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Wednesday 28 November 2018

Airfix WW1 Figures

I have been flirting with the idea of recreating the battle of Mons, or a part of it and was spurred into action when Airfix recently re-released their WW1 infantry sets. I bought some and began painting and basing some units; however, when I opened up the German infantry sets I was shocked to see the amount of flash on the figures. Here is an example:
Every figure in three boxes was the same. Cutting flash away with a knife is not easy and so I chucked them in the corner and began to paint some Hat and Zvezda Germans. Now these are lovely figures but are a little large when compared to the British infantry.  Also the Hat set lacks machine guns and gunners with spiked helmets.

Then I remembered an article I read somewhere (it may have been in one of the Airfix guides) that used a hot pin to get rid of flash. The idea is the heat the pin/wire over a candle and run it gently along the flash lines.  This is my flash removal kit:
I stuck a piece of wire in a block of balsa - the wire gets very hot!!  After a bit of trial and error and after a few melted guns and bayonets I worked out the correct technique. Whilst not perfect, the resulting figures are not too bad:
So, painting begins and I should have them completed by the weekend.





14 comments:

  1. Disappointing - when the figures first came out the main thing I remember about them is how flash free they were! Interesting technique, looking forward to seeing how they turn out.

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    1. Yes, I was very disappointed with the Germans. I had hoped that Airfix would have cleaned up the moulds before reissuing them. It is a shame as I will noy buy any more.

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  2. Given that these toys were originally released in 1966... and I suspect that Airfix are using the origonal moulds... it’s a miracle they got anything out at all... the state of the moulds after all this time will be... and this is a technical term... shagged.
    It’s a shame that they didn’t try to use a more user friendly plastic... but I doubt that they are aiming directly at wargamers... I would say more towards the nostalgia market...
    Which for me is a bit of a shame... I harbour a hope the they will rerelease the ACW range... if they have the moulds... god knows what they will look like after all this time...
    I look forward to seeing what you do with them...

    All the best. Aly

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    1. I would welcome a return of the ACW range, but just how much flash would they have? It has been a dream of mine for Airfix to produce their entire range of figures in hard plastic as this would make cleaning up much easier and conversions a breeze.

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  3. That heated pin is a good tip , busy with Strelets which have a bit of flash , will give it a go ! .

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    1. It does work, but slowly slowly and have a go with some spare figures first.

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  4. I did a game based on Mons, using the same Airfix figures you did--but mine were probably 40+ years old, and so were generally flash-free (although even back then the problem began to crop up here and there).

    I felt fortunate that Emhar does British Artillery (albeit in later uniforms, so conversion was necessary); because the British Army had not yet developed effective indirect artillery fire, it was entirely suitable that the British guns were on the table, while the German guns were off-board. And with Strelets furnishing early-war British and German cavalry, I was quite content.

    I hadn't given that much thought to Ypres; you have set me to thinking about it now....

    Best regards,

    Chris Johnson

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    1. Some of my troops are originals, but I did not have enough for my needs. The originals are almost hard plastic now and some are quite brittle. I have brigaded my British guns (Airfix) with the infantry in a direct fire role and my German guns (Hat & Emhar with Airfix crews)a bit further back. I have converted some of my RHA outriders to British cavalry. I haven't sourced the Germans yet. I may use Strelets.

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  5. Neat to see the heated needle trick in practice. They'll probably look just fine once painting is complete.

    Best Regards,

    Stokes

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  6. I was made in 1966 and I'm a bit rough around the edges too...

    Sadly, most of the older figures are beginning to go. Shame as they were so crisp back in the day; I cannot remember having to clean off any flash when I were a lad so it must be off-putting for any youngster. If you want to go Airfix it might be worth looking on eBay for figures made in the late 70s as they would be better cast and are unlikely to be brittle. Personally, I would go for the Hat figures. I saw them used in a Crush The Kaiser demo game and they are super figures. Strelets cavalry looks fab after a lick of paint.

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    1. I too like the Hat offerings and I have some; but ideally I would like to use Airfix as they are not to big when set against the British.

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  7. I've used the heated pin thing before, it works fine. I've also still got an old pyrogravure (a sort of soldering iron for plastic) left over from when I was a serious modeller which performs much the same function.

    Shame about the figures though. I got some of the Airfix late war French a couple of years ago and they were fine, as good as new in fact. I've got a feeling they may have been re-issued by someone else though. HaT maybe?

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  8. Maybe hunting out some of the Hat recasts might be an option?

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