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In 1999 Airfix celebrated 50 years of model
making. During that time span they were responsible for starting many
a modeller into the hobby and in fact the name became synonymous with
the hobby - "yes I build Airfix kits". They were among the powerhouses
of kit manufacturers.
Arthur (Tailgunner) Ward has written a book commemorating
50 years of Airfix with anecdotes, history and a huge amount of research.
He has had access to many people who were part of Airfix up to the current
day. Their stories on the firm and kits are an eye opener into the world
of kits and their selection and marketing. The book chronicles the development
of Airfix from it's beginning in 1938 when Nicolas Kone (a Hungarian)
founded the company to make air filled rubber dolls, through WW2 and
their first kit in 1949 to a veritable explosion of kits and the much
lamented Airfix magazine up to 1999. In it's heyday Airfix was producing at least one ship kit a year and sometimes as many as four. There seemed to be no subject they wouldn't tackle from patrol boats and steel ships to sailing ships and liners. The list is too large to present here but many of these are still readily available (sadly for liner enthusiasts, the |
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SS France is not one of these as the molds have been lost) and make up into reasonable kits straight out of the box. With some work and perhaps even some of the aftermarket parts available for these kits, truly stunning models can be made. Just leafing through the book will leave many a modeller
with fond memories of how they started in the hobby. An unashamed Airfix
aficionado, I found this book to be a great read. Finding out more about
the history of the company to the accompaniment of artwork by artists
such as Roy Cross throughout the book was highly enjoyable and with
a complete kit listing at the end, it presents a look at a significant
part of modelling history. Additional Links: |
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