ALY MORRISON'S "BUTTERFLY" ADVENTURES IN THE WORLD OF WARGAMES AND TOY SOLDIERS

Wednesday 4 November 2020

Oh no!... Another piece of Nostalgia.

 Greetings...

My interest in 19th century wars my well have started with articles called the Seven Week War by Robert Gibson... published in the Airfix Magazine in 1970.

Up till now all I have had are some very faded photocopies which have become almost unreadable in places...


Then these turned up on eBay...

And today they turned up on my doorstep...

I am looking forward to nosing through them and trying to remember what life was like when all I had to worry about,was if the teacher would believe the lies I was going to tell about where my homework was.


All the best.  Aly

32 comments:

  1. Looks like some enjoyable bedtime reading.

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  2. You certainly know how to make one feel old, very old🙂

    I remember having that one too.

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    1. Sorry...
      They are certainly from another time... the articles are well written and clearly laid out for a start 😁

      All the best. Aly

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  3. Well done Aly . It’s always great to pick up a piece which resonates with the hobby from the past.

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    1. Thanks Carlo...
      Most of the articles still stand the test of time...

      All the best. Aly

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  4. I think my earliest Airfix macazine are about 1965... trouble is, in those days I used to cut the articles out. Did a lot of WW2 stuff back then - first conversions I remember doing were a Priest conversion and a load of jeep conversions - plus the Robin Hood set, plus there was a nice ACW series... bought this light blue linen and painted the flags. Think I've still got some of them in the attic.
    Happy days.

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    1. I think my father started buying it for me(and him) in 1968... there was an excellent series on the British army 1914-18 by David Nash and I also remember the ACW articles... I am still interested in both these periods.
      I am always surprised by the amount of scale plans that are to be found in each issue... it’s not something you see a lot of in modern magazines...

      All the best. Aly

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  5. Just a bit before my time but certainly remember the odd Airfix magazine with articles on Operation Seelowe….I am more a Military Modelling era - probably started getting it each month from the newsagents in the mid 70's when it cost 15 or 20p...! I remember negotiating a pocket money increase from 15p to 20p per week because at 20p, I could buy one Airfix series two kit - EG the SdKfz 7 and 88 mm gun, or the Africa Korps Recon set that had the SdFfz 222 armoured car plus a Kubelwagon!

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    1. Ah, the Recon set brings back many happy memories. It formed part of a WWII diorama commeration at Churchill Collge in Cambridge that my school took part in, I suppose around 1974 or 1975.

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    2. That was always the trade off... toys or magazines.
      I was lucky that my father took out subscriptions of both magazines for me.. of course he had to check the quality of all the articles as well...

      The 88 set was a splendid thing at the time... I think I converted my SdKfz into an engineers vehicle using cardboard.

      All the best. Aly

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  6. Funnily enough I picked up issues from September '69 - September '71 in the Summer, purelt for nostalgia and they have these articles in them. I loved reading them but had forgotten how small the text and illustrations were!

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    1. The layout is certainly a lot tighter in these compared modern magazines and in my view a fair bit of the content is better.

      All the best. Aly

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  7. You must get some banana oil to set your plasticine. Not that I have ever met anyone who ever used it...

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    1. Yes I remember all the references to banana oil... I could never find out what it was.

      Fortunately my father had access to lots of dangerous smelling chemicals and sealers he used at work...

      I found out it was called banana oil because of its smell...
      Here is what Wikipedia says about it...
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isoamyl_acetate

      All the best. Aly

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  8. I remember these articles , I used to get my Airfix Magazine from our local modeling shop (sadly now gone) - 10 out of 10 nostalgia !

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    1. Pure nostalgia indeed...
      Although I do now know more about the Universal Carrier’s flamethrower variants than I did yesterday 😁

      All the best. Aly

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  9. A .little bit of nostalgia is a good thing in these troubling times 👍

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    1. It’s cheered me up...😁

      All the best. Aly

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  10. Nostalgia? That's almost ancient history!

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    1. Not quite ancient Dave... but certainly a very different place... there are adverts for model shops all over the country...
      The magazine was started in 1960, which I suspect to some people is pretty close to biblical...

      All the best. Aly

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    2. I was 10 then...👴🏻

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    3. But we are all still young at heart...😁

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    4. My name gives me a big advantage here.

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  11. Very interesting artifacts from midway through the previous century! It doesn't seem that long ago,very nice anyway!
    Best Iain

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    1. In a lot of ways It does feels like another age...especially when reading the content and looking at the cost of things...
      But when an article brings back those youthful memories... yes it’s like it’s yesterday.

      All the best. Aly

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  12. Good grief. 50 years ago. I suddenly feel very aged, though I didn't start getting it till 1972. Finding the Airfix figures to convert these days could be a challenge! And now I'm primed for the rest of the series.. get publishing :-)

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    1. It’s a bit scary when you think about it...

      When people ask how long I’ve been doing this madness I usually just say “ since I was a kid “ I never really think of it in years...

      I’ve no plans to do anything Seven Weeks War at the moment... I probably will though... I will post some appropriate scans up then...

      I know... what a tease 😂

      All the best. Aly

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  13. I can hear your wings a-fluttering already 😆

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