When was the last time that anyone here bought an Airfix kit? When was the last time you saw a hobby shop selling more than a few Airfix kits? The only place I have really seen a lot of Airfix kits together at once is at the main Imperial War Museum in London as long as the Imperial War Museum H.M.S. Belfast upon the River Thames. The only way that Airfix is going to survive is if a bunch of 50 year-old men simultaniously have a mid-life crisis and get back into making the models of their youth. Still, a bit sad to see it go knowing what it has done for the industry.

Never a truer word was spoken :-) I'm sure that if you looked at the demographics of the most 'upset' at the thought of the demise of Airfix, they would be those of us in our 40s... The problems with Airfix, are to a certain level a good snapshot of British Industry over the last 30 years or so, the inability to move with the times and too concerned about past success to see that the world had changed... However, saying all this, when Airfix was revived a few years ago, they were entering into new markets with such areas as the movie tie-ins from Wallace and Grommit, a very succesful set of 1/24th scale footballers and repackaging some 1/35th scale armor from other manufacturers. The problems have really stemmed from Heller bringing the whole ediface down with bad management. Some of the retailers I have spoken to, have also said that Airfix was a good (if not spectacular) seller. This latest 'scare' may well force the company to take some VERY different directions in the future, certainly Hornby were able to 're-invent' their product to become a very succesful company indeed....

My son is 10. He bought his first (as in he paid for it) last year before we started travelling Australia. He bought six more over the next 12 months. He loves them. He can buy them himself as they're cheap enough. He has just bought two more Airfix kits as he tried a Hasegawa 737 and hated it as it cost him three times as much as no more pleasure. If my 10 yo is anyting to go buy then the demise of Airfix could see our hobby further dwindle in numbers. Cheers

I agree, 100%. The problem for Airfix is, in addition to poor management, is that there is no room in the modelling market, a market which now caters to experienced modellers as this is where the real money lies. There seems to be little room for starter kits. A child making beginners models can only spend so much, but from the point of the late teenage years and onwards, the amount of money a person can spend on a high quality kit and after-market parts is mind boggling. When I was a child,I started on the hard stuff, and my dad made sure to teach me how to do it properly. He helped me every step of the way He grew up with Airfix kits, but when he sees some of the models I bring home from the hobby shop he is blown away. I personally think that this is the best method for beginners to take. Anyway, any first year marketing student will be able to tell you that Airfix is in the 'dog' catergory of it's brand lifespand. And what do we do with dogs? We 'kick them'. It might just be too late for all of Airfix to be salvaged. Save what can be saved.

It's nothing short of a tragedy. I started off on Airfix kits as a kid (many moons ago) but unfortunately kids these days seem more interested in ipods, TV and computer games than building models . Sadly as time has gone on toys etc have all become either hi-tech or with a label. My godson is obsessed with Bob The Builder FFS! He shows no interest in tanks whatsover. He did however like the Spitfire I showed him the other day so a jolly to Duxford is on the cards as I think I could get him into planes and then wean him onto tanks...LOL. On that maxim if Bob the Builder had a tank and crashed it through walls he'd want one! I think the problem is Airfix have gone submarine for so many years that the only kids buying them these days are those whose dads have introduced them to it. I would summise it's a lack of advertising. Let's face it Lego advertises on TV and that is still a multi-million dollar company and the price of Lego is extortionate. My point is (sorry for waffling) that given the right marketting and right direction Airfix could be picked up from the floor. Sadly the power of TV advertising is possibly the most powerful medium to kids and new blood is needed. While we're happy at all singing ,all dancing Gen 2 kits from Dragon I can't see a 10 yr old building one without losing interest. I had an Airfix Halifax at 11 and it ended up in the bin in a fit of pique because it was too complicated for me. The beauty of Airfix is they are a good building base (pardon the pun) to introduce people to the hobby. I think that unless youngsters come into the hobby it will go back to the dark days of the 80's where new kits were rare and not really that appealing.

The problem with marketing today is that when one is confronted with an advertisiment, one can simply change the channel, turn to the next page of the newpaper or magazine, go to the lobby of the theatre to get snacks for the movie (what is with the 20 minutes of coming attractions for films and three car commercials before each film!?), ignore the billboard (which most peope tend to do anyway), change radio stations, and so on so forth. The future of advertising lies within word of mouth, but to gain 'product buzz' by word of mouth you need to have a quality product, and Airfix doesn't exactly have that. It doesn't matter what industry, word of mouth works, and all of the big products that are selling right now are doing it via word of mouth (think iPods!) Airfix obviously has brand loyalty, but when their main demographic of supporters appears to be older males with children who are busy at work, well that not exactly going to work out. They needed to get those people go get their kids into Airfix, but it didn't pan out.

In answer to the question when was the last time you bought an Airfix kit? The answer is two weeks ago I enjoy there 1/24 aircraft kits where else can you get something that big at that price, I accept that they are not the most accurate or the best designed. I was I consider very lucky in that my grandmother worked for them in the seventies until palitoy took over I believe, when they released a kit I had it built threw paint at it and hung it on the ceiling, did I care that it was not a perfect miniature no not a bit it looks like a spitfire it is a spitfire even if the tail wheel is 1mm too small/big not perfectly formed. Back to there 1/24 scale aircraft I have six of their Stuka kits and I still think it’s the biggest baddest kit I ever built, 2 built and four in the loft boxed along with most of the other 1/24 aircraft kits they released, I know what’s coming but they are those things with wings. But how many of you have dribbled over pictures of Vinnie’s latest build, I suspect that if he started building kits as a kid he cut his teeth on Airfix and even if I am wrong in this a large number of builders we all wish to emulate will have. If Airfix is consigned to history then in the UK at the very least the hobby will suffer in terms of the new or not yet building kid kit bashers who will never continue or start.

Hi There It may seem harsh but Airfix threw away their market in the mid seventies when they cut back dramatically on the new releases. Once you'd built what interested you there was nothing new so you either left the hobby or switched to another manufacturer(s). Airfix made incremental improvements but didn't go back and correct the early items until too late, the 72nd Buccaneer sold well after the twenty plus year old original was retooled. The armour models were never given the chance. The footballers weren't a good move for the company just before the major competition one changed his hairstyle dramatically, one was disgraced and another was injured, we had individual figures from a supermarket (Tesco I think) given away. Wallace and Grommit sold well but the licence fee took most of the profits and left Airfix with all of the risk, the plastic was hard to work with to boot. All the above has come from the horses mouth and is confirmed by the stock heavily discounted at the wholesalers I use. All said it would be great if Hornby can work their magic. I still buy the odd Airfix kit when I want to do something different, if they corrected some of the older stuff I'd buy a lot more, Churchill turret, Crusader too long, Tiger roadwheels and track, a new Centurion etc. except the last all it would need would be a single new sprue. Rant over I needed to get that off my chest Thanks I feel better now

how exactly is the box art archaic? i have to agree with your other points, but the airfix artwork are little masterpeices, if you could frame them i'd have them on the walls all over my house! leonardo da vinci's mona lisa isn't exactly cutting edge, but some people still rate it! i rest my case