Aoshima Mini Thunderbirds Thunderbird No 1
By Jacob Russell
The Show
Gerry and Sylvia Anderson created The Thunderbirds TV show. Their AP Films production company made the Thunderbirds and ITC Entertainment distributed it. The show was known for Supermarionation," a filming style that combined marionette puppetry and scale-model special effects. Thunderbird No.1 was a fast action response vehicle which Scott Tracy piloted. I grew up watching the Thunderbirds, and my brother and I loved it.
The Kit
This is a simple kit. It is composed of 21 parts, including 2 metal axles. The plastic parts come on 5 sprues. One part is molded in bright red and the rest in metallic gray. 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 for me. 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_1