Airfix and Amera Are Getting My Money

 



As I get old and start reliving my youth, I'm not being helped out by Airfix's retro offerings and Amera's new tie-ins.

 

Since Airfix started re-releasing their 1/32 scale range I have been avidly buying them up.  I wouldn't have had to if I managed to keep all my originals but my Mum convinced me that they had to be given away to a church sale to help the disadvantaged.  I think my internal monologue rantings at the time (I was 10) wouldn't have shamed being printed on the pages of the Daily Mail.

 

Not content with the figures, their building sets have been released as well starting with the command outpost and the desert house.  Now I first had these as a sweetener in 1979 to convince me that moving from Cornwall to Gosport wasn't a bad thing.  I wasn't convinced but I kept the goodies and nodded along anyway!! 

 

As part of a neat deal, Amera mouldings (amera.co.uk) have been selling vacuform castings of the diorama bases that originally only came with the 1/72 scale versions.

 



 
Pictured is the Strongpoint along with the British Infantry Support Group on the Amera base.

 

 

Still to buy up is  the vacuform base for the desert house (shown below) followed by this year's release of the jungle bamboo house and the bridge and checkpoint set.

If we're lucky, Amera will also release some bobbins to go with those.  They already do a base for the 1/72 bamboo house.

Sacrifices need to be made...plus shameless eBay plug

Space in the hobby cupboard is at a premium and GW are releasing these beasts...

...therefore it is sacrifice time and the Nuns with Guns are slowly being added to eBay.  Shame but I rarely play anymore and the girls haven't been on a table for a long time.

Hopefully somebody will get a good use of them with the new rules and without having to pay the retail prices.

If they go well enough, I may even get two Knights!!

PAW 2014 - What Did I Buy This Weekend?

The annual  Plymouth Association of Wargamers show took place this weekend.  I'm not one for a lot of splashing out in one go, preferring to spread my purchases over time so that I don't build up too big a backlog of unpainted/ unbuilt goodies however I did bag some bargains this weekend, courtesy of Curious Constructs/ Kirton Games.

Behold the Iron Horse Bike Squadron and a two bags of cast-offs from the Victorian Sci Fi Heavy Weapon Kickstarter from last year.

The bikes look really crisp and ready to be put together with little work.  They will of course end up with the obligatory pith helmet head swap.



The bags of the miscasts may take some work but, along with some left over 40K wheels, I should be able to knock together another 8-9 Heavy Weapons backed up with two mule transports.

A selection of the kits is shown below:

 

A Blast From The Past - Matchbox Style!!

Clearing out my mum's loft the other day because, well, it needs it I found a couple of things:

1.  Judging by the number of  toy lorries/ buses up there my Father wasn't a member of the Corgi Collector's Club... he WAS the Corgi Collector's Club.

2. Hidden in an old shoe box were the models shown below.  These were all put together by my Dad in about 1980/ 81 and were used by myself whilst conducting war on a 1/72 scale!  The models each came with a diorama base, some of which are shown although I don't have the full set to match the models remaining.

These weren't the first ones though.  prior to this in the 70s it was the Airfix sets with the Coastal Emplacements and the pontoon bridge but I don't have those any more.  I do still have masses of the 1/72 scale soldiers.  I feel another blog stream coming on...

Although I can't see myself keeping them around (I thought they'd been bunged ages ago), I thought some photos on the blog would be nice. 

 What were your earliest experiences with modelling/ wargaming?


This one's been in the wars.  One handed Commander and three wheels missing.

My favourite.  The others may go but this one may be held.  I just think the Hanomag is a very iconic vehicle.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My favourite of all the scenic bases is shown below but I'm missing the accompanying motorbike/ side car combo and the anti tank gun...and the driver!

 

 

Now I remember spraying this one with deodorant thinking that it would give a nice Eastern Front winter effect.