"Hornby to stop manufacturing Airfix - ?" Topic

Just received this notification in the weekly sales email from CTS. Anyone else here know about this:

"As many of you my know the company who owns the Airfix molds (Hornby) has decided to stop running them."

Wow, the end of an era. My very first "wargame" figures were the first version Airfix combat group and the Germans.

Airfix was where I began in miniature gaming and collecting, If this is the end, it is indeed a sad day!

very sad my miniatures.

I just got done reading the Guardian ,about their last three years..they have been losing money every qtr. on airfix and stopped production on many of the figures.

Sad news.

I heard that the plans were that they were stopping to use the old moulds and switching to new ones …

Would be really sad if it went bust, they had released some really nice stuff in recent years.

Early '70's for me. I remember walking to Hobby Hangout and buying my box's of HO/OO figures.

For me it was the mid 1960s with Airfix WW2 figures and Rocco tanks.

Jim

I'd suspect that if they halt production, Hornby would be looking for a buyer for the brand, so all may not be lost.

As Paddy says – it will be a momentary blip – they have been going bust/out of production on a regular basis for more than 30 years…

The prod has moved on and Horny/Airfix haven't. They are trying to sell 60s stuff against st modern competitors. For some reason they think that will work. They're 'wrong.

So beyond nostalgia this have little/no use for their figure range. I have enough stocks to complete units.

The future for soft plastic soldiers is with HaT, Caesar, Strelets etc

Marc the plastics fan

Sad nostalgia. I actually got mine down from the attic (those proud veterans, survivors of BB guns and firecrackers, who still morn those lost in backyards all over the neighborhood) a few years ago, based them, and put them on a shelf with the rest of my minis. Worts and all! Painted as they are with Testors enamel model paint by a 12 year old.

The future lies in 3D printing. Surely someone with the sales rights will scan these in and the original molds will no longer be necessary.

Yes, sad news indeed. Unfortunately, I have to agree with Marc.

Early '70's for me. I remember walking to Hobby Hangout and buying my box's of HO/OO figures.

Given your screenname, was this the Hobby Hangout in Easton PA? I worked there for a time in the '90s when it moved outside the city…

Damon.

OMG! Yes! I remember Phil and Diane…Yeah, over on Northampton street. Before the move to 25th street, which really was'nt anywhere near 25TH street.

Man, I could tell a sad tale about that store…TL;DR I was there at 25th st buying D&D figures with a friend and he got it in his head to steal a dice(I will remember that die until I am on my deathbed. It was a orange 12 sided.). Diane saw my friend and Phil wanted to kick us out, but Diane was saying "call the police, Phil. call the police!) and call the Police he did.

Here I was buying a cool Grendle figure, and I'm grabbed by the Police!

When we got over to the Palmer Police HQ, The chief said to me: "Did you take anything?" I said "NO sir!"

My friend told him I had nothing and he took the dice for no good reason.

I stayed away for many years. I always had it in mind to go and tell Phil I did'nt take anything from his store. I wanted to tell him his store kept me away from drugs and whatnot.

I wanted to go there when I read that they were going out of business. I am up in the hills of JimThorp. Just did'nt do it…

Oh, well…I may know you…

Also, not to "derail" but Hobby Hangout had a really ace squad leader poster on a board in the foyer…For like forever.

I always said I was gonna snag that poster when this place folds…

The recent Airfix QLD/QLT kit was good but there has been so little new coming out from them it was inevitable. Who would buy there Mk IV Panzer for example when better examples are available?

come on, man. did I know you?

I remember buying a Spitfire in a plastic bag for 2/6 in the paper shop where I lived. We moved away from there in 1961 so it have been on or before then.

All the new kits they offered were WWII models that had already been done to death by other manufacturers. The 1/48 scale they produced of figures and vehicles were huge compared to the same scale from Tamiya and others. A shame because they were well detailed kits at reasonable prices. I started in wargaming with Airfix figures at 50 cents a box and ROCCO tanks for the same. Before ROCCO went out of sight price wise you could field quite a force. A man named, I think, Gene McCoy had a WWII magazine and rules that had all the troops (Airfix) mounted in APCs and trucks. You could fit 8 or 10 figures in the vehicles. I used Airfix WWII US Airborne for French Indochina War and built up an entire Mobile Group. I would have to take out a second mortgage to do that now.

I don't think you knew me as I think we're a decade apart in age. I never knew of the place when it was Downtown Easton, only when it was in Palmer. Phil asked if I wanted to buy the place before it closed down, but I declined. It was a great neighborhood hobby store and was sorry to see it go (Phil retired, not because of business issues). Sadly that ASL poster was long gone by the time I worked there (mid to late 90s here…)

Damon.

Hi hocklerpm5,

The magazine you remember is "Wargamer's Digest."

Very sad. I've been buying Airfix since late 50's, both kits and figures. Began HG Wells' 'Little Wars' with Airfix ACW figures, Airfix railway buildings and Britains' guns about 1960, Bought Airfix Magazine from 1964, what inspiration for minds young and old. Happy days.

I bought my first airfix figures(The WWI RHA box) at Southwyck mall on Reynolds road,Toledo Ohio,in 1974.

The airfix us paratroopers are still great figures.

This will still be a loss for many

I started painting my childhood airfix french Napoleonic figures last year
Ty

Airfix have just published their plans for 2018 which includes reissues of half a dozen of the 1/76 scale WWII figure sets that had been out of production for a couple of years. The 1/32 scale and other 1/76 figures haven't been available for between two and thirty years depending on which set you're talking about.

Yes I've been wondering too, since I saw the same new for 2018 list as well. For those that are not plastic modelers, Airfix has been rebooting its product line for a few years now, with completely new issues of their older kits. Their catalog is half as large as it was back in their heyday, with most of their old kits OOP. Most of their newer kits have been pretty well received. I know I have been buying a few & they're actually quite nice, so not sure on the OPs statement.

Damon.

I have quite a lot of figures and a few vehicles from the late 1970s, in HO and 1/32. They're in a box in a storage unit. Maybe someday I'll paint the unpainted ones.

Just saw the Airfix 2018 releases, so hopefully Airfix will be with use for many years to come.

I know I will be buying some morwe kits this year as well as the Airfix game that came out in 2016/2017