Recently I mentioned George Gush in a blog post, and my old mate LiverpoolDave commented : "I found myself as a result of reading your post looking up George Gush's numerous contributions to Airfix Magazine. I was particularly interested in the articles he wrote regarding converting Airfix soldiers to Renaissance figures"...
That rang a bell, and reminded me of my 'tin of nostalgia', recently recovered from the loft. I had a feeling the contents might be relevant.
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| An appropriate tin.. |
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| looks interesting.. |
After several decades in storage in a variety of lofts, I had no real idea what might be inside. Only one thing to do - empty it all over the table!
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| revealing a mess of (mainly) Airfix |
Unsurprisingly, the vast majority are Airfix - after all, they were about 20p a box when I was buying them! Metals were way out of my financial reach. These would have been acquired mostly at Beaney's model shop, Turvill's toyshop and Blundell's department store in 1970s Sittingbourne - all long gone now. David Crook, if you are reading this, you may remember them..anyone else, perchance?
So, let's have a sort through them:
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| things become a little clearer.. |
..Revealing a fairly random selection: Ancient Britains, heavily outnumbered Romans, Napoleonic French, British and Scots, ACW Artillery, half-painted WW2 Russians, and some odds and ends - including a few WW1 French, and British 8th Army - of which, more later.
The Ancient Britains are a bit of a mystery - there are seventeen
chariots! I think you got two per box, so did I really buy 8 or 9
boxes? I think I painted up some warbands and based them, having
acquired WRG Ancients Rules ( probably 5th or 6th edition ) - I could
afford the rules, but for figures it was Airfix or nothing, so Brits vs. Romans it was. But seventeen chariots? I must have had a Boudicca complex -
and some swapping must have been going on! The Romans had a couple of
chariots too, those orange figures include two huge four-hourse racing
chariots right out of 'Ben Hur', but no use at all on the battlefield! I
thought they are the old Atlantic make, and sure enough, Plastic Soldier Review confirms it - Roman Cavalry, vintage 1978 - albeit with a pretty sniffy review!
The Napoleonics are (pretty roughly) painted in rather odd colours - some of the English in blue coats, and French in red! I remember these were for an early attempt at Imagi-nations inspired by Charles Grant's 'The War Game' - again, a case of Airfix or nothing. I suspect their painted brethren fought variously under Grant's rules, then Bruce Quarrie's, and finally WRG 1685-1845.
Among the massed plastics lurked a handful of metal :
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| oh, those Russians.. |
I reckon these are Warrior Miniatures 25mm, the musket-wielding chaps are marked 'RN1' and the officer 'RN2'. Still available, RN1 is 'Pavlofski Guard advancing' and RN2 'Pavlofski Guard Officer'. I must have saved up for those! Quite nice simple old-school figures, to my mind. Perhaps from the Bruce Quarrie period - and I would guess, acquired from Mr Beaney's upstart rival (now equally long-gone) model shop, 'Man and Boy'. Each one of those would have cost a packet of Airfix.. I fear they were never finished because I realised I would never afford enough of their comrades - and anyway, the butterfly teenage mind moved on.
And finally - back to LiverpoolDave's comment: here we have, I am pretty sure, Renaissance ( Tudor period ) English, converted as described by George Gush.
The archers are just a paint conversion, of course - from the Robin Hood set ( I had the castle too!), but the figures at the front are more 'proper' conversions They explain the presence of those WW1 French and British 8th Army. Step forward, billmen, arquebusiers, and even Landsknechts! Those were the days. I reckon George knew his young audience well - he was a teacher, wasn't he? But why did I bother? I think back then, you just did - with only Airfix magazine and maybe 'Battle for Wargamers' for inspiration, and endless Airfix figures, you saw the article and had a go! I think by this time I must have been getting interested in the period too, I had his lovely 'Renaissance Armies' book. And lots of time, no social media and only heavily-rationed TV.. 'We made our own entertainment'.
I'm not sure what to do with this tin full of nostlagia, if I'm honest. But it has whiled away a wet winter's lockdown Sunday afternoon, and evoked a lot of happy memories. I think there's more in the loft, too... Keep safe, and well, everyone.
*** UPDATE: after a little searching on-line, I found the article which must have inspired my attempts at conversions : http://warfare.gq/Renaissance/24_Converting_Airfix_figures.htm - clearly one of the series of articles in 'Airfix Magazine' by George Gush, which eventually led to his magnum opus 'Renaissance Armies', though the modelling/conversion ones did not make it into the book, at least not in my 1978 paperback edition. This article is from November 1975 : looks to me like I followed it quite closely!
Bit of a trip down memory lane for me too David. I had the Britons and the Romans leavened with some British Commando’s who usually ended up defending the Airfix coastal defence fortifications against them...
ReplyDeleteAh the innocence of youth... jumpers for goalposts etc...
I have that coastal defence set! Pretty sure it's in the loft too.. And I remember the Airfix battle sets which had rather good plastic-moulded terrain, e.g. of a section of 'Normandy beach' with foxholes etc. I think that one had the Commandos too. Much fought-over with very polyglot forces, and a very loose interpretation of Charles Grant's 'Battle' rules. Is that spirit essentially what we all try to re-create?
DeleteOooh! Nice. That brings it all back. What memories. Buying up every box of Romans and Robin Hood figures to convert into Greek hoplites and various Peltasts and Psiloi. Amongst the many, many Airfix Naps I had I only painted one unit: British infantry as Portuguese. I hesitated over converting the Belgic shakos to stovepipes.
ReplyDeletePlease find those other Tins of Nostalgia and reveal the contents. You never know it might produce enough to spark off a ‘project’.
Thank you, happy memories indeed. There are various boxes still to be looked into, but this was the most interesting as i really had no idea what would be in there! I do feel I should try to do something with some of this stuff - I think maybe take inspiration from Maudlin Jack Tar's ('Projects and Procrastination') very simple approach, and keep any new paint jobs quite minimal. These are after all, TOY soldiers par excellence..
DeleteGreat stuff David! A pile of plastic possibilities.
ReplyDeletePossibilities indeed! As mentioned in a comment above, I should probably follow your example if I try to do something with these, and keep things simple. Those Ancient Brits could be fun..
DeleteHello there David in Suffolk,
ReplyDeleteI remember Beaneys and Man and Boy! When I had my first job after leaving school which was in Sittingbourne High Street both these places had a fair amount of my spare cash! I never git into the Renaissance but can remember many Airfix conversions for my 1815 Allied armies - turning French Cuirassiers into British Dragoons, British infantry into foot artillery gunners and 95th rifles and Confederates into Brunswick Jäger.
All great fun at the time!
All the best,
DC
Hi David, I thought you might like that! Were you in the camera shop - that was just along from Mr Beaney, i think? I reckon we may have un-knowingly rubbed shoulders in those shops back in the day.. I am impressed by the multifarious conversions people managed to do on Airfix figures, they were a fantastic resource, really!
DeleteWhat a great box of delights, I particularly like your Gush esque Tudor English conversions. Lovely to see these figures and to hear about them.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Alan! I must have been caught up in all things Renaissance and got enthused by that conversion article - not sure what I thought I would do for an opposition to them! Curiously I have no memory of actually doing the conversions - which would have been quite a deal for me at the time. But it was a very long time ago!
DeleteOh yes! A bucket of memories! The Pike and Shot from wwi are brilliant.
ReplyDeleteI remember the smell of melting plastic as I experimented with a low heat soldering iron to melt and reform plastic in addition to the plasticene coated in white glue in the absence of banana oil, not to mention the pin spears and thumbtack shields.
If the acw arty needs a home, let me know....
Indeed, George's ingenuity was most impressive, and yes all those spears and shields.. Are we spoiled for choice, now?
DeleteACW guns - Noted - I will see if any other ACW have survived, and indeed may be in need of a good home..
I have vague memories of being inspired by an article in Battle for refighting the French Wars of Religion which prompted the conversion of a single Gendarme (from an Airfix French Cuirassier) and Landsknect (from Imperial Guard). The time taken dissuaded further conversions as every figure in both armies would need the same treatment.
ReplyDeleteIt does prove that even then I didn't have much time for Napoleonics!
Neil
ah yes, the downside was the amount of effort required! I don't think I did many other such conversions, I admit. But others, with those long school and college holidays, and a powerful financial incentive, were amazingly productive..
DeleteI am gratified to have been the trigger for this foray into nostalgia, Dave. Your post made me smile, seeing that much-loved old tin of Airfix and other soldiers. At one time I had most of the Airfix 1/72 range - Napoleonics, WWII, WWI, ACW, AWI, Romans and Britons, Robin Hood and the Sheriff of Nottingham, Foreign Legion and Arabs, Cowboys and Indians, High Chaparral (what was that about? I don't remember anything about the show but we still got the set), even Astronauts, Zoo Animals and Farm Stock. I had well in excess of a thousand plastic soldiers and sometimes used to spend a whole evening after school setting up a town on the dining table with houses and bits of castles and forts I had and having one group of soldiers attack it and a second defend it. Seventeen chariots is a bit special though, they would have looked cool on the table.
ReplyDeleteI never tried converting or even painting my plastics so kudos for that - your Renaissance conversions look pretty darn impressive I must say.
The metal Pavlovski Guard are pretty cool too, too big to incorporate in your new SYW armies? I graduated to metal (minifig 25mm) in 1977 and like you say suddenly you're saving up to buy 5 or six new figures every couple of weeks as opposed to a box. It was worth it though, and without the constant lure of the internet or TV it was possible to spend quiet time lovingly attending to their painting needs; happy memories of Saturday evenings during the 78 World Cup spent painting my Waterloo Napoleonics with my best mate while listening to the footy on the radio.
Not sure what to do with the tin? You keep it of course! Those old Airfix soldiers never get tired. I have the Fort Sahara and Roman Fort kits, newer editions that my brother bought for me as a present some years back, and I will never let them go. I often consider reacquiring all my old Waterloo Airfix collection just for nostalgia's sake, but the boxes go for quite a lot on EBay these days.
As an aside those Plastic Soldier reviews are very interesting. The Airfix sets tend to do very badly, inevitably I guess as they are mostly very dated now. I remember both the WWI American and Napoleonic French sets being torn to shreds, and reading the reviews I can see why, but I still like those old Napoleonics. They could be misleading though - for a while as a kid I thought Hussars were heavy cavalry and cuirassiers light cavalry just because of the respective sizes of the Airfix figures!
Anyway, thanks for the post, brought back lots of good memories.
Don't remember if the astronauts, zoo animals and farm stock got involved in our plastic battles but I wouldn't discount the possibility!
DeleteMany thanks Dave, for the original inspiration, and for a fantastic response in your brilliant comments! Lovely evocation of our 70s childhood/teenage times. Like you, i was always a bit confused by the difference between those Cuirassiers and Hussars !
DeleteAnd I reckon you are right about those Rusaian guards, they will make a nice little unit for The Portable Seven Years War. Thanks for the idea!
If the Pavlovskis are too big as normal SYW grenadiers they could always be the Potsdammers! Everyone’s first Prussian unit, surely.
DeleteThanks for the kind words matey, as you are aware nostalgia is a bit of a thing of mine!
DeleteSame here I think: this whole blog is an exercise in it!
Deletethanks Nundanket, sorry for slow reply as I've been 'off grid' a few days - actually those Russian Grenadiers are a little diminuitive, I wonder if they are closer to 20mm and they are quite slim too - I think the Minifigs 25mm look noticeably bigger. So, I'm afraid they won't make Potsdammers! But I will try to use them, as a 'seconded' unit of Russians - I hope the uniform didn't change too much from 1760s to 1800s.
Delete