My childhood 1:32 Airfix figures 1-4, vs. my Man of TIN Prince August 54mm homecast avatar (right, figure 5)
A couple of blog readers have asked in the comments section how tall my Hing Fat sample figures are in relation to what I call standard 1:32 or 54mm figures like Airfix.
Hing Fat figures 1-4 , Airfix figure 5 (right)
The very tall Hing Fat drummer ‘boy’ and tall knight left, Hing Fat third and fourth, Airfix right. Airfix 1&2 left, Hing Fat 3&4 centre, Britain’s hollowcast right.
These you can see are measured from bottom of base to top of hat, whereas others measure from feet to top of normal head, excluding tall headgear.
So those who call this traditional toy soldier size two inch warriors are close enough (especially without base and hat).
Hello I'm Mark Mr MIN, Man of TIN. Based in S.W. Britain, I'm a lifelong collector of "tiny men" and old toy soldiers, whether tin, lead or childhood vintage 1960s and 1970s plastic figures.
I randomly collect all scales and periods and "imagi-nations" as well as lead civilians, farm and zoo animals. I enjoy the paint possibilities of cheap poundstore plastic figures as much as the patina of vintage metal figures.
Befuddled by the maths of complex boardgames and wargames, I prefer the small scale skirmish simplicity of very early Donald Featherstone rules.
To relax, I usually play solo games, often using hex boards. Gaming takes second place to making or convert my own gaming figures from polymer clay (Fimo), home-cast metal figures of many scales or plastic paint conversions. I also collect and game with vintage Peter Laing 15mm metal figures, wishing like many others that I had bought more in the 1980s ...
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10 thoughts on “How High Hing Fat? How Tall Airfix?”
They are fun, I have a pack from a while ago. Curious mix of sizes but my favourite is probably the Greco Roman type Warrior. He has ended up as various figures including Spanish Armada invader (Work in Progress)
Yes, just why they added a Roman Centurion to the mix surprised me.
There’s also the infantryman with the ramrod 🙂
Actually that could be cut away and he’d be not a bad peasant pikeman type 🙂
Thanks for the post! I wanted to know how tall airfix figures were because I wanted to buy some German and British Figures to use with my Marx Americans and Red Army soldiers. The Marx British can be especially hard to find sometimes.
Oh, it was very useful, it seems airfix and marx soldiers are very similar in size, nearly the same in fact. Definitely going to get some airfix soldiers. You should get some Marx ww2 soldiers if you dont have any. BMC Toys did a reissue of the Marx Japanese, Red Army, and Marines a white back. They also reissued the two paratrooper figures and the boat and put them in a set with the Marines, just the calling the pack “US Soldiers”. They are all pretty damn good sets of soldiers, quite a good amount of detail for what were meant to be toys. The Japanese soldiers are my favorites.
BMC and Marx are a bit scarce in the U.K., whilst shipping from the US can be offputting (That for The BMC Plastic Army Women pledges was not too bad).
I have almost no Marx figures but I found and bought for the Christmas Cupboard Marx Free French supplied by a U.K. Dealer, to match the Hing Fat WW2 French that I have as samples.
I get what you mean on the shipping matter. Shipping from another continent can be frustrating, i’ve had soldiers that were shipping from Europe get lost in the mail quite a bit. I don’t have the free french, but I’ve seen pictures of them before and they look pretty great.
Pound Store Plastic Warriors 
As an aside, I bought a pack of these
https://www.theknightshop.com/knight-battle-pack-50-piece
In our local toy shop, £2.95 a pack
They’re OK
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They are fun, I have a pack from a while ago. Curious mix of sizes but my favourite is probably the Greco Roman type Warrior. He has ended up as various figures including Spanish Armada invader (Work in Progress)
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Yes, just why they added a Roman Centurion to the mix surprised me.
There’s also the infantryman with the ramrod 🙂
Actually that could be cut away and he’d be not a bad peasant pikeman type 🙂
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That is the curious joy of Pound Store plastics!
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Very much so 🙂
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Thanks for the post! I wanted to know how tall airfix figures were because I wanted to buy some German and British Figures to use with my Marx Americans and Red Army soldiers. The Marx British can be especially hard to find sometimes.
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I hope that was useful and that you purchase some Airfix this summer. I have no Marx WW2 to compare Airfix with.
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Oh, it was very useful, it seems airfix and marx soldiers are very similar in size, nearly the same in fact. Definitely going to get some airfix soldiers. You should get some Marx ww2 soldiers if you dont have any. BMC Toys did a reissue of the Marx Japanese, Red Army, and Marines a white back. They also reissued the two paratrooper figures and the boat and put them in a set with the Marines, just the calling the pack “US Soldiers”. They are all pretty damn good sets of soldiers, quite a good amount of detail for what were meant to be toys. The Japanese soldiers are my favorites.
LikeLiked by 1 person
BMC and Marx are a bit scarce in the U.K., whilst shipping from the US can be offputting (That for The BMC Plastic Army Women pledges was not too bad).
I have almost no Marx figures but I found and bought for the Christmas Cupboard Marx Free French supplied by a U.K. Dealer, to match the Hing Fat WW2 French that I have as samples.
LikeLike
I get what you mean on the shipping matter. Shipping from another continent can be frustrating, i’ve had soldiers that were shipping from Europe get lost in the mail quite a bit. I don’t have the free french, but I’ve seen pictures of them before and they look pretty great.
LikeLike