Hornby has signed a deal with the BBC to bring out a Dr Who range of Airfix models – the first products since the train-set maker saved the kits company from collapse last year.

Model enthusiasts will be able to glue together their very own Doctor, his assistant and an eight-inch Tardis.

The Tardis will contain a chip, making it the first Airfix model in the company’s near 70-year history to come with light and sound.

The new range completes a remarkable turnaround for Airfix, which faced collapse last August after parent company Humbrol fell into administration.

Frank Martin, Hornby chief executive, bought the business and combined two of Britain’s best-loved toy brands.

He has already revived sales of Hornby train sets by launching a host of designs in the past six years. These have included a version of the Hogwarts Express featured in the Harry Potter films.

Mr Martin told The Times: “I was never in any doubt that Airfix was the right fit for us and that we could bring it back to life.’’ The model company’s heyday was in the 1960s, when it was selling more than 350,000 Spitfires, 80,000 Hurricanes and 60,000 Lancasters a year.

The business was set up in 1939 by Nicholas Kove, a Hungarian. After briefly making plastic pocket combs with an injection moulding machine, Airfix switched to models when it was commissioned in 1948 to make a promotional toy – a Ferguson tractor.

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