A follow on from my previous blog post (Quick look at Elhiem 1:72 (20mm) figures). I take a quick look at the Elhiem BAOR British Infantry 1:72 scale (BAOR08 British skirmishing with SLRs).
I’ve managed to get some bench time and painted this set. I think they came out looking OK.
Started with a coat of Halfords grey car primer.
To prime the figures, I used Halfords car primer, as it is designed to cover metal surfaces. The primer is ideal for giving a great base for the next stage.
Looking at each figure in turn of the BAOR British Infantry 1:72
This figure is kneeling at the ready. Very pleased with how the DPM looks on this one.
Rifleman taking aim with his SLR. Again very happy with the DPM at such a small scale.
Posed as to be shielding his eyes while he peers into the distance. Probably just noticed some T62’s and BMP1’s heading in his direction!
This figure shows how well the webbing is done at this scale. It includes his respirator bag on his hip. two kidney pouches with groundsheet rolled up below those.
Final thoughts about the BAOR British Infantry 1:72
I have to say, I’m really impressed with these figures. They are not perfect, some of the facial expressions are a bit odd. However, at this scale that is something I can live with.
The important part is, is that they look like British Infantry from the period. I also really like the natural poses of the figures. No over exaggerated limb positions, and they look purposeful.
The detail is also very well done. I can tell they have ’58 webbing’ on. The SLR’s look like SLR’s. Just be careful when trimming the flash, not to cut the muzzle off the SLR’s (like I did with the standing rifleman). Because the detail is so good, it makes it much easier to paint.
In my quest to find some suitable figures to go with my Cold War builds, I came across a UK based company called Elhiem Figures. So this short blog post will be a quick look at Elhiem 1:72 (20mm) figures.
Elhiem do a great selection of Cold War period 1:72 figures, in pewter and resin. They also do them at what I consider a very reasonable price including postage costs.
Designed more for war gaming, not something that I currently do. They look like they would be suitable to be placed next to 1:72 model builds.
So with that in mind, I ordered 3 sets from Elhiem Figures just to see what they look like and what the quality is like.
BAOR08 British skirmishing with SLRs – Elhiem 1:72 (20mm) figures
As you can see from the photos, the detail at this size and in this material looks quite good. Considering the price of £3.96 (as of November 2020), I think these are excellent value.
Yes they will need cleaning up a bit as they have some flash. But I think these will go well with my Revell Challenger 1 tank once I have it built.
I like them, they have character and the poses look natural.
CWR01 Soviet Rifleman in Y strap webbing with AK74s- Elhiem 1:72 (20mm) figures
Have to have the ‘other side’ so also purchased a set of Soviet riflemen. They also cost £3.96 (price November 2020).
A little bit rougher in finish than the BAOR set, but again, with a little care in the clean up they will certainly look the part. Again some nice natural poses.
NAM01 US Army M16s Advancing – – Elhiem 1:72 (20mm) figures
Leaving central Europe I got a Vietnam set for the US Army. I’ve got the old JB Models M113 ACAV in the stash, and I thought these would complement it very well.
Same price as the other two sets, £3.96 (as of November 2020).
Cleaning up will be required as there is some flash. But detail looks good and again the poses look natural.
Conclusion – Elhiem 1:72 (20mm) figures
This is just a quick look at the Elhiem figures. But I like them and more importantly looking forward to painting them up.
Sometimes war gaming figures can be a bit chunky and over scale, but these look ok to me. The weapons may be a bit larger than any plastic or resin equivalent. But at the price you can get these figures, that is something I’m more than happy to over look.
I have quite a few of these Airfix 1:72 Jet Provost T.4 kits in my stash. All purchased when Aldi were doing their Airfix promotions.
As I have a few of these kits, including a couple T.3’s it made sense to acquire some other decal options. In this case Xtradecal set ‘X72291 Hunting Jet Provost T.3/T.4/T.51/T.52’. This set contains 10 interesting and attractive schemes.
The kit was built straight out of the box.
The finish selected for this build was a T.52 from the South Arabian Air Force based at Khormaksar, Aden 1967.
Airfix 1:72 Jet Provost T.4 box art
Airfix’s typical and attractive box art of the T.4 in the Red Pelican finish.
The build
Start with the usual work on the cockpit area. Useful that aircraft from this period had black interiors.
4 grams of weight added to the nose. This is just about enough to keep the JP from being a tail sitter.
Also note the attempt at dry brushing, which does not look to bad.
Joining the 2 fuselage halves. Having built this kit before, I was aware that the seam line on the nose is quite awkward to remove.
Seam line filling with Vallejo Putty, not the part of kit building that I enjoy. But I feel it is an important part to get right. Sadly I don’t always manage to get the seam lines as invisible as I would like.
Due to the sanding process to remove seam lines, some detail s lost. So I use Tamiya plastic scriber to re-scribe any panel lines etc., that have been removed or reduced.
The JP has now been primed, in this case with Vallejo Surface Primer. I’m quite happy with this primer, but may try some others when funds allow.
Just showing the scheme I decided to paint on the Xtradecal sheet and the Hataka paint set ‘RAF in Africa‘. I used the Hataka colours for the top camouflage scheme. I used the Light Aircraft Grey from the Hataka ‘Modern Royal Air Force Paint Set Vol.3‘ for the underside.
Next set of photos show the application of the camouflage scheme. I attempted a different method for spraying camouflage. I cut out masking tape in the shape of the camo and placed this direct on to the model.
In the past, I have tried the blue-tak/white-tak worm method, but found I wasn’t getting the results I wanted.
By just using the masking tape, it almost worked. I did not quite get the shapes at the right size. However, the finished result was more tidy than when trying the white-tak worm method.
On previous builds I have applied gloss varnish to the whole model ready for decal application.
However on this build, I just applied the varnish to the areas that would have a decal.
This didn’t work as well as expected, as it took a few coats (brushed on), to reduce the gloss.
The finished kit – Airfix 1:72 Hunting Jet Provost T.4
Some of the more eagle eyed of you will notice that I painted the red and green navigation lights the wrong way around. I only noticed after I took the photos, this has now been corrected!
The Italeri set does appear to actually represent NATO pilots and ground crew. The Airfix set is very Royal Air Force looking.
Esci originally released the set sometime in the 1980’s. Re-boxed by Italeri in 2004.
Contents of the Italeri 1:72 NATO Pilots and Ground Crew
The box contains 48n figures in 20 different poses.
Moulded in soft blue/grey plastic. The detail looks quite good, but there is quite a lot of flash.
I wish Esci/Italeri had not had the sprue connected to the figures heads, as this makes it very awkward to remove them. Due to this flash and the sprue attachment, a very sharp craft knife will be required.
A good selection of poses and dress states are included in the set.
Break down of the figures from the Italeri 1:72 NATO Pilots and Ground Crew set
Pilots
Pilot 1 (x2)
Packing his ‘six shooter’ this pilot figure could fit in well with a Vietnam era USAF aircraft.
Pilot 2 (x2)
This one looks like a Navy Aviator, possibly wearing an emersion suit? Not sure which nation he is from. At 1:72 when painted he will look like a generic NATO pilot.
Pilot 3 (x2)
Appears to be wearing the same flight suit as Pilot 2 (above). Looks like he can be posed holding a cockpit entry ladder.
Pilot 4 (x2)
I like this pose, something a bit different. Pilot waiting to chat to his crew chief about something on his maintenance log. Or just getting his navigation/flight papers together.
Pilot 5 (x2)
Is he thumbing a lift or giving a thumbs up. I suspect he is giving a thumbs up after a successful flying mission.
Pilot 6 (x2)
OK, this has to be Robin Olds, and he needs an F-4 Phantom to be posed next to! Another very nice pose and figure, but there can only be 1 Robin Olds!
Ground Crew
Ground crew 1 (x2)
This one screams USN/USMC topless carrier crew! Photo also includes how bad the sprue attachment is on the head.
ground crew 2 (x3)
Another topless ground crew. Again would fit very well with USN/USMC carrier scene. This figure and the one above should stretch your flesh painting skills at 1:72.
Ground crew 4 (X3)
At first I thought this guy was saluting with the wrong hand. But if it is a salute it’s a very sloppy one! So your guess is as good as mine as to what he is supposed to be doing. Could also be used as army, as he appears to be wearing t-shirt and combats.
Ground Crew 4 (x3)
This kneeling figure would fit in well in any diorama requiring ground crew or mechanic working on anything really. So a very simple and useful figure.
Ground Crew 5 (x2)
Useful looking radio operator, would not look out of place on an airfield diorama.
Ground crew 6 (x2)
Just finished wiping down the cockpit canopy and standing back admiring his work. He appears to be wearing a tabard, so could work as Air Force, Navy or Marines ground/deck crew.
Ground Crew 7 (x3)
Due to his head gear this one looks US Navy/Marines to me. But what is he holding in his right hand. It’s an odd shape for a flashlight and not the right shape for a CAM. Plus if it was CAM he would be in NBC kit?
Ground crew (8) x3
More flight deck crew? He appears to be directing or marshalling an aircraft.
Ground crew 9 (x2)
This one for me is distinctly carrier deck crew! Quite a dynamic pose for this set.
Ground crew 10 (x2)
Quite obvious that this one is an aircraft marshaller.
Ground crew 11 (x2)
Looks like a pilot to me. But why is he squatting down with a bottle?
ground Crew NBC1 (x3)
Kneeling ground crew in NB suit holding a tool of some description. The style of respirator is not familiar to me. Maybe the French M51 respirator. It’s not British and I’m 99% sure it’s not US. Will have to do more research.
Ground crew NBC2 (x3)
Muffled talking and frantic pointing towards a clipboard. The joys of trying to communicate in full NBC kit! This figure would work well with the next one in the list.
Ground Crew NBC3 (x3)
Desperately trying to hear and understand what the bloke with the clipboard is trying to say!
Final thoughts on the Italeri 1:72 NATO Pilots and Ground Crew set
This set is newer than the Airfix NATO Ground Crew with the details being a little more crisp. It does suffer from some flash, but then don’t all these soft plastic sets?
The range of different pilots will be very useful, especially the Vietnam era figures.
I also like that it includes carrier deck crew figures. I think these could easily be used for RN, USN and USMC dioramas.
Not so sure about the figures in NBC suits, well not until I have found out which nationality they represent.
Just a quick look at the contents of the Airfix 1:72 NATO Ground Crew set. This set was first released in 1981. Re-boxed in 2000, this is the example in this review. Last re-boxing was in 2013.
It will be interesting to see if Airfix re-box these figures. I hope they do, as I suspect they would be very popular.
Contents of the Airfix 1:72 NATO Ground Crew
The box contains 48 figures in a green soft plastic.
OK, going off topic a bit here. The soft plastic that Airfix use for these figures is a pain to paint on. I understand the history of using this plastic. The Airfix small soldiers were made and sold as toys. But I think Airfix, and other 1:72 figure producers are missing a trick here. If they produced these in hard plastic, they would be very popular with model makers. They may even result in more sales.
The set is labelled as NATO, but the figures in the set look very much like British Royal Air Force to me.
Break down of the figures from the Airfix 1:72 NATO Ground Crew set
Pilots (x4)
The set contains 4 very nice pilot/aircrew figures, all in the same stance. Once painted, these figures will complement any RAF Cold War aircraft.
Aircraft Marshaller (x3)
Three figures of aircraft marshallers. Again, all the same pose. The figure appears to be wearing woollen jumper and DPM trousers, or lightweights and the hated ‘Cap, Combat, DPM‘. Would look good on an airfield display.
Airman carrying case/toolbox/equipment pack (x4)
Now this figure could be quite useful as an extra on non aviation dioramas. To me it’s not quite clear what he is carrying. So if he is stood next to a Jaguar GR1 or a Scorpion CRV(T), he would fit in quite well.
Again, this figure is wearing woolly jumper, DPM or lightweight trousers and the combat cap.
Radio Operator (x3)
Another figure that lends itself to either an airfield/FOB for Harriers or Army diorama. His uniform also appears to be woolly jumper, DPM or lightweight trousers and the dreaded combat cap.
Dog Handler (x3)
RAF Police dog handler, complete with his Browning 9mm! Certainly a dynamic action pose, but not sure how you would incorporate it in a diorama. Uniform is woolly jumper, DPM or lightweight trousers and the combat cap.
Ground Crew NBC leaning in with tool (x4)
No idea what this chap is holding or doing. However, he is kitted up in full NBC suit so is ideal for a Cold War airfield diorama.
NATO Ground Crew NBC standing with tool (x4)
Another ground crew in NBC kit working on something. I can see this figure being easily incorporated into an aircraft diorama.
NATO Ground Crew NBC kneeling with screwdriver (x4)
Again another useful figure to have in a diorama scene. Once more, fully kitted out in his NBC suit and respirator.
NATO Ground Crew NBC standing and reaching with spanner (x4)
At least we know what tool this guy is holding. Maybe using the well known fix it technique of giving something a good whack with a heavy object. Again, nice figure in full NBC suit and respirator.
NATO Ground Crew NBC pointing at the ground (x4)
Well I think he is pointing, he could well be pulling a trolley. Another good figure in full NBC suit and respirator.
RAF Regiment Gunner, standing guard (x4)
I say RAF Regiment gunner, but could easily be Army. Figure in full NBC kit with respirator and armed with the venerable SLR. One of my favourite figures in the set.
RAF Regiment Gunner, running (x3)
This is a very dynamic pose. If he wasn’t wearing a respirator, he would fit very well with the running dog handler. Maybe a bit of surgery and some head swapping, you could then have 2 figures that work well together.
Again another figure that would easily fit in an Army diorama.
RAF Regiment Gunner, kneeling (x4)
The last figure from the set. He could be RAF Regiment or British Army, so again another very useful figure to have.
Final thoughts on the Airfix 1:72 NATO Ground Crew set
Yes the figures are showing their age. The moulding is not very crisp and that soft plastic is such a pain to work with. However, they are fantastic if you are looking or a very British looking set of Cold War era figures for airfield or even British army dioramas.
If you are looking for more NATO related figures, then the Italeri set ‘NATO Pilots and ground crew‘ (1246) may be a better option for you.
I decided it was time to add some Cold War armour subjects to my Cold War in miniature collection.
Revell’s 1:76 Challenger 1 box art. Building the Cold War in miniature.
I liked the look of the Revell Challenger 1. It is from the old Matchbox range, so comes with a little display base, which is an added benefit.
So I plan to complete this one in the BAOR the scheme (Royal Hussars) which I believe is dated 1983/84. The Royal Hussars were the first unit to be equipped with the Challenger 1 in 1983.
However the kit does not come with any figures, so I will be using the armed figures from the old Airfix “NATO Ground Crew“.
Talking of Airfix, it will be interesting to see if they re-release any of their old armour kits as part of the “Vintage Classics” range.
The kits would be the Centurion tank, Chieftain tank and the Scorpion tank. These are a good representation British Cold War armour.
If Airfix also release the old JB models that they owned, that would be a welcome plus.
Other Revell Cold War armour in miniature include:
Did you know that a British Army Challenger 1 achieved the longest ranged confirmed kill of the 1991 Gulf war. Destroying an Iraqi tank at 4,700 metres with an APFSDS round.
The Royal Jordanian Army is also an operator of the Challenger 1, however with heavy modifications.
Challenger crews can have a brew with their “water boiling and ration heater”.
Aquired the Airfix 1/72 de Havilland Vampire T.11 as a Christmas gift one year, so has been sat in my stash for a while.
Another one built straight out of the box, but with the addition of some decals from the Xtradecl set “de Havilland Vampire T.55 Pt.1 X72173”.
So the scheme I went for is a Vampire J-28C-3 from the F5 squadron, Royal Swedish Air Force at Ljunbyhed, August 1967. The Xtradecal sheet contains markings for a Olive Green Swedish version. However I liked the high speed silver scheme.
Also on that sheet, there are markings’ for an Austrian, RAF, RNZAF, RAAF and South African Vampires. So plenty of choice for when I build some more.
Anyway, on with the build…
The box art
The attractive box art, with a very interesting RAF scheme.
However from what I have read, the dayglow decals supplied in the kit are very thick and take some work to get to sit as expected.
Kit contents
Kit contents, well the plastic parts anyway. Not too many parts, so should be quite a quick build.
Early paint stage
Various bits and bobs built and painted, plus a bit of a wash added in some areas.
Interesting note about the Swedish Vampire’s, they were not fitted with ejection seats!
Painting stages
OK, jumping ahead here, model primed (Halfords metal car primer), and some pre-shading.
One thing to note about this kit, is that you have to attach the landing gear legs during the build, and not after, which you can do with most builds.
Yes you guessed at, towards the end, one of the legs got snapped off.
Top half primed and pre-shaded.
Silver airbrushed on, in this instance Tamiya XF-16 Aluminium and a start made on the dayglow stripes. The stripes are a mixture of Hataka Luminous Orange (A194) and Hataka Signal Red (A276). These came from the Hataka Modern Royal Air Force Paint Set Vol.3.
The finished kit – Airfix 1/72 de Havilland Vampire T.11
During this build I used a number of products, that you also may find useful. To start with, fillers are something every model maker requires. The 2 that I find the best are Vallejo Plastic Putty and Standard Milliput Yellow-Grey.
Sorry, not been posting for a while, been busy with other projects that had to take priority over my model making. So here is a quick blog post about 2 1/72 Airfix builds I have on the go.
The Airfix 1/72nd Folland Gnat which will be finished as a Yellow Jacks aircraft (slowly building up my RAF aerobatic collection).
The other is a non-Cold War aircraft, and it is the Airfix 1/72nd Supermarine Spitfire Mk1a, I quite like taking a dip out off the Cold War builds as a break.
Surprising how small the Folland Gnat is compared to the Spitfire.
Anyway, will post some updates when I get the opportunity, still have lots of non model maing projects to work on.
Airfix 1/72 builds – updates
Folland Gnat
So a week or so later and I’ve managed to move on with both builds.
The reason I did this, is that yellow can be a pain to paint, as it is very transparent. So the pink gives it a better base coat. As you can see from the photos, did the job quite well.
Supermarine Spitfire
As for the Spitfire, that build is going really well.
I have now airbrushed the model, very happy with the finish of the paint. However that camouflage scheme, not right.
As this is my third attempt at airbrushing a camouflage scheme, I’m going to take it.
The method I used was to use blue-tak snakes to mark out the edges of the camo scheme. Then in fill with masking tape. Much harder than it looks to get those snakes to curve and stay in place.
This Italeri 1/72 F4U-7 Corsair is another kit picked up on Ebay, and hopefully at a decent price.
Kit went together quite well, again if any issues, then that would be down to my lack of skill. Being one colour, it was also another useful airbrushing exercise, which didn’t quite go to plan.
Anyway, on with the build photos.
The box art
Nice attractive and dramatic box art. Those Suez markings are really nice, but didn’t go for that scheme.
The decals
As with kits of this age, not many decals, just the main ones. Register etc., all looked good, so was happy to use them.
Kit contents
The Italeri 1/72 F4U-7 Corsair kit contents, as you see, not too much to put together.
Construction
Construction started, using a mix of Hataka and Vallejo paints.
Work
Checking seam lines with black paint. Took a while to get them to not show.
That seam line on the front half of the fuselage took some work to get rid of. I even made up some liquid plastic by melting bits of sprue in liquid poly glue.
Finally got it to a stage where I could give it a coat of primer. Canopy also masked, and gun barrels also cut off, to be replaced with metal wire.
Underside ready for primer.
Top primed using Halfords Grey car primer. Gives a good hard coat of paint.
Bottom with a nice coat of primer.
Because I had (for me) a success at pre-shading my earlier Spitfire build (Spitfire PR.XIX). I thought I’d give it a go on this Corsair.
Unfortunately, I was a bit heavy handed with spraying the Vallejo 71.295 USN Sea Blue so lost all the pre-shading that I did. Still getting to grips with airbrushing, knowing when to stop seems to be the problem.
During this build I used a number of products, that you also may find useful. To start with, fillers are something every model maker requires, and the 2 that I find the best are Vallejo Plastic Putty and Standard Milliput Yellow-Grey.
For masking I use Tamiya 10mm tape and Tamiya 3mm tape plus when reuired standard decorating tape. I always, well nearly always, take some of the stickiness from the tape by sticking it to my trousers before applying to the models painted surface. Another masking product that I use is the Vallejo Liquid Mask.
The USN Sea Blue was Vallejo 71.295 , which sprayed quite well. The interior green was from the Hataka RAF in Africa acrylic paint set (AS08). I’ve had mixed results when spraying Hataka paints, but that may be more down to my ineperience.
Think I picked this Matchbox 1/72 Sea Harrier it up on Ebay at some point. Anyway, my first actual jet for a blog that has ‘jet’ as the first word in it’s description.
As with a lot of Matchbox kits, a very simple build, which I managed to mess up, but more of that later.
At the time of building this kit, the world is in the grip of the Corona Virus pandemic. Therefore I’m stuck at home, and getting non-essential supplies is not top priority. Plus I’m having to watch the cash flow, due to being furloughed from work. On a positive, I’m getting lots of model making done.
Anyway, on to the build, which is documented in photos.
Box Art
The box art, in the very ‘Matchbox’ style.
Kit contents
Two sprues in the distinctive 2 colour style of Matchbox. Plus some slighty out of register decals.
Instruction sheet
Instruction sheet, font and back. Very faded, so wasn’t a great deal of help. Lucky for me, I have the Tamiya 1/48 Sea Harrier FRS1 in my stash (see my blog post about ScaleMates), so I could refer to the instruction sheet in that kit for colours and decal placement.
The actual, very simple build process. Not something you could get wrong….right?
The Matchbox 1/72 Sea Harrier build
That’s it for the cockpit detail. Didn’t want to put to much effort into detailing the kit, so decided to add the pilot to the office space. As you can see, primed with Halfords car primer.
Interior spayed black with Vallejo 71.067 and some dry brushing on the simple jet intake with Vallejo Oily Steel 70.865. Also painted the pilot and stuck him on his ejector seat.
Fuselage sides stuck together and clamped with washing line pegs and masking tape.
This model required lots of sanding to get rid of the seam lines. The fit wasn’t actually too bad, but it did take a lot of work to remove the seam lines.
Also this is where I messed up. Trying to be smart, I didn’t follow the instructions to add the four jet nozzles, thinking they would get in the way, bad idea!
When I came to fit them after all work, including painting and decaling had been done, I discovered that they did not fit very well, the hole being too big in the fuselage. So had to do lots of extra work at the end to get the nozzles to sit on the kit.
Same work required on the underside.
Re-scribing the rear under carriage doors, using a Tamiya plastic scriber tool. I used electric tape as the guide.
Same work carried out for the front under carriage doors.
Using black paint to see if more work is required on seam lines etc.
Wings on, almost ready to apply the primer.
Primer applied, in this case, Halfords Car Primer.
Underside painted with Vallejo 71.001 White, which covers quite well, for a white paint.
Vallejo Gloss Acrylic Varnish applied before decals added. It was then followed by another coat after the decals had been applied. Incidentally, I used Micro Sol to help the decals set on the Harrier.
Conclusion
Well as mentioned above, I messed up adding the jet nozzles, so had to mess about filling the holes where the nozzels sit, and then cutting the back off the nozzels so they sat a bit closer to the fuselage.
Another thing that I should have done differently, I should have added the to wing wheel units before addign the centre landing gear. This was I could have cut down to size the central landing gear so that all wheels touch the ground. Oh well, lesson learned, I have 3 other 1/72 Harriers in the stash, 3 different marks.
