A BRAND ALLIANCE: Iconic British companies-under one roof

摘要

When I was around nine-years-old, my parents gave me a Hornby-Dublo train set for Christmas. They saw little of me that festive season as I spent every waking moment playing with it. Later, I discovered the joys of Airfix plastic kits. This was when the word 'Airfix' was synonymous with all plastic kits that, way back then were mainly 'planes, and I was already thinking of joining the RAF. Of course, I think I also painted them, after probably covering them with liberal amounts of plastic cement, using Humbrol paint, although I'm not sure of this. Still, Humbrol was to play a significant part in my (modelling) life and still does to this day. Finally, it was much later and I was living in Sweden when I discovered that other iconic British 'toy', the Scalextric racing car track. By then I was married and had a small son of my own and I, like many another 'man-child', could indulge in toys under the pretext of buying it for him. However, I'm sure that nobody was taken in by this ploy, least of all my wife, especially as our son was just over one and his interests still centred on where his next feed was coming from. Over the years all four of these very British names went through many up and downs, mostly downs, with each one being sold and resold a number of times, or coming under the threat of administration as the vicissitudes of the economic climate of the country went through boom and bust. In fact, Airfix has a history all its own and there's no better place to discover the full story than through Arthur Ward's book 'Celebrating 50 Years of the Greatest Plastic Kits in the World' published in 1999. Rumour has it that Arthur is working on a sequel to celebrate the marque's 60th anniversary. Hornby also has a fascinating history, and it wasn't so very long ago that the company was just about moribund. Then, a couple of things happened. First, the management of the day discovered that by moving the company's manufacturing base to the Far East, Guangdong province in China and Bangalore, India, they could reduce costs, and J.K. Rowlings' Harry Potter phenomenon burst onto the scene and Hornby's Hogwarts Express took the model railway scene by storm. The company was off and running, and since then it has gone from strength to strength.