The Airfix Book of Scale Modelling is the essential guide to getting the most out of this fascinating and rewarding hobby, explaining how to build scale models to suit all levels of modelling skill. With full colour photography throughout, the book covers the history of modelling and of the Airfix company, and shows how injection moulded kits are made. It then describes and reviews the major modelling scales, as well as outlining the range of paints, tools and accessories that are available. Chapters include guides to choosing a kit, tools for the job, painting, decals, conversions, figure-painting, dioramas and more. Common problems and how to solve them are addressed, and there is also a series of step-by-step construction projects, including expert builds of the F86 Sabre jet, the Aston Martin DBR9, a Panzer IV tank, the Airfix yeoman figure (reissued for the London 2012 Olympics), a Trafalgar class submarine and a scenic diorama.

Produced in full collaboration with Airfix and Humbrol, this book explains how to build scale models to suit all levels of modelling skill. With full colour photography throughout, different kits in a range of scales are reviewed and evaluated, along with a comprehensive overview of the paints and accessories that are available.

Starting with the very basics, the author guides you through the essential skills and techniques needed to build a scale model aircraft to be proud of. Concentrating on the construction of plastic kits in the popular scales, Scale Aircraft Modelling also looks at how to improve your model or create a different version by using specially manufactured components in plastic, resin and metal. Topics include: Tools; Construction tips; Painting tips; Biplane rigging; Detailing; Airliner modeling; Weathering; Advanced techniques; Using resin and vac-form parts; and Health and safety.

The best-known and most important manufacturer of plastic model kits in the UK, Airfix has been at the forefront of the industry since 1955 when the first Airfix aircraft kit appeared in UK branches of Woolworth's. The kits were made to a constant scale and covered a wide variety of subjects, from aircraft to birds and from tanks to dinosaurs. In 1981 the famous London-based company closed down and only the kits survived intact. For the next twenty-five years Airfix was run by Palitoy and later Humbrol, but suffered from a lack of investment. In 2006, Hornby Hobbies Ltd, the train and Scalextric manufacturer, bought the ailing company and transformed it. Money and resources were ploughed into the range, and today Airfix releases around twenty new kits per year, designed to an incredibly high standard. The old kits of the 1950s and 1960s are gradually being replaced by new state-of-the-art tooling, all bearing that most prestigious name - Airfix. Published to coincide with the sixtieth anniversary of the first Airfix aircraft kit, Sixty Years of Airfix Models, tells the full story, year by year, of the company and its products. Illustrated throughout with colour photographs.of kits, box art and completed models.

Airfix has been commercially producing plastic kits since 1952 and its models have been made by successive generations of young boys and men alike. In the 1960s, a talented graphic artist called Roy Cross was commissioned to paint some of the box art for Airfix, and for a ten-year-period he provided many of the glorious paintings seen on the boxes, setting new standards for realism and accuracy. Many are still being used today, a full four decades later. Inside the pages of this book are some of Roy's best artworks, shown here in full format and in superb detail, with many reproduced here in book form for the very first time. As well as his vintage box art, Roy has included many sketches and alternative versions of his Airfix box art. After Roy left Airfix in 1974, the company went through a turbulent time. The present owners are Hornby, who have ambitious plans for Airfix and the other brands it acquired including Scalextric and Corgi. The decade that Roy Cross worked for Airfix, though, could be classed as their vintage era, with some of their finest models being produced then in their millions, ready for eager youngsters to build up into detailed miniature models of their favorite aircraft, ships and locomotives.

James May raids the Airfix archives to reveal how designers, graphic designers and production teams get a scale model from the drawing board concept to finished product. He also looks at the world of modellers and collectors.

Airfix was founded in 1939, initially manufacturing inflatable rubber toys. Now, they are synonymous with the modeling hobby. This book covers 50 years of the famous Airfix plastic soldier, from its production beginnings in 1958 through to the present day, detailing every figure Airfix has ever produced.