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The illustrated leaflets prior to 1962
The first "real" Airfix catalogue appeared in 1962 - see 1st Edition cover photograph later. Before that Airfix produced frequent kit lists - sometimes every month. Printed in simple duo-tone, these flimsy and very rare publications were the earliest illustrated kit listings from the manufacturer.
1958 - This is one of the very first coloured leaflets from 1958. It's marked Autumn 1958, but earlier English and Dutch versions are known from May 1958. |
1959 - This Spring 1959 leaflet has a Lancaster on the front cover. It's not known whether this single edition is unique in style. |
1959 - The Vickers Wellington featured on the covers of leaflets from the Summer and Autumn of 1959.
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1959-1960 - From Winter 1959, leaflets appeared almost every month - most of them with this Fairey Rotodyne front cover.
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1960 - From about August 1960 to December 1960 we have an aircraft carrier on the front....
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1961 - Leaflets were issued monthly from January to May 1961. Each has this battleship cover. |
1961 - This leaflet is Autumn 1961 - it's not known exactly when the change from monthly to quarterly happened... |
1961-1962 - Complete change of style. The Halifax will now feature on all future leaflets.....
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At some point in 1962 the leaflets changed to blue and became "editions". This is a 9th Edition from 1964.
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Inside detail of the April 1961 leaflet shown above. Leaflets were fan-fold and opened up to 6 pages. |
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The various price lists
In conjunction with the Catalogues, Airfix also issued periodic Price Lists. These often went inside the main catalogue or were available separately. The price lists referred to the main catalogue pages, and are of particular interest for several reasons - 1. They listed kits sometimes not shown in the main catalogue. 2. They announced new kit availability, and are therefore a more accurate guide to the first release date of a kit and 3. They contain some wonderful fantasy art-work, as they were often published before the real art-work was available. In some years, more than one price list was published.
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| 1974 Price List. Features - Locomotive kits marked as Limited Availability; Collectors Series of museum engines now had an optional electric motor available as part number 09399-4 (price 30p); The famous HO/OO polythene ready-made Elephant Gun (09782-2) at 12p!
| 1969 Price List. Features - The very rare Attack Force Set, 1661; some very strange box-top artwork as shown below
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A 1968 Price List. Features - The original James Bond autogyro; The Ariel Arrow motorcycle as a Series 1 plastic bag. The Chippie character is NOT part of the price list, but is a later hand-drawn addition! |
A later 1968 Price List. Features - significantly fewer kits than the earlier price list (left) and a noticeable price rise! |
The Catalogues from 1962 to 1989
(The best description of the Catalogues, their contents, and in what year they were actually issued can be found in the Arthur Ward book - "Airfix")
Note that in the early 1980s (the Palitoy years) many of the Catalogues were "trade" and aimed at the retailer. Several Catalogues also contained details of display stands and some catalogue numbers referred to boxed assortments of kits etc.
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 Very rare 1981 Catalogue |
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 1984 Catalogue |
 1984 Retailers Catalogue |
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 Rather boring 1987 Catalogue |
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 No "real" catalogue was issued in 1991 |
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 1999 50th Anniversary Catalogue |
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 2003 New Releases leaflet |
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And a couple more for the Collector - two F.W.Woolworth's catalogues, and a very attractive 1977 Price List...
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