Hasegawa 1/1500 Space Pirate Battleship Arcadia - First Ship Kit First Look

By Michael Benolkin

First Look

Space Pirate Captain Harlock is an anime TV series that was produced in the late 1970s based upon a manga written by Leiji Matsumoto centered around a future pirate crew that raided the Mazone who had conquered the Earth. Their vessel was the starship Arcadia which carried the crew through its adventures. Hasegawa has released their Space Pirate Battleship Arcadia - First Ship kit which is modified to align with the new manga 'Captain Harlock: Travel Dimension'.

This kit molded in multicolor styrene and presented on eleven parts trees. The kit consists of five parts trees molded in green styrene, one tree in brown styrene, two trees in black styrene, two trees in white styrene, and one tree of transparent yellow parts (duplicate parts trees not shown). The main hull is built-up similar to other contemporary ship kits with interior bulkheads to provide structural strength of the completed model. One of the bulkheads has spars that extend through the hull to support the engine intakes and wings.

This kit features subtle detail differences such as antennas to align with the manga version versus the previous kit release of this vessel. One could build this kit without painting and render a rather nice model of the Arcadia, though there are some nice opportunities to detail paint and weather the hull for a more dramatic rendition.

The kit includes an articulating display stand which allows the model to be displayed in a variety of attitudes. The stand also protects the underside of the model from damage as it cannot be set directly upon a shelf without breaking off one or more parts.

This kit looks like a fun build and will probably be seen more on contest tables once the English language version of the new manga becomes available to Space Pirate Captain Harlock fans.

My sincere thanks to Hasegawa USA for this review sample!