I know that Skybow sold off there 1/35th scale side of the business, but what happened to there M41 Walker Bulldog?

That's an excellent question. When they sold all their moulds to AFV Club, the only one they DIDN'T sell was the M41. The reason for that (apparenty) was that AFV Club already had their own M41 so it would have been duplication. I also understand that both verions were actually different variants.. Can anyoe shed any light on this?...Jim

The AFV Club/Hobby Fan brochure shows the Skybow (identified as such) M41A3 in various markings for release in Asian markets. I will double check the catalog and give you more specifics and kit numbers.

cant really answer your question, but i know accurate armour (skybows old UK distributor) were selling off skybow kits very cheaply recently.

the M41 is a great kit, its half finished on my workbench now.

if you want one they might still have some

regards

Joe

OK, I was slightly off. The Skybow version of the M41 is being issued as the West German M41(G) and is kit #AF35S25.

The Asian market kits are both variants of the AFV Club kit:
AF35S11 M41A2 JGSDF (Japan only)
AF35S12 M41A3 Taiwan Marines (Taiwan only)

The ex-Skybow kit is all plastic and the AFV ones have metal barrels and the JGSDF one comes with PE.

Thanks all. Now I can use my Tamyia M41 as a test bed and get a real kit. Been thinking of making it a Danish M41D

The M41D conversion is Hobby Fan set #HF042.

The Hobby Fan conversion is for the Taiwanese variant, the Danish one is different.

The German M41 from AFV Club (ex Skybow) looks like the Okuno kit (which was Skybow with some new parts) with new decals and smoke dischargers. I'd be interested in getting one when available


Cheers,
Christophe

The Skybow M41 is an exceptionally good kit. The suspension, however, is not at the same level as the rest of the kit for some reason. This is conveiently solved by the AFV Club M41 suspension that is available separately. You have to do a bit of engineering to adapt the wheels to the Skybow hull but they're worth it.

Be careful when using the Eduard PE set. About 40% of the parts are either better represented on the kit or just wrong.

KL