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Tuesday, February 11, 2020

K is for Khaki Kit Figures

Not the post I envisioned but I'm sick of encountering them (Esci's British Paratroopers) in Picasa so it's time they went-up, and the main missing item (box art) will be in the next post, so let's clear this little lot as more of a box-ticker!

Art. 8034; British Paratroops; Esci for Polistil; Esci for Revell; Esci Kit Figures; Esci Toy Soldiers; Kit Figures; Paratrooper Toys; PIAT; Polistil Kit Figures; Polistil Toy Soldiers; Revell Kit Figures; Revell Toy Soldiers; Small Scale World; smallscaleworld.blogspot.com; Toy Soldiers; WWII Paratroops;
As with all the other figure sets, there are the two runners in the box (some of the AFV's got three I think?) and it's an odd selection of Airfix rip-off's and rather good original sculpts, some with a reasonable degree of 'multipose' opportunity.

Art. 8034; British Paratroops; Esci for Polistil; Esci for Revell; Esci Kit Figures; Esci Toy Soldiers; Kit Figures; Paratrooper Toys; PIAT; Polistil Kit Figures; Polistil Toy Soldiers; Revell Kit Figures; Revell Toy Soldiers; Small Scale World; smallscaleworld.blogspot.com; Toy Soldiers; WWII Paratroops;
The early Esci (and Revell-branded) sets had a colourful painting guide on the back with the limited assembly information; this was later (1980's - and Humbrol-branded?) reduced to a black & white line-drawing slip included with the contents of the box.

Strangely the instructions seem to depict the back-packs which ended up with the US Soldiers Marine Corps set, suggesting both sets (probably the whole figure-range of the kit line) were being developed at the same time and that the art-workers were slightly ahead of the tool-shop!

Art. 8034; British Paratroops; Esci for Polistil; Esci for Revell; Esci Kit Figures; Esci Toy Soldiers; Kit Figures; Paratrooper Toys; PIAT; Polistil Kit Figures; Polistil Toy Soldiers; Revell Kit Figures; Revell Toy Soldiers; Small Scale World; smallscaleworld.blogspot.com; Toy Soldiers; WWII Paratroops;
Airfix clone wanders-off to exit stage-right, while the more original figure sculpts are seen from the back. The PIAT gunner was a useful addition to peoples armies in the 1970's, and the influence of the Airfix 54mm set can be seen in the officer and radio-operator's berets, something we would see again from Esci in the 1980's when they followed the horse-leading cuirassier and Highland piper/casualty poses (among others) from Airfix's older (1:76th) sets.

Art. 8034; British Paratroops; Esci for Polistil; Esci for Revell; Esci Kit Figures; Esci Toy Soldiers; Kit Figures; Paratrooper Toys; PIAT; Polistil Kit Figures; Polistil Toy Soldiers; Revell Kit Figures; Revell Toy Soldiers; Small Scale World; smallscaleworld.blogspot.com; Toy Soldiers; WWII Paratroops;
Direct piracies (with added packs), taken from the 54mm set, we can be confident that all the Esci 1:72nd's were taken from the 1:32nd scale sets from Airfix, as it would be like working with master sculpts for a skilled pantograph operator.

One of the enduring myths of Airfix's production on some sites/in some books is that some of the later 54mm sets were 'scaled-up' from the HO/OO range - utter nonsense; but the myth persists.

Art. 8034; British Paratroops; Esci for Polistil; Esci for Revell; Esci Kit Figures; Esci Toy Soldiers; Kit Figures; Paratrooper Toys; PIAT; Polistil Kit Figures; Polistil Toy Soldiers; Revell Kit Figures; Revell Toy Soldiers; Small Scale World; smallscaleworld.blogspot.com; Toy Soldiers; WWII Paratroops;
The kneeling firer has some similarity to the earlier 1:32nd scale set, but I suspect that's more co-incidence than design, and with a very different kneeling firer in Airfix's second set (slim, leaning and bereted), one of the more original sculpts in the set.

The PIAT gunner is totally new.

Art. 8034; British Paratroops; Esci for Polistil; Esci for Revell; Esci Kit Figures; Esci Toy Soldiers; Kit Figures; Paratrooper Toys; PIAT; Polistil Kit Figures; Polistil Toy Soldiers; Revell Kit Figures; Revell Toy Soldiers; Small Scale World; smallscaleworld.blogspot.com; Toy Soldiers; WWII Paratroops;
All of them together; like I say, not one of my best posts, but it'll do and it gets them in the tag-lists! They will of-course return on the Airfix page under both Paratrooper posts/pages, hopefully with better imagery.

Dave Kean's Plastic Soldier Review (PSR) has chapter-and-verse on uniform and equipment accuracy and so forth.

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