U.S. Airfix where are they/ what are they now?

[MsDano85gt]

another member posted a build model of a type K trans am and it inspired me to make this post

anyone can feel free to chime in what they know.....

Here are some nifty subjects!

the only thing i dislike of these kits are the pinewood derby style press on decals time and age do them no justtice as the only useable decal on my cobra mustang was the green cobra for the hood I barely got that on in one piece without disaster......

I know from kits i've had in the past "testors" had issued what is the "cowboy camaro" brown camaro pictured i remeber this simply for 2 reasons the wing on the back, and the fact that it was a snap oriented more curbside of a kit

so does this mean testors has all of these kits? where is testors now for that matter i see a die cast on the shelves once in awile.... not much in plastics

anyone feel free to chime in or add images if anyone has any of these what seem like rare? kits

[Rob Hall]

Some like the mustang were sold as Lindberg kits 30 years ago.

[MsDano85gt]

thats whats making me wonder I had a kit (lindberg) of the mustang cobra years ago as a kid,

so thats what i was wondering about airfix i don't think they are and american company??

but yet these 16 or so kits that were put out were "u.s. airfix" like they had bought some us company's molds perhaps (lindberg) maybe then started to runoff the models as their own?

whatever may have happened it must have been brief ( u.s. airfix)

[Rob Hall]

Airfix is an old British brand, USAirfix was their US brand briefly around 1980.

[JTalmage]

I have the yellow "custom mustang". I'm turning it back in to a stock looking 82 GT. I built the original spoiler and I am using a hood scoop that fits the bill. And painting it the appropriate shade of maroon/burgundy lol

[jbwelda]

obviously American trailer park trash was not their forte. they (Airfix) have a long line of excellent kits of all genres including very nice car kits in 1/32 scale. unlike those ducks you show there, their proportions were pretty much right on the money in most cases.

jb

[MsDano85gt]

yeah the quality is not really all there kinda seem like pump and dumps.... great subjects/ cars i say just not there on quality it seems

[JTalmage]

Agreed. The Custom Mustang I have, has MANY low spots in the body, and some unusual high and distorted spots as well. I did a lot of sanding and filling. Of course, when it fell over on the sidewalk with fresh paint and got a "custom gold leaf" job on it, that didnt make it much better... ugh.

[sjordan2]

British Airfix is owned by Hornby (famous for their train sets), who also reintroduced the Pocher brand.

[Brett Barrow]

USAirfix was a short-lived brand around from 79-81, I think Airfix's US distributor at the time was making a push to buy them and move production to the US with more US-oriented products but it ended up falling through and Airfix declared bankruptcy in 1981. Airfix went though several hands over the years (including being owned by for a short time by General Mills at the same time it owned MPC, leading to many MPC-Airfix cross boxings - see below), winding up being bought by Hornby in 2007 and I think they've done an outstanding job saving and resurrecting the iconic Airfix brand.

Edited September 8, 2014 by Brett Barrow

[niteowl7710]

I think this is a twofer of tool sharing and/or 3rd party packaging. Be interesting to know if the tooling always belonged to Lindberg from Day 1, or if like so many other awful things Lindberg bought over the years (Pyro, Palmer, etc) it was something they wound up with...if they still had them lying around, Round 2 would be the ones in possession of the tooling now.

Especially in the case of anything coming out of Testors. With the exception of the Boyd Series of kits in the 1990s like the Chezoom, pretty much everything they've ever produced was a case of someone - Fujimi, Italeri, JoHan, Lindberg - producing kits for them under contract, and they were then sold under the Testors label.

[The Creative Explorer]

the only thing i dislike of these kits are the pinewood derby style press on decals time and age do them no justtice as the only useable decal on my cobra mustang was the green cobra for the hood I barely got that on in one piece without disaster......

Don't want to be an ass, but is it possible you use . and , 's? I don't know how it is for Americans, but me as a foreigner has to read over that 5 sentences a few times to try to understand what you are trying to say. It would make reading a whole lot easier.

Thanks.

[MsDano85gt]

Don't want to be an ass, but is it possible you use . and , 's? I don't know how it is for Americans, but me as a foreigner has to read over that 5 sentences a few times to try to understand what you are trying to say. It would make reading a whole lot easier.

Thanks.

Excuse. me. for. Being. an American. with . POOR . English skills, nor do I care if I have poor Grammar! I do live in Mississippi Currently after all

[The Creative Explorer]

Even though you make yourself quite ridiculous with that reply, at least you manage to make it readable!

[MsDano85gt]

That was to be the intent! to be silly / Rediculous

[w451973]

I remember those. I have one of those Mustang Cobra's I'm still trying to figure out if I'm gonna get rid of it or not.