Matchbox 1/32 British Infantry. 1970s Classic Toy Soldier Set!

[@smgdfcmfah]

Speaking of the Vickers Machine Gunner, my absolute favourite figures of all the dozens and dozens packs I had as a kid was the 1:72 8th army Vickers team. I had a gunner, a loader, a spotter with binoculars, a Vickers MG and a separate tripod for the gun - all figures were kneeling.

[@cyberleaderandy1]

Decided to get a set for my wife to give me for my birthday 😊 Never had them as a kid and really fancied a nice boxed set of these classic figures.

[@monkeysa43]

I love your videos of these plastic toy soldiers. I had them as a kid so interesting to see them again thank you. ☺️🇬🇧🇬🇧

[@toysoldiernostalgia]

Happy you enjoyed it.

[@kellysnipe9586]

Matchbox did some great WW2 figures, no question about it. And because they are such good backbone troops, they should be reissued on a regular basis, and in qualty SOFT plastic---but they aren't. This is one of the big problems we have in the toy soldier world today; too much hit-or-miss and fly-by-night operations. Too much "now you see 'em, now you don't". Apparently we have too many money-minded businessmen running things and not enough toy soldier lovers!

[@minhkhoaluong25]

We should do a petition to have these sculpts back.

[@KRAZEEIZATION]

The German, British and U.S. were reissued in 2014 by Revell. Soft plastic. New box artwork. The Afrika Korps, British 8th Army and Commandos were not.

[@joelellberg5160]

Awesome...just now going through your videos. I grew up in Central California. Hard to find Matcbox figures. We played with them outdoors in my dad's vineyards when the irrigation was running...loved this set. I imagine there are still some missing in action out there in the sand.

[@martinahager4931]

The officer looks nearly like fieldmarschall Alexander Remember me his monument at the guards museum London

[@manweller1]

I still got my American Infrantry from back in day they compliment Airfix quite well. Wished I had kept the boxes but I was only 9 at the time.

[@toysoldiernostalgia]

Nice and to bad about the boxes. But it´s the same for me. Guess boxes are for cats and grown ups.

[@ndn269]

I had this set and a bunch of other sets in the smaller scale way back in the day. Thanks for bringing some childhood memories back 👍

[@toysoldiernostalgia]

Thanks for watching :)

[@anastasios4415]

My goodness !!! So beautifull memories , anyway, i continue with the scale modeling until now,thank God, the 8th army in 1/32 had Montgomery . Thank you for the video. greetings from Greece !

[@greenslider]

Have the right army, British infantry, German infantry and strangely enough, an alien battle set. Rest of my stuff is airfix

[@conorduggan6682]

I wasn't that worried about historical accuracy as a kid and as you said it wasn't as easy to research in the late 70s. I liked Matchbox sets because most of them were combat poses and what kid doesn't want the guys with heavy or rapid fire weapons.

[@toysoldiernostalgia]

Yeah the Matchbox sets are sure 100% action.

[@lubeman62]

These were a great run of figures... occasionally you'll see a pose that comes from an historical photo...the sculptor really did their homework!

[@toysoldiernostalgia]

Yes Bill Farmer that did these got the perfect mix of scale figures and toy soldiers. They are so cool.

[@pbeccas]

I had all the Matchbox sets. Loved them.

[@toysoldiernostalgia]

Nice. I didn`t have them as a kid but do now.

[@pbeccas]

@@toysoldiernostalgia I still have all mine in shed in a bucket from the early 80’s. Bit battered. I painted them too with the humbrol paint. My local toy shop only sold them. Never saw the Airfix boxes.

[@peterhill8398]

I had all 6 sets when l was young. The first three, American, German & US infantry, were not great. Some of the figures were too basic in terms of detail and with inaccurate weaponry. But the latter three, 8th Army, Afrika Korps & British Commandos, were excellent, among the best 1/32 soft plastic figures ever done. It’s a shame that by the time Matchbox began releasing these, the great model ‘recession’ of the 1980s was beginning, an era which would hit Airfix and Matchbox hard in terms of declining sales for plastic kits. Matchbox were planning to release the next 2 sets in their 1/32 range- Japanese and Australian infantry- and the box art was shown in one of their catalogues. But the sets were never released.

[@toysoldiernostalgia]

Yes I could just imagine the sets that would have come from Matchbox after the first six. Aussie and Japanese would have been great. Imagine a German Paratrooper set or US for that matter.

[@Emdee5632]

THIS is how I remember The Great Model Recession: Computers and computer games were getting more and more popular every year. Scale plastic model kits of all kinds started to get less sold. The total amount and the choice between models was also getting smaller. The areas in toy shops that used to sell plastic kits were now selling computer games. By the 1990s most toy shops did not sell the plastic sets anymore and i had to go to specialized shops (which was great too, in fact a bit of an eye opener because the specialized shops sold a much richer variety of plastic, wood, metal etc etc kits than regular toy shops). I wished I had known about them sooner. At a very young age, what do you know about toy shops and this was BEFORE the age of Internet. The last toy soldier set I bought sometime in the 1980s. (AND very recently two sets but that's a different story.) I never stopped buying and making scale model kits though.

[@inglis57]

Not a bad set overall but a few things let it down for me and these things are found in several other Matchbox 1/32 sets. The first thing as you mention in the video is the generic bazooka, the Bazooka was adopted after the war by the British as the Rocket Launcher 3.5” - the P.I.A.T. (Projector Infantry Anti-Tank) was the standard issue during the later stages of WW2. The second thing is the bayonets for the Number 4 rifle which should be the ‘pig-sticker’ type. The guys who are crawling either have short weapons or their hands are in an unnatural place too near the muzzle. The final thing is the proneBren Gunner - a good figure but let down with a single strap on his small pack (only the Home Guard had such a pattern.) I know at the end of the day these were sold as toys but with a little more thought they could have been improved immensely.

[@RadicalRoots23]

the ending song should have been 'saturday night fever' so it looked like they were all in a disco revolving stage. hehe... good to see these soldiers focused on, great stuff.

[@toysoldiernostalgia]

Maybe I´ll do a dance video on day of all the poses that look like they are dancing. Not that many from matcjbox and Airfix but Atlantic have some real funky poses.

[@haroldellis9721]

3:10 I think you are thinking of Field Marshal Harold "Alex" Alexander.

[@toysoldiernostalgia]

Yes maybe that could be him. At least he has a mustasch and I found a few pics on Google with that cap and a similar jacket.

[@robchamberlin4900]

We need to also remember the flamethrower and bazooka guys could be using American weapons due to lend lease

[@toysoldiernostalgia]

Never thought of that :)

[@ewmhop]

GOOD VIDEO SIR,I THINK THESE CAME OUT WHEN THE MOVIE A BRIDGE TO FAR CAME OUT. THE 1/72 SCALE ARE JUST A GOOD .

[@senint]

Hahaha! I see where some of the 90s plastic soldiers got their poses copied from (after some altering), same with few 1/72 scale troopers we have.

[@rickylarsen8320]

The officer may look a bit like General Richard O'connor. He wore such an officer's cap and jacket when he commanded the VIII corps in Normandy in 1944.

[@alanjames19711]

I collected almost all the allied sets in the 1/76 scale to go with the Matchbox amoured vehicles.

[@zsifk3212]

Montgomery was in the 8th Army kit.

[@pathwaystomodernity7716]

Why only 13 commandos? The infantry officers sheepskin is a nice touch.

[@toysoldiernostalgia]

Probably because the rubber dingy and the ladder. To use the same machines they were probably restricted to a certain amount of space per set.

[@carausiuscaesar5672]

These excellent toy soldiers can be painted to represent Canadian soldiers whose uniforms were the same as the British in WW Two though of better quality and of a greenish tinge.

[@eltenda]

I had these too...I always tought they needed a piat... I think the esci set had one...

[@babylonsburning1]

I liked the Matchbox figures more than the Airfix.

[@bossogg6915]

Having looked at the close up's I have reached a conclusion, The No 4 and the Bren are too small for the figures scale. As someone else has noted the normal Bayonet for the No4 (not SMLE as you called it) was a pig sticker however there was a 7 inch bladed bayonet for the No 4 but I'm not sure on the date it came into use, and there appears to be a muzzle extension for the bayonet to fit on. The fact there is no moulded belt on a lot of the figures makes the web gear not work. All in all if I was a kid again going into a toy shop to buy toy soldiers I would have bought Airfix, not because I knew the difference but because my dad would have had the matchbox figures off me and scratch built corrections to the figures including lengthening the Bren and the No4. and removing the bayonets. If I bought Airfix I'd have been allowed to play with them without him getting involved. lol.

[@toysoldiernostalgia]

There´s a bunch of things wrong with Airfix figures as well. I think it´s great with two companys. Airfix a bit more correct but fever poses and Matchbox more poses but not as correct. I had mostly Airfix as a kid but the few Matchbox I had I realy liked.

[@jeroenschreijenberg8716]

I love the vickers gunner

[@zsifk3212]

I crew up on Matchbox, mostly the 1/72 scale. But nothing matches these. Miss them.

[@michaelwilson-fu3rv]

No.4 lee enfield not smle

[@alfondopreciado7958]

I'mglad to watch you're videos on KZbin nice job

[@toysoldiernostalgia]

Thank you very much.

[@Emdee5632]

In fact because I found this YT channel I finally ordered online TWO ''modern'' sets of Airfix WW2 1/32 scale British Army sets. Two, so the total number of soldiers sort of resembles the standard old 1970s 29 piece sets. I hope they are not so brittle they break parts when I open the boxes - as I have been warned, going through these videos... I have almost no Matchbox sets. I DID built tons of Matchbox hard plastic model kits though.

[@toysoldiernostalgia]

I think you can get good recasts of the Matchbox soldiers from Revell.

[@Emdee5632]

Thanks for the advice!

[@goldmanjace]

Cool! I still have mine!

[@carljamieson3926]

I don't agree that they were better then Airfix but I love them as much.

[@toysoldiernostalgia]

I think both have their strenghts and weaknesses.

[@alexamuro9812]

Seems the crawling figure came with bayonet and also without.

[@toysoldiernostalgia]

Yes my set have one with and one without bayonet.

[@nissafors]

I never liked the 1/32 Matchbox figures very much, I always prefered Airfix. Matchbox figures were smaller in size I remember.

[@toysoldiernostalgia]

Most people seem to prefer Airfix but I like both. When I was a kid I think I liked the Matchbox because it was something new. Airfix had already done all these units and Matchbox gave as some more poses and different figures. And of course just more toy soldiers :)

[@Cataphract7]

where to buy these?

[@frasco1965]

Bellissini

[@jeanlucjallat596]

Traduire en francais

[@warroomscale]

It is enoying that it is imposible to find it, in Europe Unit 🤦🤦

[@warroomscale]

How to get and where to get?

[@toysoldiernostalgia]

Ebay or local toy fair.

[@Guero_Solis]

Dear friend, Are going to start selling sets of Matchbox? Thanks in advance.

[@toysoldiernostalgia]

Are you wondering if I´m selling Matchbox sets? If so I´m afraid not.

[@Guero_Solis]

@@toysoldiernostalgia ok, pardon me friend, what it happens my English is not good, and I had that doubt, given that I saw your publication on FB.