Bamboo House - 1:32 Airfix

[Julien]

Bamboo House

1:32 Airfix

This kit was originally released by Airfix back in 1973 and I know that I had one in the late 70's which was heavily used by my 1/32 Plastic soldiers. These kits were designed by Airfix for this reason and in their 1/32 scale which all their military kits seemed to come in.

The kit is supposed to represent a typical local dwelling in the jungles of South East Asia, it features raised bamboo detail on the outside of the parts which is actually pretty good even if it is fairly uniform. The floor consists of a log bamboo effect. There is no details on the inside of the parts. This kit is moulded in grey plastic so will need to be painted an appropriate colour. I seem to remember the original was moulded in a bambooish colour so it could be assembled and played with straight away. Given the target audience for this kit I cant understand why it has been issued in grey plastic?

Construction is a fairly simple affair as all the parts are designed to clip together, more evidence this is really a toy than a model kit. You start with the main floor panel (which was a bait bowed in my sample).

The main walls and balcony area all clip into this. Once they are all in the roof will need to be attached. Once the rook is on you will then need to attach the various other parts such as the access ladders, and window covers.

Construction should pose no problems to children or dads! This clipped together in less than 5 mins.

Conclusion
I am not sure if this kit will appeal to the serious modeller but it is a nice trip down memory lane. For those with children and still allowed to play with toy soldiers in the age of political correctness it will make a nice diorama to play with. Being as this is how most people will use it airfix really could have moulded this in an appropriate colour of plastic.

Review sample courtesy of

[marky sparky]

Should give a good basis to 1/35 Vietnam era modelling. I might even give it a go, a Ford Mutt, some grunts, oooh, I have a plan forming.