After my recent blog entries about ROCO Minitanks, Andy Callan - who was also one of the founding members of Wargame Developments - sent me a copy of an old catalogue. It must date from before 1971 because the prices are all in pounds, shillings, and pence (or £.s.d. as they currency used to be referred to!) ... and boy, do I wish they were still so cheap! (To give some idea of the modern equivalent of the prices quoted, 2/6d is now 12.5p or just under $0.20.)
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That brings back memories. I still have some Mini-tanks in box someplace.
ReplyDelete12.5p is not quite as cheap as it looks. I think it's about £1.50ish in today's money (still pretty cheap!) but wages were generally less.
ReplyDeleteI thought about collecing Roco minitanks at one point but ended up collecting Roco H0 railway locos instead. This tends to be a tad more expensive :-)
Sigh.. I clearly remember drooling over these as a child, wishing I had enough pocket money to buy more..
ReplyDeleteKind regards
Robin
Jeugdsentiment!
ReplyDeleteIt's remarkable how the prices stay in the memory. On 'd-day', 15/2/71, an Airfix series one kit was 3/6 (17.5 'new pence') in most shops but still only 3/- (15p)in Woolworths (now also history).
ReplyDeleteThe RPI has increased by a factor of about 12 since then.
Plastic kits have increased in cost a lot more than this, probably due to oil prices. Wages have generally outpaced RPI by a small margin so in terms of affordability they may be roughly where they were.
What wonderful models/toys these were. What wargamer of a certain age didn't
ReplyDeletehave at least a few in younger days?
But what odd choices they sometimes made of what to produce and what to leave out!
Tanks for the memories! (sic)
I think that list is pre-1968, because i don't see the VW kubelwagon or Motorcycles that came out around that time.
ReplyDeleteMy fond memory was being given a dollar by my mom or dad, and having to decide between a couple of minitanks, or two boxes of Airfix soldiers.
when I was in third grade (1963) you could buy the Panther, sherman, and a Pzkw.IV for $.29(US) each. Airfix boxes were 50-59 cents each.
Sgt Steiner,
ReplyDeleteI am sure that if you could find them, you would end up using them!
All the best,
Bob
Red_Cardinal,
ReplyDeleteEven at £1.50 each they would be cheap by modern standards. The average price for new Minitanks seems to start at £7.50.
I also have some ROCO model locomotives and rolling stock. Lovely models ... but not very cheap!
All the best,
Bob
Robin Sutton,
ReplyDeleteDidn't we all!
All the best,
Bob
J de Jong,
ReplyDeleteI am not sure what that means ... but I think that it sums it up quite well.
All the best,
Bob
Nigel Drury,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the information.
I am sure that you are right ... but it is nice to think about how many we could buy now if the prices had stayed the same.
All the best,
Bob
Ross Mac,
ReplyDeleteA terrible pun ... but you are absolutely right about the importance of Minitanks to wargamers 'of a certain age',
The range did have some oddities ... but we made do with what we had, hence Charles Grant's use of T-34s alongside sWS half tracks!
All the best,
Bob
Steven Page,
ReplyDeleteYour suggested date sounds about right to me.
I think that a lot of wargamers 'of a certain age' have similar memories. I can certainly remember the anticipation that each new Airfix figure/model release gave rise to.
All the best,
Bob
Also missing from that list is one of their better models the M3 halftrack.
ReplyDeleteAs to Roco prices, well I think the figure of £7-50 is only true for the re-packaged older models. Some of the new Herpa ones start at double that!
However you can still pick up bargins. I got a box of 20 models for £25!
It is possible to pay the earth for them, but there does still seem to be a lot of Roco out there so if you are patient...
Neil
If these prices were current I'd be placing a large order! Which reminds me - I have ten shillings' worth of T34s for you...
ReplyDeleteNeil Patterson,
ReplyDeleteFrom what I can remember, the M3 half track came much later ... and it was a very nice model.
I draw the line at paying much more than £5.00 per model, which is why I tend to collect the older models.
£25.00 for twenty models sounds like a bargain ... the sort of thing that I am on the lookout fr.
All the best,
Bob
Tim Gow,
ReplyDeleteIf they were still sold at these prices, I'd be behind you in the queue!
I look forward to collecting the T-34s from you in early July.
All the best,
Bob
Hey, did ANYONE ever get model 121, the US 120mm AA gun? I wanted to use one as an 88, prior to the Airfix model release, but the ONLY one I ever saw on the dealer rack was so battered, I doubted it could ever be put back together.
ReplyDeleteIt always seemed that every Tank or fighting vehicle was sold ten minutes after being displayed, while the ubiquitous Armor recovery vehicles were always available on demand!
An why was there never a Crusader, Grant or Stuart....? Or a US M3 Halftrack.....ROCO could be as frustrating as Collectible Card Games....
WOW, This catalog is really some vintage stuff. Way before I was born. And I thought I am pretty old. Cool picture man!
ReplyDeleteSteven Page,
ReplyDeleteFunnily enough I did have a 120mm US anti-aircraft gun ... and used it as a 12.8cm PAK 44 (which it does not look very much like). It was very effective ... in fact, too effective ... and it got banned from future games!
I have seen the ROCO M3 half track and tried - without much success - to convert the high-speed artillery tractor into a Stuart.
All the best,
Bob
Jiaqi Lim,
ReplyDeleteIt was a golden age for World War II wargamers. Between ROCO, Airfix, and one or two other model manufacturers it was possible to put an army together quickly and quite cheaply.
If only that were true today!
All the best,
Bob