IMAI 1/144 Thunderbird 2 Kit First Look

By Michael Benolkin

First Look

I'm sure many of you grew up watching the Gerry Anderson Super Marionation series like Fireball XL-5, Supercar, and the Thunderbirds. For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, please go ask your parents. I enjoyed the Thunderbirds in particular and was fascinated with the Thunderbirds One and Two. So it was with great surprise and pleasure that I found a Thunderbirds kit that wasn't a blatant play toy. This kit quietly came and left the marketplace, so quietly that it didn't even make John Burn's Collector's Value Guide. I recently acquired this kit and still can't quite believe what I have.

IMAI released a limited edition Thunderbird 2 (kit number B-2067) in 1/144 scale (the BIG kits of Thunderbird 2 on the market now are 1/300 scale!) and it is all produced in beautiful cast resin, white metal and turned brass parts. No plastic anywhere! What you're looking at in the above photo are four pieces of resin. Top and bottom airframe halves, and top and bottom cargo pod halves. This section is 20 inches long and over two pounds of resin! The wings, tail and engine section are also resin. The intakes and fairings are cast white metal, the landing gear and engine bells are turned brass. Once assembled, it will withstand serious cross-winds and low yield felines.

Just to help you visualize the size of this thing, I've placed my 1/35 M60A3 next to it. This thing is huge! I'm looking forward to building this beast, and if you too are a Thunderbirds fan and hear of one available anywhere on the planet, BUY IT!!

You'd have to be a BIG International Rescue fan to have this kit. While it definitely isn't cheap, especially since it is a very rare kit, you can see from the fuselage castings alone how nice (and how large) a 1/144 Thunderbird 2 really is!

Definitely recommended for the hard core Thunderbirds fan!