discussion Airfix Armour

[Gern]

Hi guys. I'm after some WWII German Armour in 1/72. There's loads of it about with most of it costing an arm and a leg, so I've been looking at the Airfix kits.

I only have one question. Does anyone know what scale these kits were made to? I've seen the same kits advertised as HO/OO; 1/76 and 1/72!

Gern

 

[Alan 45]

Nearly all airfix armour is 1/76 which is OO scale and to be honest there's not much difference if you mixe 1/72 and 1/76 , for my d-day dio I used a 1/76 Sherman and it worked fine , I do know that airfix do a nice king tiger in 1/72 as a starter kit

 

[Guest]

In all honesty, I wouldn't bother with Airfix armour Dave. Most of it is reboxed stuff from the 70s.

You can find some very decent kits from Revell on eBay at reasonable prices. A King Tiger went for £4.80 plus delivery yesterday.

Even the Armourfast kits are better than Airfix & you get 2 in each box!

 

[PaulTRose]

there is some airfix stuff thats ok but a lot of it is very very dated, and it shows

the revell stuff (including the repopped matchbox stuff) is very nice and good value for money

take a look at Academy as well, often get that at sensible prices and its nice quality

 

[Alan 45]

I think airfix armour is ok , might be dated but looks gods when done

Airfix uses a softer plastic that you can manipulate revell uses a more ridged plastic that is harder to manipulate so if you get gaps it's filler city imo

 

[john i am]

View attachment 84884

Hi Dave I've done a few bits of armour in 1/72 from all of the manufactures mentioned above and in my humble opinion found these to be the best this one for £5.38 including postage from ebay got this a few weeks agoView attachment 84885

View attachment 84886

View attachment 197907

View attachment 197908

View attachment 197909

 

[Guest]

This is a good site for small scale armour Dave.

http://miniafv.blogspot.co.uk/p/everything-in-miniafv.html?m=1

 

[spanner570]

Dave, consider 1/72 Italeri - two in a box. The tracks and wheels are moulded as one, so no fiddling and the kits have great detail. Only a dozen or so bits to stick together too.....

Here's a couple of Tigers I did...same box different cammo!

View attachment 84914

View attachment 84915


View attachment 197937

View attachment 197938

 

[The Migrant]

There's some good, some bad Airfix stuff (like most manufacturers I guess) but most of it is quite old. They've recently released some new-tool kits which are very nice, but no German subjects AFAIK. It's worth looking at the Airfix Tribute Forum picture gallery which shows builders' pics of virtually every Airfix military kit that's been released, and should give you a good idea of what the kits are like.

 

[Gern]

Thanks for the replies folks - some really useful goodies!

Now I know that the vast majority of Airfix stuff is 1/76; and as my idea calls for everything to be parked close together I can't mix the scales.

This is what I've got so far, and I think I've tried all the manufacturers you've mentioned:

View attachment 84925

View attachment 84926

View attachment 84927

View attachment 84928

View attachment 84929


Anybody notice the glaring omissions?

Right! No Panthers or Tigers. My idea is set in mid 1942 - before they were introduced. But there's also no Stug, Panzer I, Panzer II, 38T or plain vanilla 251 half tracks. These are the ones I'm having difficulty finding at anything like decent prices.

I've got a couple of Armourfast kits which I may use, but I'm not sure I like the moulded wheel/track assemblies (I've got a Hasegawa Kettenkrad made like that and It's been a nightmare trying to get the painting to look half decent). On the battlefield these would be fine - I could cover my painting errors with dirt and grass, but my idea is to have fairly clean and new vehicles. I'll maybe build one and see what I can do with it. If it turns out OK, most of my problems would be solved!

I'll keep looking.

Gern

View attachment 197948

View attachment 197949

View attachment 197950

View attachment 197951

View attachment 197952

 

[PaulTRose]

shame you cant mix scales....revell do nice Panzer 2 and plain jane 251 in 1/76