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his month I had the pleasure of meeting reader John Curry. John was the
lucky winner of the exclusive Oxford Diecast 25th Anniversary Prize Draw
we ran last year and so Oxford Diecast’s founder, Lyndon Davies, and
I were delighted to be able to present him with his very special prize: a model
uniquely finished to his own personal specification. You can read all about the
casting he opted to have personalised and see what a fantastic job the team at
Oxford Diecast made of it on pages 36-37. It was a lovely afternoon and I’d like to say
a big thank you to John and, of course, to Lyndon, who somehow managed to take
time out from his busy role as CEO of Hornby Hobbies (as most of you will be aware,
Lyndon’s daughter Eloise has taken over the running of Oxford Diecast so that he can
concentrate all his efforts on solving Hornby’s previously much documented woes).
Lyndon’s energy and vision certainly appear to be paying off as Hornby’s recently
released report for the financial year ending March 31, 2019, reveals reduced losses,
due to turnaround measures beginning to slash costs and improve margins. He explains:
“Over the last 18 months we’ve created the foundations for the future across all parts
of the business. We really have got to grips with things now and there is a renewed
passion reverberating around the corridors at our ancestral home in Margate,
which we returned to earlier this year”. There is, of course, still some way to go, but,
against all odds, those at Hornby are finally starting to see light at the end of the tunnel!
Great news, I’m sure you’ll agree, for both the company and the hobby in general.
And here’s a little more good news... Amongst the many fabulous new releases
that feature in this month’s review section, you’ll see the latest additions to join the
1:76 scale Oxford Omnibus series are up for grabs in our prize draw on page 29.
What’s more, we’ll be offering you the chance to win our sample of
Aviation Archive’s superb new 1:48 scale
McDonnell Douglas HMS Ark Royal
Phantom FG.1 (see page 16) in the
September issue – so don’t miss it!
For now, though, time for me to sign off
and allow you to enjoy your read!to Model Collector and get your favourite
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