No boy has a complete childhood without at least some toy soldiers. Some of the best of them come from the Airfix 1/32 line. They catered to the imagination like no other.
Airfix 1/32 toy soldiers were one of the most detailed lines. The soldiers had all of the appropriate equipment, clothing wrinkles and bagginess, and accurate weapons; even their dour expressions were evident on all Airfix 1/32 soldiers. Although there were some disputes due to color shades, those disputes were caused because of the wealth of detail on each solider, and not because the shading issues were a sign of low quality toys.
There were also a number of different sets available. It was easy to find a set to represent almost any war that a boy would want to fight; if there was not, it could be simulated by one set or another. Not only were modern soldiers present as Airfix 1/32 figures, but also so were Napoleonic infantry, cowboys, Indians, and even space troopers. The sets not only included generic army soldiers from various wars and conflicts, but specific troops were represented, such as German mountain troops and paratroops from a variety of armies. There was even a set of footballers available! A number of interesting questions could be simulated with the right Airfix 1/32 set and the appropriate war gaming rules.
Adding to the fun were the buildings available. Although obviously not created for the footballers, the three original sets were the Checkpoint, Desert Outpost, and Bamboo House. They were snap-together affairs, and added some scenery so that the soldiers could fight in and around. Eventually they would be added by a wide variety of vehicles, dioramas, and other toys to add details to Airfix 1/32 sandtables. Combined with the combat packs (collections of Airfix 1/32 soldiers that had definite themes), and it was easily possible to imagine combats in a number of eras, sometimes between impossible combatants, all contrasted against realistic detail.
Toy soldiers are always in demand. Not only do they allow boys to enact their fantasies, but they also allow men to re-enact great battles from their childhood, such as cowboys versus spacemen. The Airfix 1/32 figures allowed all of that, thus becoming a toy line that is very much in demand and very much traded. A good toy line should feed the imagination as well as curiosity, and the Airfix soldiers 1/32 definitely did that.