[electric indigo]

Fighter 1 is a craft from the early 80s animation feature "Crusher Joe", an elegant example of Shoji Kawamori's talent of fusing aviation and science fiction design features.

Hasegawa released a 1/72 kit last year that not only captures the lines perfectly but is also taylored to the more occasional modeler, with pre-colored snap fit parts, without sacrificing Hase's quality part fit and surface detail.









The kit was built mostly OOB. I replaced the wing antennas with needles and refined the contour of the gun housings.


The nose marking is provided as a decal, but I painted it to match my slightly darker mix for the hull color.


Paints used are Tamiya acrylics and Vallejo Metal Color for the engine parts.

 

[whiskeyrat]

Very nice... a clean, sharp build. Looking to pick up Hasegawa's new 1/400 Minerva soon myself. Well done on this one!

 

[aussiemuscle308]

nice build and a sweet looking model

 

[Milton Fox Racing]

Beautiful build!

 

[Steve H]

So nice to see some love for Crusher Joe! Very nice build there! The new Minerva looks...odd somehow. Something seems off with the lines and I just can't put my finger on it. And I am super bummed there's no hanger bay, and scratchbuilding one (besides being beyond my ability at this point) requires some major surgery with that rearmost support bulkhead frame.

But anyway, really nice fighter. Gonna pick up Fighter 2? And I think there was a vintage Gallion armored vehicle (either Takara or Nitto) that was close to 1/72.

 

[electric indigo]

Thanks for the kind words, guys.
Steve, in spite of the little Elfin figure, I could restrain myself from getting Fighter 2 thanks to all the other cool stuff that is currently around.
The Minerva, of course, I had to hold in my hands ASAP. It's an impressive kit and the promo shots just don't do it justice. It's a better representation of Kawamori's design than the old Takara kit or Wave's WHAM toy. There are, however, some nitpicks. The first is that the cockpit is just decals ( I have to get some clear parts in there), and the engineering is not what you would expect from Hasegawa at times, maybe due to the rather soft plastic.
I did the best I could to prepare the parts and still ended up with these seamlines, for example:

Polyester putty to the rescue...

 

[electric indigo]

I actually got some clear part into the Minerva cockpit windows, using the sprue from Fighter 1.





The 2nd photo also shows the somewhat unfortunate curvature of the nose, I hope I can sand that into a more elegant shape.

 

[Xenodyssey]

I was looking at both the Fighter and Minerva kits at the local LHS just this weekend. Back in the day I bought and made the original kits of all the vehicles and Robot from Crusher Joe. Pity the new kits are so expensive here in Oz. I will get at least one of them though. Your Fighter 1 looks great. Did you use the figures?

 

[electric indigo]

I put Joe in the cockpit, you can get a glimpse of him in the first picture. Fortunately, the pink tint somewhat dials down his garish sense of fashion.

 

[electric indigo]

Got a bit done on the Minerva.

The inner intake details must be painted before installing the forward parts. These were then blended into the fuselage with polyester putty.







While the part fit is generally perfect on this kit, you need to be extra careful adjusting the parts to avoid unnecessary putty work. Some places even need a bit of force.

 

[electric indigo]

Newsflash from Hasegawa:

 

[Steve H]

Oh sweet. I love the Cordova. It's just a big bad battleship bristling with guns.

I see they're going the extra mile on this, looks like including a scale Minerva and the auxiliary ships (I think they were called destroyers but pinnace might be a more accurate description). The question is, will they include the launch bay parts or will they half-a$$ it like they did with the Minerva? And I don't see any sane reason to try and make a 1/3000 scale fighter, that's basically just a chip of plastic

(yes I am still chapped that the Minerva doesn't have its hanger bay. I imagine it was omitted to save on tooling or some bs rationalization.)

 

[electric indigo]

Will this help you getting over the hangar?



And everyone needs to buy a Cordoba so we'll get to the Harpy & Siren next year...

 

[electric indigo]

Pics of the Cordoba test shots at Taghobby:

[New video and official photos added] 長谷川 2020年10月28日發售: 模型 1/3000 CREATOR WORKS Series 《CRUSHER JOE》Cordoba 5,200Yen | Taghobby.com

「クラッシャージョウ」コルドバ アニメ「クラッシャージョウ」より、コワルスキー艦長が指揮する 連合宇宙軍所属重巡洋艦「コルドバ」を1/3000スケールでキット化！ 艦首とブリッジ周辺は細かく分割し、 複雑な形状を正確に立体化。 船体のパーツは上下分割で、桁を挟み込む構造を採用。 確実な組み立てと強度を実現します。 パーツカラーはグレー。 的確なパーツ分割で、接着剤不要による組み立てを実現！

www.taghobby.com

 

[electric indigo]

Dengeki Hobby has pics of the painted kit:

『クラッシャージョウ』重巡洋艦「コルドバ」の完成見本写真が公開！巨大さを感じさせる大迫力のキットは見どころ満載!!

 

[electric indigo]

Nice!

Who'll do a Chris Foss scheme on it?

 

[whiskeyrat]

Whoa, didn't think I'd see a Cordoba kit too... man my wallet is getting empty... all I need now is Hasegawa re-molds of Technopolis 21C kits to empty out the last few dollars! How's that Minerva coming along, any updates?

 

[electric indigo]

Everybody must buy a Cordoba, because then they'll have to release Siren & Harpy next!

The Minerva is assembled, but I still have to decide if I want a clean airliner finsh or a weathered Martin Bower look.

 

[whiskeyrat]

Everybody must buy a Cordoba, because then they'll have to release Siren & Harpy next!

The Minerva is assembled, but I still have to decide if I want a clean airliner finsh or a weathered Martin Bower look.

Maybe go for something in between? Lightly weathered, but still plenty of broad clean surfaces... perhaps just do the panel lines and a bit of 'oil staining' near hatch covers, etc. Cordoba looks to be more of a challenge...

 

[electric indigo]

I'm worried that even a light panel line accentuation will kill the massive scale of these things (like you don't do panel lines on a warship). I guess I'll start with a flat/gloss specular structure and then put on some pastels.