Bessiere wrote:Been over 50 years ago but I remember clearly seeing the Airfix French Old Guard at the store and thinking I had to get those. Then I got French artillery. After that came a few hundred boxes I can't remember what order they came in.
Cheers,
Bessiere
Well, if we are being strictly accurate my first 'proper' 1/72 set was probably the Esci French Napoleonic Imperial Guard Infantry. But by the time I acquired that set I was already the proud owner of quite a lot of Airfix 1/76 (OO/HO) sets, mainly their WW2 range and then Napoleonics. The Esci set was a revelation, as - nice though the Airfix set is - I always thought the Airfix Guardsmen too small, certainly when lined up alongside the chunky Airfix French Line infantry (of which by the mid 1980s I had many sets).
My very first set of Airfix OO/HO figures was the British Infantry Combat Group (WW2 infantry) and the corresponding first edition of their German WW2 infantry, soon followed by British Commandoes, Afrika Korps and 8th Army, all circa 1970.
What a very long way the hobby has come since then!