​From 1964 to 1974, Roy Cross was responsible for creating the box art for Airfix Products which played no small part in enticing many of us to buy those venerable Airfix model kits.  In addition to being a very accomplished artist, Cross is no slouch as a writer and has provided an interesting account of his development as an artist and his own history of his artwork based on his excellent memory and invoice record which he kept as he painted for Airfix. 

The book is divided into three chapters; The first, “The Making of an Artist,” is a short autobiography replete with several interesting paintings and drawings which showed his evolution as an aviation artist. The second chapter, “Making the Painting” describes how Cross decided to apply to work for Airfix.  In brief, he was shopping in Woolworth’s and “came across a display of plastic assembly kits by a firm called Airfix.”    He humbly thought that he could do a better job with the artwork and wrote Airfix stating his point of view.  The company was receptive to his comments and he received his first commission, which led to ten years of steady work plus a “nice retainer.”  That first commission, a Do 217 painting, is prominently featured as a 9.5 x 12 inch color print and the book goes on from there.  

It's not an Airfix model kit box- it's a book about Airfix box art by the artist himself, Roy Cross!

The longest chapter, called “The Airfix Art,” provides a chronological parade of paintings along with brief explanations of each.  A very interesting feature of the chapter consists of alternative drawings suggested by Cross but rejected by Airfix top brass.  For some of these drawings it is fairly obvious why they were nixed as they are directly compared with the final painting used.  For others you have to shake your head as the drawings would have made pretty cool box art had they made it to kit boxtops.

Beautiful renditions of Roy Cross' artwork are portrayed without lettering and logos found on kit boxes.  This book is a must for all fans of Airfix box art!

The longest chapter, called “The Airfix Art,” provides a chronological parade of paintings along with brief explanations of each.  A very interesting feature of the chapter consists of alternative drawings suggested by Cross but rejected by Airfix top brass.  For some of these drawings it is fairly obvious why they were nixed as they are directly compared with the final painting used.  For others you have to shake your head as the drawings would have made pretty cool box art had they made it to kit boxtops.

My only criticism of the book involves a few situations where Cross does not go into depth to describe a particular painting but refers the reader to an earlier Crowood Press publication.  I would rather have had a repetition of his earlier copy than an enticement to buy another book, but this nit is really relatively minor.  Otherwise it is grand to see the paintings in their entirety rather than the versions that often had to be cropped to fit the various boxes.  And Cross’s writing style is varied and interesting.

Of course aircraft buffs and particularly Airfix aficionados will be thoroughly entertained by the commentary and paintings but any model builder who gazed at the myriad of model kits and box art available in the 1960s and 1970s will feel a huge wave of nostalgia after thumbing through this excellent publication.  I can highly recommend it to anyone with appreciation for excellent artwork, whether they place the book on the shelf or coffee table.  The reader will gain even more appreciation for artists like Roy Cross who were willing to share their talents to enhance the hobby we all enjoy.
 
--Dick Engar
 

See the evolution of an Airfix kit box art and learn some twists and turns on the way from concept to boxtop.

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