Guest 655- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,247
Last night after finishing a stage in my Tamiya Spitfire kit I had a look through what will be my next project - an Airfix 1:48 Seafire Mk XVII and found a piece missing from the kit.
I emailed them this morning at 7am, received an acknowledgement and at 8.30 received another email to say that the missing piece is in the post. Astonishing service, well done Airfix/Hornby - what with the way they have really improved on the standards of their new mould kits, bringing them up to Tamiya levels of fit and accuracy this is one British company going from strength to strength.
Compare that to Tamiya - a great kit maker but if you get the same thing with them (very rare...)it is a nightmare and very costly.
Should add, they are a local company as well, of course - over in Thanet!
Guest 641- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 2,335
That's a Great service Barry, probably even quicker than Historex Agents, and they're based in Dover!
Best of luck with the Seafire Mk XVII

Guest 655- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,247
Just heard that a replacement part for the Tamiya Spit Mk 1, I am currently building will cost £8.50 and will take 5 weeks to get to me!
Airfix was free....and next day back.
Guest 710- Registered: 28 Feb 2011
- Posts: 6,950
I take it that in the latter instance the 'fault' was with the company and in the former not so.
While I am happy to hear that will not be without your missing part for long it seems a little premature to offer congratulations for quick service when only your initial e-mail has, so far, been acted upon.
Thoughts of, Chickens & eggs and up-front bonus payments spring to mind.
Luckily too, there is still the Royal Mail to implicate if the least tardiness creeps-in.
Nevertheless it was the right thing to give acknowledgement ASAP. Somebody IS on the ball.
Ignorance is bliss, bliss is happiness, I am happy...to draw your attention to the possible connectivity in the foregoing.
Guest 640- Registered: 21 Apr 2007
- Posts: 7,819
Thats a brill one Alan. Always a good idea to get yer mother to do it !
Good to see that people still offer good service. Even some of the big companies do, which sometimes takes you by surprise as you kind of dont expect it any more.
Guest 655- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,247
Very funny Alan...excellent.
Tom - I have had previous experience of the Airfix service and they did deliver next day and have a reputation for this among the 'modelling fraternity' but what was particularly impressive was that I emailed the query at 7am and received a reply that it was in the post at 8.30am...
In the case of Airfix the part was missing from the box (I just did a parts check as not ready to start it yet) in the case of Tamiya it was damage done in the box or when packed, the piece became detached from its sprue damaging the canopy frame.
Jan Higgins
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 5 Jul 2010
- Posts: 13,883
About three months ago I bought a very comfortable new computer chair from a business seller on Ebay. Sadly one of the casters snapped a couple of weeks ago I emailed them and a replacement was sent by return of post.
Excellent customer care, if anybody wants a new chair I would certainly recommend them.

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I try to be neutral and polite but it is hard and getting even more difficult at times.
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Guest 655- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,247
Part arrived today..... amazing service.
Guest 710- Registered: 28 Feb 2011
- Posts: 6,950
Well done all at Airfix.

Ignorance is bliss, bliss is happiness, I am happy...to draw your attention to the possible connectivity in the foregoing.
Guest 705- Registered: 23 Sep 2010
- Posts: 661
Ah those halcyon boys own days of "...Just like the real thing!.." Finish reading the latest edition of 'Eagle' comic then on to do a bit more on the Short Sunderland -or was it the Avro Lancaster?
The 'Eagle' came out every Wednesday in the 50's and early 60's-I rushed out to see it drop on the mat and turned straight to the cut-a-way drawing page-unless of course Dan Dare-pilot of the future and his side kick Digby were doing particularly heavy battle with the terrifying alien dictator-THE MEKON!
Any other former 'Eagle' readers out there? Remember these images?
The MEKON! -more scary than the DALEKS
This weekly mag certainly helped me get interested in Engineering and got the imagination fired up!
Never give up...
Jan Higgins
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 5 Jul 2010
- Posts: 13,883
My late husband also grew up with and loved the Eagle and the Mekon. As a joke a few years before his death I bought him a secondhand Eagle Annual for Christmas which he immediately started reading.
Girl and School Friend were my favoured comics.

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I try to be neutral and polite but it is hard and getting even more difficult at times.
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howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
interesting snippet on hornby, their sales have rose 50% over the past year with pre tax profits up 80%, maybe other companies could take a fresh look at their after sales service.
they have finally broken into the large german market, doubt whether the spitfire will be as popular there as they are here.
Guest 698- Registered: 28 May 2010
- Posts: 8,664
When I was a kid their best sellers were the Fokker Triplane, the Stuka and the Me 109.
I'm an optimist. But I'm an optimist who takes my raincoat - Harold Wilson
Guest 655- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,247
Actually Howard, looking at the on-line forums it is...
Likewise the me109 is a big seller here as well as the Spit.
Guest 641- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 2,335
My big brother was an avid reader of the 'Eagle', for me it was the Hotspur, Valiant and the 'Commando' (For Action and Adventure) comics, not forgetting the Beano & the Dandy which as we all know are literary icons of the age

Alec Sheldon
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 18 Aug 2008
- Posts: 1,037
Does any one remember the "Champion" with Rockfist Rogan RAF and Wilson the champion athlete.? Also "Chips" and "Comic Cuts" ?.