Skybow

1/48 Tiger I "Early Production

Kit Number 4833

Reviewed By Andrew Birkbeck, #27087

In December of 2004, Tamiya released the first in a new series of 1/48th WW2 armored vehicle models, reviving a subject niche first introduced in the mid 1970’s by the Japanese firm Bandai.  The Bandai series of 1/48th armored fighting vehicles was strictly limited to WW2 machines, but did manage to incorporate vehicles from most of the major combatants: German, US, British and Russian.  For their time, the Bandai kits  were  well produced models, with well detailed parts, reasonable fit, and with “interior detail”.  The only poor parts in the kits were the vinyl tracks on the tracked vehicles.  These were poorly detailed, very stiff, and over-scale in terms of thickness.

Enter Tamiya with their first new tank kit in this scale in decades, a German Tiger I “Early Production”:  great Tamiya fit of parts, very nice injection molded “link and length” tracks, along with many other very well detailed parts.  For this reviewer at least, a real “Wow, look how things have improved over the 1970’s” experience.  I bought one of these kits as soon as I could lay my hands on one, and everything went together very well.  My one “problem” was that Tamiya produced the tank’s lower hull in cast metal.  As such it was less well detailed than the plastic injection parts that came in the kit, and one was forced to use superglue to attach the plastic parts to the metal hull part.  While the engineering and fit of the plastic parts to other plastic parts was the usual very high Tamiya quality, I felt that the fit of the plastic parts to the metal part left a lot to be desired and requiring additional work.  Correcting problems with metal parts takes quite a bit of work!  I also did not like the fact that a number of the on-vehicle tools were molded integrally with the large upper hull part.  Not a big gripe but in this day and age very “early 1970’s”.

At the same time that Tamiya announced their Tiger I kit, a more obscure Taiwanese firm named Skybow also announced that they too would start to produce a new line of 1/48th armored vehicle kits!  It does not rain that it pours 1/48th AFV’s after decades of “neglect”!  And to top it off, Skybow’s first releases would be Tiger I’s as well, TWO of them: Early Production and Late (“steel wheeled”) Production variants.  And so the modeling world waited for the Skybow kits to emerge.  And waited, and waited, and waited.  Tamiya’s kit came out in December 2004, and it was not until July/August 2005 that the Skybow examples finally surfaced.  As my dear old Mom was fond of saying to me as a young fellow, “Good things come to those who patiently wait”.  This has CERTAINLY been the case with the Skybow Tiger I kits. 

Both Skybow Tiger I kits come in a very fancy boxing, more in line with collectable dolls such as Barbie or DML’s 1/9th Military Action Figures than with a model kit.  The kit boxes are very sturdy, and come with a flip up top that reveals the kit parts contained in a see-through vacu-formed protective container.  This is a brilliant move on Skybow’s part, in that it allows the potential buyer to view the parts without having to ask the shop keeper if it would be okay to open the sealed container.

And what parts one gets with the Skybow Tigers!  With the exception of the cast metal lower hull Tamiya’s Tiger I parts were very well engineered and fit together very well.  However, Skybow’s Tiger I parts are nothing short of EXQUISITE.  The detail on the parts is truly breathtaking.  Care will especially be needed with removing the smaller parts, such as on-board tools (all separate in the Skybow kits!), as they are very delicate and quite fragile.  With care, however, I was able to remove them all from their sprues intact.

Skybow’s Tiger I kits come without cast metal lower hulls, and as a result the detail on the Skybow hull part is much greater than on the Tamiya Tiger I.  Skybow also employs a unique way of attaching the vehicle road wheels to the hull, via small metal screws!  At first I was very dubious of this method, however I experienced no problems whatsoever using the screws and added some additional two part epoxy glue to insure the screws didn’t work their way free at a later date.  The epoxy allowed me time to work with the parts to insure everything fit well before it set up solid.  I suppose you could use super glue instead of epoxy, but for me, super glue sets up far too quickly.  If things aren’t aligned properly the first time through, one is in a heap of trouble.

The Tiger I Early from Skybow went together very smoothly, and the precision of fit for all the parts was everything the very best Tamiya kit has ever been for me.  In fact, if the Skybow kit had appeared in a Tamiya box at my local hobby store, I would have said, “Hey, Tamiya has upped their game with this kit”.  Skybow’s kit is THAT good.

Not only is the finesse of the Skybow parts equal to anything yet produced by Tamiya, but there is literally MORE detail in the kit.  Skybow for example includes the cabling from the Nortek lights on the hull front of the model, whereas Tamiya misses this entirely.  Skybow includes the smoke grenade launchers on the hull corners that existed on many Early Tiger I’s, whereas these are missing from the Tamiya kit.  Skybow also manages to produce on their main hull and turret parts a very convincing “rolled steel” pitted appearance, whereas on the Tamiya Tiger I kit, the parts are very smooth.  Skybow’s on-board tools also come with securing tool holders very effectively molded in place, whereas Tamiya’s tools are without tool holders.

One big difference between the Skybow and Tamiya Tigers:  Tamiya gives the modeler some very nicely produced “link and length” tracks in harder injection molded plastic, while Skybow produces their tracks in the “traditional” way: the so-called rubber band track method.  However, Skybow’s single piece tracks are very well detailed for this type track, and are glue-able.  Fit is very positive, and I doubt your average modeler would find the “Skybow way” detrimental to their modeling enjoyment, and many I have spoken to actually PREFER the Skybow method over the new Tamiya method!

In closing then:  Skybow’s Tiger I Early Production kit in 1/48th is for this reviewer quite simply THE finest 1/48th AFV model so far produced.  The Late Production Tiger I, which I have also built, is just as wonderful.  Both kits fit together as well as anything Tamiya has ever produced, while the Skybow Tigers have much more detail than Tamiya’s.  I can’t recommend Skybow’s kits more highly.

Sadly, the Skybow Tiger I kits are not readily available from one’s local hobby shop in the USA.  However, all is not lost, as they are fairly readily available from a number of online sources, the closest being right here in the USA via Wings n’ Treads: www.wingsntreads.com  (who supplied my review sample, THANKS!)  This is a great source for Skybow kits, along with a good assortment of other 1/48th armor kits and accessories.

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