Saturday, 11 January 2014

A history of Airfix HO/OO AFV kits - part 16 - 1974

This was another epic year for new kits with three releases. I present them here in ascending order of usefulness.  But that's just my opinion!
Scorpion.  Not strictly a tank but (at least in British service) a Combat Vehicle Reconnaissance (Tracked).  I did build one of these several decades ago but don't have one to hand at the present time, so I am indebted to Paul at Plastic Warriors and Richard at Wargames & Walking for the photos.  A neat if rather fiddly kit builds as either a Scorpion (76mm gun) or Scimitar (30mm cannon) and if your skill stretches far enough can serve as the basis of other CVR(T) variants..
Photo by Paul Foster
Photo by Richard Holden
Photo by Richard Holden
Photo by Richard Holden
Chi-Ha tank. More accurately the Type 97 Medium Tank.  Japanese vehicles in this scale are still rather scarce so back in the day this was something of a bolt from the blue!  I recently built a couple of these which featured in earlier blog posts.  It's a nice kit and well worth looking out for.



German Reconnaissance Set
What a gem this set is!  Both the Kubelwagen and the Sdkfz 222 are extremely useful for our wargame armies.  The '222 is an easy conversion into the MG-armed '221 and other such variants.
 A pair of standard models, these serve with my incarnation of 7 Panzer Division.
Sticking with the Rommel theme, this equally standard '222 is part of 21PD.
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11 comments:

  1. Paul Foster11 January 2014 at 22:41

    Great post Tim. The Scorpion makes a nice AFV with some minor housekeeping.

    I will be surprised if most peoples German armies did not start with the Recon set. Mine certainly did!

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  2. Jon Yuengling11 January 2014 at 23:12

    I remember the German Reconnaissance Set from the box. Nice post.

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  3. Al11 January 2014 at 23:17

    Agreed! My German collection started with the recon set and a couple of PzIVs

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  4. Archduke Piccolo12 January 2014 at 05:21

    I recall thinking when I first found one just what a handy kit the recon group was. The figures that came with it were useful too.

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  5. Tim Gow12 January 2014 at 10:53

    Paul Foster
    And there's me still thinking of the Recce Set as a relatively new kit..... My first German AFV was the Matchbox Panzer III.

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  6. Tim Gow12 January 2014 at 10:53

    Jon Yuengling
    Thanks for commenting.

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  7. Tim Gow12 January 2014 at 10:54

    Al
    Three Series 2 kits? Such wealth....

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  8. Tim Gow12 January 2014 at 10:54

    Archduke Piccolo
    Well reminded - the figures were indeed rather good.

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  9. Martin Rapier12 January 2014 at 19:02

    Yes, the 'officer with clipboard' figure graces a couple of my HQ stands.

    I think I have an Airfix Scorpion in my old plastic kits box somewhere.

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  10. Tim Gow13 January 2014 at 16:31

    Martin Rapier
    I probably have a few of the figure knocking about - I just couldn't find them for the photos!

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  11. Geordie an Exiled FoG16 January 2014 at 23:02

    The Chi Ha is a lovely make

    How many can I justify getting? I do my math and I think three, with the feeling that too might be a bit overkill!

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