Airfix Boxes

In its 35 years of existence, Airfix HO/OO scale figures sets were sold in a variety of boxes. There were major changes in its designs as it went through corporate changes and occasionally there were some minor changes in individual boxes.

This is the first edition box. Dates of production were approximately from 1958 to 1967 and ended with the Romans (#30). Prices were sometimes printed on the box. Strangely enough, it was only the US price (in cents) that was ever printed.

This is probably the box most people are familiar with. Dates of production were from approximately 1967 to 1979. The front of the box stayed the same but the ends, backs and edges went through some minor changes.

There was a window in the back you could look into to preview the figures (WYSIWYG). There is some evidence that the first windows in the back were offset to the left. The next change was that the window moved to the middle. The first windows were supposed to be square instead of having rounded corners.

Next, the windows were done with completely.

In about 1974 a new Airfix logo was adopted. This was the roundel logo and was seen on all sides except for the front which kept slanted Airfix logo.

Next came the white box in 1979 which lasted only until about 1980. The change came about the time of the release of Waterloo British Infantry and French Imperial Guard. This particular box was made in the US.

There were some corporate changes and the brown box was seen for about a year. The figures were then made in France. Some sets were made entirely in this box such as the Modern Russian Infantry.

This was another major design change and those of you who collected in the early 80's will remember the long box. Only a few sets were made in this box.

This is the current box.

Remember this? This is one of the inserts placed in one of the early boxes. If you have any of those early boxes open it and take a whiff inside. It is amazing that even in an empty box the scent of those long gone soldiers remains.

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