Roy Cross (born 23 April 1924) RSMA GAvA is a British artist and aviation journalist best known as the painter of artwork used on Airfix kits from the 1960s. PLANE CPL BRISTOL BOXKITE - EAGLE CUTAWAY 1961-02-09 V12 No 35 - ART BY ROY CROSS

PLANE CPL BRISTOL BOXKITE - EAGLE CUTAWAY 1961-02-09 V12 No 35 - ART BY ROY CROSS

Born in

Southwark Southwark ( ) is a district of Central London situated on the south bank of the River Thames, forming the north-western part of the wider modern London Borough of Southwark. The district, which is the oldest part of South London, developed ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

and mainly self-taught, he learned his craft at the Camberwell School of Art and as a

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

for training manuals for Fairey Aviation during the

second world war World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. He progressed from there to producing advertising art for the aircraft industry and other companies. He illustrated for '' The Aeroplane'' and the Eagle comic. In 1952 he joined the Society of Aviation Artists, 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 The Dornier Do 217 was a bomber used by the German ''Luftwaffe'' during World War II as a more powerful development of the Dornier Do 17, known as the ''Fliegender Bleistift'' (German: "flying pencil"). Designed in 1937 and 1938 as a heavy bombe ...

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, Roy (2009)) He was interviewed by James May in ''

James May's Top Toys ''James May's Top Toys'' is a BBC documentary in which James May explored and celebrated his favourite toys, including Etch-A-Sketch, Airfix model aeroplanes, Lego, Meccano, Top Trumps, Scalextric, model cars, and Hornby model trains. The show i ...

'', discussing the changing tastes in box art and the airbrushing out of bombs and explosions from his pictures.

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),
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as AskArt.com * Early Aeroplanes 1907–1918, Roy Cross, Hugh Evelyn Limited. *Official Website http://roycrossfineart.co.uk/ 1924 births Living people Alumni of Camberwell College of Arts British male journalists British marine artists Aviation artists {{UK-painter-20thC-stub