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Anyone built the Bandai Thunderbird 2?


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I was recently gifted one, and after getting my hands on it I see a potential problem. The plastic is more like vinyl than polystyrene, and the thought of a paint disaster looms large in my mind. Someone please tell me that everything will be okay, I won't need to hold my blankie, birds will still sing merrily, and nobody will re-enact prohibition.

 

Please?

 

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18 hours ago, ikar said:

How old is the kit?  There have been several put out since the was on T.V. back in the 60s.

 

Hmmm... no idea, the box looks new, undamaged. I'll see if I can post a pic later. 

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There have been Thunderbird 2 kits from Bandai/Imai out since the late 1960s, I think (I have a photo of a very young me on Christmas day 1969 with a Thunderbird 2 and 2001 Orion clipper built by my dad kicking around). The TB2s have ranged from a huge 1/144 kit to a 1/350 model that's quite nice (I've got that one - it has raised panel lines, however, and some versions have metal landing gear and engines) to a box scale one that I think is the oldest. It has soft plastic foldable landing gear legs and is overall the least good of the kits. At least the 1/350 version I have is molded in pretty conventional plastic.

 

Cheers,

 

Scott

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I believe that the Imai, Imex, and Bandai kits are all from the same moulds. I've got the High Grade Version of the 1/350 kit (along with the Thunderbird 2 pod bay). I'd love to see the International Rescue vehicles get the 21st century Bandai treatment (or Fine Molds - I'm not picky! :-)).

 

Cheers,

 

Scott

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On 10/19/2020 at 8:49 PM, The Rat said:

I was recently gifted one, and after getting my hands on it I see a potential problem. The plastic is more like vinyl than polystyrene, and the thought of a paint disaster looms large in my mind. Someone please tell me that everything will be okay, I won't need to hold my blankie, birds will still sing merrily, and nobody will re-enact prohibition.

 

My impression is that old-fashioned enamel will give you the best adhesion. I recently worked on a troublesome resin kit, that gave me lots of paint adhesion problems. In the end it was a Humbrol enamel, cured for at least three days (!), that solved the problem. You can test the paint adhesion with different grades of tape, and I always do a fingernail scratch test.

 

Rob

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7 hours ago, Rob de Bie said:

 

My impression is that old-fashioned enamel will give you the best adhesion. I recently worked on a troublesome resin kit, that gave me lots of paint adhesion problems. In the end it was a Humbrol enamel, cured for at least three days (!), that solved the problem. You can test the paint adhesion with different grades of tape, and I always do a fingernail scratch test.

 

Rob

 

Will do, thanks! 

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