍
I had these as a child and liked them because of the very different poses to most Airfix sets. I absolutely loved the skiers and tried to get them skiing when it snowed! (It didn’t work very well well!)
Since my last comment almost 3 weeks ago, I have now purchased lots of boxes of soldiers. This is going to be an expensive hobby for me. 25 boxes of varied troops from different countries in three weeks but definitely worth it ☺️🇬🇧
Reading through the comments...I´m somewhat baffled that apparently I´m the only one who, as a child, noticed the similarity of the uniforms of the mountain troops and the Afrika Korps figures and how easily these two sets could augment each other. Removing the Edelweiss emblem, some of these figures could easily become Afrika Korps soldiers, and vice versa. By painting the Africa Korps figures from Airfix in green uniform colors some of them could fairly easy be turned into mountain troops, which could give you all the fighting poses you miss in this set. Also some of the mountain troops, such as those with rope or the pick axe guy could easily be customized to become artillery crew arming a field gun. Not to mention that by cutting some of the figures right under the jacket or over the waist and swapping their torsos you can produce completely new poses.
All great ideas. Never looked at it that way. But also that meant painting them and I never did that when I was of the age were I played with these as toys. When I got a bit older and started building and painting more I almost only built Tamiya. One of these I will have to try some conversions. Cheers :)
You are right with your "kids' pose critic." And yes, a lot of detail was left out. But this is a matter with a lot of airfixes or matchboxes. Something is always missing or only visible on rhe frontside. They looked" james bondish" to me. And this is how I mainly used them with 1/3x die cast cars :-) They were great, nevertheless. A great winter snow toy also. Like big jim/action figures or kenner star wars hoth toys.
I had these as a kid and indeed I was very disappointed, because fighting poses were so rare and as a kid playing you use in general mostly the fighting soldiers ;) I had also the german paratroopers and the german infantry, the paratroopers were my favourite
The two skiers remind me of Kirk Douglas and Richard Harris from the Heros of Telemark. They wore very similar outfits when chased by the Germans and only carried hand guns 😊
I haven't seen these German Mountain Troops since virtually they were first released. Reminds me of being a lad, going round to my friend, setting up our soldiers, then using a marble to take shots. I don't think we cared too much about the limited poses, in fact, you could paint them three or four, at a time because they were the same. I liked the guys laying down one with mg 42, one loading the bullets. Actually, I thought they were more detailed than they appear to be, but that's going back 50 years.
Yes memories are a funny thing. When I started collecting 20 years ago I also got surpriced with some sets and figures I remembered in a different way.
Some were more detailed than others - occasionally you could get a bad run where the plastic mix wasn't right or was the wrong temperature or didn't cool enough before clearly the mold and you'd get very slightly "melted" looking figures - especially in the small scales.
@@toysoldiernostalgia The flags were supposed to be semaphore flags for signaling to troops on a neighbouring mountain across a valley or such - good way to maintain radio silence but I have no idea how common it was.
I had those as a kid. I was born in 1967. I was 8 years old I have lots of boxes of different toy soldiers but distinctly remember having this. Lot great memories enjoy your videos thanks
As a kid in the mid-70s, I had lots of the Airfix 1/32 scale soldiers, both "modern" and World War II. They were great! All the different nations and units was something new and different. My favorite was the British World War II Paratroops!😉
Those Paras were realy nice. I had videos on all the older sets but took them down because I don´t think they were all that good. Starting over with all those sets in a few weeks.
Something wonderful what happened? Not 5 miles from my house is a model shop that sells plastic toy soldiers. Obviously these are made recently not from the 70s. I’m going to buy one box of British 🇬🇧at Army and one box of German 🇩🇪 infantry and paint them just to see what happens , this could be the beginning of a new hobby thanks to watching your videos who knows I may indulge in a few boxes from the 70s ☺️☺️
I did have this set as a kid, I liked them, you are right, an unfinished story about the joint base, BUT it had an MG42 and an smg that was in regular use as opposed to the very esoteric erma in the standard infantry set. I liked the officer dude, I usually would have him directing the signalman to waft his flags over there…😏 I got the reissue box in hard plastic and realised that the two skiing chaps could easily be Brit commandoes or Norweigan lads out to sort out the heavy water. Just stick a sten or No4 on their back and paint khaki instead of feldgrau as the British mountain units kit was pretty much identical to those in this set (don’t use the tunic figures as the Brit mountaineers still had normal 37 webbing etc, just that theyd acquired extras such as the smock, cap, mountain boots and socks, bergans etc). Thanks again!
GOT 3 SETS WHEN THEY FIRST CAME OUT FOR WARGAMES. WHERE EAGLES DARE AND THE NORWAY CAMPAIGN AND THE RUSSIAN FRONT WERE THREE SCENARIOS WE USED. GOOD VIDEO
Had them in HO/OO scale. I never noticed they bore no weapons! They were well molded, though, and in the exact same poses as their 1/32 sce counterparts
Actually I didn't felt at all disappointed when I got this particular set of Airfix during the late 70's.I found it was original .It remind me a favourite film of mine,the''Heroes of Telemark''.
@@toysoldiernostalgia sadly it wasn't available in Greece back then. I learnt of the existence of the British Support Group only through your channel. I am glad that I found your channel on youtube by coincidence. From time to time I post your videos in the page of our wargaming club in Athens.
Mountain troops were not issued Y-Straps to support the leather belt. The Mountain Rucksack (Backpack) was attched to the belt and did support the weight so.
This with the British support group was my favourite airfix soldier set . They were clean casting and interesting poses . The flag man was the only one I disliked and would have changed for an action pose
I have all the 1970s 1/32 WW2 sets Airfix ever made (but not from the 1980s). This set was also a bit of a disappointment for me. Not enough fighting poses. Not unlike the British Infantry Support Group. Many of the small parts got lost over the decades, but I think that is inevitable. It always reminds me of the movie ''Where Eagles Dare''. Thanks for this video!
I like the support group a lot more. But then again it´s a support group not a fighting unit so the lack of fighting poses is more realistic. For this set I guess they wanted to high light the fact that they where sometimes working in snow. But I think they could still have made a few more fighting poses that goes with the theme.
I had this set when I was a kid but never really knew what to do with them! I really liked the skiing guy but I seem to remember breaking the little pins on the ends of his legs somehow and obviously the skis no long would fit on.
So glad I stumbled upon your channel- these were simply my favourite toy soldiers at this scale. Every time I played with them I had "The Chase" from the Where Eagles Dare playing on a loop in my mind. I agree, a lot of non-combat poses, but this made them quite different, to my mind - so many other sets were generic stand-shoot, kneel-shoot, prone-shoot, throw-grenade & and, of course, pointy-officer. Thanks for rekindling the memories.
@toysoldiernostalgia Cheers. Though, I do have to agree with your original point for one pose - that guy with the pickaxe...I really struggled to weave him into any dynamic narrative (also, even as a kid,I found the pose very odd and ineffectual - I suppose he could be scraping away at glacial moraine or a snow drift...). Anyway, best of luck to you and your channel.
Yes the Mt. Troops were a little short on fighting poses and lacked important battle details, but with that said, it inspired a lot of adventurous and fun battle scenarios, especially when used with the Commandos! My personal favorite as a kid!
I had almost every set of 1/32. I loved these just as much as the others. Non of the issues you mention had any impact on me as a kid. Just looking at the artwork was enough to love these soldiers!
I’m kinda overthinking it sometimes. I think I probably would have liked this set as well eventhough I would probably have bought or wished for a set with more fighting soldiers.
@@toysoldiernostalgia I remember that they were not my favourite by far, but I do remember playing with them in our garden rockery. It's not over thinking, we are just far more critical as we get older.
I got these in about 78 (airfix soldiers were the only toys I wanted )thought they were amazing the ski men were great but as an adult I decided to buy all the sets to paint and realised to my disappointment they were crap sculptures terrible lol childhood dreams crushed Great videos
Probably, like a lot of kids of the 60's and 70's, my first introduction to German mountain troops was through the movie "Where Eagles Dare" which blew me away at the time. So when this set came out I literally ran to the hobby with my allowance money to get a pack. Have to say, I had the similar feeling of "lunchbag letdown" at the number of non-fighting poses. Also had a problem that, within the set, the sculpting seemed very uneven. E.g. The mg42 gunner was quite good but his loader looked stiffly unrealistic with a poor face and cap sculpt. When Airfix reissued some of the 1/32 soldiers line in the 2000s, like someone else on this thread, I altered some of the Afrika Korps troops into Gebirgsjagers. Of course, would probably still buy a pack of these guys if they got reissued for nostalgia's sake.😁
I used to slide the skiers in the snow, which was a thing when I was a kid. Think I later converted one of the pickmen into a medieval footsoldier. Think the flagmen became track crew in my Scalectric. P.S. You don't hold a pick like that.
I never had this set but must have had most of the Airfix 32nd and 72nd scale soldiers. I stupidly threw them all out about 15 years ago as I needed the room. I must have thrown about 700 of the larger scale figures away and about 4,000-5,000 of the smaller figures into the bin, many of them Esci and Revell as well, and all eras from Rome, ECW, ACW, WW1, WW2 Wild West, 30 years War, Medieval, Vietnam. God, what was I thinking of. I also had about 100 of the Britains figures on the metal bases including mortar teams and German motorbike and sidecars and perhaps 200 of the Tempo larger scale figures, knights and cowboys and Indians, which were stolen at school. Must stop typing now as I need to find a dark corner and go and cry a lot!
On no. I feel your pain brother. I sold most of my rare US import early 80´s metal vinyl some 25 years ago. Today worth 15-20 times what I sold them for.
I had this set as a kid. In my opinion the Mountain Troops is by far the best Airfix 1/32 toy soldiers set ever made (with the British Infantry Support coming in second). As a kid in the 70´ties I liked to make 1/32 dioramas such as camps, air bases etc, but unfortunately Airfix mostly released soldiers in fighting poses, which is surely why they lost the highly profitable diorama market to Tamiya 1/35. I never understood why. I mean, what is the idea of releasing a 1/32 check point diorama without releasing soldiers in guarding and resting poses necessary to man it? The mountain troops are very easy to customise into alternative figurines. Few years ago I bought a new set specifically to do just that for my giant Märklin 1/32 (gauge 1) train landscape. I transformed the skiing troops into civilian skiers painting some of them with alarm red color. The signaling soldier was transformed into an 1/32 airfield marshal with signaling wands by cutting off his flags and sanding off his uniform parts. The result is just perfect. The ammo feeding soldier was turned into a mountain climber. Some other mountain troops became railroad workers, police officers and fire fighters. My favorite Airfix 1/32 kit is the Bamboo House which is now a fully furnitured zoo ticket office in my model diorama wild park.
Thanks for giving another perspective. I was also thinking about a diorama with some of the figures painted like civilian skiers. The same type of annorak they are wearing was also used by civilians. It so funny how different we can see things. I mostly wanted fighting poses and think there were to many to be useful. I like that. You may be right about Airfix loosing out to Tamiya just because of the limited non fighting poses. After all most of the time soldiers are not engaged in combat and some never. But I think the modularity of the Tamiya figures and fine details also had something to do with Tamiya getting almost all the scale model market. Airfix was to much a mix of toys and model figures. Great feedback.
I had forgot about the bamboo house. I had that with the Australian Infantry and the Japanese Infantry and can remember playing with them in the garden with my cousin and believing the battle was going on in the Burmese jungle.
I bought these on their original release and also had them in 1/72nd scale but will admit the one thing that disappointed me was the lack of action poses. I still have a sealed box of the 1/72nd scale issue and bought another set of these when they were reissued a few years ago. Great figures but the originals were the best no question.
I (we, Brother & I) had these. Yes, a bit limited but was always good to have different ones to everyone else. These & the Japanese not many people had. Also, most people had a lot of inherited stuff. So a mix of random stuff. We used to set them up and use cannon firing matchsticks to knock each other's down, so poses not that important. You'd probably attempt to paint the more interesting ones, or set up a diorama or something.
I would like to comment on the machinegun in this set? Of all the Airfix 1/32 scale WW2 sets, only the German Mountain Troops set has a decent representation of a MG34 or a MG42 machinegun - the MG42 in this case. The MG34 in the German Infantry set is atrocious. I seriously wonder if the box artists and the figure designers and sculptors had ever seen a MG34. The German Afrika Korps also has an MG34 which looks less awful. The German Paratroopers set represents the FG42 and not the MG42, so you cannot compare it with a true machinegun. However since the Paratroopers set and the Mountain Troops set are from the second batch - more poses, less figures in a pose - I think the Paratroopers set probably could have had a decent MG42.
Another cool video and close up's of army men. I thought the posed Mountain army men were awesome. The manufacturer really hit the bullseye! You are curious of the "flag" waving army man? I can't remember which movie(s), have a "Joe", in the middle of a muddy road, motioning mechanized vehicles to go this way or that way with flags in both hands. You have a flag bearer in your "Mountain Army Corps", and if I was going to guess his job, or function, I would say he's flagging to tell his fellow army buddies too...be aware of possible AVALANCHE(S)! or Yeti? LOL! make a video of you painting your most detailed plastic figure. Thanks man, c-ya!
Addendum to my earlier comment: your question regarding the figure with the flags, he would use that for semaphore communications and/or tactical signalling...I'm not really sure about Gebirgsjaeger doctrine, but I've seen photos of the US 10th Mountain DIV using flags in Italy...hope that helps
There wasn't as many fighting poses in this set but I still liked it because of the movie Where Eagles Dare and I used to have these guys climbing the rocks in the garden.
I had the 1/72nd scale set when they were released and I was hugely disappointed, there was a pack horse with 2 ammo/supply boxes that were supposed to fit onto it via pegs and holes and they just didn't fit. Airfix always has a had a reputation for including bizarre and pointless poses.
Was it common practice to number the poses as all the figures had a number on their legs. I don’t ever remember seeing this on my figures. I used mine to recreate the movie Where Eagles Dare
That guy looking upward with the coiled rope and grappling hook I think is supposed to be used with the two-man team; they are waiting for him to toss the rope up to them on the edge of a cliff---I think. Also I disagree about the non-fighting poses. I think these are very useful, because after all most soldiers in real life wars DON'T fight the enemy but spend their time doing "camp duties" and preparing fortifications, policing up, maintenance, etc. Incidentally, due to their unique poses, these guys can ALSO be used as a Pioneer/ Engineer outfit.
Hi there, I never acquired this one for the reasons you pointed out- not really playable- no real weapons. One of the last sets I got in the early 80s when I was visiting my aunt in UK where the Italians. I appreciated the officer in this set. Will you do a video on the Italians? They only ones I still have a couple of.
Most Airfix production was moved to the Heller factory in France. It was not a happy time for Airfix. I loved these figures - I used to play games with them, based on the movie 'The Heroes Of Telemark'. Some of these figures were, in my mind, the good guys in disguise. The Norsk Hydro Heavy Water plant was destroyed many times in my games with these guys. My go-to winter hat is an old, new stock M43 ski hat.
Remove the Edelweiss emblem...and some of these guys could easily be Afrika Korps. And vice versa. Paint the Africa Korps figures in green uniform colors and some of them could easily become mountain troops.
Las tropas alpinas de montaña de la whermacht las tuve yo bien pintadas en un diorama con nieve representando Noruega por ejemplo quedan muy bien.las puse con los comandos británicos asaltando y destruyendo su base en un gran diorama que quedó muy bien y ganó un premio en un concurso.
I got these one year as a stocking filler and played with them for hours and hours.
All the Airfix soldiers are my favourite but these are definitely in my top five favourites. 👍👍👍
My friend had these. I loved them! Ski troops! Esp. Soldiers skiing were my favorite. All the best! And don't forget "Into the Eagle's Nest"!
I had these as a child and liked them because of the very different poses to most Airfix sets. I absolutely loved the skiers and tried to get them skiing when it snowed! (It didn’t work very well well!)
Since my last comment almost 3 weeks ago, I have now purchased lots of boxes of soldiers. This is going to be an expensive hobby for me. 25 boxes of varied troops from different countries in three weeks but definitely worth it ☺️🇬🇧
Oh wow you´re in it even worse then me it sounds like. Great fun though.
@@toysoldiernostalgia we look forward to your next video. Get better soon.
Reading through the comments...I´m somewhat baffled that apparently I´m the only one who, as a child, noticed the similarity of the uniforms of the mountain troops and the Afrika Korps figures and how easily these two sets could augment each other. Removing the Edelweiss emblem, some of these figures could easily become Afrika Korps soldiers, and vice versa. By painting the Africa Korps figures from Airfix in green uniform colors some of them could fairly easy be turned into mountain troops, which could give you all the fighting poses you miss in this set.
Also some of the mountain troops, such as those with rope or the pick axe guy could easily be customized to become artillery crew arming a field gun. Not to mention that by cutting some of the figures right under the jacket or over the waist and swapping their torsos you can produce completely new poses.
All great ideas. Never looked at it that way. But also that meant painting them and I never did that when I was of the age were I played with these as toys. When I got a bit older and started building and painting more I almost only built Tamiya.
One of these I will have to try some conversions.
Cheers :)
You are right with your "kids' pose critic." And yes, a lot of detail was left out. But this is a matter with a lot of airfixes or matchboxes.
Something is always missing or only visible on rhe frontside. They looked" james bondish" to me. And this is how I mainly used them with 1/3x die cast cars :-)
They were great, nevertheless. A great winter snow toy also. Like big jim/action figures or kenner star wars hoth toys.
I had these as a kid and indeed I was very disappointed, because fighting poses were so rare and as a kid playing you use in general mostly the fighting soldiers ;) I had also the german paratroopers and the german infantry, the paratroopers were my favourite
The German Paratroopers is a great set.
The two skiers remind me of Kirk Douglas and Richard Harris from the Heros of Telemark. They wore very similar outfits when chased by the Germans and only carried hand guns 😊
I haven't seen these German Mountain Troops since virtually they were first released. Reminds me of being a lad, going round to my friend, setting up our soldiers, then using a marble to take shots. I don't think we cared too much about the limited poses, in fact, you could paint them three or four, at a time because they were the same. I liked the guys laying down one with mg 42, one loading the bullets. Actually, I thought they were more detailed than they appear to be, but that's going back 50 years.
Yes memories are a funny thing. When I started collecting 20 years ago I also got surpriced with some sets and figures I remembered in a different way.
Some were more detailed than others - occasionally you could get a bad run where the plastic mix wasn't right or was the wrong temperature or didn't cool enough before clearly the mold and you'd get very slightly "melted" looking figures - especially in the small scales.
@@toysoldiernostalgia The flags were supposed to be semaphore flags for signaling to troops on a neighbouring mountain across a valley or such - good way to maintain radio silence but I have no idea how common it was.
I had those as a kid. I was born in 1967. I was 8 years old I have lots of boxes of different toy soldiers but distinctly remember having this. Lot great memories enjoy your videos thanks
As a kid in the mid-70s, I had lots of the Airfix 1/32 scale soldiers, both "modern" and World War II. They were great! All the different nations and units was something new and different. My favorite was the British World War II Paratroops!😉
Those Paras were realy nice. I had videos on all the older sets but took them down because I don´t think they were all that good. Starting over with all those sets in a few weeks.
Great set, my favorite.
Ok this is crazy. I had these!! I'd completely forgotten.
The soldier with the flag. They used flags to send messages. They stood on mountain tops and used the flags to send Morse signals.
I tried to Google about the flags but there were not much info to find. But I figured that they used them for signaling same as the Navy.
@@toysoldiernostalgia Semaphore?
Yep … semaphore signalling is used for safety by Alpine troops… Flares, Radios or even voices can set off an unexpected big white cloud…🍺👍🏻
Something wonderful what happened? Not 5 miles from my house is a model shop that sells plastic toy soldiers. Obviously these are made recently not from the 70s. I’m going to buy one box of British 🇬🇧at Army and one box of German 🇩🇪 infantry and paint them just to see what happens , this could be the beginning of a new hobby thanks to watching your videos who knows I may indulge in a few boxes from the 70s ☺️☺️
Get the ones from the 70s to collect and the new ones to paint :)
They look more suited to the location sets of Heroes of Telemark, either side.
I much preferred the ‘29’ figure boxes over the 15’s.I can’t imagine this set or the Infantry Support Group in a smaller release.
I guess the smaller boxes could have been geared towards scale modellers that maybe didn’t want 5 or 6 out some poses.
I did have this set as a kid, I liked them, you are right, an unfinished story about the joint base, BUT it had an MG42 and an smg that was in regular use as opposed to the very esoteric erma in the standard infantry set. I liked the officer dude, I usually would have him directing the signalman to waft his flags over there…😏 I got the reissue box in hard plastic and realised that the two skiing chaps could easily be Brit commandoes or Norweigan lads out to sort out the heavy water. Just stick a sten or No4 on their back and paint khaki instead of feldgrau as the British mountain units kit was pretty much identical to those in this set (don’t use the tunic figures as the Brit mountaineers still had normal 37 webbing etc, just that theyd acquired extras such as the smock, cap, mountain boots and socks, bergans etc). Thanks again!
I like the norweigan idea.
Just the sound of the figures rattling around in the box brings back memories. I just want to out and buy a load of soldiers. 😂😂
Ebay is your friend :)
Thanks for this review, was hoping you'd cover this set...this became my favorite Airfix set on the heels of the movie "Where Eagles Dare"...👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
GOT 3 SETS WHEN THEY FIRST CAME OUT FOR WARGAMES. WHERE EAGLES DARE AND THE NORWAY CAMPAIGN AND THE RUSSIAN FRONT WERE THREE SCENARIOS WE USED. GOOD VIDEO
Had them in HO/OO scale. I never noticed they bore no weapons! They were well molded, though, and in the exact same poses as their 1/32 sce counterparts
Actually I didn't felt at all disappointed when I got this particular set of Airfix during the late 70's.I found it was original .It remind me a favourite film of mine,the''Heroes of Telemark''.
That´s great that you enjoyed it. My favorite set was the British Support Group and that didn´t realy have any regular fighting poses either.
@@toysoldiernostalgia sadly it wasn't available in Greece back then.
I learnt of the existence of the British Support Group only through your channel.
I am glad that I found your channel on youtube by coincidence.
From time to time I post your videos in the page of our wargaming club in Athens.
I tried recreating Where Eagles Dare with these figures. Unfortunately, my attempted diorama ended up getting destroyed.
Mountain troops were not issued Y-Straps to support the leather belt. The Mountain Rucksack (Backpack) was attched to the belt and did support the weight so.
This with the British support group was my favourite airfix soldier set . They were clean casting and interesting poses . The flag man was the only one I disliked and would have changed for an action pose
I totaly agree.
I have all the 1970s 1/32 WW2 sets Airfix ever made (but not from the 1980s). This set was also a bit of a disappointment for me. Not enough fighting poses. Not unlike the British Infantry Support Group. Many of the small parts got lost over the decades, but I think that is inevitable. It always reminds me of the movie ''Where Eagles Dare''. Thanks for this video!
I like the support group a lot more. But then again it´s a support group not a fighting unit so the lack of fighting poses is more realistic.
For this set I guess they wanted to high light the fact that they where sometimes working in snow.
But I think they could still have made a few more fighting poses that goes with the theme.
Totally agreed. I had exactly the same problem, trying not to lose the skis. Moving house about 4 times in 2 years did not help either.
A Stanley knife and glue is all that is needed to transform any figure into what you want them to be
I had this set when I was a kid but never really knew what to do with them! I really liked the skiing guy but I seem to remember breaking the little pins on the ends of his legs somehow and obviously the skis no long would fit on.
Nice soldiers, excellent video !! Thanks a lot , greetings from Greece 💯
So glad I stumbled upon your channel- these were simply my favourite toy soldiers at this scale. Every time I played with them I had "The Chase" from the Where Eagles Dare playing on a loop in my mind. I agree, a lot of non-combat poses, but this made them quite different, to my mind - so many other sets were generic stand-shoot, kneel-shoot, prone-shoot, throw-grenade & and, of course, pointy-officer. Thanks for rekindling the memories.
I think you´re right and I think I would have realy liked these as a kid. Like you said they lend them selfs to more "movie" play then all out war.
@toysoldiernostalgia Cheers. Though, I do have to agree with your original point for one pose - that guy with the pickaxe...I really struggled to weave him into any dynamic narrative (also, even as a kid,I found the pose very odd and ineffectual - I suppose he could be scraping away at glacial moraine or a snow drift...).
Anyway, best of luck to you and your channel.
@@nickharvey7233 thanks 😀
Yes the Mt. Troops were a little short on fighting poses and lacked important battle details, but with that said, it inspired a lot of adventurous and fun battle scenarios, especially when used with the Commandos! My personal favorite as a kid!
Was the Commandos or Mountain Troops your favorite?
@@toysoldiernostalgia Mt. Troops for Fun! But the Commandos were superior sculpts.
I had almost every set of 1/32. I loved these just as much as the others. Non of the issues you mention had any impact on me as a kid. Just looking at the artwork was enough to love these soldiers!
I’m kinda overthinking it sometimes. I think I probably would have liked this set as well eventhough I would probably have bought or wished for a set with more fighting soldiers.
@@toysoldiernostalgia I remember that they were not my favourite by far, but I do remember playing with them in our garden rockery. It's not over thinking, we are just far more critical as we get older.
I got these in about 78 (airfix soldiers were the only toys I wanted )thought they were amazing the ski men were great but as an adult I decided to buy all the sets to paint and realised to my disappointment they were crap sculptures terrible lol childhood dreams crushed
Great videos
This and the Australians were my favorites
Australians were realy cool.
Probably, like a lot of kids of the 60's and 70's, my first introduction to German mountain troops was through the movie "Where Eagles Dare" which blew me away at the time. So when this set came out I literally ran to the hobby with my allowance money to get a pack. Have to say, I had the similar feeling of "lunchbag letdown" at the number of non-fighting poses. Also had a problem that, within the set, the sculpting seemed very uneven. E.g. The mg42 gunner was quite good but his loader looked stiffly unrealistic with a poor face and cap sculpt. When Airfix reissued some of the 1/32 soldiers line in the 2000s, like someone else on this thread, I altered some of the Afrika Korps troops into Gebirgsjagers. Of course, would probably still buy a pack of these guys if they got reissued for nostalgia's sake.😁
I used to slide the skiers in the snow, which was a thing when I was a kid. Think I later converted one of the pickmen into a medieval footsoldier. Think the flagmen became track crew in my Scalectric.
P.S. You don't hold a pick like that.
Thanks!
That's perfect for a movie😅
James Bond.
I remember having both scales the smaller scale one had pack horses and a few extra skis
I never had this set but must have had most of the Airfix 32nd and 72nd scale soldiers. I stupidly threw them all out about 15 years ago as I needed the room. I must have thrown about 700 of the larger scale figures away and about 4,000-5,000 of the smaller figures into the bin, many of them Esci and Revell as well, and all eras from Rome, ECW, ACW, WW1, WW2 Wild West, 30 years War, Medieval, Vietnam. God, what was I thinking of. I also had about 100 of the Britains figures on the metal bases including mortar teams and German motorbike and sidecars and perhaps 200 of the Tempo larger scale figures, knights and cowboys and Indians, which were stolen at school. Must stop typing now as I need to find a dark corner and go and cry a lot!
On no. I feel your pain brother. I sold most of my rare US import early 80´s metal vinyl some 25 years ago. Today worth 15-20 times what I sold them for.
I'm crying with you after reading about your loss.
@@johncarroll772 lol thanks man.
The man wielding the pickaxe is actually the 5th combat pose.
Lol.
I had this set as a kid. In my opinion the Mountain Troops is by far the best Airfix 1/32 toy soldiers set ever made (with the British Infantry Support coming in second). As a kid in the 70´ties I liked to make 1/32 dioramas such as camps, air bases etc, but unfortunately Airfix mostly released soldiers in fighting poses, which is surely why they lost the highly profitable diorama market to Tamiya 1/35.
I never understood why. I mean, what is the idea of releasing a 1/32 check point diorama without releasing soldiers in guarding and resting poses necessary to man it?
The mountain troops are very easy to customise into alternative figurines. Few years ago I bought a new set specifically to do just that for my giant Märklin 1/32 (gauge 1) train landscape. I transformed the skiing troops into civilian skiers painting some of them with alarm red color. The signaling soldier was transformed into an 1/32 airfield marshal with signaling wands by cutting off his flags and sanding off his uniform parts. The result is just perfect. The ammo feeding soldier was turned into a mountain climber. Some other mountain troops became railroad workers, police officers and fire fighters.
My favorite Airfix 1/32 kit is the Bamboo House which is now a fully furnitured zoo ticket office in my model diorama wild park.
Thanks for giving another perspective. I was also thinking about a diorama with some of the figures painted like civilian skiers. The same type of annorak they are wearing was also used by civilians.
It so funny how different we can see things. I mostly wanted fighting poses and think there were to many to be useful. I like that.
You may be right about Airfix loosing out to Tamiya just because of the limited non fighting poses. After all most of the time soldiers are not engaged in combat and some never.
But I think the modularity of the Tamiya figures and fine details also had something to do with Tamiya getting almost all the scale model market.
Airfix was to much a mix of toys and model figures.
Great feedback.
I had forgot about the bamboo house. I had that with the Australian Infantry and the Japanese Infantry and can remember playing with them in the garden with my cousin and believing the battle was going on in the Burmese jungle.
Beautiful set i have only few of them Z
The music enhanced the disappointed
I bought these on their original release and also had them in 1/72nd scale but will admit the one thing that disappointed me was the lack of action poses. I still have a sealed box of the 1/72nd scale issue and bought another set of these when they were reissued a few years ago. Great figures but the originals were the best no question.
With the 1/72 scale, it was always difficult to keep the skis on the figure
I (we, Brother & I) had these. Yes, a bit limited but was always good to have different ones to everyone else. These & the Japanese not many people had.
Also, most people had a lot of inherited stuff. So a mix of random stuff.
We used to set them up and use cannon firing matchsticks to knock each other's down, so poses not that important.
You'd probably attempt to paint the more interesting ones, or set up a diorama or something.
Yes those were probably two of the less desired sets. I realy liked and like the japanese set.
Maaaximooo like and a greeteeng
I would like to comment on the machinegun in this set? Of all the Airfix 1/32 scale WW2 sets, only the German Mountain Troops set has a decent representation of a MG34 or a MG42 machinegun - the MG42 in this case. The MG34 in the German Infantry set is atrocious. I seriously wonder if the box artists and the figure designers and sculptors had ever seen a MG34. The German Afrika Korps also has an MG34 which looks less awful. The German Paratroopers set represents the FG42 and not the MG42, so you cannot compare it with a true machinegun. However since the Paratroopers set and the Mountain Troops set are from the second batch - more poses, less figures in a pose - I think the Paratroopers set probably could have had a decent MG42.
Kinda the same with the MP40. Most of the time it juat looka like any generic sub machine gun.
I like this set, but some of them are Norwegian resistance , Heroes of Telemark, deffo the skiers .. just like Kirk Douglas 🙂🙂
There´s quit a few different ways I think you could use these figures. Maybe their not that bad after all :)
Another cool video and close up's of army men. I thought the posed Mountain army men were awesome. The manufacturer really hit the bullseye! You are curious of the "flag" waving army man? I can't remember which movie(s), have a "Joe", in the middle of a muddy road, motioning mechanized vehicles to go this way or that way with flags in both hands. You have a flag bearer in your "Mountain Army Corps", and if I was going to guess his job, or function, I would say he's flagging to tell his fellow army buddies too...be aware of possible AVALANCHE(S)! or Yeti? LOL! make a video of you painting your most detailed plastic figure. Thanks man, c-ya!
Addendum to my earlier comment: your question regarding the figure with the flags, he would use that for semaphore communications and/or tactical signalling...I'm not really sure about Gebirgsjaeger doctrine, but I've seen photos of the US 10th Mountain DIV using flags in Italy...hope that helps
There wasn't as many fighting poses in this set but I still liked it because of the movie Where Eagles Dare and I used to have these guys climbing the rocks in the garden.
I had the 1/72nd scale set when they were released and I was hugely disappointed, there was a pack horse with 2 ammo/supply boxes that were supposed to fit onto it via pegs and holes and they just didn't fit. Airfix always has a had a reputation for including bizarre and pointless poses.
Was it common practice to number the poses as all the figures had a number on their legs. I don’t ever remember seeing this on my figures. I used mine to recreate the movie Where Eagles Dare
Some sets seem to have them some not. All my Gebirgsjäger have it though.
It's not complete unless you have the pointing trooper ! LOL !
Well it´s true lol.
That guy looking upward with the coiled rope and grappling hook I think is supposed to be used with the two-man team; they are waiting for him to toss the rope up to them on the edge of a cliff---I think. Also I disagree about the non-fighting poses. I think these are very useful, because after all most soldiers in real life wars DON'T fight the enemy but spend their time doing "camp duties" and preparing fortifications, policing up, maintenance, etc. Incidentally, due to their unique poses, these guys can ALSO be used as a Pioneer/ Engineer outfit.
Har du några Airfix eller Matchbox som du vill sälja?
Nej tyvärr inte.
It would be cool if you show Matchbox Afrika Korps. They are my favorites.
I will sometime in November, December.
Hi there, I never acquired this one for the reasons you pointed out- not really playable- no real weapons. One of the last sets I got in the early 80s when I was visiting my aunt in UK where the Italians. I appreciated the officer in this set. Will you do a video on the Italians? They only ones I still have a couple of.
Will do videos on all Airfix sets.
Most Airfix production was moved to the Heller factory in France. It was not a happy time for Airfix.
I loved these figures - I used to play games with them, based on the movie 'The Heroes Of Telemark'. Some of these figures were, in my mind, the good guys in disguise. The Norsk Hydro Heavy Water plant was destroyed many times in my games with these guys.
My go-to winter hat is an old, new stock M43 ski hat.
Rember these I had the 1/72 set.
I realy like the soldier on the bicycle in the 1/72 set.
@@toysoldiernostalgia 1/32 bicycles would be nice...and motorcycles!!
@@olivier3847 yeah bicycles would have been awesome. I even have a book about bicycles in war.
Boys will be boys😂❤
I had it. Pretty disappointing, as you just guessed. 😂
Can you purchase the mountain troops now anywhere?
Do you mean in a recast or 70s originals?
@@toysoldiernostalgia I mean new ones based on them ?
@@toysoldiernostalgia I'm collecting the vintage but need more never seen those before though.
@@garyhaskins7482 there´s plenty of the vintage ones on Ebay :)
@@toysoldiernostalgia thanks for thet pal.
Edelweiss korps
Remove the Edelweiss emblem...and some of these guys could easily be Afrika Korps. And vice versa. Paint the Africa Korps figures in green uniform colors and some of them could easily become mountain troops.
Las tropas alpinas de montaña de la whermacht las tuve yo bien pintadas en un diorama con nieve representando Noruega por ejemplo quedan muy bien.las puse con los comandos británicos asaltando y destruyendo su base en un gran diorama que quedó muy bien y ganó un premio en un concurso.
Tylko dla orłów