Open letter to Airfix

[peebeep]

For goodness sake Andy, do get a grip, this forum is not going to be the undoing of Airfix, neither is the lack of communication with customers, supposed or otherwise. Given the propensity and ease with which people here happily slag off Airfix and Airfix products, do you honestly expect any Airfix employee taking the risk of getting involved in a flame war publicly? If anything were to get this forum shut down it's the constant drip of negativity toward Airfix and given the past record I'm quite amazed they were prepared to give it another go. The simple fact is whilst they still have tooling still capable of pushing out products, they will use it, because it makes good business sense if the stuff sells and they're running a business, not providing a service to individual modellers.

[Ratch]

 Reasonable folk won't expect you to answer every post, and at times you may have to refer a question up the pyramid before you can respond - that is to be expected. But it would be good to see some interaction going on, on a regular basis.

[John Bollig]

 Dear Admin

 

Our concerns are many and frankly I am scared silly about hornby's financial problems.  It would be reasuring and helpful if admins gave us some idea of what the team has planned to save hornby and more importantly, airfix. I have a lot at stake here. I have amassed a large collection of airfix lits and build them as often as I can.  What we do not want to see is a repeat of the past failure.

[Ratch]

 Is having a large stash a risk somehow?

I'd have thought a large stash was insurance that you can make your desired kit at some point in the future!

[John Bollig]

 Ratch,

If  X has a large stash of airfix kits and X needs spare parts or in some cases new or replaced decals, what better source than the company that made the kit ? I live in a rural area with absolutely nothing for miles but cattle, wheatfields and the occasional town of less than 15,000 souls. The cheapest and best way to get a kit is thru Hornby USA.  Nobody sells airfix here, the nearest place is 200 miles away.  NO hornby, no Airfix, no models to get to my doorstep. I have tried amazon, ebay and mail order catalogs, all three are more expensive than Hornby USA.  I don't think I am being paranoid here when I lay at night in a cold sweat wondering if I am ever going to see another airfix kit again.  I have been burned in 1981, 2005 and now possibly 2016.  All I can say is that I am mad as blank and I am not going to take it anymore. I want my Airfix, NOW. 

[nmcabecadas]

Discussing financial problems in any open forum don't seems a good option. Such issues need a different place to be discussed and doubt any company will give a reply in a open space apart from "everything is fine".

[DavidJC]

As has been mentioned, even if Airfix are in financial difficulties, it's not for us to know, or for them to tell us or for us to know what they are or how they plan to overcome them. 

[Ratch]

NO hornby, no Airfix, no models to get to my doorstep. I have tried amazon, ebay and mail order catalogs, all three are more expensive than Hornby USA.  I don't think I am being paranoid here when I lay at night in a cold sweat wondering if I am ever going to see another airfix kit again.  I have been burned in 1981, 2005 and now possibly 2016.  All I can say is that I am mad as blank and I am not going to take it anymore. I want my Airfix, NOW. 

Paranoid is exactly how that sounds

[Sgt.Squarehead]

  

Hello Ratch - Roy here.

 .....

However, if Airfix are going to launch a forum on their very own website, they should at least visit (and respond) occasionally.

 

Roy has a point Ratch, part of what makes the ATF work so well is the open dialogue between the people running it and the people using it (sure certain stuff has to go on behind the scenes but it doesn't prevent any of the team from getting involved in the wider discussion).....It's a two way thing.

 

Airfix can reap a lot of benefit and gain real insight into the actual wants and needs of the community, whether they can utilise that information to build a viable business plan is another matter.....But one thing I am certain of, if Airfix let us know what they want from us, we'll willingly give it if we can.

[SunrayOne]

Having just read through this entire thread and thinking about people's gripes about lack of communication, it may simply be a case of not enough hours in the day. I was at an Airfix talk given at the RAF Museum in Hendon the other day. Of the many questions asked during the Q&A section, the one that caused the biggest stir was "How many people work at Airfix?" The guy (I'm afraid I forget his name at the moment) thought for a moment and said, "Well, including the financial people that work across the Hornby range, about 10". 

Ten?!! And some of them apparently also "moonlight" for the other Hornby brands (design work for Scalextric, for example).

It is amazing to me (considering what creating a new kit involves) that they are able to produce new kits at all! Yes, it would be fun to have a scanned version of yourself in a personalised, customised kit, but it's a 10 person company and the average 1:72 kit takes 9 months to create. Yes, they should have a complete library of every single aircraft ever including your personal favourite, but it's a 10 person company - how many people and what does it cost to LIDAR scan an aircraft (if one is available and reachable) or build a computer model from scratch from near century year-old engineering plans that may be woefully incomplete? Yes, they should have an internet/social presence that dwarfs that of all others - 10 person company and they all have aircraft to scan!

Some sort of cross-pollinisation marketing could be an interesting thought though. Perhaps something could be found with Gaijin Entertainment, the developers of War Thunder? Lots and lots of WW2/Cold War aviation enthusiasts there (ranging from older aviation geeks like myself to... well, younger players). I myself play War Thunder while I'm waiting for the last coat of paint to dry! I build the kit while flying a simulated version of the same aircraft (or tank) - very inspirational and fun.

[DavidJC]

Of the many questions asked during the Q&A section, the one that caused the biggest stir was "How many people work at Airfix?" The guy (I'm afraid I forget his name at the moment) thought for a moment and said, "Well, including the financial people that work across the Hornby range, about 10". 

Whilst I don't know and I'm not going to dispute his answer, at the same time I also wonder if it was tongue-in-cheek: if it was it would have been inappropriate I think. They might have a work-force of 200, but only 'about 10'of them work'. As I say, it could have been tongue-in-cheek but as such, inappropriate.

 

However, if there really are only 10 (which I'd be sceptical of given the Airfix brand), then it shows just how little time they will have to spend responding to anything on here. It'd be interesting for Administrator at some point to confirm or deny this.

[ironsides]

200 for Hornby maybe? however 29 comes to mind, I would be suprised if there was more then 20-30 actual employees involved in Airfix, mostly your dealing with infratructure, kit design supply/stock/shipping and of course the spare parts Lady/Gentelman..... since production and almost everything to do with it is outsourced.. so there may only actually be 10 directly employed in Airfix any others could be independent or joint Hornby staff.... .-)

[Ratch]

Ten sounds about right. A dozen or so ATF members had the pleasure of visiting the set up at Margate a few years ago and we outnumbered the staff - marketing, R&D, spares, warehouse - its a very small (lean, efficient) operation in this country. Of course there will be additional workers (subcontractors) abroad.

[feanor]

I spent up to a whole hour crafting a meaningful response, but thought, Naahhh. I know better now.

Between Airfix being too busy on current and future stuff, and the fort being held by the usual subjects here with their Mantras, I respectfully suggest that you, Airfixes frustrated customers, source their desired Model from someone else, if you can, or start scratching. Its the only way you'll find peace and some kind of sanity 'cos you wont find any in a thread like this. I've found both, and my head is a lot better. 🤐 Try other manafacturers like I did. Then the fun will come back into your modelling.

[Airfix Dev Team]

Well this is an entertaining thread! As I have a bit of time to kill today (believe me, this is rare!) I'll answer a few of the more... sensible topics that have been raised in this thread. 

 

I won't discuss the financial situation of the company, mostly because I know how strong the roots of this company are... and partly because I'm a designer and simply have no interest in interpretting financial jargon! All I can do is reassure you wonderful people that, if the Airfix Dev team are not worrying, neither should you!

 

On to the product range. Although certain kits may upset certain individuals (Wrong scale? Wrong era? Wrong P̶l̶a̶n̶e̶t Plane?!?), we put a lot of time and effort into researching which kits to release next. Please just accept that when the specific kit that you have requested for the last 10 years doesn't make the cut, it's not a personal attack. In the current times, the company simply needs to be as profitable as possible, which generally means releasing products that thorough research has deemed will sell well in the markets we target, and not just those that have a couple of threads behind them on the forums. To put it in perspective, if there are 200 requests for a specific kit on a forum, 50-100 times that amount will still need to be sold to make a profit. Kit development & manufacture is expensive!

 

Which brings us to the next part, the Airfix Team. You need to remember that Airfix is just a Brand under the umbrella that is Hornby Hobbies, so naturally it's logical to share resources. That said, the 10 figure that has been passed around is probably a bit high! In the Airfix area (clearly the best area of the office... sorry Admin!) there are 4 kit designers, 1 graphic designer, 1 researcher and a manager. While that's what we tend to call the core of Airfix, the reality is that there are scores of other people who are crucial to the brand & company, these guys just happen to work on multiple brands. To name a few: Licensing, logistics, customer service, sales, accounting, prototyping, marketing etc. etc.

 

We also use subcontractors for certain work, e.g. 3D Scanning, Artwork. All of our products are manufactured out of house, but these companies/teams still need to be managed and communicated with a on a very regular basis. I hope that can give you a bit of insight into the scale of the business  😀

 

Now the last subject I wanted to broach upon is communication, and I speak for the Dev's alone here: Whilst we at work, designing the next kit is our top priority and these projects take a few months a pop. Scouring through forums and spending a lot of time answering questions is really not in the job description. Even Admin who does a standup job of communication has other tasks to focus on! Please know that we love our jobs, honestly, designing Airfix kits is pretty darn cool, but we also have lives outside of work and for the most part aren't about to spend our free time on here! Personally, I'd much rather go play on the beach  😎

 

That's it for now folks, I'd like to take the opportunity to remind you that I am a bored designer who is waiting for some original manufacture drawings to arrive (oooooh what could it be???? 😬) and not a specialist in customer service ettiquette, therefore anything I say should be taken with a bucket full of salt.

 

Best regards,

The glueless kit in Airfix Development

[Sgt.Squarehead]

 Thanks for the input, it's always interesting to get the perspective of those on the inside, so to speak.

 

As for communication in the forum, if you guys maybe dropped in just a bit more often (only when you are not busy, of course) you might actually enjoy it. 

[DavidJC]

Thank you Airfix Dev Team,  it was great to hear from you, it's appreciated. Whilst the low number in the office did take me by surprise, I honestly thought there were higher numbers (as an aside, how does that compare with Airfix as a company during the 70s?), you have kind of backed up points I have been trying to make for a while.

[John Bollig]

 Airfix Dev Team....

Thank you for the reply.  i hope that you are more open with us. I was very worried about airfix and it's continued existance.  Thank you

John

[John Symmons]

Thank Arfix Dev Team for a great reply I'm sure you've satified many on this forum and especially this thread. Do this more often, this is great customer service.

One simple question. Do you ever make any of your own kits for fun? Or are you like a motor machanic who usually drives the most clapped-out cars. 

Any way great to hear from you.

Remember we do this for fun.  John the Pom.

[JoshiBlobmodeling youtube]

Ahoy fellow modellers. I am a amateur modeller. My aim is to get younger people into modelling. Here is a direct link to my youtube channel were you find many hours of modelling mayhem! Scale Model Builds:

Cheers 

JoshiBlob 

[Biggyinn]

With a view to "old" kits most manufacturers have re-issued kits from molds made by others , this either happens through deals or simply buying defunct companys assets 

Example Otaki (forgive me if i'm wrong) these exact kits where issued also later as Arii the numbers are AIRFIX series 5 , some where carbon copies even the box art work point in case is the Otaki/Arii spitfire mk viii .... Issued by matchbox 

• • 05104 - North American Mustang P-51D

• • 05105 - Focke Wulf Fw190A-8

• • 05106 - Vought Corsair F4U-1A

[Marto]

Thanks for the replies Admin & Dev Team.

 

One question for you: 

 

Given that Airfix and Corgi both sell Spitfires, Hurricanes etc, is the prototype reseach that is carried prior to a new model being released done by one department (Corgi, Airfix, Scaletrix etc) or does Hornby do it itself and then shares the data with the relevant brands departments when they feel the time is right to release either a more acurate Honda, Dornier etc or a new marque not currently made by a particular inprint or Hornby itself?

[feanor]

I just love the way ALL my 'responses' on this subject have been removed... So funny... :)

 

To all those 'worried' and annoyed I'm afraid you'll have to wait and watch for the 'Five year plan' to evolve and roll out. Unless Hornbys heart attacks don't stop.

 

And oh, BTW, Airfix Admin. I bought £40 worth of new Harrier and Sea King today, and hopefully, have a Meteor (£30) in the post too. THAT'S how much I love Airfix, even though your end of the bargain, (club, website and Customer service) isnt up to much sometimes.

 

Admin edit: Posts are removed from the Forum for a reason. If your posts are being removed, please ensure that you adhere to the Forum Rules and Guidelines in the future.

[Ratch]

  Bump

[feanor]

A whole two months... 😎

 

Bump !