Tamiya 1/48 Scale Armor

In a previous post I mentioned extending my personal definition of small-scale armor to now include the 1/48 scale lines of Tamiya and Bandai. Although Bandai is not currently producing their line the kits are still obtainable on eBay. Meanwhile Tamiya is going hot and heavy in this scale. Current kits in 1/48 being produced by Tamiya are:

Citroen 11CV Staff Car
Hetzer
Jagdpanther (late version)
Kettenkrad with Cart & Goliath
Kuebelwagen
Kuebelwagen Type 82 - Africa
M10 tank destroyer (mid production)
M4 Sherman
M4A1 Sherman
PzKpfw III ausf L
PzKpfw IV ausf J
PzKpfw V Panther ausf G
PzKpfw VI Tiger I (early production)
Schwimmwagen Type 166
Sturmgeshutz III ausf B
Sturmgeshutz III ausf G

Su-122
T-34/76
Universal Carrier MkII

A check of their Web site shows some more kits “Coming Soon”. [Do I have to tell you to click the link on the title of this post to get there?] Listed forth coming (but no dates posted – which is a smart move on their part) kits are:

Cromwell
Kettenkraftrad with Aircraft Power Supply Unit
Krupp Protze
Kv-1
PzKpfw VI (King) Tiger II
PzKpfw VI Tiger I (Afrika Corps)
Sherman Ic Firefly
Volkswagen Type 82E

Now if you haven't seen any of these don't confuse them with Tamiya's older offerings of "motorized" 1/48 scale armor kits. These are really nice offerings. And for those of you who can't build just from the box there is a plethora of aftermarket photoetch sets from Lionroar/Voyager and Eduard and resin add-ons from Verlinden.

I appreciate Tamiya's entry into this scale for armor. As I get older and the diopters on my Optivisor increases the possible switch from 1/72 scale to 1/48 is quite tempting. I'm buying the kits as fast as I can but have not officially abandoned the smaller scale yet.

A smaller participant in the 1/48 scale category is Skybow. Currently this firm is offering kits of PzKpfw VI Tiger I (early production) and PzKpfw VI Tiger I (late production). They also have track sets for each as separate items.