TV exposure boosts sales of Airfix kits

London: Model train-maker Hornby said sales of its Airfix model kits doubled after a BBC programme featured a life-size model of a Supermarine Spitfire fighter aircraft.

Sales of Airfix model kits in the week following the programme’s broadcast on October 27 doubled to £200,000 (€221,584), chief executive officer Frank Martin said.

Two more episodes in the series James May’s Toy Stories will feature Hornby toys, including a three-mile Scalextric racing car track and a 10-mile Hornby model train route, Martin said.

“We’re expecting to see the same jump with Scalextric and with Hornby, and that’s really the icing on the cake,” Martin said. Sales for Airfix models are about £7m per year, he added.