An antidote to pandemic blues, with some assembly required

PARIS (AP) — The old-school pastimes of making scale models and playing with miniature trains are making a comeback as a form of therapy against the pandemic blues. Sales are booming as locked-down families glue and paint models and dust off train sets. British brand Airfix saw a run on plastic kits for Spitfires, the iconic World War II fighter plane. Hornby, which owns Airfix and also makes an array of model trains and cars under other brands, has become profitable again as its sales soared. The analog pleasures of fixing and fiddling with models and trains are also peeling digital generations away from their screens.