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Airfix Yearbook 2016

Posted: November 12th, 2015, 9:01 pm
by iggie
If anyone was considering getting a copy, it is available from Key Publishing at cover price with free post

https://shop.keypublishing.com/product/ ... de/SPECAYB

They are also doing what looks like a good 'Farewell to The Vulcan' special

https://shop.keypublishing.com/product/ ... n-Farewell

I have no connection with Key, just thought this might be of use to some!

Re: Airfix Yearbook 2016

Posted: November 16th, 2015, 9:53 pm
by iggie
Just received the above publications and I have to say the Airfix yearbook is excellent!

Re: Airfix Yearbook 2016

Posted: November 18th, 2015, 12:11 pm
by Eric Mc
I have their 1978 Annual somewhere.

Re: Airfix Yearbook 2016

Posted: November 18th, 2015, 1:00 pm
by fredk
iggie wrote:Just received the above publications and I have to say the Airfix yearbook is excellent!
I bought mine yesterday. To me; a waste of money.

Re: Airfix Yearbook 2016

Posted: November 18th, 2015, 1:47 pm
by bobblelink
I had a glance in it yesterday, I won't be buying it.

Re: Airfix Yearbook 2016

Posted: November 18th, 2015, 3:06 pm
by PaulBradley
For those of us who haven't seen it, could you expand on those comments? :)

Re: Airfix Yearbook 2016

Posted: November 18th, 2015, 3:14 pm
by iggie
I'll expand on mine; I thought the yearbook to be excellent because it included the usual catalogue information, but a lot of extra information, advice and build guides that were not previously included. Whilst I appreciate that not everyone wants this, I see it as a big improvement on the more usual 'this is what we do' approach, by adding a 'and this is how we/you can do it' section.
There is plenty of information regarding upcoming new releases and re-releases, both for individual kits and for boxed sets of multiple kits/figures etc.

At the end of the day, it's a marketing tool; at least Airfix have attempted (well in my opinion) to make it a lot more subtle.... :-D

Re: Airfix Yearbook 2016

Posted: November 18th, 2015, 4:06 pm
by fredk
My quick review;
50% of page coverage in the 'Airfix Index' - a list of kits available in '16 - is [are?] photos of box art work. The list is not user friendly. The lists are too much broken up by the photos; orphan & widow parts of the lists [anyone involved in publishing knows what this means]
Kits listed by Series, but not always. Not easy to find a kit if you don't know the series. I was looking for the WW2 German multipose soldiers. Not under 'Figures'; eventually spotted them under 'Medium Starter Gift Sets'.
8 pages devoted to a Showcase of built models - 2 to a page.
Several pages devoted to the new kits for 16, and the real subject.
Several 'how to build' articles, these are relatively good
2 pages devoted to Kit Starter - which, going by their website and forum, has died away without a whimper.
130 pages; much of the content is spread over 2 pages whereas that could easily have fitted on one or a half page.

To me its a poorly laid out catalogue with many useless articles and just a few to lift the interest and lot of page space wasted.
I'm looking at this not only as a reader but also as someone who owned his own publishing company which turned out monthly magazines for motorsport over about 20 years.

Re: Airfix Yearbook 2016

Posted: November 24th, 2015, 1:01 am
by CementNotGlue
Bring back the Airfix Annual I say.

Re: Airfix Yearbook 2016

Posted: November 25th, 2015, 8:15 am
by Eric Mc
Is this a replacement for the more traditional catalogue?

Re: Airfix Yearbook 2016

Posted: November 25th, 2015, 10:53 am
by chrism
Yes Eric. I too bought one and felt that £4 would have represented fair price for it. £8 seems a tad too much for the little actually in it. Or if there was a voucher to cut out and send off for something eg £5 off an order it could have justified itself better. It is obvious it has been in production since the early part of year with emphasis as is on kit starter etc. As for a build article of Lusty it's more than clear they must have had a shed load of them to shift given prices over past year and now a build article to try and entice more to try her.

Re: Airfix Yearbook 2016

Posted: November 25th, 2015, 6:36 pm
by Zee28
In the old days the Airfix catalogue was a must-have, but the last few years I have really only been buying it out of habit and loyalty to the brand.

In reality all I need is http://www.airfix.com;, anything else is superfluous, it's all on the web site. And if, as Chris says, it is now £8 then I'll probably pass.

Zee28

Re: Airfix Yearbook 2016

Posted: November 27th, 2015, 5:13 pm
by Chuck E
Copied over from a thread I'd started in Small Talk. I've added a bit more to it.

Airfix have changed the format of their 2016 Catalogue. It is now termed a Yearbook.

All the little panels with artwork and details of models, have gone. These only appear in CGI images for new releases. The only featured kits list is just that, a list at the back of the book. A new theme is a showcase of their recent releases. Also, a How to Build section and potted histories of new releases.

So. Good, or Bad? Basically, a nice move, but I liked to see the current kits as small picture panels with details appended. I feel that a catalogue, which is basically what it still is, should show all the models as Box Art. I was always under the impression that a picture told a thousand words and that a lot of modellers, especially the young ones, were drawn to the model via the box art. Looking at what fired me up from being a kid, was the box art. Roy Cross and John Steele come readily to mind. I am still a sucker for a good box art picture. Overall, I would say that Airfix have been trying to get more in, over and above the usual, but, though I like the new parts, I do miss those Box Art panels showing all the models in the range, rather than just the bare, harder to follow, lists.

Humbrol is still featured at the back, by the way.

Re: Airfix Yearbook 2016

Posted: January 13th, 2016, 10:33 pm
by ronbow
I was lucky enough to be given a copy and although there were some interesting bits I would not of bought one. I thought they could of made it half the pages as there was as previously mentioned a lot of wasted space and there could have been either more detail on kits shown, or more build tips, and detail on new kits for 2016. I think they should bring back the catalogue both to buy and free for club members and publish the year book more like the old annual.

Re: Airfix Yearbook 2016

Posted: January 14th, 2016, 5:54 am
by Zee28
Well, after saying above I wouldn't be buying it, somebody has now given it to me as a gift! Not a bad read really. It's quite nice. Good model photography too.