As a child Frank Martin was always upset that he could never afford Corgi: “I was a Dinky fan - Corgi was too expensive!” But yesterday he banished the disappointment forever in one £7.5 million swoop.

Since joining Hornby in 2001, Mr Martin has proved that peddling nostalgia can be big business. He has resurrected the model train maker, increased sales of Scalextric and revived an Airfix business after it went into administration.

He is more than convinced he can do the same with Corgi, a brand that set the pace in the 1960s. “It was the first with glazed windows, steering. It was behind every invention.”

Mr Martin, 55, joined Hornby after shareholders had failed to sell the business at the height of the dot.com boom. Under his leadership Hornby has had a quiet revolution. His first decision was to complete the transfer of manufacturing to China in 2002 to cut costs and save the business.

As well as moving both Hornby and Scalextric into the modern world through licensing deals with Harry Potter and The Simpsons, Hornby has also embraced digital technology and proved that it can enhance yesteryear's products.

Scalextric cars are now equipped with chips that allow several to operate on the same track at once.

Toys have dominated Mr Martin's career. On turning up at Rayleigh, the bike maker in 1973, he found himself head of a now-defunct toy division. He moved to Hasbro in the mid-1980s and despite a decade in home furnishings - through spells at Coloroll, Royal Winton and Shaw Carpets - he became chief executive of Humbrol in 1995, the paints firm forever linked to Airfix.

While never having owned a train set or Scalextric track, Mr Martin insists there is a bona fide market for Hornby's portfolio of collectables.

Although more than 70 per cent of Hornby's model railways are bought by adults and hobbyists, 30 per cent of sales go to children despite the Playstation phenomenon. His own daughter supports the argument, having followed her father into the toy industry with Vivid Imagination, where she manages Bratz dolls.

In a week where Grand Theft Auto has been all the rage, Mr Martin insists there is no reason Corgi cannot be successful in its own right. It could even benefit from the craze. “One day you may even see Corgi models of the cars in the game.”

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