1949		2000
Collecting Airfix Kits Web site of the Airfix Collectors Club

Airfix FAQs	History of Airfix	Airfix Kit Range
Sources of Information	Getting Started	Plastic Bag Styles
Links to Other Airfix Sites	Instruction Sheets	Downloads
Airfix World Wide	Airfix Collectors Club Latest club magazine available	Airfix - the Toy range
Kit Finder & Valuation Guide	Wants & Sells	Dave's Fun Page !
The Publications	Airfix Motor Racing (MRRC)	Airfix Railway System

• January 2008- this site is now static, and only essential maintenance and updates to the "Desperately Seeking" and "Wants & Sells" sections will now be undertaken
• October 2006 - the first week of October 2006 saw the 500,000th visit to this site !
• November 2004 - this site received its 400,000th visitor. That's approx 100,000 visits per year.....
• August 2004 - See Featured Kits page for some wonderful old German Plasty plastic bag header card artwork. Pictures supplied by Claus Wilker
• November 2003 - new Publications page added which will cover all the Books, Catalogues and Magazines
• Spring 2003 (not sure exactly when) - site received its 300,000th visit
• October 2002 - completely replaced the Kit Range page - better information, more pictures
• July 2002 - animated banners provided for anybody who wants to link to this site. Please go to my Links pages for details
• July 2001 - this site received its 100,000 visitor (since August 1999)!

Want an offer for your kit collection? (any manufacturer)? Click here

Does anybody have any of the following ?

• Complete (mint) Betta Bilda sets
• Airfix Motor Racing / MotorAce spares and accessories (not complete sets, unless only fit for spares)
• Airfix Toy Range Catalogues - any
• Airfix Motor Racing or MotorAce catalogue - any
• Airfix kits 3rd Edition Catalogue
• Any information on an Airfix printing error - kit box-side picture being marked as "HMS Bismarck" !!! (is this true ??)
• Airfix Motor Racing & MRRC (Model Road Racing Cars Ltd) - what is the definitive history behind the Airfix slots cars? Did Airfix have a slot-car product BEFORE buying MRRC in 1963? MRRC still exists as a slot-car manufacturer in the Channel Islands - how did they part company, and when?
• to complete my collection of Header Cards I need the following Headers:
  • Aircraft Type 2 - Fokker Triplane
  • Aircraft Type 1 - SR53 (1407), Albatros Dv (1393), Sopwith Camel (1392), S6B (1391), Fokker Triplane (1387), Bristol Fighter (1386)
  • any headers for the following bagged car kits - 1911 RR (1315), 1910 Mod T (1337), Darracq (1338), Dauphine (M3C), Viva (M9C)
  • any headers for the following HO/OO Trackside range - Country Inn (4001), Bungalow (4006), General Store (4004), Fencing & Gates (4024), Platform Fittings (4012) and a Type 0 header for the Signal Box (No.5)
• Missing parts for kits:
  • Airfix 1/72 NA P-51B Mustang (02083 or equivalent) - all wheel well doors, main and tail
  • Airfix 1/72 Grumman Widgeon (61070 or equivalent) - canopy
  • Frog 1/72 Curtiss Kittyhawk (F391) - part 6 Cowling
  • Airfix 1/72 Fairey Firefly (298 or equivalent) - parts 10 & 11 exhaust stubs
  • Airfix 1/72 TBM Avenger (297 or equivalent - parts 7,8,9,10,21 - which are all transparencies
  • Airfix 1/144 Sud Caravelle (SK400 or equivalent) parts 14 & 15 - tailplanes
  • Airfix OO scale Panzer IV Tank (2308 or equivalent) - pair of main track wheels (parts 10-11 or 24-25 etc)
  • Revell 1/72 Spitfire H-611 - port (left) fuselage side
  • Revell 1/72 Macchi Mc.200 (H-657) stand parts and part 24 air intake
  • Revell 1/72 Fokker E-III (H-645) - stand parts
  • Heller Humbrol 1/72 Spitfire Mk.XVIE (80282 or Heller equivalent) - windscreen
  • Instruction Sheets required for the following kits
    • Academy 1/72 Hawker Typhoon 1664
    • Airfix OO scale Matilda Tank (61318 or equivalent)
  • Decals required for the following kits
    • Airfix OO scale Leopard Tank (A206V or equivalent) - decals
    • Airfix OO scale Matilda Tank (61318 or equivalent) - decals
    • Matchbox 1/72 AW Siskin (PK-25) - decals
    • Matchbox 1/72 Hawker Hunter (PK-117) - decals
    • Revell 1/72 Hawker Hurricane (H-616) - decals
    • Revell 1/72 Fokker E-III (H-645) - decals
    • Airfix 1/48 scale Grumman Prowler (08176) - decals
  • Missing transparent canopy parts for the following Matchbox kits
    • PK-101 LTV A-7D Corsair
    • PK-15 HS Gnat
    • PK-126 EE Lightning T-55
    • PK-34 Aeritalia G-91Y (also anybody got Part 3 - nosecone??)

If you are desperately seeking a particular kit or piece of Airfix memorabilia let me know and we'll try advertising for it here! My thanks to the many people who reply to these wants. In the last couple of months we've been able to find the following rarities for collectors - 1st issue HMS Hood, Christie instruction sheet, MRRC parts, catalogues, Modelling Club badge, plastic aircraft stands and others.
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• December 2007 - BBC2 Money Programme features interviews with Airfix Collectors Club members at Cosford Airshow

• 10th November 2006 - Hornby buy Airfix and Humbrol for £2.6m. Click here for details

• 1st September 2006 - Airfix and the whole Hobby Products Group enter administration. Is this the end of Airfix (again)? Click here for details.

• December 2004 - huge collection of Airfix memorabilia sold at auction by Vectis and covered by eBay as a live auction. This sale is believed to be the Peter Allen collection. Peter Allen was the Airfix chief designer in the 1970s. A large number of Roy Cross drafts, proofs and final artwork were included in the sale, with the DH4 artwork (see Type 3 bagged kit) fetching the highest price in the auction at £1200. The painting went to an Irishman living in the United States. Many other high value and irreplaceable lots were sold, and are now, of course, scattered across the world. What a shame.

• August 2004 - update - Humbrol being administered by the Royal Bank of Scotland's BDG - Business Development Group. The company is no longer owned by Allen & McGuire. The Airfix location at Marfleet, Hull, has been sold and Airfix remain in business on a much reduced staffing level. Sources suggest that the company will be run in future by Heller.

• June 2003 - Humbrol being administered by the Royal Bank of Scotland's BDG - Business Development Group. This includes the Airfix and Heller brand names. The actual situation regarding Humbrol's future is unclear.

• 2003 - Airfix re-launches its website www.airfix.com. New features include a Classic Modeller Forum, plus an Ask Trev feature ("Trev" being Trevor Snowdon, a long-time member of Airfix management and a frequent contributor to Constant Scale magazine).

• 2003 - Airfix launches the Classic Modeller Club. This is intended for adult modellers (over 18 years of age) and offers - a 50th Anniversary edition of the Spitfire Mk.1 packed in a reproduction 1950s plastic bag, access to the Classic Modeller Forum on the Airfix website, plus a promise of more exclusive models available only to members of the Club.

• Book launch 7th September 2002 at Duxford Air Show, England. Arthur Ward and Roy Cross will be available to sign -
  • Arthur Ward's new book "Celebration of Flight - the Aviation Art of Roy Cross". 128 pages, 113 colour plates, 69 black and white illustrations, Price £25.00. This book is a selection of Roy's best sketches, paintings and technical drawings, gathered together in chronological order. Click here for picture

• December 2001 - not really Airfix news, but good news anyway - probably one of the best books ever written on the subject of plastic kits - Frog Model Aircraft (1932-1976) by Richard Lines and Leif Hellstrom is available again. Published in 1989 and presumed out of print for many years, this book can be obtained from www.amazon.co.uk. I know - I've got one !

• July 2001 - get the Airfix Dogfighter PC game (launched November 2000). Although very simplistic (controls include up, down, left, right, and fire and that's about it!) it is good fun, and is now being discounted in the UK shops. You should be able to pick up a copy for under ten pounds. Good for a laugh....
• You need : Let's Stick Together by Stephen Knight. A history of Kitmaster and Airfix railway kits. A link to the excellent Kitmaster Collectors Club web site is available from my Links pages.
   
• You really want : the Airfix book by Arthur Ward. The long-awaited follow-up to Arthur's 1984 book. Over 200 pages of interesting Airfix facts, including many interviews with former Airfix managers and employees. Includes some great pictures. Pay no attention to the suggested fairy-tale land values in the Appendix! More information on my Sources page. Book is available from Amazon.co.uk.

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Although my own personal site, this is also the official web site of the UK-based Airfix Collectors Club. See Link above.
This site is not affiliated to Airfix, Hornby or any other commercial organisation.

I welcome comments and suggestions. Please e-mail me at dbjames@attglobal.net

Last Modified in Januray 2008
E-mail me at dbjames@attglobal.net All logos, trademarks and copyrights are acknowledged.

In addition, the FROG name and trademark is acknowledged as belonging to Hobby Bounties (130 Chancellors Road, Stevenage, Herts, UK)