MODEL BEHAVIOUR
GERRY BUILT
Barry Ford looks at some model kits from popular Gerry Anderson shows such as Thunderbirds, Stingray, Captain Scarlet, UFO and Space: 1999...
UNCL 1/48 resin Terror Fish
Monsters in Motion 1/200 resin Fireball XL5
Asa boy growing up in the 1970s the only model kits based on Gerry Anderson productions that I was aware of were the Angel Interceptor from Captain Scarlet and the Eagle and Hawk spacecraft from Space:1999. All three kits were produced by Airfix in the UK, although they had a co-production deal with MPC in the States for the two Space:1999 kits.
Moving forward to 1981, I had gone into my local newsagent to pick up my monthly supply of Marvel and DC comics when I came across a magazine called Space Voyager. Its cover with a large image of the Saturn and the Liberator from Blake’s 7 caught my eye. Briefly looking through I could see articles on books, films, television, soundtracks, games, and, most importantly to me, modelling; all with a science fiction and fact slant. Definitely worth the princely sum of 95p for a read when I got home.
The magazine had articles on modelling the Landspeeder from Star Wars and a Xenomorph in diorama setting from Alien. What caught my eye, in particular, was a list of spacerelated models compiled by Matt Irvine and Andy Yanchus.
I was staggered to discover that a veritable swarm of Anderson related model kits had been produced over the years by Japanese manufacturers Bandai and Imai.