Airfix is one of the most iconic and historically significant names in the scale-modeling hobby and is recognized as the oldest British manufacturer of mass-market plastic model kits, with a history dating back to 1939 and model-kit production beginning in the early 1950s. Founded by Nicholas Kove, Airfix entered the plastic-model market with subjects such as the Golden Hind in 1952 and its famous early Supermarine Spitfire, helping introduce generations of builders to the hobby. Over more than seven decades, Airfix has produced an enormous catalog of kits covering military and civilian aircraft, tanks and military vehicles, automobiles, ships, spacecraft, figures, buildings, and dioramas, with aircraft remaining one of the brand’s most celebrated specialties. Today, Airfix is part of Hornby Hobbies and combines its extensive modeling heritage with modern CAD design and contemporary manufacturing techniques to develop increasingly detailed new-tool kits, while its popular Vintage Classics range brings selected historic Airfix tooling and classic box artwork back for a new generation of builders. The company also offers Starter Sets designed to make scale modeling approachable for newcomers and QUICKBUILD snap-together models requiring no glue or paint. With its distinctive red branding, memorable box artwork, enormous historical catalog, and generations of modelers who built an Airfix kit as one of their first introductions to the hobby, Airfix has become more than simply a model-kit manufacturer—it is one of the defining names in the history and culture of scale modeling.