1/32 airfix kits

I recently built Airfix 1/32 German Infantry kit from 1988 that was part of a big stash I won via eBay so I thought I'd practice my figure painting on it after 20 years of no modeling.  You can see the difference in their sizes... not sure if you can mix 1/32 with 1/35 if they are close to each other.  Obviously the American solider is from old 1/35 Tamiya kit, German is 1/32 Airfix and last figure is an 1/35 from Dragon. 

Stikpusher got it right about weapons and equipment... big difference there! I enjoyed this part while I worked on Airfix but I wish the figures were nicer.

Hope this helps...

..................Some seventies 1/35 Tamiya kits like the Land Rover pink panther/ambulance, long range desert patrol truck, the six pound er gun, Centurion tank and some of the earlier figure sets are closer to 1/32 scale. This becomes obvious if you compare the Italeri (peerless ?) Land Rover with the Tamiya version..................Why the scale discrepancy? It's hard to say, but up to the early seventies Monogram and Ranwal were producing 1/32 military vehicles. Airfix not only produced some 1/32 armor kits, but also the multi pose figures in that scale. Tamiya may have tried to make some of their kits more or less compatible. ..................The 1/32 Airfix multi pose figures work perfectly with the early bi-scale Tamiya kits and figure sets. Not very well with more modern kits which are really 1/35 scale or Italeri/Pearless kits.

Tankluver wrote:

Are the airfix 1/32 infantry kits actually kits, and can you use them with 1/35 figures?

These are true multi pose kits...arms, legs and heads cen be used on various torsos to create a wide range of poses from one box witout having to cut and reposition. No other manufacturer has done this. They were initially released in 1978 or 79 at the latest, possibly earlier. They hold up quite well despite this ancient vintage and are among the best plastic figures ever done.  You might be able to sneak one into a group of figure as the BIG GUY, but they really don't look right next to 1/35 figs. Been there, did that in 1979. As noted above, the equipment is completely unsuable if you keep any of the 1/35 equipment in the scene, and this goes from canteens to rifles.

Al very much nailed that response. Andy and Gearhead very likely did too. How I know is I recently bought one of these old Airfix 1/32 kits at the LHS (8th Army)

and was very impressed with it. Good proportions and details, instructions, insignia decals! They did NOT work with the other(1/35) figures going into my Dio however. A friend really insisted it might be possible and wanted to see so I built one of them up to compare :

The Airfix "Tommy" on left....One from Dragon(with replacement resin head) on right

 Here with a larger 1/35 resin figure from Warriors. Almost works..til  you compare helmets,ect.

This pretty much says it..Airfix left...DML on right.......just doesn't work. Maybe the Airfix figures with some 1/35 vehicles, maybe.

Tankluver wrote:

How about airfix figs with 1/35 weapons and gear

You'd probably have to replace the helmets, making them look too small as well as all the web gear. Again, I made the mistake in my early days of mixing Airfix with at least Italeri and they really look awful together. All the gear will look undersized. Using one guy with all 1/35 gear might look okay, you can kjustify one very big guy in a group or a non-Airfix for that one really short dude in the outfit, but eralistically, you can't put them together nd have a believable grouping.