Humbrol

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Humbrol

Formerly	Humber Oil Company
Industry	Paints Toys Model kits
Founded	1919; 103 years ago (1919)
Fate	Company defunct in 2006, brand relaunched by Hornby
Headquarters	Kingston upon Hull , England
Products	Enamel, acrylic, airbrush paints, aerosol spray, varnish, adhesive, fillers, paint thinner, brushes
Owner	Hornby
Parent	Allen & McGuire (1994–2006) Borden, Inc. (1976–94)
Subsidiaries	Airfix (1986–?) Heller (1981–2006)
Website	humbrol.com

Humbrol Limited is a British brand and former manufacturer of paints, solvents, and other accesories for scale model kits and toys. In the past, Humbrol produced under its own brand and the Airfix, Sky Marks, Young Scientist, 1st Gear, High Speed and W. Britain brands.

In 2006, the company entered administration, but later the same year was acquired by Hornby plc, who has since re-launched the brand.

History[]

Humbrol was founded in Kingston upon Hull as the "Humber Oil Company" in 1919. During the 1950s and 60s, Gerald Barton turned Humber Oil Company into "Humbrol" which developed a range of model paints and other modelmaking paraphernalia. In 1976, Humbrol became part of the Hobby Products Group of the international Borden, Inc. group. Five years later, Borden also acquired the French kit manufacturer Heller.

The Airfix model company joined the group in 1986, transferring its kit production to the Heller factory in Trun, Orne, France. In 1994, the group was acquired by an Irish investment company, Allen & McGuire, and the business was restructured under the Humbrol name. Heller was sold off in 2005 but continued to manufacture kits for Humbrol.

14ml can

On 31 August 2006, following the collapse of Heller SA, Humbrol went into administration. It was announced on 10 November 2006 that Hornby Railways would acquire certain assets of Humbrol, comprising Airfix, Humbrol paints and model accessories and the Young Scientist brand for £2.6 million.^[1]

Humbrol is possibly best known for the enamel paints manufactured for use with plastic model kits, such as Airfix, Tamiya and Revell kits. The paints come in a variety of finishes: matt, satin, gloss, metallic and metalcote.The archetypal container was a 14 ml tin with the lid coloured to illustrate the paint colour and an embossed reference number. Humbrol does, however, sell 50 and 120ml tins and spray cans in some colours. The 50ml enamel paint tins and spray paints are still available. The tins are called "Humbrol DIY".

Humbrol's main factory was located on Hedon Road, Marfleet in Hull. In 1988 an acetone spill at the factory caused a fire resulting in the death of an employee. It closed c.2006 and the site was completely redeveloped by 2014.^[2]

Notable people[]

George Shaw uses Humbrol enamel paints to create highly realistic paintings on MDF board.

Penny Taylor-Beardow, Chairman of the Guild of Waterway Artists uses Humbrol enamels on prepared Birch ply to create her waterways inspired paintings.

References[]

External links[]

• Official website
• Article in The Manufacturer including origin of name
• History of Airfix
• Humbrol Enamel Cross Reference
• Humbrol tin evolution
• History of Humbrol from Hull Webs THIS IS OUT OF DATE