Spotlight on figures: Airfix's Zulu War British Infantry

Dated: April 12, 1998.

Found: At the auction of the late Sir John Airfix's effects in Norfolk recently. These are the preliminary drawings and prototype of set S30. The story we heard was that there was some confusion at the changeover from the 1st issue box type to the blue box types, exacerbated by the move of Airfix's main office to Haldane Place. The 'blueprints' for this set were apparently routed to Sir John's private residence where they were forgotten until unearthed recently. The first scan shows the artist rendition of the front box cover.



The next scan shows the poses of the set:




The numbers below the poses refer to the number of those figures. Collectors will instantly note that this set is in the mold of Airfix's earlier sets where the same poses in different uniforms were utilized. For example, the reader will not fail to notice that this set is almost a dead ringer for set S10 Foreign Legion, down to the mounted officer, the non-commissioned officer and the prone figure.

Our sources informed us that a partially finished mold was also found, also routed to the residence by mistake and unknowingly used by Mrs. John Airfix as a gingerbreadman mold for years. This finally explains why a generation of children of Norfolk village had been getting gingerbreadmen in the shape of British soldiers. This is exciting news for collectors worldwide as the possibilities of refurbishing the mold and putting it into production are being looked into (minus the gingerbread).

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