This is the first of a series of interviews I am doing with Old School Manufacturers who are currently producing wargame and collectors ranges saved from extinction. For this first one I spoke to Tim Humphries who has revived the old Skybirds range, first produced in the 1930s.
I first asked Tim when and how he got the Skybirds name and manufacturing rights. He told me that having been a fan of the original Skybirds models, particularly the military vehicles, in 2015 he discovered that the Skybirds name was no longer trademarked and was available to purchase from Companies House. He managed to acquire the Trade Name and manufacturing rights although at first he didn’t actually have any of the original moulds. Tim began by making new master moulds from good quality original models but soon set about collecting and buying up the moulds as and when he could. New models to augment the existing ranges are also being made and at this time there are many hundreds of potential models and figures awaiting the casting process.
Tim first came across Skybirds military models and figures as part of officer training at Sandhurst during his time in the British Army. At Sandhurst apparently, they had/have a large collection for use on their famously huge wargaming sandtables. He classes himself as a collector rather than a wargamer, particularly of Skybirds and Britains models of inter-war years vehicles. Of course Skybirds themselves were makers of models for collectors and diorama makers originally. The company is said to have set the fashion for 1/72 scale models with their early wooden and metal aircraft kits. Before the company ceased producing new models in 1942, they had branched out into military and aviation vehicles, military and civilian figures, model buildings (including a splendid real canvas aircraft hanger and representations of World War 1 trench systems) and during the early years of the Second World War, model warships. I’m not sure whether Tim intends to produce any of these but he does hold the rights to the entire Skybird range should he wish to use it.
Tim and his wife set up a workshop in their farm in the rural East Midlands of the UK. He has modern casting and mould making equipment but sometimes prefers to do things the old fashioned drop casting way- just for fun. He says the results are just the same.
Skybirds always had very distinctive packaging and Tim felt it important to recreate this when he revived the brand. When you receive one of Tim’s models it is always a delight to see the box and yellow labels which make use of some of the original 1930s graphics. I suspect they didn’t use bubble wrap back then but it still feels special when you take these lovely heavy models out of their boxes and unwrap the tissue to reveal the treasures inside. This tradition of the boxed toy reflects the fact that the majority of Tim's customers are collectors not wargamers.
Interestingly, Mark Lodge has done the same thing with the packaging for his his revamped Jacklex figures. Perhaps this reflects a marketing trend in Old School and Vintage figures? It certainly gives a premium product feel to their output.
Tim says SkybirdsUK is a one man band and that this helps to keep the prices down. But with the world wide increase in the cost of white metal, all metal figure manufacturers will feel the squeeze sadly. That's not stopping new Skybirds models from being released however! I recently took delivery of a magnificent Panzer III, one of Tim's newer models (see separate review) and there are some more German vehicles in the pipeline.
Tim sells via the SkybirdsUK website and also on ebay and there are plans to update the website soon. You can see the range here:
http://skybirdsuk.com/
