These models are 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 (now, there’s a familiar name!). 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 FFR-41MR is a manned fighter armed with missiles and a gun. The FRX-99 is a robot reconnaissance version, but is also armed. Stock numbers are SSY-2 (FFR-41) and SSY-4 (FRX-99). Price is identical for each.

THE MODELS

Except for the decal sheets, these kits are exactly identical. The parts for both versions are included in the kit, so you could build either one of the two versions. The biggest difference between the two is that the FFR-41 has a cockpit area and canopy, and the FRX-99 has a small housing for the robot and a small clear sensor at the front.

CONSTRUCTION

Construction is easy, and the instructions are pretty good. I suspect they’d be a lot better if I could read Japanese. Nevertheless, the pictures are self-explanatory.

In 8 steps, you get a completed aircraft, ready for painting. I wish now I had left the wings off until after painting, as with the wings folded, it’s difficult to mask and paint the somewhat complex leading edges. I got through this by painting the leading edge white and masking over it to paint the darker grays.

The other notable thing about assembly is that fit is very tight and everything fits well. Well, it fits very well if you very carefully remove all trace of the spots where the sprues connect to the parts. If you don’t you have fit problems. The engineering tolerances on these kits is so close that there’s not much room for error. I found the wing hinge assemblies to be truly wonderful, allowing attachment of the wings either flat or folded, and they’re strong.

I had to make a paint conversion chart from Gunze to Model Master so I could quickly figure out which paint to use.

The decals were good, and went on with little hassle.

OVERALL EVALUATION

Highly recommended. If you’re interested in Anime or sci-fi, you should rush out and buy these kits before they disappear. They’re small, but everything fits, and they really look good.

Apparently these kits are not being imported by Dragon USA, but I found them for sale at the Platz website.

Thanks to Platz and IPMS USA for getting me to build something out of the ordinary.