Airfix Catalogues

This part of the web site will be for the Airfix Catalogues. These documents are collector's items in their own right.
The Illustrated Leaflets prior to 1962
The various Price Lists
The Catalogues from 1962


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. The following section describes how the leaflets changed from 1958 to the mid-1960s.

1958 Leaflet
1958: This is one of the very first coloured leaflets from 1958. It is marked Autumn 1958, but earlier English and Dutch versions are known from May 1958
Spring 1959 leaflet
1959: (temporary picture) This Spring 1959 leaflet has a Lancaster on the front cover. It is not known whether this single edition is unique in style.
Summer 1959 Leaflet
1959: The Vickers Wellington featured on the covers of leaflets from the Summer and Autumn of 1959
May 1960 Leaflet
1959-1960: From Winter 1959, leaflets appeared almost every month - most of them with this Fairey Rotodyne front cover.
December 1960 leaflet
1960: from about August 1960 to December 1960 we have an aircraft carrier on the front....
April 1961 leaflet
1961: Leaflets were issued monthly from January to May 1961. Each has this battleship cover.
Autumn 1961 leaflet
1961: This leaflet is Autumn 1961 - it is not known exactly when the change from monthly to quarterly happened...
Winter 61-62 Leaflet
1961-1962: complete change of style. The Halifax will now feature on all future leaflets.....


9th Edition leaflet
At some point in 1962 the leaflets changed to blue and became "editions". This is a 9th Edition from 1964
Leaflet inside
Inside detail of the April 1961 leaflet shown above. Leaflets were fan-fold and opened up to 6 pages.

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.
1974 Price List 1969 Price List 1968 Price List 1968 Price List
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
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!
Mythical artwork from the 1969 price list/ Mythical artwork from the 1969 price list/ Mythical artwork from the 1969 price list/

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

1st Edition Catalogue
2nd Edition Catalogue
3rd Edition Catalogue
4th Edition Catalogue
5th Edition
6th Edition - 1968
7th Edition - 1969
8th Edition - 1970
9th Edition
10th Edition
11th Edition
12th Edition
13th Edition - 1976
14th Edition
15th Edition
16th Edition - 1979
17th Edition
The very rare 1981 catalogue - 15k file
Very rare 1981 Catalogue
1982 Edition
1983 Edition
1984 Edition
1984 Catalogue
Retail 1984 Catalogue
1984 Retailers Catalogue
1985 Edition 1986 catalogue
1987 Catalogue
Rather boring 1987 Catalogue
1988 Catalogue 1989 Catalogue
1990 Catalogue 1991 Catalogue Supplement
no "real" catalogue was issued in 1991
1992 Catalogue
1993 Catalogue 1994 Catalogue 1995 Catalogue
1996 Catalogue 1997 Catalogue 1998 Catalogue
1999 50th Aniversary Catalogue
1999 50th Anniversary Catalogue
2000 Catalogue 2001 Catalogue
2002 Catalogue 2003 Catalogue 2003 New Releases Leaflet
2003 New Releases leaflet
2004 Catalogue 2005 Catalogue 2006 Catalogue
2007 Catalogue 2008 Catalogue

My thanks to Eric Williams for the use of his photographs of the early catalogues. Go to my Links page to find the reference to Eric's magnificent site!

And a couple more for the Collector - two F.W.Woolworth's catalogues, and a very attractive 1977 Price List...

Woolworth catalogue - 32k file1977 Price List - 50K file