Same with me: when I was six years old I started to play with 1/32 scale Cowboy and Indian figures from Jean Hoeffler. The figures were already in the house because of my older brother, who got them from a nephew, who was even more older and didn't play with them anymore. My parents must have seen I liked playing wargames and they let Santa Claus (in fact 'Sinterklaas' as I live in Belgium) bring me a medieval castle with WWII Germans en the British 8th Army (all 1/32 figs from Cherilea). Apparently history was not the best knowledge of Santa Claus, but that didn't matter. As a kid it is no problem to make battles between indians, WWII soldiers, knights and cowboys all together, as long as it was fun.
My first introduction with 1/72 figures was at a fair in our village, where my mother bought me a bag with Giant cowboys and indians and a Fort Apache (later I discovered the Giant figures were scaled down copies of Britains Herald figures). I enjoyed these figures too, but kept mainly playing with the 1/32 figures. I must say that movies and TV-series formed a great source for scenarios and stories to replay, such as The Last of the Mohicans, westerns, war movies. I also was fascinated by my grandfather, who had been fighting as a soldier in the Belgian army during 4 years in the trenches of WWI.
When I was 10 years old, I went to school in the nearby 'big city' and yes, there I discovered… Airfix! And that's when I started my 1/72 collection by saving my pocket money for these little guys. The hobby also increased my intrest for history and that has not changed until today.
I think this is the main reason why I stayed with this hobby: there is a link with history, in which I'm very intrested, art and beauty, as we can see when looking at the high quality of figures produced today and in the past, developping our own skills when painting the figures and just fun when playing with them, like we did when we were kids! It's the perfect hobby ! :smile:

Hi everyone. It is so interesting reading about how you all fell in love with 1:72 miniatures. As a 9 year old boy in Malta in the late 60s early 70s I got hooked on these miniatures thanks to Airfix and Atlantic & the stories my dad and grandpa used to tell me about their experience of WW2 during our walks near the RAF airfields in Malta. I used to spend blissful hours trying to recreate with my soldiers war/ historic films that I would have watched (Where Eagles Dare, Ben Hur, Spartacus, A Bridge Too Far, Waterloo, Guns of Navarrone, Zulu Dawn, Robin Hood, Sudan, March Or Die, Green Berets and so many others).

As I grew older this passion drew me close to History and increased my interest to follow contemporary conflicts: Vietnam war, Russian invasion of Afghanistan, Israeli-Arab conflict, Falklands, wars in Angola, Mozambique, Turkish invasion of Cyprus. I always used to crave to have soldiers to re-enact these conflicts. Unfortunately to this day for some reason manufacturers still hesitate to produce sets relating to these conflicts. I think these will be highly popular as they relate to our youth and they would bring so many memories.

I'm so thankful to all companies which over the years produced so many sets of soldiers (and military accessories) relating to diverse eras and conflicts. You put so much fun into our lives. I'm especially gratefull to Strelets for the many beautiful and variant sets that they are producing. My only appeal would be not to ignore the 70s/80s conflicts i referred to above as that period is part of our life. Moreover, there are certain other important historic conflicts which for some unknown reason have been ignored: Franco Prussian War, English Civil War, UN Troops, Mexican Revolutionary wars, Royal Navy personnel, Spanish Civil War. I'm sure that sets relating to such conflicts will enhance our passion to this hobby as they will fill the gaps in our beloved hobby.

Best Regards to all and keep well