Exotic (because of their sheer range and variety, and the difficulty in obtaining them in the UK), and exotic (because 1/87 scale, though confusingly described here as HO/OO as used by Airfix for their plastic soldiers), this ad for ROCO Minitanks is from Almark Modelworld December 1972.
11 comments:
ROCO Minitanks were widely available in the US when I was a kid. I was enthralled by the extent of the range and I had several. Are these even available any more?
Some Roco Minitanks are I think still available, Ive seen some recently although the range has been very much cut back...
I first saw these around 69-70 in a small kiosk hobby shop near/in Barnet London... I can probarbly be more specific but Id have to ask my Mum,it may nave been the High st..
Wonderfull little models with neat little details but quite pricey compared with Airfix at the time. I dont recall ever seeing a Tiger 1 though untill a recent issue.
Cheers
Roco being the same company that manufactures H0 and N Guage model railway stuff.
For the H0/00 bit, Airfix are to blame; having had that on their military vehicles and figures donkeys years ago (despite the two being completely different scales).
Hi there!
Rocco miniatures does not exist anymore. They were bought or fusioned with Herpa.
You can find their Net Presence over here:
http://www.herpa.de/herpa_cms/%28S%28ktfye1554lkemgv5zz2plo55%29%29/Default.aspx?lang=en-GB&rbid=413&art=0&pg=1&print=0
Greetings,
Mojo
Hi Mojo According to the site you listed Herpa act as distributor of Minitanks for Modelleisenbahn GmbH (Roco)
Heres Rocos home page:
http://www.roco.cc/produkteshop/uebersicht.html
Although they no longer sell minitanks direct..
Cheers
http://www.hartmannrr.com/
I was just here a few months ago and bought a platoon to be used as generic medium tanks for my war gaming. He has around 100 or so pieces total for *very reasonable prices*.
Regards
Yes, very widely available in the US; I must have had two or three hundred when I was in High School, I rember playing (Guidon Games "Fast Play" Rules) in living rooms and even on a frineds lawn. Shermans and T-34/76 vs lots of Germans.
There is (Still) a Yahoo Group on 1/87 modeling, they have moved in the direction of "Modleing" (adding Rear View Mirrors to your softskins?) instead of the "Toy" approach of the 60's-70's. For a while there was a guy who broght his Scale Panmzer Division to the early Gencons (Every Vehicle, so you saw how many Vehicles the establishment called for).
Collecting 1/87 can be a hobby of itself; I have sold some of my ()old) vehicles on ebay, the usuall bargain hunters. US ebay has several sellers who (at least a couple of years ago) could make their living selling them (Roco), plus Heisers Models, filing in the gaps in resin.
But not the Mass market penetration, I bought my first two (Aas well as a box of Airfix figures) in a Drug Store in 1966 or so.
Roco Minitanks are alive and well. They make several hundred HO scale vehicles from WWII to now. They are distributed by Herpa but not owned by Herpa. A good source is my friend Randy at Fidelis Models dot com.
My collection includes hundreds of Roco and even now I am working on a Roco conversion project.
Mike "Bunkermeister" Creek
http://bunkermeister.blogspot.com/
They did a range in 1:100 RMM. Still available now and then on Ebay. Perfect for 15mm.
So many memories of these from my youth. Beatties in Manchester had a little stock from what I remember although my young purchases wouldn't have encouraged much in the way of restocks back then!
I recall purchasing Roco Minitanks, particularly US 105mm howitzers to be towed behind Airfix M3 half-tracks for wargaming, in the early to mid 1970s from 'The Military Room' in Carlisle and 'Lancer' in Workington (both shops long gone and much missed). I still have the figure sets but alas the AFVs and all the rest are long gone.
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