This model is from an Anime series originally called “Sentō Yōsei Yukikaze” which appeared in Japan as a direct-to-video production. It was produced by Gonzo and Bandai Visual (A familiar name to modelers). The videos won awards in Japan for best animation in 2003 and 2006. An English version of the video is available.

The premise of the story is that Earth will be invaded in the mid 21st Century by an alien force called JAM, through an interdimensional portal which comes out near Antarctica. The UN puts together a secret force which pushes the invasion back through the portal. The UN force then follows JAM through the portal to its home world, which is called Fairy. The battle continues on Fairy using several aircraft with some real upgrades from what we see in the early 21st Century. More information can be found at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yukikaze_(anime) .

THE MODEL

Cleanly molded gray plastic with a clear canopy and an extra rarely seen these days, a stand. It’s necessary to study and understand the pictures in the instructions, as most of the text is Japanese. This is not unexpected, as Platz is a Japanese company, and most of the kits are expected to sell in Japan, where Anime is huge.

CONSTRUCTION

The simplicity of the assembly and the parts are somewhat reminiscent of Monogram or Comet back in the 50s, except that every part fit cleanly and nicely. I had to be very careful to clean off and smooth the little nubs left by the sprue attachments completely, or the parts wouldn’t fit as well. Fortunately all it took was a few moments with a medium grit sanding stick to get the parts ready. Of course, sometimes there were 4 or 6 sprue attachment points, and each one had to be attended to.

I had to make a paint conversion chart from Gunze to Model Master so I could quickly figure out which paint to use. The paint job was a little complex, as the instructions assume that you can tell one shade of gray from another on the page and turn that into a paint scheme. I’m pretty close.

The decals were good, and went on with little hassle. There are large “no step” lines on the top of both wings, but I got both of them pretty close and square. THAT is an indication of good decals, because I regularly screw these up.

OVERALL EVALUATION

Highly recommended. Good fit and decals make this a fairly easy build. I sometimes had to look three times to determine whether a part was for gear up or down, and the armament instruction was pretty busy, making it easy to get the wrong missile on the wrong pylon in the wrong place. But patience is one of our virtues, right?

Apparently this kit is not being imported by Dragon USA, but I found them for sale at the Platz website.

Thanks to Platz and IPMS USA for adding to my collection of built 1/144 items.