Airfix: Celebrating 50 years of the greatest modelling kits ever made (Collins GEM) - Hardcover

Ward, Arthur

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0004723279 ISBN 13: 9780004723273

Publisher: Collins, 1999

Synopsis

Airfix models will be 50 years old in 1999. Only a very sad minority of men aged 30-50 did not make Airfix kits when they were boys. This book enables the rest of us to relive the glory days of our plastic air forces (or tank fleets) and perhaps to pass the torch to our children.

Superbly executed studio photographs show all the obscure and highly collectible kits as well as the best sellers, with illustrations of the packets, box art, adverts in 1960s and 1970s magazines, and a mass of period ephemera. The accompanying text charts the rise, fall and rise again of Airfix models. It’s a jolly read, a nostalgic reminder of kits long vanished, but with a happy ending: Airfix are now re-releasing 40 kits a year, bringing back some not seen for twenty years.

About this title

Review:

A trip down memory lane -- Boys Toys

A unique souvenir from years gone by. -- Collect It

Better looking models than Kate Moss....building Airfix models was a rite of passage for millions the world over. -- Jack Magazine

This volume is highly recommended to young and old -- Aircraft Illustrated

From the Author:

A celebration of one of the biggest names in boys' hobbies
For men of 'a certain age' the name Airfix conjures up fond memories of rainy afternoons spent gluing wings to fuselages of 1/72nd scale plastic Spitfires; or daubing matt enamel 'Dark Earth' camouflage paint to 'HO-OO' minature tanks during the 1960's and 1970's. Though still going strong, Airfix was once perhaps Britain's biggest name in boys' hobbies. I wrote this book to celebrate this period. Illustrated with dozens of colour photographs of, now rare, classic kits, and featuring interviews with the masterminds behind the firms commercial success - and the engineering draughtsmen who designed individual scale model replicas - this book is a trip down memory lane.

About this edition

• Publisher: Collins
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0004723279
• ISBN 13: 9780004723273
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 192