Roy Cross (23 April 1924 – 24 April 2024) RSMA GAvA was a British artist and aviation journalist best known as the painter of artwork used on

Airfix Airfix is a British brand and former manufacturing company which produced Injection moulding, injection-moulded plastic model, plastic scale model kits. In the UK, the name 'Airfix' has become practically synonymous with plastic models of this typ ...

kits from the 1960s.

Biography

Cross was born in

Camberwell Camberwell ( ) is an List of areas of London, area of South London, England, in the London Borough of Southwark, southeast of Charing Cross. Camberwell was first a village associated with the church of St Giles' Church, Camberwell, St Giles ...

, London on 23 April 1924. He was mainly self-taught, learning his craft at the

Camberwell School of Art Camberwell College of Arts is a constituent college of the University of the Arts London, a public art and design university in London, England. The college offers further and higher education programmes, including postgraduate and PhD awards. ...

and as a

technical illustrator Technical illustration is illustration meant to visually communicate information of a technical nature. Technical illustrations can be components of technical drawings or diagrams. Technical illustrations in general aim "to generate expressive i ...

for training manuals for

Fairey Aviation The Fairey Aviation Company Limited was a British aircraft manufacturer of the first half of the 20th century based in Hayes, Hillingdon, Hayes in Middlesex and Heaton Chapel and RAF Ringway in Cheshire that designed important military aircraft ...

during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. He progressed from there to producing advertising art for the aircraft industry and other companies. He illustrated for ''

The Aeroplane ''Aeroplane'' (formerly ''Aeroplane Monthly'') is a British magazine devoted to aviation, with a focus on aviation history and preservation. __TOC__ ''Aeroplane Monthly'' Issue 1 of ''Aeroplane Monthly'' was published in May 1973 at a cove ...

'' and the ''Eagle'' comic. In 1952 he joined the

Society of Aviation Artists A society () is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. Soc ...

, but it is for his work at Airfix which he is best known. He started in 1964 with box art for Airfix's Do 217 and his last work for them was the box art for the German heavy cruiser ''Prinz Eugen'' (1974). He went into marine paintings. Much of the Airfix artwork was destroyed but the lids of many millions of boxes remain. Cross was interviewed by

James May James Daniel May (born 16 January 1963) is an English television presenter and journalist. He is best known as a co-presenter, alongside Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond, of the motoring programme ''Top Gear (2002 TV series), Top Gear'' fr ...

in '' James May's Top Toys'', discussing the changing tastes in box art and the airbrushing out of bombs and explosions from his pictures. Cross died after a short illness on 24 April 2024, one day after his 100th birthday.

Notes

References

* Cross, Roy (2009) The Vintage Years of Airfix Box Art, The Crowood Press, * Celebration of Flight: The Aviation Art of Roy Cross, Arthur Ward, The Crowood Press (2002),
Profile
as AskArt.com * Early Aeroplanes 1907–1918, Roy Cross, Hugh Evelyn Limited. *Official Website http://roycrossfineart.co.uk/ 1924 births 2024 deaths Alumni of Camberwell College of Arts Artists from the London Borough of Southwark Aviation artists English male journalists English marine artists English men centenarians People from Camberwell {{UK-painter-20thC-stub