***To put things in perspective about the decline of Airfix we must take a few things into account,firstly they were never ever in the early days at least supposed to be super detailed kits for enthusiasts,that came much later when mature modellers saw the potential and snapped up the kits to convert,modify or improve spurred on by articles in the 'Airfix Magazine' written by the late Alan Hall who did a lot to promote the kits for more advanced modellers,the initial market was aimed at the pocket money brigade,hence the excellent choice of price structure ie 2/-,3/- etc and then the 7/6 birthday type of prices for the bombers,Airfix were pressurised by magazines like 'Flying Review' who had a monthly modelling section including colour plates of the 'possible' next Airfix kit,their readership wanted detail and accuracy and Airfix bent over backwards and did some good re-tooling for kits like the Spitfire,Hurricane,Mosquito,Lancaster etc etc to satisfy the need of the adult scale modeller,many of whom had purchased these first kits as young boys and girls,alongside these products came the American imports from Aurora,Kleeware,Comet etc in fact when F.W.Woolworth's had supply problems with Airfix, then these imported kits would fill the gaps on the counter as substitutes.
From day one of introduction of the Airfix line it was successful,namely because of a high street retailer handling what were then 'exclusive' lines to Woolworth's,no model shops got a look in that was much later in the day when Airfix were firmly up and running and had more power to do what they wanted,in fact the kits vanished from Woolworth's as quick as they appeared,probably because their directors and suppliers had enough and decided to call it a day,the fact that they were available in a major shopping chain was responsible for their success.
Once the model shops got hold of them they lost that exclusive feel and rubbed shoulders with thousands of other kits on the shelves,Airfix then had an extensive team of representatives covering the UK selling their products direct,America came in later and to this end a lot of U.S.Air Force subjects came along to satisfy the needs of the American market ie Corsair,Helldiver,B-29,P-51's etc people like Polks Model hobbies handled vast Airfix stocks.
Clever marketing ploys such as the headed plastic bag containing the contents ensured that the customer could see what he was getting,and most of all make sure that the clear cockpit canopy ( often missing in those days ) was intact,the after sales spares back up was first class and has never been bettered by any other kit manufacturer,three day turn round or return of post being the norm,sadly this fell by the wayside and sometimes more modern Airfix kits could take months to get the missing part,it was a first class service run by a special department within Airfix,stillages of mouldings that had faults were sent to the spares department for breaking down into useable parts,and if the part was not available then a new kit would be sent no questions.
It is true to say also in later years that the very extensive range became top heavy,in them days production runs were handled weekly to divide the essential Spitfires and Bf.109's the bread and butter of sales,as opposed to the lemons ie the Fairey Rotadyne which even today has never broken even,but every kit was available,eventually the range became so large that smaller production runs became the normality and some models temporarily shelved and the tooling stored,to come out under a new colourscheme guise another day.
The model railroad fans were treated to the lovely little Country Inn,Railway crossing kit,Windmill and a Shipyard crane,Airfield Control tower ( my personal favourite ) all excellent models in themselves,the static locomotives proved popular as well combined with the Rosebud Kitmaster range of rolling stock and locomotives.
It is a great feeling to have been involved with buying and building these early pioneer kits,just like Bunkarbarge I have so many happy memories of purchasing and assembling them,and yes they certainly were and still are educational items,not only did they encourage people to become dexterous with their hands,but promote a more fuller understanding of history,how else would we have known what a Sopwith Camel looked like ? Airfix evoke many childhood memories of such a different era,this just goes to show that nothing today is immortal,Meccano went the same way as the youngsters did not want to build things that required any effort,and now Airfix has taken a similar route,kits thankfully will never die out as there will always be the cottage industry and larger companies doing the super detailed stuff,but those cheap prices and availabilty of kits for the masses will sadly never return.
The name 'Airfix' will live on in the annals of modelling history, even if the company is not saved in some small way ?
when i started modeling...so what 17 years ago airfix and maby the odd revell kit where the only ones i made. humbrol paints where all there was and i used to love them. I had the airfix lancaster, the revell sea king, the airfix me 262, the airfix harrier gr7 loads (none are around to see today)and as you all know i dont like airfix as they never fit together. but after thinking about it i never had a problem as a child (or maybe i just didnt notice it or cant remember it) but the problems with the airfix kits have only been since i started up modeling again (christmas), yes they where old kits off a friend of my mums but i still give them all the respect they deserve as if it werent for the my "unlce" (close friend of the family) would not have got me into modeling!
