Hornby Hobbies

Hornby is a household name and is famous as the UK brand leader in the model railway hobby. The company’s founder was Frank Hornby (1863 - 1936) who applied for a patent in 1901 to protect an invention he called ‘Improvements in Toy or Educational Devices for Children and Young People’. Nobody then could have imagined how this product would influence the model railway hobby that we know today. Frank Hornby was granted his patent and soon put the invention into production under the name ‘Mechanics Made Easy’. Now simply called "Hornby", the company justifiably retains the position it has held for more than 50 years as Britain’s leading model railway manufacturer. Scalextric is the ultimate motor racing system for all ages, where miniature cars race against each other on special track, getting their power from a slot in the middle of each lane (you will sometimes hear Scalextric called slot racing). Invented by Fred (B F) Francis, the very first Scalextric was made in Havant, Hampshire in 1956. In 1968, Hornby Hobbies acquired the company and was instrumental in shaping it into what you see today. Airfix is the oldest UK manufacturer of scale plastic model kits and has been producing kits for the mass market since 1952. Airfix produces a wide range of kits aimed at all types of scale modellers with subjects such as military aircraft, civil aircraft, ships, galleons, cars, space, figures, dioramas and military vehicles. Airfix was founded in 1939 by Nicholas Kove, a refugee from Hungary who originally manufactured rubber inflated toys. After trading hands and designs many times, in 2006 Hornby Hobbies Ltd bought both the Airfix and Humbrol brands and have been dedicated to their revitalisation ever since. Founded in 1919 as the Humber Oil Company, Humbrol initially supplied bicycle oil for Hull's growing army of cyclists. In 1935, however, the company was asked to produce paints for renovating cycles and came up with Art Enamel. Since Humbrol was founded in 1919 the brand has been under several owners. In November 2006, the Humbrol and Airfix brands were acquired by Hornby Hobbies Ltd where they sit alongside some of Britain’s best-loved toy and hobby brands – Hornby model railways, Scalextric slot racing and Corgi die-cast models. Corgi's famous model vehicles captured the imagination of millions of baby boomers and, what were once simply toys for boys, are now highly sought-after in the expanding collectables market. The Corgi brand was created by the Mettoy Company of Northampton which first started to produce colourful, pressed metal toys in the 1930s. It was bought by Hornby Hobbies in 2008. Today, the majority of Corgi cars, trucks and buses are produced as once-only Limited Editions and are often sold out within weeks of release.