These early Tamiya sets are what got me into figures







Brings back great memories

Absolutely. I spent all my pocket money on these figure sets when I was a kid.
They're a bit dated now, but they were the duck's nuts back in the 70's.

Hah, I've got that American Infantry set sitting in my stash cupboard just waiting for me to get motivated and do something in 1/35 scale again, although I'll probably only use three of the figures.
A bit dated now? Yes, they probably are, but still good "fillers" with more modern resin figures in front of them.
Cheers
H

Ahhhhhhh
brings back memories......

I do remember seeing a Diorama with a Mortar crew running away from the Mortar, as the private was putting the shell into the barrel the WRONG WAY ROUND!! It was called "The short Military Career of Pte. Schultz" Ray

Oh, I used Tamiya sets for my very first diorama, back in '81. After growing up on Monogram kits, I discovered that section of the local hobby shop, where all the Japanese kits were on display. Here it is, a scene from the German invasion of Poland, all Tamiya figures and kits...





And of course, I had memorized Shep's "Tips on Building Dioramas" before I tried my hand at it.

But there was a lot left to learn...

Prost!
Brad

Lovely Dio and great use of their figures!
I can't tell you how many of those motorbikes I have bought over the years. Those box arts get me every time

Old dioramas in 1/35... Still have a couple that somehow survived almost intact to several house moves...

Such as these two:




Back then for these two I made those transparent acrylic covers, which obviously are the main reason why they have survived all these years!


The small vignette on the right on the other hand, not having a closed protection has suffered some incidents and has already been repaired a few times (at least after each house move...) :



The Soviet T-34/85 tank on the left is obviously not a building kit but a fully painted "toy".


A couple more old pics of the two main dioramas above (this one, the 1st large one I ever did, I called it "Ambush", and it obviously depicts an ambush by French Partisans on a group of Germans crossing a river near Cherbourg in 1942) :





The bridge was fully scratchbuild using plaster. The river was made using some epoxy resin or something of that kind-

Actually there's even a pack of dynamite under the bridge, that one of the Partisans is about to detonate, so this is like if it was a picture taken right before the big boom





The other one, entitled "Falaise", depicts a group of Germans on the famous Falaise pocket, during the Battle of Falaise in 1944, on a brief moment of rest.
View from above:



Some scratchbuilding on this one as well...






Up-closes of the small vignette:









It brings back old memories indeed! I just wish I could still have sharp eyes and firm hands as some 30-40 years ago...

Can't remember exactly who the manufacturer(s) of these figures is/are, but most likely Tamiya and/or Esci. I probably still have the empty original boxes somewhere in the attic, together with a few of these kits that I ended up never building.

Thanks for bringing back those happy memories, guys


Cheers!

Dolf

I remember buying that set of German machine-gunners back in 1975 or 76, & building a little vignette with the tripod crew. Painted the gunner as a Panzergrenadier & the loader as an artilleryman, just for a bit of interest. I reckon my late Dad chucked it out along with the rest of my modelling stuff after I joined the Army in January 79, & he moved to a new retirement flat.

Hey Ho, thanks for the memory of the glory days of the 1970s, when Tamiya released a new kit almost every other week, & I eagerly presented myself at WH Smiths once a month to buy my copy of Mil Mod with the Richard Kohnstam ads on the back cover...….

Chris O.

What memories this thread has brought back.

I've still got one 1/25 figure by Tamiya in my stash.

As for the 1970s what fun I had - one Xmas I was given the 6 figure Afrika Korps set and built them and painted them in an afternoon, sadly I knocked over a bottle of liquid cement over them at the end of the painting session.

As with Nap I had a Stuka with a snake on it - 1/32 scale Revell if I recall correctly. I built several of these but my favourite was a Mosquito which after some wear and tear I decided to incinerate it - by filling the engines with lighter fuel, lighting them and throwing the plane off a high school wall one evening, thick balck smoke ensued for a few minutes but then it was all over. No one even questioned us in those days , boys being boys... I shan't talk about fireworks, paper bags of dog's poo, ringing on the doorbell of a miserable sod who was always horrible to kids and the ensuing chaos.

Cheers

Huw

Thanks for those memories. Beatties Model Shop off Market Street in Manchester was the place. I had the 1:24 scale running MG34 bloke.
happy days......

My first kit was a Lindberg Line Spitfire, I wanted the Stuka, but, at 12/6p I couldn't afford it. The Spit was only 7/6. Then Woolies started to sell Airfix kits for 1/11 in the Poly Bags, and, it became a Right of Passage where I lived then, to see how many kits you could steal from the dozzy shopgirls. Does anyone remember Jetex solid fuel pellets and engines? Ray

Their Third Reich figures were always streets ahead of their Tommies.

Mike

I remember seeing a review of Tamiya’s 1/25 Centurion when it came out - the kit was incredible & still very collectible now, but the figures were ropey even then & their uniform & kit was wrong by late 1940s/early 50s standards......
But it was the only game in town then, & most people thought “if it looks right, then it’ll do for me”. Accuracy wasn’t the issue it is today.

I used to enjoy a visit to Marcway Models on Attercliffe Road in Sheffield when I was a youngster in the 70s. It was a regular Aladdin's Cave then, all the things you used to dream about like Almark figure sets & books, vacform aircraft kits (although I never had the bottle to tackle one of those, & I still admire people who did), & all the latest Tamiya & Italeri kits when they first came out.

I can remember buying Tamiya's then-new 1/35 StuG III kit from there one Saturday afternoon in 1972, & my Mum took me to the Zing Va Chinese restaurant on The Moor for a slapup feed afterwards. Happy days!