Aoshima Models Thunderbird 3 Model Building Kit, 1/350 Scale

I received mine from Jungle Store Japan - well worth the little extra time for shipping from Japan. Nice size and detail. Instructions are all in Japanese - but the illustrations are very good - and helpful. Great kit.Tom

Neat model, the scale is right on 1:350 and the details right. Nice all in all.

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Love it

As a long time fan of the TV series 'Thunderbirds' I was so excited to see a kit of Thunderrbird 3. Many argue that this is not the most thrilling of the vehicles, (it only goes on 3 rescues), but the design has an undeniable elegance and it just looks os cool. Derek Meddings was a genius.This is an accurate kit. Even though multiple models were used in the series, all slightly different, the kit designers have done an excellent job in capturing the correct look of the craft. They have even added some alternate parts so you can chose one particular studio model over another. That said I was a bit dissapointed in the decal sheet. There is a 'black 3' seen on the main body - only once in 'Sun Probe' - which was not included in the decal sheet. Simialrly it would have been nice to have had some of the small serial number-type markings included. Contempoary kits of military airacraft come with vast decal sheets featuring every tiny 'hazard warning sign', so it's possible.One minor quibble, or more of a note for the manufacturer really, is that the artwork on the box is reminiscent of the old Imai kits of the Gerry Anderson vehicles. Those kits suffered from lots of innacuarcies and silly gimmicks where elastic band powered missiles were added to almost every model. Looking at this box, this kit looked like another in that line so, fearing more of the same I researched it quite heavily before buying it.Model kits of sci-fi vehicles have been treated poorly in the past, but with models like this which is a real scale (1/350th, standing about 9 inches tall for a scale 287ft), as well as the Star Wars kits from Fine Molds we are getting 'real models' now. This kit goes well with the 1/350th Thunderbird 2, 1/144th Thunderbird 1 and the 1/72nd Mole!I am very happy with my finished model.Congratulations to all involved. I can't wait to see more.

Fabulous model of TBIRD 3

High quality and finely detailed, with three options for the forward white docking ring, which I appreciated. Lots of decals to help with achieving a fine finished result.

届いたばかりなので、部品と説明図を見ながらのレビューです。本体はスライド金型を用いた成型となっており、モナカ割りではないので処理が非常に楽だと思います。ドッキングリング（５号と合体する白い部分）は３種類入っていて選択式です。逆噴射ロケットは18枚の板を接着します・・・溝が深いので斜めになったりといった心配はなさそうです。３つのジェット噴射口のとりつけも、本体側の溝がしっかりしているうえ、説明書に確認用に真上（真下）から見た図が載っているので、歪んでいないか確認がしやすいです。展示台は過去キットの流用ですが、接続部は新造となってます。逆噴射ロケットの板を使って展示するので、着脱式のようです。穴開け加工の必要もないです。総評：さすが新規造詣キットです。それなりの値段はしますが、丁寧に組み立てればシャープな３号が完成するでしょう。

Great model, well detailed. There are three niggles with this kit. Firstly the dark blue fins around the middle are hard to get at the right angle without leaning. I had to put a thin join of cement down one side of the fin so it would set in place. Would have been better to have grooves to slot them in and 3 prongs to put into holes instead of one. Second gripe is that whilst the decals don't crumble when inserted in water like my Thunderbird 1 kit from Comet did, they do tend to break up more easily than Airfix and Matchbox kits used to, and as I'm heavy handed most broke on me so I'm left with no decals. Wish I could get a new set. The last one is that the 3 arms which connect to the engine are extremely thin, so care must be taken not to break them when removing from the plastic frame they come on, and when fitting them to the engines. Other than that it's easy to build. It has pride of place on my display unit.

2次ロット以降はパーツ色の変更があったのかもしれないが中央部の18枚のフィンや逆噴射パーツの色が青。試作段階では濃いグレーだったように思う。むろん青ではしょうがないのでフィン等はツヤ消し黒に塗装。フィンの根元には凹形の18枚の細い青いデカールを貼り付けるがこれがかなり神経を使う。それぞれ丁度真ん中にすべてを綺麗に貼り揃えるのは相当難しい。耐久性も考えると細いマスキングテープでも使って塗装した方が良かったかもしれない。フィン下部の黄色のラインも細いデカールだが1枚目から破れてしまった。このデカールは断念、面倒になってしまったがこちらも黄色で塗装。ボディーはいわば4つの筒をつなぎ合わせて組み立てる。パーツ合わせは良好。重量感を持たせるために内部にコーキング剤を充填した。3の白い大きなデカールは通常は横向きだが縦バージョンにしてみた。フィン廻りさえ上手くいけばそれ以外の製作は難しくない。ちなみに本体の赤色は全塗装せずスミ入れ程度で充分見栄えがする。全高は25cm少々、プロポーションはかなり良いように思う。(写真は製作途中と天賞堂版との比較)

組み立て自体はわりと簡単で完成後の大きさも結構いいのですが最後のシール貼りにものすごく苦戦しました…。水に浸けて剥がすという特殊なやり方なのですがこれがまた困難で剥がす途中でどうしてもシールが切れてしまいます…(予備はない)。もう一つの不満はロケット色が完全な赤ではなく少々オレンジがかっている所が気に入りませんでした。サンダーバード好きの人でも買わなきゃよかったと思うかもしれません。あくまで自分が思った事なのでファンならば一度買う価値はありますね。