MATCHBOX 1/32 SCALE

MATCHBOX 1/32 SCALE

Matchbox launched the first three sets, Germans, British and Americans

in the mid 70s. Afrika Korps, Commandos and 8th Army followed in 1978.

I thought they were less serious looking than Airfix but more playful with more 

poses in their 15 figure sets. Original sets are now highly sought after by collectors.

These sets also made it to 1/76 with some more poses and in the early 80s

Japanese and ANZACs were added bringing the 1/76 sets to 8 in total.

Back then, I eagerly waited for these two sets to

make it to 1/32. I'm still waiting!

If only someone at Revell would wake up some day soon and say

"Ok, we will re-launch the entire 1/32 sets and add the Japs

and ANZACS for that crazy guy on Commander of Plastic Men!"

GERMANS (9 Poses)

This was the first ever set of figures I bought back in 1979.

This actual set here is from 1982. I gave my first set away I'm sure! 

They are of very high quality plastic, the moldings are sharp and clear.

My only gripe about this set is the water bottles are various sizes and the 

MP40 machine pistol looks a bit strange in comparison to the Afrika Korps 

MP40. It looks more like an STG44 assault rifle but I'm not convinced! 

All the riflemen carry the Kar 98 but the prone man crawling would have 

been better loading the MG34 just like Airfix had it. Great set overall 

though and the flamethrower is an excellent addition to the set.

A classic German set and a must have for collectors! This set

has the lowest number of poses with just 9. Bah!

BRITISH (11 Poses)

Another great set of well moulded troops with a great 

assortment of weapons and poses. There are two Bren guns

and the prone figure is a smasher! The Vickers machine gunner has 

no loader friend unfortunately and the man throwing the grenade looks 

a bit bare with no other weapon. Nice to see netting on the helmets.

I always felt the bases on a few of the figures were a bit narrow and they fell 

over easily, but apart from that, great set. First bought in 1979 and swapped. 

This set is from 1983 and just underwent a facelift! Nice sheepskin 

coat on the Captain! This is a super set and well worth acquiring!

AMERICANS (11 Poses)

A recent eBay purchase, I never bought these back in the day, 

but my sister did in 1979 and gave them away! A fine set they are

too with some great poses. The Browning looks great and so does 

the man with the M3 'Greasgun'. The Lieutenant has an overcoat

which is a nice little touch and the man throwing the grenade has three

more attached to his webbing! All the riflemen are carrying M1 Garands

but there are no M1 Carbines to be seen and this was a popular weapon 

during WW2. Also there is no Bazooka in this set which is a bit of 

a downer! Overall with crisp sharp mouldings and some great poses, 

this is the ultimate U.S. Army set! This is an 1983 set and I also 

have a mint 1976 set unpainted!

AFRIKA KORPS (11 Poses)

Now we're living! This set has a great variation in troops, a good 

mixture of caps, helmets and shorts. The moldings are sharp and clear. 

The machine gunner even has a prone loader. The men with fixed bayonets 

look a bit unnatural especially the man with the cap who looks a bit flat. 

Rommel was even throw in for good measure! First bought in 1979 and swapped. 

This set is from 1982. The man with the goggles on his helmet is a cracker!

This set is a fine example of the Afrika Korps and an absolute must

for collectors of German forces of WW2.

BRITISH COMMANDOS (11 Poses)

I remember buying this very set in late 1979. The excitement as the 

well molded men and the 'rubber' raft fell out of the box and on to the table.

I had never seen such a cool set of troops in all my born days to be honest! 

This is a superb set with good quality moldings, weapon range and easily

knocks Airfix off the top spot with it's own Commandos. It's nice to see

Sten guns even though no figure is actually firing one. The man on the 

ladder is a bit novel but still a nice touch. There is also a man throwing a 

grapnel hook. The man and the the inflatable is superb too! The action 

poses are great and it depicts the Commandos as a formidable 

force! I wish I didn't cut the Thompson out of the grenade 

throwers left hand. Idiot!

BRITISH 8TH ARMY (13 Poses)

I bought my first box back in late 1979. I traded them with a friend, 

as you do. Then I bought another box in 1982 and over the years the plastic 

became brittle as they cracked like hard cheddar! All that was left was arms, 

legs and heads at the bottom of the box! Even Monty crumbled into the Libyan 

sand! This is a fine 8th Army set too as it has Scottish troops judging by the

berets and the piper. There is a good mix of poses, weapons and even 

a poor guy copping it! There are 13 poses and the detail is great. 

A classic set that is now getting rare. 

THE UNPAINTED

This is what they look like out of the box!

German

British

American

British 8th Army

THE BOXES

I love the pure 70s design of these boxes, and they are all more or less 

the same style with one main man in the foreground and the rest slogging

it out in the background. Pure war comic and a classic by any standards!

THE FRONT

When you see this image, memories will flood back to rainy Fridays

in the late 70s, where you gather the troops, grab a Sherbet Fountain

and read Warlord oblivious to the world outside your window!

AROUND THE BACK!

The colour guide was comic book cool!

SIDE VIEW!

Here you could see the poses the figures possessed.

Hands up who set the actual figures up to look like this?

NOTE #1

The Afrika Korps set (bottom right) shows a figure aiming 

an MP40 on the back of the box and also on the side which shows

the rest of the poses. This figure was only with the 1/76 set as I've never seen 

him for real. It is a much better pose than the other 1/32 MP40 figure in the set. 

What a pity they never made him in 1/32. I actually thought he existed

but after buying two boxes I lost hope!

The elusive soldier!

NOTE #2

The Germans, British and Americans have been reissued by a 

Chinese manufacturer and they even come with copies of the original boxes! 

You will notice '8+' in the top right corner of the newer boxes and they are sold 

from Hong Kong. Beware on eBay of other sellers trying to pass them as

originals! I have never actually seen the figures in the flesh, but if I didn't 

have the originals...

"Watch out for the 8+ you hear?!!!"

CONVERTED!

Ever come across figures with weapon damage? Of course you did.

There are two things you can do, one is to ignore it, but then again when it's 

painted it looks pretty stupid. You can fix it or you can convert it! Here we see

a guy that was converted. My first attempt actually. Gone is the damaged 

flamethrower and hello MG42, bigger water canteen and on the back

he has an MP40 with magazine pouch. In other words 

he is armed to the teeth!

MATCHBOX CLONES

As a collector I used to only rate and hoard the originals myself!

Recently there seems to be a lot of Chinese sets that offer the

Germans, Americans, 8th Army and Afrika Korps. They come in 

terra cotta red, dark grey, dark green, tan and even silver.

They seem a tad smaller than 1/32 but are not bad for messing

around with. I was tempted to say the least!

This pot contains 202 pieces and it is made up of Germans, Americans, 

8th Army and Afrika Korps from the Matchbox sets. There is the odd Airfix 

man in the German set but the Japanese set is brutal with terrible molding!

All in all, for the price of €10.00 you can't go wrong! Here are the Matchbox 

clones by Hing Fat from China. The Japanese set is not shown 

for obvious reasons!

The Germans are mix of Infantry and Afrika Korps.

The American set is all Matchbox but there 

is no captain to be found!

The 8th Army are all there except Monty!

The American set come with two figures blown up to 

1/32 from the 1/76 set and the German set comes likewise

with a Bazooka man, but not the right type mind you

PAINTING THE CLONES! 

 These are a few I painted in various German uniforms!

This box is probably the easiest way to get the best

of these classic sets for peanuts, and if you don't care

about the less than perfect moldings, once painted they

look great! Admit it, you know you want them!

A selection of German forces, clones of course!

More late war germans!

Fake Afrika Korps!

Clones as menacing S.S. troops!

The 'fake' 8th Army!

KEEP ON CLONING

Another recent toy store find. These are more or less the same

as the Hing Fat clones but are made by Shing Hing Toys. The plastic

is softer and there are very slight differences in the weapons.

The bases are generally smaller making the figures fall over

easily. This tub consists of Afrika Korps, Americans, which are

pretty badly moulded, mixed with Modern U.S., 8th 

Army and Japanese from another manufacturer.

Great value tub stuffed with cool cloned figures!

Take your pick!

More Afrika Korps plus a Wehrmact officier.

The weapons are slightly different. The man kneeling on the 

right looks like he's firing a musket!

The 8th Army. The bases are

pretty small and the figures fall easily!

AND FINALLY...

This set of Americans is pretty good too. Simply titled 'Army Troopers',

it is by Tobar, a U.K. toy distributer, the figures are made in China, 

and come as a 32 piece set with a nice bag. A true bargain!

The plastic is soft and the figures are nice and sharp!

Almost as good as the real thing! Again the same two figures

appear blown up from the 1/76 set but no captain! 

Anyway, who said life is fair! 

The famous M3 'Greasgun' man!

AND FINALLY (AGAIN)!

A pretty shoddy Chinese made set of Americans

with two in dazzling mustard plastic!

AIRFIX 1/32 MODEL FIGURES - WWII (Series 2)

There's not a lot to say about the excellent Airfix

Series 2 sets that hasn't already been said. There was 16 different 

WWII  sets in all and they have been released in various packaging

and coloured plastics over the last 40 something years!

This is how the story goes! 

When I was 9, I went to a friends house after school. He opened

a biscuit tin and inside there was a load of soldiers. We played 

with them and from that day I couldn't get them out of my mind!

The following year I started buying my own and had hours and 

hours of fun both playing with and collecting them until I 

became a teenager and started chasing girls!

These are the first ones I saw in the late 70s!

This photo reminds me of the 'Band On The Run' LP cover!

In the last few years, as a hobby I have renewed my interest

in them and whilst painting, photographing, collecting, animating,

buying and selling them I have learned an awful lot about various

armed forces and conflicts of WW2 which has always held great a 

fascination for me and maybe it's because of that faithful day 

when I was 9, I was captured by the Airfix model figures!  

JAPANESE INFANTRY

These troops of the Imperial Japanese army are well equipped

and the poses are classic Airfix. The commander is great with his 

katana sword in the air. The banzai charger is really going in for the 

kill too. The walking man is at odds with his action packed buddies, 

but he may also be on guard duty! The riflemen look great and the

prone gunner is firing a Type 11 light machine gun. Great set with 

superb detail but what a pity they never  made another Japanese 

set with helmets and natural cammo and even more poses! 

Dream on, but at least we have these great figures!
7 pose set.

GERMAN PARATROOPS

I bought these in 1980 and recently painted them properly
in two types of uniform for variety. This is a great set. I love the 
prone FG42 man simply because of that particular rifle choice.
There is plenty MP40 men and the man aiming one is really cool.
The bayonet man has an ammo belt around his neck. The man 
about to bash a door down with his rifle is a bit naff and the man 
with the broken arm is a party pooper! A well made set indeed.
14 pose set.

AFRIKA KORPS

This is a Hornby set. I don't really like the hard plastic

I must admit. They sound brittle and feel lighter than the 

originals. The stick grenade thrower looks menacing and the pose 

is spot on. He is surely one of the series best figures. The machine pistol 

man has grenades tucked in on the back of his belt. Nice touches that 

make the set special. The Hauptmann is well detailed and the riflemen solid.

It's a pity the MG34 man didn't have a feeder but I like the ammo belt 

wrapped around him. A superb set that can be used as 

late war German troops if painted accordingly.

7 pose set.

GERMAN INFANTRY
I bought these in 1981 and they were given a proper paint job 
a few months back. This is a great set and  possibly the definitive
Wehrmacht 1/32 scale troops! The man with the machine pistol 
looks a bit weedy compared to the rest, his helmet is smaller and 
his weapon is not right! On the box it shows a far better example
but unfortunately it's only the artwork! It is obvious that these are early 
Wehrmacht troops judging by the kit. The riflemen are brilliant especially 
the stooping man. The MG34 duo are perfect and essential.
The grenade thrower is superb and the Hauptmann is tall and 
strongly Germanic. Probably the best Airfix set ever!
This is the only 8 figure set in the series!

GERMAN MOUNTAIN TROOPS

This is another Hornby set. There are lots of poses in here.

It's a set that doesn't look great until you paint it.  Details are good 

and the prone MG42 is worth the money alone, but the rifles and 

MP40 machine pistols look a bit puny and men lack ammo pouches 

for the latter weapons. The men with the skis are good and two rope 

men are the only figures in the series that share a stand! The 

commander is just pointing and I would have like to have seen 

a pistol in his hand or binoculars! All in all this set is creative and 

expands on the usual fighting poses in a big way by including 

non-combat figures such as the man with the ice pick, a man

using semaphores, men on skis and carrying them, a man with 

a grapnel hook, and the only two Airfix figures on one base, 

using a rope! This is the only 13 figure set in the series!

BRITISH INFANTRY SUPPORT GROUP

I bought this set in October 1979 and only painted

it in the last year! It's a great set and I'm glad I never 

sold, swapped or chopped it up! The Vickers crew are fab

and so are the mortar men. There are a few men hanging

around that look like they are waiting for a cuppa!

You get jerry cans, ammo boxes, rifles, sten guns

and entrenching tools also. The 1980 British infantry

can be combined with these boys for maximum effect!

This is the only 10 figure set in the series!

ITALIAN INFANTRY

A friend of mine went to Scotland for a week in 

April 1982 and he bought a super pack of Italians. He was 

generous enough to give me half in a swap. I painted them 

azure blue with paint I had left over from painting my bicycle!

I gave them a facelift recently and they are now looking great! 

If you look closely you see they are wearing shirt and tie! 

True Italian style! These are now quite rare and boxed 

even harder to find! 7 pose set.

BRITISH INFANTRY

I bought these in late 1981. Not a bad set but in comparison

to their predecessors a bit sobre. Let's face it the man aiming

the rifle is not firing it is he? It's more a case of "Halt! who goes there!

Very nice Thompson pose, in fact one of the best but I can't help thinking 

'WWI - over the top' when I look at the captain! The grenade thrower is great 

and so is the running man but I reckon he was supposed to have a bayonet 

fixed on his rifle as his sheath is empty! They do make a great 

accompaniment to the support group all the same.

7 pose set.

BRITISH 8TH ARMY

This is a beautifully sculpted classic with great action poses

but the Bren gunner would have been superb if he was actually 

firing the gun! A wasted opportunity if there was ever one as Airfix 

don't actually have a prone Bren gunner in this series at all, at all! 

Nice solid poses from the aiming riflemen, great bayonette charger, 

the officer is taking the men to the fight, and fight they did well

to become nicknamed 'The Dessert Rats' by the Germans!

7 pose set.

BRITISH PARATROOPS

I bought a 29 set in 1980 but they are long gone. This is another 

Hornby set. I have mixed feelings about the walking Bren gunner, 

as this would have been a great opportunity for a prone Bren gunner 

and the walking rifleman? Two figures out of a 7 figure set doing more 

or less the same thing. Hmm! The detail is good and the camouflage 

jackets look great when painted but with only two men out of 

seven shooting, this set is a bit of a downer to say the least as

the 'Paras' were sent in behind enemy lines and were an

elite force. The radio operator could have been replaced

with a man firing a Sten gun! If only!

7 pose set.

GURKHAS

A friend gave me these in 1981. I have more than 14 so 

it must have been part of a 29 set. I have lost the dead man

over the years. A nice set with lots of poses that represents a 

formidable fighting force slashing away with their deadly 

Kukri knives! They have all the standard British weapons 

and kit but maybe there are too many Kukri poses! It is great to 

see a set dedicated to these brave men and there is a saying:- 

"Any man that says he is not afraid when 

going into combat is either lying or a Gurkha."

14 pose set.

U.S. INFANTRY

This is another Hornby set. The rifle tips are pretty

brittle in this set and have to handled very carefully.

I'm not a fan of the hard plastic at all. I always felt these were 

a bit boring and they seem to lack on essential equipment 

and backpacks, but they are very well sculpted figures no the less.

There is no loading buddy for the prone Browing machine gunner 

and the gun should really be on a tripod! The variety of weapons is 

great with only two M1 Garand riflemen, among the rest there is an 

M1 Carbine, M3 Greasgun, a Bazooka, a Browning pistol but 

a flamethrower would have been good too as Airfix don't have 

any in this range. These can also be painted as Marines 

that fought in the Pacific.

7 pose set.

RUSSIAN INFANTRY

This is a great set with three great PPSH sub machine gun poses. 

The commander is the most boring of the bunch, and it would have been 

nice to have him running with a pistol in one hand and binoculars in the 

other! The two prone men are great and the choice of weapons in this

set are excellent. The men seem to have just the basics and nothing else 

but courage! It would have been nice to see some Russian winter troops 

by Airfix as these seem to be kitted out in summer uniform. 

A classic set by any standard.

7 pose set.

AUSTRALIAN INFANTRY

This is another Hornby set. The big and bold Aussies.

Great set with great poses. The officier has a great big machete

for chopping thicket and heads! The sculpting is clear and sharp. 

This is another set that looks superb when painted. I like the way the 

pants and shirts are different colours too. The kit and weapons are

the standard British issue with U.S. gaiters and the men are 

clearly dressed for the Pacific and Asia. With all the action

poses in the set, the walking man is at odds with the rest

of the bunch, but in his own right he is excellently

sculpted and a nice addition. 

7 pose set.

BRITISH COMMANDOS

This is a pretty good set and all the poses are in action. The rifleman

is superb and so are the bayonet charger and grenade thrower. I always felt 

the man firing the Thompson looks a bit weird in the way he's leaning back 

and the commander looks like he's about to take aim at a fun fare shooting

gallery! Commandos played an important part in WW2 so this is an 

essential and important set!

7 pose set.

U.S. PARATROOPS

Another 14 pose set. This set is the ultimate in lost opportunities with
some pretty awkward poses such as the man waving the shovel, the man 
with the limp wrist, the man crawling and the shot man. These are probably 
the worst action poses ever in the series! The kneeling man with the 

Thompson looks like Robert Redford in A Bridge Too Far! 

A bit disappointing for a 14 figure set all the same.

Note: About the 'Shot man'. Is he shot or is he unraveling himself from

parachute lines? Maybe if I make a chute and string it he might look useful!

THE BOXES

Again great artwork and the excellence you could expect from Airfix.

These boxes are all full packs and mainly the target design. They changed 

at the start of the 80s and included a see through panel. This particular design

is quite boring in comparison with the previous designs! 

THE 1977 STANDARD BOXES

The Target box looked better!

THE 1981 STANDARD BOXES

The kind of boring ones!

THE 1984 CPG BOXES

The Afrika Korps box looks funny!

THE 1986 HUMBROL BOXES

At least the action pics are back but that 

brown is, well, ugh!

THE 2010 HORNBY RE-ISSUES

The emperor's new clothes!

They seemed to have vanished from sight until about two years ago

when Hornby re-issued them again in new packaging, well almost

new. The action artwork was back and there was a few changes.

The verdict! 

Hmm! My first impression was, wow, it's great to see

them again. They are now made in India. I purchased the Mountain Troops 

in excitement as I never had them before. There was a clinky, almost hollow 

sound as they tumbled onto the table! The plastic or K9 resin as it's called, 

didn't feel right. I bought some more sets and hastily painted them going by 

the colour schemes now boldly illustrated on the rear of the box. 

I noticed that some figures came out of the boxes with bent weapons, 

especially the U.S. Infantry M1 Carbines. The quality simply was not there 

like it was in the heyday! Every time I bought the new sets, I was almost filled 

with the dread of finding a bent gun or warped man! 

Now, as you can see in the picture I have nearly collected the whole Hornby range, 

but I have stopped painting these figures in particular because the old soft plastic 

ones are better to paint and I have now collected 14 of the 16 original large boxes 

from sellers on eBay. I wish the Hornby range was the old soft plastic because at least 

you had a choice, one, they were tough enough for playing with and two you could 

paint them. It seems that the new re-issues are more fragile and are for 

painting only, which makes them less fun all round!

THE NEW LOOK!

They come in packs of 14 to a model shop near you!

A typical box front

And the back with paint guide!

The German Paratroops are such an appalling 

colour, they are almost funny!

The German infantry, of of the most iconic Airfix sets

of all time, ruined by nasty dark blue resin!

British Infantry in tan.

British Commandos in dark green.

The U.S. Paratroops are ok but there's 

no 'shot man' here!

The British Infantry Support Group in a 

light green colour!

SUPERSIZE ME!

These are the only two large sets.

German Mountain Troops

British Infantry Support Group

OH, CRYSTAL BALL!

Will Hornby come up with more delights in the near future?

Will they re-issue the Modern Series?

Will they re-issue The Medieval Foot soldiers?

Will they re-issue the Wild West sets?

Will they re-issue the Space Warriors?

Will they re-issue the Napoleonic Soldiers?

Only time will tell...but I'm looking out

for them on eBay just in case they don't!

BUYING THE ORIGINALS ONLINE!

One thing I have to say about this is it is probably the only

way you are going to get them as they were, and when a box 

you're after sells for silly money, don't worry, as another will come

 along in a flash, as eBay in particular, is full of them. I have got some

great bargains buy holding tough. It may also pay to buy two

boxes from the same seller to cut down postage costs.

Here are a few things I've noticed when buying original boxes.

Sometimes a seller will have a box of say, German Infantry. They

describe the box and say there's 29 or whatever and you win 

the auction but when you get them you discover that there 

are no grenade throwers and ten riflemen! This is not uncommon

because sellers, not all, fill boxes with troops from different sources!

Sometimes the seller will be a mum clearing out her thirtysomething

sons toys and she will list them and not notice broken gun-tips, 

missing men etc. A younger brother that was reared on PS2 will

fob off big brothers men to make money for a music festival or 

something, so it pays to ask the seller for a detailed account

of what is in the box. Some sellers display the actual contents

and tell you exactly what you are getting. 

I recently bought a pristine 8th Army set but when I got it 

there was no marching men, but ten bayonet chargers and four officers!

I had to bid on a loose bunch and got 45 of them so I made up the box 

nicely and sold the others after painting them! This can be costly though 

so make sure you know exactly what you are getting! Not everyone 

knows what they are talking about like us fanatics! I bought a 

German Paratroop box recently and there was only 9 of the 14 

poses in the box even though I got a full 29 set!

I'm off to track down the stragglers now!

You just gotta have the boxes!

You can never have enough!

Side effects!

The full hog! Well, my full hog, but there's 

more to get as always!

OBJECTS OF DESIRE

I have noticed that the most expensive boxed sets in top condition

on eBay are the Gurkhas, the German Mountain Troops, the British

Infantry from 1980 (I did get a box for the price of a McDonalds recently 

though!), the British Infantry Support Group are pricy while 

The Italian Infantry are elusive and expensive!

The Japanese, Russians, Australians and German Paras are second 

in the running while the U.S. Infantry, British Commandos and 8th Army 

are the cheapest to get.  Now is the time to get them and complete the

collection. Tomorrow will be to late and in five years time they will

treble in price, like everything else from the past! 

TWO NEW 'OLD' ADDITIONS JUNE 2013

Here they are, the two sets that we have been waiting for

for over six months. Firstly while the Japanese Infantry box 

cover art is superb it does mislead one as these are the standard

figures we already know and love. It shows men with helmets 

here but the figures have none!

Japanese

The 'misleading' artwork!

The painting guide is

great and gives a few options. I like it! 

This Japanese is tan-plastic! Geddit?!

Gurkhas

Great Artwork

Nice painting guide!

This was originally a 14 figure set but there

seems to be no dead man this time!

Now that these have be reissued, it's a big thank you

to Hornby and all we are short is the missing sixteenth set 

which is of course the Italian Infantry!