IRFIXThis company is based in England and produces kits of very detailed military figures on horses. This information provided by Karren Cassavant.
The company was founded in 1952 and is now owned by Hornby Hobbies LTD. Company website.
The following information has been researched and provided by Melodie Dowell:
Airfix is the oldest UK manufacturer of scale plastic model kits and has been producing kits for the mass market since 1952. Airfix produce a wide range of plastic kit models aimed at all types of scale modellers with subjects such as; military aircraft, ships, cars, dioramas and more recently licensed products such as Wallace & Gromit, and shortly Doctor Who.
Airfix was founded in 1939 by Nicholas Kove, a refugee from Hungary who originally manufactured rubber inflated toys. The name Airfix was chosen because part of the process involved fixing air into products. Kove also believed that all successful companies should have their names at the beginning of business directories and consequently the name Airfix was born. After WWII he switched to producing plastic combs, and was the first manufacturer to introduce an injection moulding machine.
In the late 1940s Airfix was approached by Harry Ferguson (the tractor manufacturer) to make a cheap model of one of his tractors that could be used by his sales team as a promotional tool. At first there were problems making the model, so it was decided to make it in a series of parts then to be assembled by a team of skilled workers.
This ready-built tractor proved to be popular and Ferguson allowed Airfix to produce them as toys and sell them under the Airfix name. It soon became obvious that more tractors could be sold if they were cheaper, and to achieve this they sold the kits unmade with instructions. This proved to be successful and shortly after Woolworths approached Airfix suggesting that by using a more stable polystyrene plastic and poly bags with a card header, it would meet the Woolworths retail price of 2 shillings. The small scale Golden Hind was launched in 1952. Woolworths buyers than began to ask for more subjects, then soon after Airfix began to produced a wider range of polybagged model kits – the all famous Spitfire model appearing from 1953.
Airfix grew throughout the 1960s and 70s as the plastic kit modeling hobby became ever more popular. The range then expanded to include figures, trains, trackside accessories, military vehicles, engines, rockets, large classic ships, warships, liners, modern cars, vintage cars, motorcycles, spaceships and more.
In the 1980s the plastic kit modeling hobby went into decline, this was blamed on a number of factors such as; the introduction of computer games, precision diecast models becoming available, a rise in oil prices (which affected the price of plastic) and declining birth rates. Due to this and heavy losses in Airfix’s other toy businesses, they were forced to declare bankruptcy, then later bought by General Mills. Four years later, General Mills decided to abandon toy production in Europe resulting in Airfix coming back onto the market. This time it was bought by the Hobby Products Group of Borden who also owned other brands such as Heller (the French based plastic kit manufacturer) and Humbrol (producer of modeling paints and accessories).
In 1995 Borden then sold the Hobby Products group (which included Airfix) to an Irish Holdings Company called Allen McGuire and continued to operate under the Humbrol name. In 2006 Humbrol Ltd went into administration resulting in Hornby Hobbies Ltd buying both the Airfix and Humbrol brand.
Under the ownership of Hornby Hobbies Ltd, the Airfix brand sits comfortably with the other well known brands of Hornby (model trains) and Scalextric (slot car racing). In 2007 Airfix have released various kits including; 1:72 RNLI Severn Class Lifeboat, a 1:48 MkI Spitfire and 4 Diorama Airfield sets under Hornby ownership. 2008 promises to be a busy year for Airfix with over a hundred new kits being releases, ten of which being new tooled kits such as; Doctor Who 'Welcome Aboard', Canberra B(I) 8 1:48 scale, Shaun the Sheep and many more.
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Two sets that include horses include:
Romans 1:72 (A01730)
The feared and well disciplined Roman army is depicted in this set containing a chariot with horses and driver, a centurion, standard bearer and legionaires in various poses.
WWI Royal Horse Artillery 1:72 (A01731)
Trying to make the army more mobile during the Great War the Royal Horse Artillery in this set have two field guns, a full team of horses, gun limber and full crew.
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