Aoshima Mini Thunderbirds 3 & 5
By Jacob Russell
The Show
Gerry and Sylvia Anderson created The Thunderbirds TV show. Their AP Films production company made the show and ITC Entertainment distributed it. The Thunderbirds were known for Supermarionation," a filming style combining marionette puppetry and scale-model special effects. Thunderbird 3 was a single stage space vehicle designed to maintain Thunderbird 5, and for search and rescue. Its main pilot was Alan Tracy with his brother Scott acting as co-pilot. My brother and grew up watching the Thunderbirds. We loved it!
The Kit
This is a simple kit. It is composed of 19 parts, including a metal axle. The plastic parts come on 4 sprues. Eight are molded in bright red and the other 9 in metallic gray, plus a clear dome. These parts are well molded and are free from sink marks and flash. The kit also includes a well printed decal sheet. Given the intended audience of the model-children-I was surprised to find decals rather than stickers.
Accuracy
Really? This is a caricature of an imaginary vehicle from a children's television how. It looks the part.
Conclusion
This kit brings back fond memories. You could build it in 15 minutes, and spend more time on the decals. I like this kit and I recommend it. I would like to thank Aoshima for the review sample.
References
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thunderbirds_(TV_series)
http://thunderbirds.wikia.com/wiki/Thunderbird_3