Airfix Magazines

Airfix Magazine No.1 was published in June 1960 at a retail price of 1/- (one shilling). Its editor was John Webb, Airfix's Public Relations advisor. The magazine changed many times over the following decades until it finally retired in the early 1990s. A short history follows:

• Launch : June 1960 in small size 7 x 4 inch format, editor John Webb, published by John Webb Press Services (JWPS) a PR company based in Brompton Road, London. Alan W Hall was Associate Editor.
• 1961 editor changed to Alan W Hall
• 1962 - 1966 - editor Darryl Reach
• Information from my May 1963 Magazine - editor : John Blunsden, publisher : Surridge Dawson and Co, Associate Editor : Darryl Reach, Advertising Director : Patrick Stephens
• January 1976 - the Magazine changed to A4 size. Editor at the time was Bruce Quarrie
• September 1978 - announcement in the Magazine that PSL Publications Ltd would no longer be responsible for publishing the magazine. The relationship with PSL Publications is interesting : Patrick Stephens was Advertising Manager with JWPS in the early 1960s and became Advertising Director with Airfix Magazine a few years later. By 1968, Patrick Stephens had formed his own company -PSL Publications - which had become outright publishers of the magazine. By 1978, Magazine sales had fallen from 100,000 copies per month to just 30,000.
• October 1978 - Magazine publishing taken over by Gresham Books of Woking, Surrey
• After the 1981 Airfix collapse, the Magazine had a series of publishers including Kristal, Darter and Albatross. During this period the editors were Chris Ellis and then David Taylor, with Ray Rimell as editor during the Albatros years. (note of interest : Mat Irvine was a regular contributor when the magazine was with Albatross)
• 1984 - Arthur Ward contributes to the Magazine as "Tailgunner Ward"
• August 1986 - Humbrol take over Airfix and the Magazine is temporarily closed down
• November 1986 - Magazine re-appears, published by Andrew James
• 1988 - Magazine changes hands again and appears as "Volume 1 Number 1" in September 1988 under the Alan W Hall (Publications) Ltd banner, with editor Jim Wood
• Last Magazine appears in November 1993, the circulation having dropped to about 5,000 per month. Jim Wood was not the very last editor of Airfix Magazine - that honour goes to Michael J. Gething who edited just one issue before the final closure.

Note that during the above period the actual title "Airfix Magazine" belonged to the Airfix company and the publisher, although autonomous in regard to editorial content, had no legal right to the title itself.
At its height, Airfix Magazine was one of the highest circulation hobby magazines in the history of publishing.

The following images (when complete) will show all the different Airfix Magazine styles over the years. This section is not yet complete - if you have a Magazine with a different style, please let me know !

May 1963	March 1970	February 1975
December 1978	January 1981	October 1981
October 1982	June 1984	September 1988 - Re-Launch
	Last ever Magazine - Oct/Nov 1993 (Vol 4 No 10)

A rare item - The Aircraft Conversions book by Alan W. Hall, subtitled "nine favourite model projects reprinted from the pages of Airfix Magazine"