Model Tanks

In 1961 the first Armoured Fighting Vehicles appeared in the ever-expanding range of Airfix kits. The 1960s and 1970s are considered by many as the golden age of kit building and the enthusiastic schoolboys and young men building these kits became known as the Airfix Generation. The hobby went into decline in the 1990s as plastic kits gave way to video games, but the hobby has recently undergone a revival as the original members of the Airfix Generation, now at the end of careers and family commitments, take a nostalgic look back at their childhoods. Some, like the author, will become once again absorbed by the hobby, but many will be content to buy a few old kits – others are coming to the hobby from an entirely new perspective. All will be delighted to find a new book that tells the early days of the hobby from a model tank perspective. Here, Tom Cole concentrates on the kits from Britain’s Airfix and Matchbox and looks at the early imports from Japan, in the form of Fujimi and Nitto, and the European Esci.