AIRFIX IS A NAME THAT'S BEEN FAMOUS in the plastic kit world for many years. Now here's a fascinating look at the Airfix factory, this video shown courtesy Matt of Model Minutes, which appears on YouTube.
David Jefferis: Matt shows you around the present-day Airfix factory, including a close look at the latest 1:24 scale Spitfire Mk IXc kit from the company.
It looks a great kit, somewhat let down for me by not including a pilot figure. Shame that, though maybe Airfix could create a separate pack, to include seated and standing pilots, plus some ground crew figures and maybe even a Jeep and fuel bowser.
Airfix itself goes back to 1939, when it was founded by Nicholas Kove, a Hungarian businessman, to make rubber toys. He selected a name beginning with 'A' as it would appear in the front pages of trade directories of the time.
In 1947, Airfix introduced injection moulding, and two years later the company created a Ferguson tractor model, each one used as a sales aid for Ferguson tractor sales people. And this is where the model kit business took off – to increase sales, Airfix produced its 'Little Fergie' as a build-it-yourself item, for sale in FW Woolworth retail stores.
In 1954, Airfix produced a model kit of Sir Francis Drake's galleon, the Golden Hind, but had to save costs to meet the Woolworth price target of just two shillings (about £2.17 GBP today). The solution was to create the cheapest possible packaging: a clear plastic bag, stapled shut with a paper header which also had assembly instructions printed on its reverse. The Golden Hind kit was a big success, and led to the first Airfix aircraft model, a Supermarine Spitfire, introduced the following year.
Since then Airfix has had a rollercoaster ride, eventually becoming part of the Hornby group some 16 years ago. Today, Airfix seems to be thriving as a Hornby brand, the latest 1:24 scale Spitfire IXc scoring as a high-water mark for the model kit industry. See the pictures (below) of the fully-assembled and painted World War II aviation hero.
