Airfix’s decline – Palitoy’s gain. Children’s pain.

It struck me the other day that the downfall of Airfix had consequences for other favourite toy lines.

It's well known that Airfix went into administration in 1981 and was purchased by General Mills/Airfix. Not only did Palitoy acquire the profitable Airfix kits range, it saw the end of many popular rival toy products produced by the Airfix toys division.

The Micronauts toy line had been produced by Airfix under licence from Mego since 1978 and was a strong feature in the 1980 Airfix trade catalogue. The company could boast of over £2 million worth of sales in 1978 and while it was eclipsed by the £20 million sales of Star Wars toys, the Micronauts were still siphoning off profits which could have been collected by Palitoy. After the sale of Airfix the Micronauts disappeared in the U.K, which was a blow to children and General Mill's rival Mego.

The Weebles was another favourite toy line which disappeared with the sale of Airfix, ending the relationship with the US manufacturer Hasbro. The Weebles were a massive feature of the 1980 Airfix catalogue but children hoping to add new products to their collections in 1981 could forget it.

Other toys Airfix produced (probably under licence from other manufacturers) up until 1980 included the BMW Data Car, Super Hovercraft, Super Copter, Super Flight Deck and Super Gyro. Airfix also produced a large range of arts and crafts and outdoor sports products, which I expect had their Palitoy and Denys Fisher equivalents.

Personally speaking the only Airfix produced toy that I collected was the Micronauts and there was a resurgence in the shops in the 80's when bankrupt stock arrived in Britain after Mego shut down.

The major benefit of the sale of Airfix was that the legacy of its kits was preserved by Palitoy, even though the production was moved to Airfix's Meccano factory in France. Being a massive fan of Airfix kits, I'm one person who's glad of that!

Craig.

Some fantastic information there as ever Craig!

Those Weebles are the first toys I really remember from my childhood. I remember they had a giant play set for them at my local playschool where my sister and I went. We would play with them for hours and I also remember my sister scoring me an extra cookie to go with my milk one day (funny what we choose to remember isn't it?).

It's a real shame that these companies couldn't survive longer but it always seems to be the same where business is concerned.

Thanks as ever for sharing.

Ian

Great info, seeing those weebles brings back some good memories for me to, I had the weeble wobble playground, unlike the masses of other vintage toys out for sale, you never ever seem to see these for sale, in fact it must be 20 years since I saw any of them.

me and my brother had Weebles and that Super Copter game it was bloody brilliant you had to pick up some orange pip[es and drop them off

I remember the Super Copter game being around at the time and looking at with envy.

I had the F.N rifle, which was one of the best toys ever. As a kid it seemed exactly life sized. You could load the rounds into the magazine and fire them quite some distance one shot at a time. My Brother had the Tommy Gun but in the end they both disappeared, possibly because mum didn't like guns as toys. Ah, the fickle attitudes of parents!

I thought I'd post some more pictures of toys released by Airfix.

Craig.

Weebles also had that brilliant ad line that I still sing to my brother whenever I see him (he loved his Weebles) - "Weebles wobble but they don't fall down"

Great memories Craig.
I had the Super Flight Deck. Remember having it setup in the back garden.
Been meaning to get one for ages.

Would give my right bollock for a mint FN SLR Rifle.
Only ever seen a couple of examples on Ebay and always go for big money.

Gosh I remember having some Weebles.

I had set that included a jetty/pier and some boats/yachts. Hours and hours of fun playing with the set

Sure I had a Granny Weeble as well

Edit - I had the Weeble Airport as well Even more hours and hours of fun

I had the super flight deck too, I remember it being much too complicated for me!

Because my dad worked for Matchbox, I wasn't allowed to buy Airfix when I was a kid!! :shock:

I always remember Airfix Eagles Adventure sets.

Don't suppose there's any pics in your catalogue

Yes, as it happens I put the lot on to Flickr some time ago. I only have the 1978 range in a catalogue but it still includes a lot.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/12871619@N03/3310643163/in/photostream/

Also: https://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/Airfix%20Eagles

The Eagles are another 3 3/4 inch range that predates Star Wars - or 1:18 scale to be precise. I only have a couple in my collection - you can't buy it all!

Craig.

I don't remember The eagles at all but Dr. War's a beaut!

Ian

I never came across Dr War in the shops when I was a youngster. Visible Innards has unmasked him.

http://visibleinnards.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=12963&sid=b2542a8e28f454bc51c0aa7789f26ab8

Eagles also went under the title of Action Stars and various other names in different countries. Its a truly beautiful range.

I wish now that I'd collected them before everyone else got clued up about them!

Craig.

He looks a lot like Rimmer to me with his helmet off

Just read through your OP Craig.

Great stuff and as informative as ever

Anyone have one of these back in the day, I played on this thing for hours & hours, loved the docking stage.

I had an older cousin or friend who had one of these...

I remember thinking how awesome it looked, I don't think I ever got to play it though which probably just enhanced its awesomeness to me. 8)

I think it was just a variation of Space Invaders IIRC.

Amazing to think the modern day equivalent is a Nintendo 3DS (which I might just bubble wrap and put in the cupboard for 30 years) :lol: :lol:

I had Astro Wars for a present one christmas, such a great game! I played and played that thing until I managed to complete it (maybe clock it, can't quite remember but it probably only went as high as 999 on the score).

This really was as close as you could get to being in Star Wars back in the day.

Ian

Frunkstar said:

Anyone have one of these back in the day, I played on this thing for hours & hours, loved the docking stage.

Click to expand...

Yes !!!!!

I even picked up a boxed one about 2 years off ebay for my brother as part of his Christmas present