D-Day Coastal Defence Fort and Gun Emplacement - 1:72 Airfix

[Paul A H]

D-Day Coastal Defence Fort and Gun Emplacement

1:72 Airfix

Timed to coincide with the recent 75th anniversary of D-Day, Airfix have re-released a couple of classic diorama sets from their huge back catalogue. Both sets Coastal Defence Fort and Gun Emplacement are supposed to represent the kind of German fortifications that the Allies would have encountered on or around the invasion beaches in Normandy. I say supposed to represent as ye olde designers at Airfix (I believe these sets were originally produced in the 1960s) seem to have used a fair amount of artistic licence when creating these items. No matter though, as without intending any criticism they are as much toys as they are scale models.

D-Day Coastal Defence Fort

1:72 Airfix

The Coastal Defence Fort is comprised of four sprues of pale grey plastic. The moulds look fairly sharp in spite of their age, although the misalignment of the moulds has created some seams that will take time to clean up. The fort itself is comprised of a concrete superstructure which houses a pair of huge (presumably ex-naval) guns, a pair of anti-aircraft guns and an optical rangefinder. Details are all pretty basic, but if you want to add extra detail to the model then there is plenty of scope to do so.

I believe the original version of this kit contained a mechanism which allowed the builder to ping miniature shells from the huge, hulking guns across his living room. Unfortunately this feature is missing now and the shells are instead exposed as rather clumsy items that don't accurately represent the separate shells and bagged charges that were commonly used with guns of this type and size.

D-Day Gun Emplacement

1:72 Airfix

The Gun Emplacement set is comprised of a single, slightly smaller gun that those included in the Coastal Defence Fort set (and which bears a fleeting resemblance to the 9.2 inch Mark X gun installed at IWM Duxfor), along with a couple of bunkers connected via a network of trenches. A search light completes the set. As above, no firing mechanism is included so you won't be able to stage an invasion on the kitchen table.

Details are basic but sufficient and the quality of moulding is surprisingly sharp for the vintage. You'll need to put a lot of work into making this into a convincing diorama, but given the history of both of these sets, one shouldn't be too harsh.

Conclusion

They may be ancient, but these sets are still capable of providing a fair amount of entertainment value. If you can overlook the accuracy issues (neither claim to be modelled on an actual location, but they are being marketed as D-Day fortifications) then they should provide pleasant trip down memory lane.

Review sample courtesy of

[Julien]

Good to see these back out. As you said not really scale models but were designed to go with the packs of toy soldiers Airfix did. I had both of these.

A shame they are not done in the old green plastic as you will have to paint these to make them look right. Also a pity the firing mechs are not there, wonder if its a safety issue these days. Though if I remember rightly you lost the shells fairly quickly and then resorted to firing matchsticks

[Tiger331]

Ah….a trip down memory lane. No doubt 'elf and safety would have had something to say about those firing mechanisms and shells, hence their absence from the re-issue !. I dare say that some artistic license was used in the production of the originals although I recently took a trip to an island on the other side of the main fjord entrance here in Stavanger where I visited some old German WWII coastal fortifications. Certainly some of the design features included in the Airfix kits are not dissimilar to those I found - the coastal forts here actually served well into the Cold War and were only decommissioned in the 1990s although they had obviously received updated coastal artillery pieces in the intervening period.

[gruffy]

I've loved playing with these when I was little!

[John_W]

Awesome. I remember saving my pocket money for these. My mate had the "Battle set" which came with polythene vehicles and two packs of soldiers.

As I recall the range also included a Bailey Bridge, Roman Fort, Foriegn Legion Fort and "Nottingham Castle".

[Julien]

I forgot about the bridge, that was excellent!