Airfix to Issue 200th Anniversary Battle of Waterloo Set

Posted on June 13, 2015 by admin

Airfix will put out a 200th Anniversary Battle of Waterloo set using their 1/72 figures. Details below

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34 Responses to Airfix to Issue 200th Anniversary Battle of Waterloo Set

  1. erwin says:
    June 13, 2015 at 11:08 AM

    too bad no 1:32 scale ,specially the building ,Prussian, cannon plus cavalry, never released in that scale.
    Esci 1:72 scale Waterloo playset is more complete and varied in poses, also they went ahead and made other battles from Napoleonic period in large playset too . Again nothing in 1:35-1:32 as they only did Bri, scoots and French guard then stop.
    Any how CTS did a waterloo playset with new foam building , CTS Mexican plus timpo airfix reissues else that was worth the price I guess. Much better than previews TSC very bad distributed and more expensive versus distribution/poses variety .
    The problem with these playset is that other than building the execs of non good poses as too many officer and drummers plus other are way too repeated and not good for battle formation. I had done many battle my self but using my own soldiers collection in selective large quantities poses of my choice to avoid this. I also buy building separated or made my own if need too.
    Once again a good gift to any kids I guess.

    Reply
  2. Mark says:
    June 13, 2015 at 11:32 AM

    I agree Erwin, an Airfix set in 1/32 would be awesome !

    Reply
  3. ed borris says:
    June 13, 2015 at 12:15 PM

    I have boxes and boxes of Airfix Napoleonics in my basement. I often wondered why they chose Yellow for the color, you would have thought red and blue.I remember when they first came out with the farm building for that set it came in a WWII set. I bought at the Hobby Chest in 1972. A long gone place I miss.

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  4. Mark says:
    June 13, 2015 at 1:09 PM

    I agree Ed, I don’t know for sure about that yellow color ,maybe they thought it was a good color for paint to cover ?

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  5. Brian Johnson says:
    June 13, 2015 at 2:09 PM

    When I’m King of the World every time a company does a 1/72 set they have to do a matching 54MM set at the same time,LOL.

    Reply
  6. Mark says:
    June 13, 2015 at 4:30 PM

    I now crown you King Brian !

    Reply
  7. Wayne W says:
    June 13, 2015 at 6:02 PM

    Both Airfix and ESCI did their 19th C stuff in gray or yellow or some other “off” color for painters. I never figured why they did that for their Nappies and such but molded their 20th C figures in appropriate colors.

    Reply
    • admin says:
      June 13, 2015 at 11:04 PM

      Wayne
      As Erwin said. The companies did the figures in those colors as they figure the people would paint them. Europe has a tradition of painted figures where the United States has a tradition of unpainted figures. I was telling Laurie tonight I remembered one U.S. collector who got a unpainted figure that had been nicely painted and strip the paint off.

      Reply
  8. Kent Sprecher says:
    June 13, 2015 at 6:21 PM

    Airfix made their Cowboys, US Cavalry and soccer players in pale yellow. They made all four of their Napoleonic sets in gray. Back in the 90s I help get reissues of the Napoleonics in better colors for nonpainters. We did the British line and Highlanders in red and olive green and the French Line and French grenadiers in blue, red and white. I sold a lot of them. Eventually CTS got the rights away from us for the Napoleonics but I think demand had tapered off by then.

    Reply
    • Don Perkins says:
      June 14, 2015 at 10:13 AM

      Ken, I got the 1/32 scale Airfix figures in all the wrong colors when they initially came out, because that was all that was available. When you released the same figures in more appropriate colors (reds, blues, greens, whites) I then got large quantities of those, which I enjoyed much more than having all my 1/32 Napoleonics in a boring gray. I’m sure many of us appreciate your efforts in bringing us the same outstanding figures, but in better colors.

      Reply
  9. erwin says:
    June 13, 2015 at 7:31 PM

    Grey color and light tan, cream yellow flat not gloss color are the best base for professional painters back till the new type of better quality paint start to come off-out at hobby stores included new Airfix paint brands.
    Airfix did it in purpose base on amount of detail on Napoleonic uniform(much more than modern/ww2 figures) and hobby kit demand that made most sets in pale light colors. A professional painter need to use a primer light base color still over any original molded color in order to paint the figure good. If the base molded color is darker it will required double primer coat least to cover it well and it will reduce texture detail in figure.
    In the case of British line/light infantry Napoleonic 1811-1816 uniform, they had grey pants, part of the base color could well be used as uniform.
    The later reissues color were more base in traditional American view market of non painted soldiers base in generic armies main color(red) for red coats,(blue) for French,ww2 base colors like tan and light green for japs,blue- grey for Germans and so on.
    Matchbox did same with early and later reissues by oder company took over mold in ODD black and white colors for Germans done with this idea not for painters.
    I had talk to few painters and they prefers older airfix vintage base colors to do a good quality paint than later gloss molded bright color. In fact I had sold many vintage before to many British and European in bulk for paint job,I had several still potential customers asking me if have more loose in any quality for paint, I had offer the latest reissues and they prefer old ones for paint job because above same reason mentioned.
    The same idea was used by CTS making all Mexican sets in many colors to represent Napoleonic for US market most, not to be painted based primary.
    As HAT,A call to arms ,AIP and Italeri companies star making their Napoleonic set ,Airfix-reissues demand died down as many more to choose from, also no-few poses in airfix and Timpo are not battle formation drill-generic good for Napoleonic scene .Others more resent companies did well generic battle poses set more better for large scenes of Napoleonic battles. And most of these companies are from Europe where many Napoleonic collectors are. The same happen to CTS Mexican generic Mexican soldiers last to be bought too now for Napoleonic purpose as neither uniform or poses are correct or best for the period. Unless not care on history at all.

    Reply
  10. ed borris says:
    June 13, 2015 at 7:37 PM

    My Airfix cowboys are in brown, cavalry in blue and the Napoleonics I have are all yellow. I’m talking HO or 1/72nd here, not 1/32nd. The 1/32nd Airfix cavalry I have , the originals are all yellow the re-casts were done in blue.

    Reply
  11. erwin says:
    June 13, 2015 at 8:20 PM

    ED ,do you collect HO scale too!?.I try once but it was a point that loose interest because they were too small for my eyes and hand ,I start loosing the guys everywhere so I stop.I call then Lilliputians. Still I admire those who does and made huge scene with so many more panoramic view of true real battle I guess.
    Last but no least and out of the contest as funny coment. I call all metal-lead figures fish weight sinkers!!as is my first impression when in my hand. No offense please…

    Reply
    • admin says:
      June 13, 2015 at 10:59 PM

      Erwin
      I like you had some of HO but gave them up. I did make a nice terrain piece using brown paper.

      Reply
      • Don Perkins says:
        June 14, 2015 at 8:07 AM

        At some point in the 1980s, absolutely the only things I ever encountered in regular normal retail markets were Airfix HO figures. I thought they were quite neat, but I still longed for the “larger” ones I had played with in the 50s and early 60s. But HO was all that seemed available.

        Then I accidently encountered Stone Castle’s Marx reissues, followed by connections to Delson’s Toy Soldier Company, and then finally got tied into the toy soldier show circuit, along with Tom Terry’s Plastic Figure and Playset Magazine. Once I finally once again found 54mm and 60mm figures, the little HO figures went by the wayside.

        But I still liked the Airfix and Esci box artwork, along with seeing mass HO formations, like at the Alamo Musueum Gift Shop in San Antonio, with the Siege of the Alamo recreated in HO scale.

        At this point, however, I’ve slowly but surely sold all my HO figures off at the shows, and like all the bigger stuff, actually preferring new figures to be in a 60mm size over 54mm.

        But I think having a new Airfix Battle of Waterloo special edition playset, accompanied by that great box art, even in HO scale, would be a nice thing to have.

        Reply
  12. ed borris says:
    June 14, 2015 at 9:40 AM

    Erwin,

    Much like Don described all that were available to me in the 70’s were HO scale, and it wasn’t so much collecting as building diorama’s back then. At one time I had a fairly large diorama with the Airfix farm house being the central piece. I had plans to make it larger and ended up buying over 500 25mm metal figures by Mini-Figs that I was going to try and incorporate into the scene, but I got distracted by marriage and kids although I still do have all the figures. Even back then I managed to make some crude conversions with the HO figures. I remember when I bought the farm house it was part of a WWII scene and I thought that would be a great piece to incorporate into a Waterloo set, I guess they read my mind. I still have most of my Airfix and Giant figures as well as those Mini-Figs many still in the little plastic pouches they came in unopened. To answer your question though, no I don’t collect them.

    Reply
    • erwin says:
      June 14, 2015 at 12:29 PM

      Thanks Ed.Still very interesting your expansion of hobby collection and (WOW!)= for the conversion in HO!!;I would not be able to do that at all, you most have a great pulse and touch definitely by looking at your conversion and work and did in small guys.
      I will definitely look for your to buy some at OTSN if possible. The shot guys are the best I ever seen, very more convincing pose dynamism and real than what I had seen so far in regular molded being shot/wounded in action poses .

      Reply
  13. Wayne W says:
    June 14, 2015 at 11:10 AM

    Paul, thanks for clarifying my comment, that’s pretty much what I was trying to say. Erwin, thank you for giving a logical explanation for the choice of colors in molding. It makes sense, though when I was a kid it was frustrating as it hasn’t been until I was in my early 40s I began cracking the code on prevention of flaking and cracking paint on plastic figures.

    As far as scale is concerned I may have mentioned that I collect in both 1/72 and 1/32 scale. For years (since the mid-1980s) I’ve been painting my 1/72 collection – mainly to make the different companies match and to offset the weird colors folks like Airfix, ESCI, and Italeri (silver!!!???) did their pre-20th Century figures in. I avoided painting my beloved “big guys.” After all, much of my collection was made up of treasured figures from my childhood.

    About two years ago I started painted selected newer figures for various projects. I have to admit, even with a magnifying glass the little guys are a lot harder on the eyes than the bigger scale. I’m finishing up a large lot of 1/32 Alamo Mexicans – I have a couple of cartons of 1/72 Napoleonics that have been waiting on me for over a year but have to admit a reluctance to going back to the smaller scale after being “spoiled” with the bigger guys. But I still love the sheer panorama one can achieve in available space with the smaller scale.

    Reply
    • erwin says:
      June 14, 2015 at 12:52 PM

      Wayne.W .Your are very welcome .I always admire any painting in HO AND THOSE DOING.NO WAY I COULD DO IT.MOST DOING IT ARE PROUD OF THEIR JOB!!.
      Sorry for cap letters they come out by mistake..
      I will like to add:About the silver and gold metallic colors in mold I should say on that is just a lazy economic choice of many companies ,both colors in smaller figures are killing detail on it and those painting found hard to cover with primer and paint the figures. But …
      the factory choose this as with one drop of metallic silver color in liquid plastic warm they could colored way more than any others colors variation as the metal colors take longer to cool off and solidify in the warm plastic chemical making a longer amount time with few color amount to produce more figures and giving opportunity ,specially for longer sprue amount mold with multiple poses figures to get colored before need to refill again with color tint. I larger figures (54-65MM)depending in plastic type used you could still see the traces of the plastic lines in darker tones all around the figure ,proof of lasting solidification effect. Sample old silver Marx figures such as spacemen,aliens,arabas,sailors.
      Same time it does deteriorate a bit the quality of soft plastic making it more less to bend .Recently new produced figures had avoid it as using more PVC type plastic that reduce it.

      Reply
  14. ed borris says:
    June 14, 2015 at 7:31 PM

    Erwin,

    Those Mexicans getting shot are actually part AIP figures. I use the top half of the guy from the 95th rifles laying firing off his boot, one bottom half is CTS Mexican the other is the kneeling firing pose from AIP. There’s some tricky trimming and quite a bit of fill in, but they come out pretty good I think. Both have the original left arm with a new hand, but the right arm comes from either Marx or CTS. I got some more variations in mind , but I ran out of the guy firing off his boot. Going to make another one and make him an officer, everyone likes dead officers. Converting the Ho figures was pretty tough, acquired lots of wounds from them, mostly on my fingers. In my diorama I had three hand made bridges going across a fast moving river, and I cut one guy in half the long ways from head to foot and glued him face down in the river, he looked good, wish I had take some pictures of it.

    Reply
  15. Russ Arendell says:
    June 14, 2015 at 8:52 PM

    Ed,
    Don’t let Erwin buy ANYTHING until I get what I want! (wink…teasing you Erwin). I am anxious to see what you have and I have to have your dead Travis and some of the dead Mexicans and Texians. Great hobby we are involved in.
    Best, Russ

    Reply
  16. erwin says:
    June 14, 2015 at 8:55 PM

    OK let race on, first come first buy(LOL!!)

    Reply
  17. Greg Liska says:
    June 14, 2015 at 9:53 PM

    I never really liked the Ho scale guys. The only ones that I didn’t burn or shoot as a kid were the Rev War comic book guys (I got the Ho ones, not the flats, luck of the draw).
    What I’m finding interesting about this thread is people revealing a bit about their collecting past. Some like me, had to re-start collecting and others never seemed to have paused from childhood and kept their stuff. It might be a whole new thread, but Paul; what do you think of having everybody who wants to tell their story abut how they got into toy soldiers? I know I’m always interested to hear someone tell their story.

    Reply
  18. Russ Arendell says:
    June 14, 2015 at 10:34 PM

    Erwin..haha. I’m afraid you’ll be faster than me!
    Best, Russ
    Also, great idea Greg. I also like folks’ stories

    Reply
  19. ed borris says:
    June 14, 2015 at 11:07 PM

    I hope to have pictures of all my conversions by the end of next week, maybe Paul will be kind enough to post them.

    My collecting story is really a three parter, as a kid I was always interested in toy soldiers. When I got married the first time, my ex was into hobbies so I got back into toy soldiers to keep me out of bars and to stop me from chasing skirts. All that really was available to me at that time were the HO guys and metal guys by mail order. Even at the Hobby Chest which I used to frequent, they either had 54mm kits or HO stuff, so I started buying tons of Airfix HO. I then got divorced, remarried and had kids so that was the end for the second time. After I got divorced I was introduced to the wonderful world of e-bay and the internet in general, so I found all these great old and new items with many shops dealing through the mail. I started out slow then the craze took over. After being just a collector at first I soon had too much stuff and a diminishing supply of money, so I started selling things I knew I’d never use, who needs 10 Gibbs Custer sets and 400 60mm cavalry? I soon transitioned into more of a dealer then a collector, although I still collect to some extent. As far as the conversions go, I was inspired by Mike Kutnick , Roger Ross and Gary Dutko as they did conversions and after buying some from them, I decided I could do it too. At first I just did them for my own Alamo diorama, but as I got better I thought there would be a market for them so I brought about 150 conversions to OTSN one year and sold them all, so I was hooked. Eventually I turned into a Midwest dealer for TSSD and Paragon and that’s where I am today.

    Reply
  20. Russ Arendell says:
    June 15, 2015 at 12:09 AM

    Interesting story Ed. Thanks for sharing.

    Reply
  21. Joe Joria says:
    June 15, 2015 at 9:58 PM

    About 1977 or so there was a chain of large discount stores going out of business here in Chicago. Can’t think of the name. But they had huge tables filled with 1/32 Airfix Napoleonic figures in the original boxes for sale, I believe at about .50 cents a box. At least a hundred boxes, probably twice that many. I wanted to buy the entire lot from one store but they wouldn’t take my offer. I suspect that they probably wound up in a landfill

    Reply
  22. ed borris says:
    June 16, 2015 at 6:50 AM

    Turnstyle?

    Reply
  23. Mark says:
    June 16, 2015 at 7:34 PM

    NOOOO! Joe say you were just kidding !

    Reply
  24. Joe Joria says:
    June 18, 2015 at 6:46 PM

    Mark, no, sadly I wasn’t. Secondly, any idea who is selling this, and also…didn’t Airfix do a similar set about three years ago, which included the hard to find accessories set?

    Reply
  25. Mark T says:
    June 18, 2015 at 9:19 PM

    Joe, I remember seeing something very similar in Ottawa, Ontario in 1978. A liquidation store downtown called Big Bud’s had a huge bin of boxes of Timpo swoppets. The bin was about 3’x3′ and stacked about a foot higher than that with boxes.

    It was the series of packaging that had 3 foot and one mounted figures in a small red box with a painting of the figures on the front. They were .99 Canadian a piece. Cowboys, Indians, Mexicans, FFL, Arabs, Knights, Crusaders, WW2 you name it. I got my mom to buy me about 5 boxes of Mexicans as I was on a big Magnificent Seven kick at the time due to the movies being on local TV. Mom was pretty mad at me because she said the cashier looked at her like she was nuts for buying 5 of the same box.

    I never got to buy any more. When I went back to the store about a month later the bin was gone. I guess it went to a landfill too like your Chicago Airfix. I still sometimes dream about that Timpo bin almost 40 years later.

    Reply
  26. Mark T says:
    June 18, 2015 at 9:28 PM

    About the Waterloo set: I hope it includes the civilian wagon and supply set that came with the 1970s set. That was so useful for many periods beyond Napoleonics.

    http://www.plasticsoldierreview.com/ShowFeature.aspx?id=5

    Reply
  27. Joe Joria says:
    June 24, 2015 at 11:32 PM

    Thanks, Him. I did look as spotted it there. Funny, but they list the Prussian as artillery. That wasn’t what the set was.
    As far as the accessories. When they did a similar set about five years ago I was talking with their head sale rep at a trade show who told me about it. (can’t remember his name, and he’s retired) I suggested they use the accessory set as it had never been released since the 70s. He wasn’t aware of it, but said he’d have them check when he got back to London. I got a nice note from him and the company a month or so later thanking me, and saying that they found it and were going to include it. Very nice, but they didn’t send me any. I did buy one eventually. I was going to use it with this new set, but I’m glad it’s included..

    Reply

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