James May on Airfix Kits - James May's Top Toys - BBC
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- Опубліковано 21 лип 2024
- James May talks to some of his childhood heroes about the Airfix kits he grew up with. Taken from James May's Top Toys.
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James May discussing Airfix is a hundred times more thrilling than Top Gear without him.
Love MR Cross's last remark " I think they're going to make it, don't you?" This is just the sort of imagination that airfix art could conjure up and lead to thousands of childhood adventures.
Roy Cross is the greatest artist that Airfix employed. Wonderful memories for me.
He will be 97 in four months.
is he still cognitive?
@Joeseph Smith It was not meant to be rude in anyway; A simple question that's all.
You sound very judgmental.
@Joeseph Smith I'm curious about the effects of cognitive decline in older people and wondered if an artist or studying art may have health benefits. stop judging me by your self!
@Colin Gregson 😁😁
He’s a century old today.
James May is damned near the most interesting man in the world.
He should be the new Dos Equis man
Discoverer of the true source of the Nile? Yeah, I'm pretty sure he is...
Why, who is he near?
@@colinlatham7905 the question is "where". Where is he near
Haha hes fuckimg not mate
That Lancaster artwork made me happy (or maybe sad). My father had to drive from Montreal to Toronto with a 8 year old me. He bought me that kit to keep me quiet for 7 hours. I vividly remember opening that box and building the kit in the back seat. No seat belts I bet. Thanks Dad. I didn't forget.
I also built Airfix kits on long car journeys! A few disasters such as cutting my finger quite badly. And having to vent off the glue fumes. Although my Dad smoked as well so the air in the car was probably quite toxic!
@@astronomenov99 *HAH* that was my thoughts exactly! I never did one when travelling, always at home on a nice sturdy bench or table :)
Building a glue-together kit while riding in a car...that's special. No desk or table for assembly...that's a challenge.
Montreal - Toronto in 7 hours? Why so long? lol
My first model kit are F-16 Thunderbirds version when I was 10 and after that a F-14 Tomcat Jolly Rodgers both from Tamiya. I still keep buying and building since then and moving on to Warships/Submarines and ground vehicles
Sadly in Montréal so many hobby shops closed as in countless places in North America.
I'm from Borneo Island and in the 1970s I went to an emporium and a shop just to stare at these boxes. Maybe once or twice a year I bought a small box. These together with War, Battle and Commando comics was my childhood in one sentence. Today I saw the kind gentleman who drew them.
Those comics were classics in their own right. So British in their orientation, you would think Britain won WW2 all by itself. I remember how the only words the German soldiers would say were "Achtung", "Schnell", "Donner und Blitzen" and "Donnerwetter" (whatever that means).
@@MrDino1953 you forgot one more, “Aiyeee.” 🤣
Had the pleasure of meeting Arthur Ward several years ago after purchasing his book "celebrating 50 years". A real airfix expert, he even replied back to a letter I sent after reading the book. Roy Cross's artwork was simply superb and probably did more to sell the kits than anything. Part of my childhood and will stay with me forever.
Ive been buying model kits since childhood (gundams,airplanes,tanks) and i think this hobby will stay with me until I'm much older. Sadly, I've been held down by adulthood on building kits.. from 2-3 kits per month when i was still in college. Now that I"m in my early 30s, its been downed to 1 kit for every 4 months... damn... i miss those day when you could build kits all day long....
Came here after hearing of Mr Cross's passing
Thank you for your amazing artwork Sir
Man I used to love Airfix & Matchbox kits.
James is right, the pictures were 50% of why we got them, the frame and action in those pictures, made a young lads mind race. Well it did for us kind of lads that loved going outdoors getting dirty, playing footy, up to all kinds of things.
Rainy days were model days, commando comics, battle annuals 💪🏻
I grow up on air fix models and love building them. I like the pictures on the boxes that had the actions .
Never known who made these paintings. Wonderful human.. :)
it's like constable a little guy from Essex uk paints some oil paintings of country side scenes then one day..... all art needs is discovering..
All of this is so true - the sanitisation of the artwork contributed massively to the fall in sales. There's more to this than mere depictions though - it is deeply disrespectful to those who saved our freedom at the cost of so many many lives to play down the unpleasant reality of the conflict they gave their lives to win.
My stepfather flew as navigator in a Wellington like the one pictured. Between him and a pair of huge Bristol Hercules engines - and if you have never heard a Bristol Hercules you can find them being run here on utube - was nothing but a bit of canvas each side. The same bit of canvas that was between him and enemy cannon fire.
It was me making Airfix models that drew his memories out of him and enabled him to speak of his experiences, and perhaps come somewhat to terms with them. RIP Tony and his generation - we owe them so much.
The art work on the box tops of these model kits ,told the story behind the model you are building . Thank you Airfix . I built a few of these kits in my child hood and early adult years .
My apologies from Australia for the complete and utter wowser who made you change your fantasic art.
Not your fault mate. If it wasnt them it would have been someone else.
It was actually a bill about truth in advertising, not political advertising though. Still waiting for that bill.
That's why for quite some time the kit boxes had a photograph of the actual assembled model.
Thank you Mr. Cross for adding so much excitment to my childhood dreams. It is people like you who made me want to paint ships and airplanes and finally make a living from it.
My passion has always been models of commercial airliners, and AIrfix had the best selection of them in 1/144 scale when I was a kid. I'm 52 now, and have a Caravelle, a DC-9-30, an A300B4, a VC-10, a Comet IV and a 727-200 on display, among other kits from other manufacturers. I love knowing the story behind the box cover art, as well as the artist who created it all. Thanks to you, James May!
Mr May this is one of the best videos you’ve made. I live in Toronto Canada and my scale modeling career goes back to 1958 or maybe ‘59. A few years later I was able to afford a Lanc and remember showing my Lancaster to the man next door who was a tail gunner on a Lanc. Seeing the amazing man who made the art work is a real treat.
Roy Cross still going strong at the grand old age of 95- long may he continue.
100 today.
The memories are so strong looking at the kits art work.
Mine is standing at an outside work bench in Singapore, my Dad nearby with a cold one ,printing an Avro Anson, in my minds eye, perfectly at 8 years old, I can almost smell the paint.
Those kits brought to life my Dads stories of the fall of singa , we would visit the airbase , watch the take off and landings, explore old defences and have lunch back at the Naval base, missed lout on seeing the Sunderlands , but got to crawl through the one at Motat in NZ when Dads tour was over, I made that kit soon after , 1:72.
Excuse the rambling, I've been emptying my folks house out for sale today and my heads full of memories.
Airfix is a National Treasure.
My very first kit was the Airfix Concorde in BOAC livery. But my Dad actually had to built it because I was way too young (7 or 8?). I remember he had quite a struggle to get everything to fit, in particular the windows. Happy memories!
That kit is being re-released later this year.
I left school and went to work in a model shop.1975,kits kicking off and I got 20% discount.Lovely,lovely memories!
Where was the hobby shop located?
James keeps taking me back to my youth !!
That B29 Superfortress image is a classic!
+Jonathan Lundkvist oh yeah i wish i would've been around back then
+Alex Paumen What?? You WANT to be in the middle of a world war??
I meant when the model was released lol.
Happy Birthday Roy ! 100 years old today !
Those old kits in action painting really sold me in the very early 1960s they were one of the kind kits for the day and I am till building them I love Airfix and I grew up with them their kits now are a dream come true compared with their older kits, Airfix keep going strong we all love you.
The Lancaster box art was/is fantastic...so many good memories of my childhood days.
I can testify to this as well. I had an Airfix catalog growing up, and I remember studying it all the time, and that beautiful stunning box art was responsible for so much of my money going to the local hobby shop. There's a lot of brilliant artwork with model kits nowadays, but it's just not as captivating as Roy Cross' work.
Airfix is the best thing that ever hit America in 1963 Still building them have the entire collection in my stash Frankie Day
As a hardcore modeler in my adult years, I still geek out over boxart. I could spend an entire afternoon with the fellow who painted all of it back in the day. I miss the old box art.
I remember when this doc' first aired on BBC2... good times.
Probably for the best that May didn't mention the dark times of the 1980's; when Airfix - at that point owned by General Mills - had no boxart at all.
The decision was extremely unpopular though, and was reversed after Humbrol bought Airfix. At the same time they undid much of the prior sanitizing.
Whilst they had little money for new kits, Humbrol did know the value of great art.
Every modeler who is well-known is surely influenced by those wonderful Airfix boxes. One of the times I visited Hendon with a friend of mine who is also a modeler he tried to reproduce the Lysander Art Box, pretending to be an allied spy climbing the Lysander ladder. Museum staff nearly expelled him for crossing the chain surrounding the plane. Happy modelling to all
2:56 they've airbrushed out the swastika as well
Kevin Burns ffs 🤦♂️.
@@Wessex90 You won't see any Swastikas on kit box art - and that has been the case for most of the history of plastic kits (there are exceptions, of course). Even when first released, that painting of the Ju88 would have had the Swastika removed on the actual painting shown on the boxes. The problem is that the Swastika is actually banned in quite a few countries, so it was more economical for kit producers to have one box for all markets.
This clip is over ten years old now and since then Airfix has reintroduced dramatic artwork on their boxes - often by artist Adam Tooby - and it is very good.
@@EricIrl Fairly certain they were on the box art when I bothered to buy airfix. In Europe Germany does its best to airbrush away swastikas. Luckily you can buy them from Poland on large sheets and non German kit suppliers often include them on their decals (except airfix and Revel).
@@mbak7801 Airfix dropped Swastikas from their box art and decal sheets well over 50 years ago. Other manufacturers held on a bit longer.
As regards "aftermarket" Swastika decal sheets - there are quite a few sources for those. Xtradecals in the UK have a very useful 1/72 sheet which is the one I use if and when I am building a World War 2 Luftwaffe model kit.
M Bak surprisingly Poland is one of the only companies that doesn’t censor German vehicles and markings in their kits
Thank you for bring back a lot of fond memories.
I wonder how much the original box and box art for those models go for. Honestly, in my opinion the box art is of better quality than the actual models.
I bought an original matchstick for £5
Models never quite lived up to the artwork, did they?
Douglas Burch My painting ability as a kid was shockingly crap. It’s better, through age and interest in WH40K, but those modern fights Airfix and Revell do keep me going. Working a pair of F-35A’s and an F-22 Raptor at the moment.
That was kind of the trope; for as May points out in the same segment, the finished model always looked different from the boxart.
However: let's bare in mind that ability in painting is the main reason why, alongwith aspects like P/E not existing back then.
The kit was always an anti climax as the artwork was so good, didn't approve of the later sanitised pictures, part of this is to remember that war is brutal and to be avoided.
I always loved the artwork for the big 1/24 scale Airfix "Superkits" back in the 70s. Remember the huge box with the diving Stuka? Awesome. I always wanted one as a kid, but could never afford one. That was until I was 16, and the first thing I bought with my first full time pay packet....the big Spitfire.
@fus149 Hammer Superb! Kind of wish my Dad had wound my mum up then. I asked for an Airfix "Superkit" every Christmas for years, but never got one. Put that right in the end though. Now got a couple of each in the original 70s boxes. One to keep and one to build. The big kid in me couldn't resist.
Thank you Mr. Cross for introducing me - albeit unknowingly - to what would later become a bona fide love of aviation art! It all began with you with the wonder and awe of your fantastic artwork and every Airfix model from the age of 6 began with it., firing a young imagination and a curiosity's about history. Thank you so very much seems a bit inadequate, but it’s all I have.
Thank you so much!
That little kid is a genius, I gotta try this out
I am 16 and love building these kits. Everything from WWI to modern day Typhoon fighters is what I have built.
Not only airfix, other companies such as Heller make some great kits although quality wise, Airfix is the best I have seen so far.
Favourite model so far is the KC 135 from Heller I built and the Spitfire in 2013.
You need to try tamiya kits, specially for tanks
Not only part of English boy's childhood, the products were sold in USA too
And Sweden! :-)
and australia!
... and even Iceland. ;o)
Even over here in the netherlands, I did build quite a few kits
And in Germany ,my Friend and me diving in another World with Airfix and the Actionart in Front of da Box :-)
...what a wonderful contribution !! (how I wish I could have seen more of this)
Matchbos die casts and after this Airfix kits were part of my childhood. The first kit was the Paul Bolton Defiant. Nice to see the boxart again, I built almost every kit in the early 1970. Thank you :-)
Boulton Paul Defiant.
Brilliant. Happy memories like James.
Absolutely wonderful artwork. So good to actually see the man behind them. I'm with James on the Lancaster. Others that spring to mind being the Meteor, Tiger Moth, and Ju.52. Wow, so evocative it's almost unsettling.
I am in year 8 and not only do I love Airfix plastic kits I also have a vast collection of commando comics👍🏻
I’m only 14 but my grandad Mike loved airfix and he would make them with my dad, he died in 2002 but this year while going through my grandmas attic I discovered a box full of airfix empty boxes and another with a letter and an old unopened spitfire with a letter to my dad written 3 months before he died of lung cancer talking about how happy he was to have shared the hobby with my dad and that if he had children he should share it with them
Airfix kits were such a big part of my life in the USA during the 1960s
5 years on and I'm still collecting airfix!
+FLAMINKSKULL 299 55 years on so am I!
Terry Shulky
So you've been collecting airfix for 55 years?!?
Now that's cool!
+FLAMINKSKULL 299 Yes, I've just finished the Horsa glider (though it is a knock off of an old Italian model) and am still working on the 1/12th scale Bentley received as a Xmas present.
Its part of our childhood that stays with us forever.
Just the right blend of humour, self mocking and genuine admiration. Like Mr May I can remember this box art from the sixties and seventies not sure what that says about me!
Very nice to see the legends in person.
He is right about Airfix's place as childhood heroes but I give a mention to Frog, another UK manufacturer who made some great kits and actually did it before Airfix and actually made the World's first ever plastic model construction kits.
I am an AIRFIX fan because of Roy Cross beautifully painted WWII Planes in Action on the AIRFIX catalogues & model boxes! Sad they replaced those action scenes with just a photo of the plane! ... 🐕
Started building my first Airfix kit in 1969. Revell a close second. Still an avid modeller till today.
Superb Mr May
I have so far only built one airfix model (I am new to building models) it was an he-111 p-2 and I enjoyed building it.
my very first airfix model was also a heinkel 111! In 1964!
wow...what a incredible video..the man who made those paintings sparks my not only my passion to buying airfix but more! I now currently have over 1,000 models airplanes and I been collecting from 1974 (4th grade) to now. (45 yrs collecting). What bugs me alot is why is there no more new models to create and have hold of the marketplace? Just recently I learn France had way more flying planes than I knew of...how cool it would be to have such a kit? A few months ago I finally stumbled a kit that I been looking for which is now new on the market...the B-18. Now of they can make the B-23 I be super happy.
Great stuff. Many childhood memories include Airfix and Humbrol.
Superb! I made many of these as a kid and young adult, including the Saturn V rocket. Frog "Dogfight Doubles" were also superb.
Have to admit it was the box artowrk that got me everytime, action,excitement energy and cheap at Woolworths.
I am so proud to be part of Airfix model community. I am building models since I was 10, I think. Now I am 23 and still it is awesome!!!
I loved the Airfix & MPC kits growing up. I remember getting those kits for the little allowance I got a week at grocery stores and pharmacies. I certainly could not afford those new kits in the hobby shops - or even the newer kits coming out at Kmart! Maybe that is why I am hoarding them now...
+LodniKranzon I started collecting (almost all aircraft) back in 1960 or so. After 15 years I had in excess of 100 aircraft models - AirFix, FROG, Revell and others. My parents prevailed upon me to get rid of them,against my wishes - you're too old for these, they said. When I moved out I restarted in a small way - a few aircraft, ships, AFVs, 1/9th scale motorcycles at first until today, when I have just finished my latest aircraft, for a total of 301 aircraft, and a round dozen ships of various (large) sizes, a round dozen 1/9th scale motorcycles and a round dozen AFVs, making 337 in all!
The only problem is I'm running out of space!
Many of the once I have more recently completed have been donated to museums, Veteran's Organizations, ect. :-)
Kmart was where I mainly bought my kits.
There was a toy store nearby but they were more expensive than Kmart but if they had a kit I really wanted I just had to save up for it
Beautiful artwork
Thanks from Chile 🇨🇱. We all dreamed about being a pilot.... Some still do.
hope youre still shooting for pilot one day.
Cheers from the USA
i only just started out on airfix kits and i never would've thought the company is as old, maybe seeing not just the box art but the whole new look of them too
Fantastic insight
We didn't have that brand in the US, but we had our share of model building. My fav kit was a tie between the B17, the Spitfire and corsair!!
we had airfix in the USA. i built many airfix kits in the northeastern united states as a kid in the 1970s and 1980s
i remember the first model shop i went as a kid had those sliding ladders on rails like libraries because the shelves were so high
I grew up with Airfix kits, right from that bagged Spitfire. I could never get the RE8's top wing to stay on until the glue set.
The Re 8 is not easy to build with so many struts !
Loved all the Airfix models I built as a kid. My favorite were the Bristol Beaufighter and the Handley Page Halifax. it was probably the artwork. Built many an Airfix WWI biplane. My last Airfix models were all OO.
+ 1 on the Airfix Beaufighter kit!
This documentary got me into airfix. I’m on my 12th model
1/72 scale Spitfire Mk IX in a 'blister' pack bought from woolies.......that was my first of many!! Remember it as clear as day and great memories of sitting with my dad glueing, painting and going through the motions of dogfights and bombing runs; glorious times!
I’m called Roy cross my dad was called Roy cross and my son is called Roy cross.
Thanks for the memories Roy.
James is right all kids loved the artwork …
Thankyou sir
This was great
My favorite air fix kit and box art is of the halifax mk 3 bomber.
Fantastic!
From the age of 8 to 14, every other Saturday was spent in Chester, painstakingly choosing my next kit. We visited about 5 model shops. Occasionally it was a trip to Liverpool or Manchester or even Llandudno. Model shops were everywhere. Started on Airfix, but built them all from Revell, Italeri and the American Ertl, Monogram, AMT and the rare and exclusive Japanese manufacturers. I'd love to build a 1/32 Mosquito again and make a 'proper' job of it!
I remember, sinking my (poorly put together) airfix Bismarck, with my Dad on a caravan holiday. We had borrowed my Brothers Diane/a air pistol.
Great days.
Loved the kits and the boxes of soldiers. Used to have doens of models
I am building my first airfix kit currently. The box art is very nice, plenty of violence. I guess they learned their lesson. Kit is going together nicely as well.
What’s on the box illustration?
Hey That Lancaster painting is on my door as a metal sign!
safe to say i give this video 10 stars
My fave was the B17 artwork , so dramatic. My Dad made them when I was little And I used stand next to him staring at the pictures while he worked on the kit. And of course the smell of the glue.
I had many Airfix aircraft, and lots of model cars, etc, but the crate with all my toys, amongst other things, went missing when we moved back to UK when my Dad left the Air Force.
I've never recovered!
I can say the same thing for the 90's-00's Warhammer box art. Beautifully painted, action packed, stunning artwork.
And now everything is basically a painted in CGI-copy of the miniatures in the exact same pose as the miniatures are.
I agree, the new art for warhammer may spell their final demise post lockdown. The shops these days are new and fresh with glamerous space marines amd snake women, shitty really. The grimdark world has been tested and tainted
My brother worked in the local Woolworths and his job for a while was making up and painting the Airfix kits for the displays which hung from the ceiling above the Toy counter.
Talk about living the life of riley, miss the "free" pick n mix as well
When I was building model airplanes as a kid, my favorite model kit was a company called Mongram. They had some of the best
paintings on the cover boxes, that were so good you could cut them out and frame them!
Yes the large scale bombers, such as the B-24, B-25, B-17 & the B-29 were some of Monograms finest box art.
I was part of it, and still am!
We collected the small pictures of other kits on the side of boxes and pasted them in books. Competed about who had the best collection!
Brilliant work by Roy Cross
Remember when MPC released Airfix kits in the 70s under the Profile Series, where you had more than one decal/finish option. Could buy them in drug stores, variety stores, just about anywhere. PBY was my favorite. Also when MPC put in extra crew figures; still have the AC-47 (built, pretty rough shape) and Coast Guard C-130 (unbuilt).
I loved these things . Sit for hours glueing planes , tanks, cars and motorbikes together . Then painting them
I'm 13 now (14 in September) but I love Airfix kits. I hate were people sit down and play on computer games all day long.
Jonty
I started my collection in 1982 when I was 12yo. I had 56 models but over the years only 16 survived to these days. I´m glad to hear some young people still appreciate this art. Congratulations!
I started in the mid 70's and five years later i got about 1300 Airfix 1:72 soldiers, about 100 planes, many tanks, vehicles and some ships in smaller scale. But my favourite until today is the 1:72 german E-Boat.
@@Don_Camillo I started in 1959 with the Airfix Mosquito, with the crew sitting on pegs in the cockpit! Since then I have built over 430 aircraft, together with ships, tanks and motorcycles (Protar, Ah!). I have a B-36, B-29 and B-58 plus a Blohm und Voss Bv222 (swastika and all) hanging on the wall in the lounge with 3 cabinets full with series 1 & 2 models and the rest upstairs.
@@Wombat1916 : Wow....Respect !👍
@@Don_Camillo Thank you. It just takes time.
Awesome !!
Yups,, The Lanc artwork was my favourite too :D
Roy Cross......"I think they're going to make it dont you"? They certainly did, and so did the Lancaster "G George" as well, which is displayed pride of place in the AWM Canberra.
I found a Golden Hind in a cigarette box my dad's cupboard when we cleared out his home in 2007. Its in a picture box in my study.
I remember when May was this young... and when he had tons of great programmes on the Beeb.
What will that original drawing book be worth today.
Like the story about the enterprising lad who procured boxes of merchandise for minimum expense and some elbow wiggle.
I honestly hope they are able to scan the originals so we all can see them
So I was seeing what unbuilt model kits i had to make. I had lots, Airfix, Tamiya etc. But then i saw my unbuilt Revell B-17G and the box art was excellent. A squadron being intercepted by '109s, very action packed.
Thanks mr Roy Cross 👍