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1/32 Airfix American Soldier 1775


Ted

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There are so many reasons I should not blitzbuild this weekend. It's my daughter's birthday on Saturday, the gardening chores are stacking up, Sunday is our regular D&D session, and Monday is not a holiday in Canada.

 

Anyway I'll give this a shot, one of my favourite series of Airfix models.

 

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16 hours ago, Ted said:

There are so many reasons I should not blitzbuild this weekend. It's my daughter's birthday on Saturday, the gardening chores are stacking up, Sunday is our regular D&D session, and Monday is not a holiday in Canada.

 

Anyway I'll give this a shot, one of my favourite series of Airfix models.

 

20200520_104610

 

 

 

 

Far to many excuses there Ted. Getting them in early in case of a failure :rofl:

Welcome along, you can always spread your build over all 3 days as long as you don’t exceed the 24hrs total build time, it’s a useful option if your having the dreaded “BlitzBuild paint dry issues “

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I remember making a couple of these kits. Looking forward to seeing yours in progress. :popcorn:

Kind regards,

Stix

Edited by PlaStix
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Thanks guys, these kits are really good, even by today's standards.

 

Had a bit of a panic attack when I uploaded the photos from my phone to make my start post, couldn't find the picture I took showing that it was after 12AM BST when I started building!!! Hehe, realized I had used my phone to show the clock and took the picture with a digital camera. Phew...

 

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This will be my guide for this figure, accompanied by a little glass of Highland Park:

 

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I'll paint this fellow, 2nd New Hampshire regiment, but I'll use the bicorn in the kit and resist the temptation to sculpt a different hat. Only other difference is that the kit figure has spats/gaiters. The kit does have fantastic striped detail on the socks though, so stripes are a no-brainer.

 

 

20200522_191613

 

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Listening to this recently discovered album from 1971, recently discovered by me that is.

 

 

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Every time I build one of these 54 mm Airfix figures I am humbled by the quality of the sculpting and molding. The head is two halves (front and back) and fits seamlessly. And the detail is very fine, check out the thin edges of the hat.

 

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Sliced some strips from the little sheet of plastic provided for straps.

 

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And glopped some acrylic medium on the base, this will take overnight to dry.

 

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I won't need this, no complaints of this model.

 

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Very neat.  Nearly $9 though...and that looks a while back!  Though my idea of prices for these is stuck somewhere in the early 80's....

 

never did an of the ACW figures, but did pick up a blister packed one in charity shop (like a thrift store) a little while back.   

Did quite a few Napoleonics though,  been meaning to do pics of the two 95th Riflemen I dug out and washed the dust off, not the best paint jobs but I do all those blinkin' straps! 

 I was given a slightly started one a while back, a lady whose husband had died put all his model mags on Freecycle, and later gave me a few started kits.

Now where did I put that.....

 

Look forward to how this progresses.

 

cheers

T

 

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After 2 hours here we are. I replaced the bent standard pole with a piece of drill rod. Not sure if I'm bold enough to paint the regimental colours so I might save it for another figure and put the musket in his hands. See y'all tomorrow.

 

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2 minutes ago, Troy Smith said:

Very neat.  Nearly $9 though...and that looks a while back!  Though my idea of prices for these is stuck somewhere in the early 80's....

 

never did an of the ACW figures, but did pick up a blister packed one in charity shop (like a thrift store) a little while back.   

Did quite a few Napoleonics though,  been meaning to do pics of the two 95th Riflemen I dug out and washed the dust off, not the best paint jobs but I do all those blinkin' straps! 

 I was given a slightly started one a while back, a lady whose husband had died put all his model mags on Freecycle, and later gave me a few started kits.

Now where did I put that.....

 

Look forward to how this progresses.

 

cheers

T

 

 

Haha, I'm sure I didn't pay $9 for it, although it is worth every penny.

 

Pretty lucky for you to find one in a thrift shop, was it the British Grenadier?

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12 minutes ago, Ted said:

 

Pretty lucky for you to find one in a thrift shop, was it the British Grenadier?

Looking at online images. it might even be the figure above ...  it's else where so i can't check. 

I don't find many kits in charity shops, and this wasn't overpriced, a whopping £1.50 I think,  so obviously I bought it even though it was not of specific interest.   

I did once find 3 unpainted Replicants Thomas Paine figures in the same charity shop as well, which was a find, even though they are made here!

 

@Ratch has done lots of these figures,  shame they didn't reissue the Napoleonics for 200th anniversary of Waterloo. 

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54 minutes ago, Johnson said:

Do you know when they came out?

This particular kit was first issued in 1974 with George Washington and the British Grenadier following in 1975.

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7 hours ago, Troy Smith said:

Nearly $9 though...and that looks a while back!  Though my idea of prices for these is stuck somewhere in the early 80's....

Nowadays, Airfix 54mm figures are around £10 on evilbay, more for mounted figures.

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Hi Ted

 

co-incidentally i was looking through an old edition of Military Modelling, August 1979,  which was part of a mass of magazine i was given, and there is an article, Redcoats in North America, and there was a painting, and with the wonders of the modern, i found the same illustration online... as you do.

4d0c9d27796c0aa7617fa194539f09bc--milita

which on a brief inspection struck me as being basically the same as the kit uniform.  Just an example to some of the casual readers of the potential these figures had when they were easily available, and cheap (they were Series 1 kits) 

cheers

T

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7 hours ago, Adrian Hills said:

Whereabouts in Canada are you. I lived in Ontario for a bit so used to visit TO model shows like Harwood as well as Bufcon😊

I'm 100 km east of Toronto, Moved here from the west coast five years ago so I'm still learning about the shows. A friend has been to Buffcon and I'd like to go someday. The Harwood show would be closer for me to get to but it hasn't worked out.

 

I do regularly go to the show in Hamilton, it's held at the airplane museum which makes for a good venue.

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11 hours ago, Troy Smith said:

 

which on a brief inspection struck me as being basically the same as the kit uniform. 

Thanks for the picture Troy, it does look possible to build the British uniform from this kit with a new pack and some minor detail changes. Good to know.

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Looking forward to seeing the next stages, really fancy a go at one, great choice Ted

AND...great choice of whisky too 

Edited by Valkyrie
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Built a few of the foot figures back in the day, but none of them looked as good as yours. I tried one of the mounted ones but gave it up - there was no way I could get the rider to sit on the horse without major surgery and that was beyond my scissors and nail file tool kit of the time :)

 

Looking forward to seeing this when the painting starts.

 

Andy

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Started again this afternoon.It took a long time to get all of the straps glued in place, they're a bit fragile. I maybe should have used superglue instead of Tamiya thin.

 

Glued the guy to his base and put down a layer of crumbled birch seeds.

 

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Then I primed him brown and put on a heavy black wash. This dark undercoat is an effort to make the rest of the painting go quicker. We shall see 🤠

 

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6 hours ago, Ted said:

It took a long time to get all of the straps glued in place, they're a bit fragile. I maybe should have used superglue instead of Tamiya thin.

Probably.   I used some TET on 5 thou card recently and it wrinkled it.  

Made me think of a book I had (and should still, though is a but where item?) that I had back in my youth

Part of a series,   unsurprisingly based most on Airfix figures.  I'm sure it a bit dated and basic, but was a good read 'back then'

61AN6ZfmCwL.jpg

https://www.amazon.com/Airfix-Magazine-Guide-Soldiers-magazine/dp/0850592348 

 

US amazon, just for the ISBN if you are curious, if you like these old Airfix figures it's worth getting if cheap  as a period piece.

 

The strap comment reminded me a a line about fitting straps and equipment, "cloth and flash compress, metal doesn't"  

 

The picture with the backpack reminds me I think I even did this figure,  but it's one that is long gone. 

 

Seeing it assembled reminds me as well of how well sculpted and mould these figures were, even by contemporary standards.

 

Looking good.  Look forward to the finish.

 

cheers

T

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I use a. Tamiya tape b. plastic electrical tape.

The straps on the horse are brown electrical tape as its stiffer and suits heavy leather straps, the reins are Tamiya tape

WW1%20British%20Cavalry%2C%206th%20Innis

 

All the straps on this chap are Tamiya tape

1805%20Royal%20Marine%2C%2050s-S.jpg

 

I always put strapped equipment on last, in the order it was really put on

 

 

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Ted, looking forward to the paint😊

 

When you next go to the CWH museum can you have a look in the cafe. A very good friend of mine, Bill Christie donated 1/32 scale models to it which were hanging from the ceiling. He made a Sunderland, B29 and Lanc VRA all from Guillows type kits and covered them in plastic. Bill was a founder member of my model club in Canada and taught me a lot about modelling- and life.

 

I was hoping to go there this spring as I have a friend who lives near there. He’s getting on in years so as soon as things are properly ok for travel (next year???) I’ll pop over 😊

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I see you are doing it the "modern" way starting with a dark wash and going lighter. When I did figures I never trusted the covering power of my lighter paints enough! FWIW I use wine bottle foil for belts and straps these days because of its poseability.

 

Looking forward to the painting.

 

Regards,

Adrian

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