I was just reading how model car and train company Hornby has been doing well since it acquired Airfix. It reminded me of a few years when I bought a pack of Airfix 1:32 scale Japanese infantry [top left] for a Japanese colleague of mine. Unfortunately, he didn't have as keen a sense of irony as I had thought so he just looked bemused. Probably rightly so. I was looking on the web for some evidence of what I had bought back then and it seems that plastic Japanese infantry figures come in all shapes and sizes. On the box for the 1:72 scale soldiers you can see the phrase "Back due to demand" which is something I never expected to hear in association with Japanese infantry.
The motherload for information on 1:72 scale figures appears to be Plastic Soldier Review who provide details of the sets produced by five different manufacturers They note that the Airfix set features a soldier "running and waving his rifle high in the air (for no reason that we can think of)" which is lifted directly from a pose already used for the same company's set of Bedouin warriors. A man in the Atlantic collection "with twigs sprouting from his arms and head recognises the Japanese mastery of camouflage" but the sculptor of this set gets marked down heavily because "in a moment of madness he has given each man a tie, neatly done up and tight on the collar. Common sense should have dictated that such an item is hardly likely, and of course no such item was ever issued." The salaryman soldier, perhaps [see below].
The Esci set has a soldier "with a rifle over his head. He could be doing several things, including performing the Banzai or wading through a river. However he could also be surrendering". The reviewer thinks the last option to be unlikely. The Revell set seems workmanlike and not especially interesting but the series of figures produced by Matchbox wins the highest marks and includes "the best-animated and most convincing falling-wounded figure ever produced" [see below]. I'm pleased I didn't buy that set instead for my friend. It would have been difficult anyway: the set was only manufactured in small quantities and has been out of production for years. Perhaps Clint Eastwood's "Iwo Jima" film will spark a revival of interest.
