Category:Airfix: Difference between revisions

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{{Box|Airfix_(GaT_1956).jpg|Airfix trade advert, 1956. Note the number of product ranges other than construction kits.|280}}
{{Box|Airfix_(GaT_1956).jpg|Airfix trade advert, 1956. Note the number of product ranges other than construction kits.|280}}
{{Box|The_AIRFIX_Range,_insert.jpg|"The AIRFIX Range", paper insert|380}}
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==Origins==
==Origins==
The Big Interesting Fact about Airfix is that although the name is now synonymous with model aircraft kits, and it'd be reasonable to assume that this is what the name stood for ("air-fix"), actually the name was a reference to the air-filled rubber building blocks (and toy ducks and other novelties)  that the company originally produced.
Although the name is now synonymous with model aircraft kits, and it would be reasonable to assume that this is what the name stood for ("air-fix"), the name was actually a reference to the air-filled rubber building blocks (and toy ducks and other novelties)  that the company originally produced.


In 1949 the company produced a moulded acetate model tractor as a promotional item for the Ferguson tractor company, and then started selling the parts through Woolworths, unassembled, as kits.  
In 1949 the company produced a moulded acetate model tractor as a promotional item for the Ferguson tractor company, and then started selling the parts through Woolworths, unassembled, as kits.  

Revision as of 11:58, 24 February 2016

Airfix trade advert, 1956. Note the number of product ranges other than construction kits.

Airfix trade advert, 1956. Note the number of product ranges other than construction kits. [image info]

"The AIRFIX Range", paper insert

"The AIRFIX Range", paper insert [image info]

Airfix Kits, Shire Library

Airfix Kits, Shire Library [image info]

Airfix was founded in 1939 by Nicholas Kove, to make hollow rubber toys and novelties, and when rubber became scarce because of wartime demand for tyres for military vehicles, Kove switched to using plastics, and then to injection moulding.

Origins

Although the name is now synonymous with model aircraft kits, and it would be reasonable to assume that this is what the name stood for ("air-fix"), the name was actually a reference to the air-filled rubber building blocks (and toy ducks and other novelties) that the company originally produced.

In 1949 the company produced a moulded acetate model tractor as a promotional item for the Ferguson tractor company, and then started selling the parts through Woolworths, unassembled, as kits.

Airfix "Cutty Sark" ship, polybag construction kit

Airfix "Cutty Sark" ship, polybag construction kit [image info]

In 1952, this was followed by a "proper" moulded polystyrene kit of the Golden Hind ship, and then the first Airfix model aircraft kit - a Spitfire Mk1 - in 1953.

However, the roaring success of these "poly-bagged" kits didn't immediately take over the company's whole output - a 1956 trade advert lists "construction kits" as the second entry for the company's output, after "polythene tea-sets"!
The list goes on to mention "beach lines", "games" and "novelties, etc. etc".

External links

Books

  • Trevor Pask, Airfix Kits (Shire Library) ISBN 0747807914
  • James May with Ian Harrison, James May's Toy Stories (Anova, 2009) ISBN 1844861074 pages 128-169

Subcategories

This category has the following 19 subcategories, out of 19 total.

A

B

K

M

R

T

Media in category ‘Airfix’

The following 200 files are in this category, out of 253 total.

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