Thunderbird 1 1:144 AIP
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David SmithThanks Torsten. I've got the dream team complete now. Even Gerry Anderson didn't really like TB3 or TB5.
David SmithHi timbr00, all the pod vehicles were included with Thunderbird 2. This is the pre-painted deAgostini model originally sold in monthly installments. I bought mine all at once after the promotion was finished. Everything is in 1:144, the AIP kits are in a variety of scales.
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Simple kit but very satisfying to build. I bought this to complement the DeAgostini Thunderbird 2 in the same scale I assembled in 2018.
As pointed out in the kit instructions, there is no definitive Thunderbird 1 prototype - the studio models, made in a variety of sizes and reworked for the two films all differed in detail and finish. The main body colour was sometimes silver, sometimes grey. I decided to use Allejo's Dark Aluminium as an interesting compromise.
The decal sheet includes the blue stripe around the top of the rocket motor assembly. This appeared much darker than the faded matt colour of the main fuel tank of the TV version. It was actually a good match to the blue 'free-sample' paint that came with my airbrush, so I used that and hoped that it would be closer to the less faded film version of TB1. I wasn't really happy - it looked too toy-like - and when I applied the decal stripe onto the reflective surface of the motor unit its appearance lightened.
I oversprayed the blue tank with a couple of coats of thinned-down white before applying the big '1' decal and this made a significant improvement. I did the same thing to both the tank and rocket assembly to tone down the blue tips of the fins once all the decals were in place (and while the 3 main sections were still separate). This was working well so I masked off some panel edges on the tank and did another partial coat, just to break up the surface. I toned down the blue on the wingtips too. I may try using the powdered lead of a soft pencil to bring out panel line detail at some stage, but I don't have anything suitable to hand.
The plan is to add the landing gear and stand it horizontally next to Thunderbird 2. I just have to decide whether to do this permanently or with magnets. For now it can reach for the sky until I decide.
Update 05/01/2023: Bought a 2B pencil and added some panel shading. Bought some 5 mm dia. x 1 mm thick magnets for the undercarriage legs. Lined the undercarriage bays with steel cut from the lid of a jar to keep the magnet fixings as low profile as possible.
