Well it's a while since I fed the
Airfix completists a bit of eye-candy so I thought I'd use the opportunity to do so that was raised by Michael Witt's (
WWII Modelzone ) sending to me of some lovely bits, among which were old
Jean readymades in the same mould as the
Airfix Attack Force, from his childhood collection - so thanks Micheal, I'll eMail separately!
Well, here are the
Airfix offerings, both MG versions, the taller pintle-mount was from the
T Cohn originals, then
Airfix reduced it to a lower 'clamped' mount, presumable to prevent loss? It was long before Health and Safety started mollycoddling us all! Not really based on any real-life vehicle, it has features of both
M75 and
M59 struggling to peek through!
Close up of the MG's, both reasonable renditions of the 50 Cal., though given very different treatments, and inset the later '
Readymade' from
Airfix which replaced the earlier effort. This too is a bit of a hybrid, having the main lines of a British
FV432 Trojan, but the dust guards of a
M113. The rear hatch is all 432 though and the MG is just about recognisable as a
GPMG 'gun'.
At around the same time
Jean in Germany (then - of course - 'West' Germany!) were selling these at pocket money prices on rack-cards of 3 or 4 vehicles. The one on the right could be said to be loosely based on the
Spz. 11-2 Kurz from Hotchkiss crossed with the
HS.30/12-3 Spz. Lang from Hispano-Suiza! The one on the left was found in a dragons egg - I think?!
Diapet, with Japanese seriousness were - reasonably contemporaneously (mid 70's) - producing a very accurate die-cast and plastic model of their
Type 73 AC. Claiming to be 1:75 scale, the figures (in a rubbery PVC) are compatible with
Roco, but then the Japanese are smaller overall, so not the best comparison. The model is superb, with two opening cupola's and a main troop compartment, PVC tracks and fully 'running' running-gear.
Well, here are the Airfix offerings, both MG versions, the taller pintle-mount was from the T Cohn originals, then Airfix reduced it to a lower 'clamped' mount, presumable to prevent loss? It was long before Health and Safety started mollycoddling us all! Not really based on any real-life vehicle, it has features of both M75 and M59 struggling to peek through!
Close up of the MG's, both reasonable renditions of the 50 Cal., though given very different treatments, and inset the later 'Readymade' from Airfix which replaced the earlier effort. This too is a bit of a hybrid, having the main lines of a British FV432 Trojan, but the dust guards of a M113. The rear hatch is all 432 though and the MG is just about recognisable as a GPMG 'gun'.
At around the same time Jean in Germany (then - of course - 'West' Germany!) were selling these at pocket money prices on rack-cards of 3 or 4 vehicles. The one on the right could be said to be loosely based on the Spz. 11-2 Kurz from Hotchkiss crossed with the HS.30/12-3 Spz. Lang from Hispano-Suiza! The one on the left was found in a dragons egg - I think?!
Diapet, with Japanese seriousness were - reasonably contemporaneously (mid 70's) - producing a very accurate die-cast and plastic model of their Type 73 AC. Claiming to be 1:75 scale, the figures (in a rubbery PVC) are compatible with Roco, but then the Japanese are smaller overall, so not the best comparison. The model is superb, with two opening cupola's and a main troop compartment, PVC tracks and fully 'running' running-gear.
3 comments:
wow - those Jean tanks are something else!
Yes, they're quite small, so would look best painted up, tracks tacked down with hot water and pins, accomanying Orks or Goblins or similar little tykes!
Totally agree with you, WOTAN!
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