Among the earliest Japanese anime series to be adapted for American television was
Battle of the Planets. Known in Japan as
Science Ninja Team Gatchaman, it followed the exploits of five young heroes as they battled a villainous group known as Galactor. As a youngster in the ’80s, I watched this show religiously. (It ran in the afternoon along with
Starblazers (or
Space Battleship Yamato), and
Voltron.) So I was thrilled to hear Academy was kitting the team’s second ship, the
New God Phoenix.
Molded in color — and what colors they are: bright animated primary shades of red, blue, white, and yellow, are joined by sprues of black, metallic gray, and clear red — the kit can be built without painting, but glue is necessary to hold some of the assemblies together. And Academy recommends using cement throughout.
Metal springs and cleverly designed clips allow many of the
Phoenix’s hatches and wings to move and expose the team’s individual vehicles in hangars. For the American release, importer Model Rectifier Corp. is including Academy’s LED lighting set usually sold separately. It provides five prewired LEDs, metal contacts for the model and stand, and a switch.
Markings are provided in two ways. There’s a comprehensive waterslide decal sheet printed by Cartograf which includes a ton of stencils, labeling for the smaller ships, and belt buckles for the five figures. A much-abbreviated sheet of stickers supplies the major markings for the main ship only.
I painted the parts on the sprues before assembly, touching up seams along the way. This slows the build some but makes for cleaner seams. Tamiya white (XF-1), red (X-7), and yellow (XF-3) matched the plastic. For blue, I mixed 3 parts Tamiya X-4 with 1 part white to get close.
Pay attention to the arrows in the assembly diagrams as there are many places that glue shouldn’t be used so parts can move. In several steps, the parts must be added in order. Also, be careful when installing the small springs for the latches. In several instances, friction is the only thing holding them in place until subsequent parts are added. Done right, the latches work like a charm and give the moving features a satisfying click.
The LEDs are simple to install, but space is tight under the nose hangar and its LED has to make a sharp bend into place. The instructions suggest the LEDs don’t need glue, but I used a little superglue.
I ran into only two construction snags. The main hull halves sandwich a lot, including wiring and the wing hinges, and I couldn’t get them to close tight without clamps. On top, a popup hatch permits a sprung elevator to reveal
G-5, but the elevator hangs up rather than rising smoothly. That may be because I painted the parts.
The landing gear is designed to come on and off with interchangeable doors. Other optional parts include the cheek mounted Bird missile launchers with missiles and clear red flame; the same plastic provides sections that slip over the nose and wingtips to replicate the iconic Phoenix effect.
The tiny vehicles and team members were harder to paint than the main ship.
The decals laid down perfectly over clear gloss. The sharply engraved panel lines accepted a wash nicely to pop surface detail.
Ultimately, I had a blast building the
New God Phoenix and reliving my childhood. Enthusiasm for older anime is high right now and many mainstream manufacturers have embraced it with kits from many long-running shows. If nothing else, this kits was a fun break from the ordinary and one of the most colorful additions to my display shelves in a long time.
G-Force, transform!
Note: A version of this review appeared in the July 2020 issue.