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Civilians


alexander_jones

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This set is great for the 1950's - 1960's, and is in 1:87/HO-OO rather than 1:72 - figures great for 1950-1970 dioramas and railway layouts, but too small to go with 1:72 kits or dios.

So it's pretty limited.

What's needed is for Airfix to challenge Preiser, who do those wonderfully beautiful but eye-wateringly expensive civilian figure sets you see in model railway shops.  They don't need to be pre-painted, for one thing. we can do that ouselves, that's what modelling is about. The prepainting must be a massive part of the high price for Preiser civilian figures?

I'd back several different approaches to civilian figures. That Airfix set must have been contemporary when first released (that and the Station Accessories set) but is now a time capsule of around 1960. Great for the period, but too late to go with WW2 kits and vehicles and too dated for anything after about 1970.

What about retooling a 1930's/1940's set? These would sell well, esp. if given a generic pan-European sort of look so they'd fit anywhere. oh, in true 1:72, please.  You'd probably also need two or three different sets for anything after about 1965, as fashions in the following decades changed so quickly. (Maybe not practicable, alas)

Mayb e an early 20th century set covering 1900 - 1925?  And a generic set of 19th Century civilians, if practicable? and the problem is... where would you stop and is it cost-effective....  even though there's a clear need for neglected civvies to be present in modelling!

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This set is great for the 1950's - 1960's, and is in 1:87/HO-OO rather than 1:72 - figures great for 1950-1970 dioramas and railway layouts, but too small to go with 1:72 kits or dios.

So it's pretty limited.

What's needed is for Airfix to challenge Preiser, who do those wonderfully beautiful but eye-wateringly expensive civilian figure sets you see in model railway shops.  They don't need to be pre-painted, for one thing. we can do that ouselves, that's what modelling is about. The prepainting must be a massive part of the high price for Preiser civilian figures?

I'd back several different approaches to civilian figures. That Airfix set must have been contemporary when first released (that and the Station Accessories set) but is now a time capsule of around 1960. Great for the period, but too late to go with WW2 kits and vehicles and too dated for anything after about 1970.

What about retooling a 1930's/1940's set? These would sell well, esp. if given a generic pan-European sort of look so they'd fit anywhere. oh, in true 1:72, please.  You'd probably also need two or three different sets for anything after about 1965, as fashions in the following decades changed so quickly. (Maybe not practicable, alas)

Mayb e an early 20th century set covering 1900 - 1925?  And a generic set of 19th Century civilians, if practicable? and the problem is... where would you stop and is it cost-effective....  even though there's a clear need for neglected civvies to be present in modelling!

Or just re-release the ones they produced in the 60's (as a start) fulfilling the point of Kitstarter. There is nothing else on the market. I completely agree with the self paint.

 

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/media/tinymce_upload/13b442cbce5f4af3a558e15f0e4bcde1.JPGAgreed about Preiser; they are faboulously detailed where else can you get a 1/87th scale cup and saucer or a wine glass!  Fond memoires of my airfix cilvilians who have lived in several layouts over the years but survive in my latest village of Hornby and Bachmann buildings.

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Here's some of the Airfix civilians on my layout, mixed with some Dapol (ex-Airfix(ex- Kitmaster?)) figures.

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i313/ukgeoff/Model%20trains/PA260002.jpghttp://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i313/ukgeoff/Model%20trains/PA260008.jpghttp://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i313/ukgeoff/Model%20trains/PA260009.jpghttp://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i313/ukgeoff/Model%20trains/P7310114.jpg

Plus a few examples from the Farm Animals set.http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i313/ukgeoff/Model%20trains/PA260011.jpghttp://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i313/ukgeoff/Model%20trains/PA260010.jpg

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