1/72 to 1/32 or 1/32 to 1/72

[SwedishCollector]

From time to time the topic of what scale a toy soldier be sculpted in and resized from.
I sometimes hear that sets by Airfix first released in 1/72 were then resized using a pantograph to 1/32.
This sounds very strange to me. That someone would have sculpted figures in 1/72.
That´s incredible small.
In my mind they must first have been sculpted in a larger figure, what ever scale, and then sized down to 1/72.
I could see that maybe the early Airfix sets could have been sculpted in a smaller scale from the start as they are very poor in detail.
But the type 2 of most sets are a lot more detailed and they must have first been sculpted in 1/32.
Also this would make sence as a that time Airfix made sets in 1/32 as well.

Anyone have good info on this?

[fredk]

Afair the Airfix soldiers were originally sculpted in 6 inch size, about 1/12

[Dazzled]

Afair the Airfix soldiers were originally sculpted in 6 inch size, about 1/12

It's a shame Airfix didn't release them in that scale, Fred. They'd have been pretty awesome

[Muttzley]

Afair the Airfix soldiers were originally sculpted in 6 inch size, about 1/12

It's a shame Airfix didn't release them in that scale, Fred. They'd have been pretty awesome

Years ago, while I was still at school, a friend of mine had a couple of large vinyl soldiers that were about that scale, one was a WW1 French Infantryman, (throwing a grenade), one was a Napoleonic French Infantryman, (marching, IIRC he was a line soldier, not Imperial Guard), and one was an American WW2 paratrooper (radio operator).

The radio operator I always remembered because he was in exactly the same pose as the 1/32 Airfix version.
He told me he'd picked them up in a local clearance store, but I've never seen anything like them since.

I've always thought it a shame Airfix never released a range of large scale figures based on the more iconic poses in those old sets, though TBH, it's also a wish I have for some of the older Games Workshop figures!

Thinking about it though, how difficult would it be to 3D print them nowadays?

[PaulBradley]

Trouble is that the detail of those 1/32 wouldn't really hold up to the increase in size. I'd settle for them being released in hard plastic rather than that nasty vinyl....

[Muttzley]

Trouble is that the detail of those 1/32 wouldn't really hold up to the increase in size. I'd settle for them being released in hard plastic rather than that nasty vinyl....

,
Agree with you on that, hard plastic would be my choice as well, especially for painting.

And thinking more the "Historical Figures" series approach, rather than the cast approach

[fredk]

Answering a few points;
I believe a company like Mattel issued copies** of some of the Airfix 1/32 figures in a much larger scale, about 4 to 6 inches tall.
I used to buy individual ones at my local newsagents
I painted them up, my father made plinths for them . . . . . then sold or gave them away!

I believe the latest Airfix 1/32 figures are moulded in K-resin

** I think Jez Brookes has confirmed that the large figures were definitely not Airfix

[Muttzley]

Answering a few points;
I believe a company like Mattel issued copies** of some of the Airfix 1/32 figures in a much larger scale, about 4 to 6 inches tall.
I used to buy individual ones at my local newsagents
I painted them up, my father made plinths for them . . . . . then sold or gave them away!

I believe the latest Airfix 1/32 figures are moulded in K-resin

** I think Jez Brookes has confirmed that the large figures were definitely not Airfix

Couldn't remember who made them, my friends ones did have a manufacturers name moulded underneath, but this was while I was at school, I'm in my 50s now!
Just never seen any since then, even on Ebay.

Didn't know the newer figures were cast in resin rather than polyprop, just assumed they would be that nasty to paint stuff when they came out and never looked any further into them. Might have to snaffle a box or two...

[fredk]

With the K-resin you can straighten those rifles which could shoot round corners
The figs take paint better
But its not a real hard resin like other cast figures

[Muttzley]

Would be buying them for nostalgia really, I normally choose 1/56 when it comes to packs of figures. The fact they're easier to paint makes them more interesting though.

[X12A]

As a boy I had 100's of Airfix 1/32 soldiers, when I joined the Army at 16 my Mother, without asking, gave them to my younger cousin. A little while later my Aunt, because my cousin wasn't playing with them, threw them all out! To say I wasn't happy when I found out was a monumental understatement!