The Vintage Years of Airfix Box Art

Having grown up with model kits in the 1960's and 1970's, I was a true Airfix fan, they were accurate models that were readily available and just at the right price for a young boy with not a great deal of pocket money. The company has passed through the years and been in an 'up and down' situation until lately it has seen a resurgence to its former 'greatness'.Author Roy Cross joined Airfix as it entered its 'golden era' of the 1960's and 1970's and he was responsible for producing the box art that drew many a wide eyed young customer to Airfix and their products, in this first volume he discusses how he evolved into an artist of some repute and went on the produce the art for Airfix's premier kits of those early years. The cover of this book is probably one of his best ever-showing Airfix's B-17 Flying Fortress delivering a bomb load and firing off every gun on the aircraft in its defence as well as flying on only three engines. As Airfix was releasing its state of the art model kits, particularly its four engined bombers, TV shows such as 'Twelve O'Clock High' enabled young modellers to take a break from the kit to watch the action on the screen.In this book the author describes how he progressed into the world of a commercial artist and came to work for a model kit company, along the way he also managed to work with some of the premier artists of the day in figure modelling, aircraft and vehicles and describes his work in bringing a new model kit from its design stage to the final package state, where the artwork of its packaging went a long way to selling the product and making it appealing. In some cases, the different model kit companies were releasing similar kit subjects, so buying a Hawker Hurricane from Airfix as opposed from Revell was probably due to the first encounter of how the kit was packaged and presented.I enjoyed this book from both a nostalgic reference of Airfix and its products in those early years to the story of how the company, once producing a product for sale, then goes about getting it packaged into an appealing form to make people want to buy it. In summary an extremely well written and laid out reference on Airfix products and their early days in the plastic model kit market. Very well illustrated and presented, the book makes a good reference and also a nostalgic trip down memory lane. Well done, Roy Cross!

Books on the history of model kit companies have become popular in recent years, and a segment of that interest deals particularly with kit box art. Arthur Ward already did the definitive history of Airfix itself some years ago; now comes noted artist Roy Cross's take on the box art in this oversize book. Aside from plentiful examples of the art we are familiar with, Cross shows the complete path from concepts to reality, including some fascinating looks at concepts that didn't make it to the boxes, and reasons why. An index shows where any of the subjects illustrated is shown in the book. There's a lot of nostalgia here, and it reminds me of those heady days in the `60s and `70s when it seemed that Airfix was releasing half-a-dozen new kits every month. Recommended, if the topic appeals to you.

Great book with some amazing artwork from the airfix series. Highly recommend!

I thought this was great! Having grown up making Airfix models in the 70's the pictures and story in this book brought it all back to me. It doesn't have all the great box-top artwork, just a large selection, but still has most of the main ones I remember (and built!). Highly recommended for anyone who doesn't want to let go of their youth!

A very fine collection of very well reproduced images of the Airfix box art art of Roy Cross. A must-have if you like his work.

Cavalcade of classic Airfix boxtop pictures from 60s and 70s. Apart from high-quality pictures, the book offers relatively little. However, for anyone been hooked with Airfix kits as a kid this book is a treasure. Some of the boxtops I had forgotten, but this book brought back so many vivid memories of the golden days of early 70s when all the boys in my neighbourhood assembled model kits.

A lovely illustrated and presented book which shows some of the best artwork which appeared on Airfix box tops. I recommend this book to all Airfix model lovers.

Gorgeous book for the lover of the model aeroplane and its art.

Si l'on aime ce type d'illustrations, c'est un bon retour dans le passé.

Bought on a bit of a whim thinking for around 25 quid it doesn’t matter if it’s a bit naff! What a great slice of nostalgia though, brought back many childhood memories. Illustrations are simply beautiful and, although there isn’t a great deal of text (it is all about the pictures after all) it’s interesting to read the background behind Them.

Una carrellata delle più famose illustrazioni delle scatole airifix. Solo chi è nato negli anni '60 e '70 può capire l'emozione nel rivedere le stesse illustrazioni su cui ci si lustrava gli occhi da ragazzini nei negozi di modellismo. Era una epoca differente passata a incollare e pitturare rivivendo momenti storici del passato. Non c'erano videogiochi, non c'erano smartphone, c'era l'Airfix con le sue scatole di montaggio per tutte le tasche.

ein tolles Buch für alle die in jungen( oder älteren ) Jahren die tollen Airfix Modelle auf Mutters Küchentisch zusammengeklebt haben . Ich hatte mir damals auch immer die Bilder der Verpackungen ( Airfix, Matchbox , Revell ) ausgeschnitten uns gesammelt.Die Bilder sind großformatig dargestellt und bringen sofort wieder den Flair der damaligen Zeit zurück als noch nicht alles digital war und jede Zeichnungen ein kleines Abenteuer erzählt hat ! Dabei stehen noch zu jedem Bild kleine Geschichten des Künstlers zur Entstehung !Nostalgie für manchen Modellbauer von früher , eine Kaufempfehlung von mir für diesen schönen Bildband der einen für eine kurze Reise zurück in die Kindheit schickt !!

That's a book of one of the major AIRFIX box art artists. With his typical way of bringing airplane, boats, etc... to life, he has enjoyed several generations of AIRFIX fan's. It's very nice to read in his book the background and insight stories about his art and the history of AIRFIX box art.