Airfix 1/32 Scale Vintage Plastic Toy Soldiers Cold War British Infantry

1976 saw Airfix first release of more modern troops. Before that they were mainly focused on the WW2 era.

[@grahamh6918]

as someone who served in Germany in the 70s the reason there is no officer is because an officers combat uniform was exactly the same as the other ranks, except for the rank badges on their epaulettes this was a deliberate ploy to not identify who was in charge

[@toysoldiernostalgia]

Yes the officer thing is just a toy soldier thing. Most sets have one figure with a pistol or binoculars. For some of the WW2 sets they often look different with an officers hat/cap or something. But in some they don´t. So it´s just a thing that I (and maybe a lot of us that played eith them back then) kinda look for in a set. Because it´s more fun to play war if you have an officer. And like you say in a more modern army unit there´s realy no way to tell who´s the officer. My company comander and platoon leader of course used all the same gear and weapons like the rest of us.

[@Roberto-tu5re]

Forgot about this set. It is only when you get older you question more, but at the time it was just fun followed by fun.

[@Halbared]

I had so many of these Second World War figures; green for yanks, brown for Brits, blue for French and grey for Germans. Loved 'em. Wish I still had them.

[@aamir-hk8px]

I lost many through carelessness.

[@aamir-hk8px]

The amazing narrative brings these figures alive

[@mh53j]

Bought a couple of the later issue smaller boxed sets a few years ago at an obscene price... should have bought them when they first came out! Each box had a different number of the various poses; one box had two Carl Gustafs, the other three; one had two machines gunners, the other three- and so on. One set I keep in pristine condition, the other I replaced some of the heads with resin ones- berets, tam o shanters, etc. I did get the modern German infantry, too. I remember the hobby shop having stacks of all of these Airfix figures and wondered who would want these toy like figures? 45 years later I know...!

[@HO-bndk]

I always thought the bloke lying down with the binos was the "officer". These figures depict early 70s era with walnut handguards on the SLRs. The grenade thrower also clearly throws a Mills bomb, so they're pre-1972. You could as well paint them in olive green combat dress as in DPM. The standing rifleman in this set is a truly outstanding little sculpture (by Charles Stadden). The balance and poise of the figure is just perfect. It's my favourite of all the Airfix figures (my second favourite is the standing rifleman from the British Paratroopers set).

[@steveowen7061]

In the British military around this time, the officer carries a rifle, as well snipers looked for them.

[@toysoldiernostalgia]

You´re probably right and I´m kinda looking at it like ww2 toy soldiers were the officer had a pistol or revolver.

[@michaelwoodward5787]

My favorite toy soldiers. So cool to see the box .

[@nickgreaves3355]

Hi, being a ex gimpy gunner with British Paratroopers that’s the way we would hold the gimpy while patrolling while not talking effective enemy fire. The figure is correct in the way he wears the belts of 7.62 ammunition we would wear it this way so we could carry extra in fact as much as we could physically carry every other soldier in the section/platoon would also have to carry an extra 200 belt round for use by the gimpy hope this is of some interest to you.

[@brianartillery]

I agree about the non appearance of the Sterling SMG. I had several sets of these - I'm a big Doctor Who fan, and had made some custom figures, but needed troops to represent the men from U.N.I.T. (United Nations Intelligence Taskforce), who 'employed' the Doctor as their scientific advisor. U.N.I.T. troops often carried the Sterling on the TV show in the 1970's. Why wasn't it represented here, Airfix?

[@topcat4759]

I was also a big Doctor Who fan at the time and admit it was not the same without UNIT in the later episodes. I had the sterling with my Action Man which was a replacement for the sten gun but it is a mystery why they were not included with these figures.

[@brianartillery]

@@topcat4759 - I replaced the head of the rifleman with a beret wearing head, so I could at least have Cpl. Wilkins. Who? He's the recipient of the Brigadier's famously calm order in 'The Daemons' : "Chap with wings, there - five rounds rapid!"

[@Rupertbeardog]

Remember getting these in 1980 but always wanted these in 1/72 along with other cold war boxes.

[@toysoldiernostalgia]

Yes these and the german modern would have been so cool in 1/72. Then we would have gotten a few more poses as well.

[@modrevival168]

Had these, still have a few mixed in with all my other 1/32 soldiers from the late 70s

[@topcat4759]

Remember owning these back in 1977 along with the modern German infantry set. Perhaps two of the last sets I bought at the time. Agree they were great figures, poses,moulding, detail and weaponry perfect for the era with the FN/SLR rifle and the Carl Gustav. The only problem was trying to incorporate them with a wargaming scenario if that was your choice. Do not remember if Airfix released any other models you could incorporate with these figures possibly a 1/32nd scale Scorpion tank model kit?

[@MrPolicekarim]

I think they did, but it was a toy, not a model.

[@samb2052]

They did the Bedford RL, Stalwart and 105 Light Gun in 1/32. The Officer is the prone figure with the binos. At the time platoon commanders carried rifles.

[@xray86delta]

Yep, I was a little surprised too when I had that set as a kid. It was the only one, as I recalled, that didn't have an officer.

[@toysoldiernostalgia]

Someone pointed out in the comments that perhaps the prone soldier with the binoculars is the officer. How I view toy soldiers is from what Airfix did and equipt the officer most often with a pistol or revolver but in reality that´s not realy how it works of course. So from a realistic stand point the prone soldier is probably the officer but from the toy soldier (kid) perspective he´s not 😀

[@conorduggan6682]

That Carl Gustaf looks ridiculously short, I trained on that in the reserves when I was a teenager, never got to fire it though. The 58 webbing looks pretty accurate though.

[@paulmcintyre4235]

British Plt Commanders at this time carried rifles and only officers and senior non commissioned officers were issued binoculars as part of WOCS( war office controlled stores)

[@Emdee5632]

This set, almost simultaneously with its counterpart the German Infantry set, were among the last Airfix 1/32 scale figure sets that I ever bought or that were given to me. My set (1976, production code 51472-9) does not have the green crescent shape on the right, just the standard black one. You mention there's no sub machinegun in the set (which indeed should have been included) but I would not say there's no place for them on the modern (1970s) battlefield. After all the British Army wasn't using assault rifles at the time, only selfloading rifles and SMGs. I am almost glad you mention there is no officer in the set - nor is there one in mine. That means this set never had an officer. Airfix's quantity control over what was included in the boxes (and what wasn't) was never good. Finally after decades I now know i did not have bad luck with the set. I'm looking forward to your Modern German Infantry review! Thank you.

[@toysoldiernostalgia]

I agree that SMGs are fairly useless on the modern battlefield. I don’t even like 5.56 that much. But for the sake of variety in a toy set a SMG or two would have been cool. I don’t think we ever considered balistics only rate of fire. You know how you made different fireing sounds for different weapons. So in out world all weapons shot the same distance just different speeds.

[@aamir-hk8px]

Marvellous figures. So life like.

[@eltenda]

That's a set I would still buy I use to have a collection of British dpm camo uniforms. I like that they come with a Carl Gustav antitank weapon...cool bio a lot of l1a1 rifles

[@udeychowdhury2529]

Subscribed! Love your videos, time travel for me

[@alessiodecarolis]

My brother had either the British and the German sets, ironically after few yrs the British Army phased out either the helmet and the FN Fal, replacing them and making the soldiers obsolete. About the MG gunner they made the same mistake with the British Paras set, with the Bren gunner in a (almost) static pose.

[@T.S.Birkby]

These soldiers would be great for a Falklands War setup, shame there’s only 7 positions

[@toysoldiernostalgia]

Agree.

[@KRAZEEIZATION]

The guy with binoculars is the officer? But the officer should have a beret.

[@soyuz6327]

Hermoso box art, bellas figuras, incluso para los estándares de hoy son más que sobresalientes, ojala Airfix las vuelva a reeditar, serían un éxito asegurado, felicitaciones por el canal, muy bueno en todo, congratulaciones!!!

[@sophiafakevirus-ro8cc]

I'd like to see a band, guitar, drums, bass, saxophone, singer, etc.

[@toysoldiernostalgia]

A band?

[@sophiafakevirus-ro8cc]

@@toysoldiernostalgia Yea a group, Girly Men. You could have a psychedelic hippie group, a Goth group, Rock, Punk, etc. You know, for the pacifists. All these guys ever do is point rifles at ya. Do you know how disconcerting it is to have a conversation with a guy who is pointing a rifle at ya?

[@toysoldiernostalgia]

@@sophiafakevirus-ro8cc ok I see what you mean. First I´m a musician and don´t consider me a girly man ;) There´s plenty of toy figures from Airfix that are not soldiers. But then it´s in mainly HO-OO scale. I never had a conversation with anyone pointing a weapon at me. Don´t think that would even be called a conversation. More of a monolog.

[@sophiafakevirus-ro8cc]

@@toysoldiernostalgia I recently bought about 350 toy soldiers. I don't know why, but I'm fond of them.

[@StephenLyons-tl8ie]

COOL!!

[@paulclow3398]

I've still got my box of modern British infantry, I tried to paint the dpm, and gave up, just impossible at that scale

[@toysoldiernostalgia]

Lol yes not an easy task.

[@OBWanKenobi]

The figure at 5.06 is the figure on the box that you say is not in the box.

[@nissafors]

Yes one of the best sets. The only thing i dont liked about it was the officer-figure lying down... totally useless when playing with them...

[@Stoner075C]

Tiny Carl Gustav looks like a soviet RPG 2 / 7.

[@johnbairos3982]

Any chance Airfix will re release these figures ??

[@toysoldiernostalgia]

I have no idea.

[@ewmhop]

GOOD VIDEO ,GOT THE SETS WHEN THEY CAME OUT.THEY WENT WELL WITH THE WW3 DIORAMAS EVERYBODY WERE DOING IN THE LATE 70S AND EARLY 80S.TEAM YANKEE STUFF.TAKE CARE

[@billmmckelvie5188]

Sadly the artist's illustration colours are miles off. The Mark IV 'turtle' helmet we wore was matt Olive Green and was sprayed over a sand like texture, both the '58 webbing and the Carl Gustav were also Olive Green. The only thing that would be dark Khaki coloured was the puttees above the boots. The SLR could come as illustrated or it could come with the butt and the barrel hand grip in black plastic composite and more often than not wrapped in Hessian sack cloth and the ubiquitous 1 1/4" wide rifle sling. Depending upon your squadron/regiment it would be very rare to see anyone with a Browning 1911 the N.C.Os and officers would carry a rifle so they're not i.d. by a sniper. Another reason for them not wearing the Christmas trimmings of white sergeant stripes and the polished Duraglit brass flaming bomb. Finally no one would be sticking their arm out indicating here I am! They did miss a trick with not having the GPMG in a firing pose both in the prone and standing position along with the LMG (the 7.62 version of our trusty Bren.) and mortar. Airfix are correct with the bandolier positioning of the LMG belts.

[@simonbarnes7620]

Helmets would be covered in far more scrim than depicted and not have such clean lines, 58 pattern webbing only came in olive green brand new and would fade wash out to various shades as would puttees, the bandolier position is technically not correct and should be carried under the jacket around the waist, but squadies being squadies, anything to look like a Mexican bandit if they could get away with it.

[@billmmckelvie5188]

@@simonbarnes7620 I was just thinking more of the colours rather than amounts of scrim on the helmet. Another thing I haven't checked is the amount of taches on the figures! Quite a few of us could put Burt Reynolds to shame!

[@simonbarnes7620]

@@billmmckelvie5188 well true, but even helmets became discoloured over time, and even without scrim they should of had a covering of hessian which could account for the colour. Missing pouches gas mask, water bottle, bayonet, first aid bandage and anything else we wanted to hang off from machetes to extra water bottles

[@КостиныСолдатики]

The Best

[@strefaszefa7606]

W tym zestawie dowodził u mnie ten z fn mag

[@szymonziolkowski5967]

Where do you buy them?

[@toysoldiernostalgia]

I think this was from Ebay.

[@damien5748]

The grenade throwing guy holding onto his rifle is unrealistic..having personal expierence of using the FN FAL (the rifle the L1A1 SLR is based on) i can confirm that thing ways a ton and you would not be holding it with 1 hand like that.

[@toysoldiernostalgia]

I have extensive experience with the G3 (in Sweden the AK4) and I would have no problem holding like that while a throw a grenade. As he´s holding far forward he should be at the point were the center of gravity is behind his hand and and that´s also why the angle of the rifle is pretty accurate.

[@Emdee5632]

I had a FAL in 1986 in Her Majesty Beatrix's service in the 1980s. However I was not in the infantry and hardly ever shot it. I don't think I ever threw a grenade after my initial training period.

[@damien5748]

@@Emdee5632 i fired it on automatic (as part of out training so we knew why NOT to fire it on automatic) as when you do the recoil is so bad that after 5 rounds fired the weapons is pionting skywards and you have an anti aircraft weapon...its impossible to control on full auto....unless you have the muscles and arms of a silverback gorilla.🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@simonbarnes7620]

It is very easy to hold it in one hand, it only weighs 10lbs in fact you could say you end up holding more in one hand than two over the course of years.

[@Tconcept]

I agree it's a bit odd, probably too high for its weight. Such a pose would be a "stress" position. The SLR was carried above the head or out in front of you as a punishment. So yes not a realistic pose.

[@George-pp2hr]

Now that set of modern British infantry was one of the next best of Airfix I had them. Next I'm hoping to see also the modern German Army. Cold war era. I hope I can find them but it will cost me in AU dollars especially US or UK👍🇭🇲🦘🐨✌️

[@lubeman62]

My absolute favorite set of Airfix 32d scale soldiers...paired well with Tamiya's Chieftain kit!

[@simonbarnes7620]

The main thing missing from these figures are gas masks and their carrier bag also the water bottle and first aid bandage

[@davidchampkin5999]

Gas masks ? You mean Respirator. Or that would mean press ups during basic training lol .

[@Tconcept]

The lack of water bottle and respirator pouch does seem to be an omission but perhaps it made sculpting and casting easier? SMG (sten) and LMG (bren) were both still in service but maybe looked too WW2 for modern troops? SMG was used mostly by medics and tank crews if I recall. I will add we trained on the SMG in mid eighties and were only taught single shot from the shoulder, firing on automatic was not not allowed nor firing from the hip. Aimed single shots only.

[@Gibnetz]

Firing from the hip is doable and effectiv if you train whit it, I did it manny time whit the G3 or AK 4 for you. I doubt i would have done it whit the SLR that mutch since it a singel fire riflel. I have used the SLR a few time but the G3 is my fav :-) I dont understand how they could have make the wrong size on CG it that been in RL it would have been easy to carry around :-) CG is great fun to shoot :-)

[@dshafterh3897]

Gotta say I love your content, as a fellow collector who was born in the 60's grew up in the 70's and share alot of the same memories I really appreciate that you have stuck with your early video mission statement to provide quality content on an often overlooked part of the hobby. I'm from the USA so my memories include more Marx figures but its neat to see some of the stuff I may have missed out on as kid. Thanks.

[@ingidraws]

Man! --- Loved this set!!

[@madelief47]

The soldier; with the Gustaf wich is too small. Is it so that every figure had a maximum of used plastic, because of the production process? I can't think of no other reason.

[@toysoldiernostalgia]

I think it must just have been a sculpting issue.

[@Stuart-e6y]

Wouldn't have minded the Charlie g being that small

[@toysoldiernostalgia]

You carried it?

[@Stuart-e6y]

@toysoldiernostalgia I did indeed then the gpmg and I'm only 5,3,, tall but always had a love for support weapons ended up being a maneuver support specialist, and yes I still love toy soldiers .

[@toysoldiernostalgia]

@@Stuart-e6y ouch both are pretty heavy.

[@ronaldmcdonald8303]

I have an Airfix shop straight up the road from me. I am going to take my American friend there some time, I'm saving my money up to take my friends to a Pizza place, then after that I will be by buying an Airfix model. I also have toy soldiers too! ( :

[@johnclarke25]

The last britains detail modern soldiers have a great officer figure in beret which goes well with the troops,iv used one by taking of the metal base and glueing on an old airfix multipose base just need to paint him now.

[@bearsmith3655]

Gawd I loved these as a kid

[@jefthing]

Chertsey Model Shop, Chertsey, Easter 1977. Great set, but I would have been better if there was an obvious officer figure.

[@dialyt1309]

Excellent sculpts on those.

[@thebruehlofspandau1665]

I know them well ... As a '69 born and raised in West Berlin Spandau( Ballet ), only several 100 yards away from the - back then - british used german barracks - with the last Nazi criminal inmate R. Hess in it. I was close friends with our Emperial British troops and Allies, whose officers lived in the fine houses in the western town. I should have saved myself a nice british Generals' daughter hehe. Some good, some disgusting memories with these Brits in many aspects, in Uniform or not. The world was not that simple or bipolar as one might think. We looked over the Spandau part of the Berlin wall ... only a 100 yards away was a branch of the back then german conzentrationcamp sachsenhausen. 15 minutes away from my fathers grandparents brother little datsha. With up to nearly 30000 french people, prisoners and deported and dislocated persons in ww2 wartime. Many were buried on the nearby cementary. The place I have lived in for most of my lifetime so far is pure history². Oh the figures, I liked them but I didt have them. They are usuable, even if not perfect, for many episides and ocasions. From 60s to 80s. Hot wars norther ireland falklands, all cold war. Even private wars. Mercenaries. "The wild geese will help here. Matchbox nato matches this mentioned episode best.

[@steelcurtain2576]

Does anybody know if they re-released the 1/32 scale 7th Cavalry,Indians and Cowboys sets?? Best regards from Germany

[@toysoldiernostalgia]

No they did not.