I hope there is a model company out there watching your videos because there is still a huge market for these type of kits. Accurate kits I hasten to add! Many thanks for the upload.
@@MattelineUpdate on Round 2's UFO licence - despite announcing the UFO licence in 2022, nothing will be available until 2025(at least). Apparently, yes, they will start with the Shado Mobile in 1/35 which means most of us will be too old and senile to care if / when they ever get around to releasing the UFO saucer or Skydriver. I heard a rumour some time ago that they got a new MD who doesn't care for sci-fi which, given the lack of momentum on this desperately awaited franchise, doesn't seem to be too far of the mark.....
Best part of the narration, "allows for 100% believability especially as a 10 year old child" There will always be a space for Thunderbirds in my heart. They were Sunday mornings on ITV. I also remember the clear pegboard style kits. Thanks for the nostalgic walkback in time.
@@Matteline It came here to where I live in the 60's, along with teh James Bond car from Goldfinger, they were both in the carnival fate and teh FAB 1 was then on display at a local garage where I got to sit in it along with my sister
Thanks for another great video! I've always wished, and still do, wish there was a model of the sort of civilian truck. The one that is saved by Scott firing the harpoon into the cliff face before Virgil lifts it away with the magnetic grab on thunderbird 2. That was always my favourite episode, and you're right. Nobody would buy thunderbird 5. Poor old Allan!
The civilian truck - the Gray & Houseman Explosive Tractor is 'coming soon'. I LOVE that vehicle. Designed by Mile Trim. One of the best episodes and I think I read it was one of Gerry Anderson's favourites.
Not sure the recent Aoshima (and still available Bachmann AIP kit in the UK) TB5 kit was a big seller - especially as it was one of the most expensive kits of the range....)
DeAgostini did, a few years back, a very large scale Thunderbird 2..lit with sounds and ( semi) working ng legs...it also came with all the pods and rescue vehicles...done as a subscription part work.. but everything in your wish list model. Great episode..and I'd love any and all of these kits 🙂
And it was 1:144 scale also there was an addon at the end of the sub for a second pod with clear plastic sides so you could see the rescue vehicles. It has working legs although the gear mechanism is ingenious it is not always reliable and often slips and TB2 rises with a drunken list,
@BillyRiff-RAF indeed..those part works add up quick with @£10 a week over two years plus. But the finished model is pretty spectacular. And, as mentioned, DeAgostini went about as far as they could with it. I missed it initially, but if DeAgostini ( or Fanhome now) we're to bring it back I'd subscribe 😁
@@solospirit4212 I have not seen this in the flesh, but plenty of pics and videos online, the shape of the nose is all wrong with the cockpit windows are way too high. The rest of it looks really good - and those 1/144 scale pod vehicles - some motorized I think! - are terrific. I can't believe they basically 'botched' this key area.
I am not a Thunderbirds fan even though it is just slightly older than myself! I prefer UFO and Space 1999 and it would be amazing if you could do the same type of piece for those shows. However I love the love you put into these videos, keep up this original and beautiful work.
It is in the works. I did the SHADO Moon Mobile in a prior video.along with some of the Captain Scarlet vehicles from the 2 moon episodes. I was having a moon phase...
TH-cam recommended this to me, and I genuinely thought you were just going through ACTUAL sets that existed back in the day. I didn't realize that you drew these until you straight up said so! These are so great, they're so authentic to the period these sets would have been released too!
Your artwork is always fantastic but for me the illustration of thunderbird 2 is absolutely spot on. I haven't seen any illustration that conveys the presence which thunderbird 2 always has when on screen but also its massive size. I wish I was able to paint like you and do justice to these iconic craft as you have done. Can't wait to see more 👍
Thank you so much for the kind words. I find painting 'Thunderbird 2' can be a bit intimidating. It is lilke painting a movie star. I like the word 'presence'. All of the Thunderbirds have to perfect to do them justice... but you just have to jump in and do your best.
It would have been interesting if Anderson Productions had done some mash-ups, like Thunderbirds and Stingray. 😊 I'd like to see some new good scale kits too. 😎👍
They actually did a fantastic kit of Stingray back then! That was a kit, attached to wires to make it move! I had a friend that had one and it was! back then huge!
In the 1960's, the comic produced by Gerry Anderson's Century 21 company, 'TV21', had lavishly illustrated comic strips, wherein Fireball XL-5 and Stingray join forces, and later, Thunderbirds and Captain Scarlet would feature in each other's strips. All the above were set in the 2060's, whereas Supercar and Joe 90 were set in the 1990's and early 2000's. Supercar had it's own, rather light-hearted strip, and Joe got his own comic. The strips in TV21 were very serious in nature - and some of the Thunderbirds strips, with exquisite art by the great Frank Bellamy, were very gritty indeed. They have been collected into graphic novel format, and are definitely worth seeking out.
I spent a small fortune buying the Aoshima full Diorama kits of Thunderbirds 1 & 2 & 3 with the card backgrounds, extra pods and whatnot, but if Airfix were to bring out this series I would happily buy them all, build the airfix kits and keep the old Aoshima kits in the stash as an investment. Bring it on Airfix !!!
I know,.. i should have mentioned that it should have the option to be motorized:) The original model seen in the show was approx. 1/24th scale. Just over 2 feet long. And utilised many parts form the Airfix Girder Bridge kit. Circle of life. th-cam.com/video/__90Sm0gfYM/w-d-xo.html
Have you bought / built the Aoshima (Bachmann / AIP in the UK) 1/72 Mole kit? It makes a fantastic model and the Japanese Aoshima version comes with a motor for the drill!
This looks great, Matt; especially the "Blister Pack" kits! Actually, It's hard to believe that Airfix never kitted any of these for real the way they did with the Captain Scarlett Angel Interceptor. These kits would be a natural follow-on. Do you know why Airfix never brought out a "Thunderbirds" kit series? 107th Like.
I have no idea why Airfix only did the Angel Interceptor.. That kit is a constant seller. Even if they only got onto the Anderson stuff with Captain Scarlet, why not do the following shows the SPV, or other 'cars'. or UFO or Joe 90. They did the Eagle and the Hawk. I wrote to Airfix a while back and asked them, but got no reply.
@@Matteline I'm guessing that by this time, Airfix doesn't know why they didn't produce models of the "Thunderbirds," and the others you mentioned, either . . . . Here in America when I was in grade school, Aurora was literally bombarded with requests to make a model kit of the Jupiter 2 from "Lost in Space." Word is, the executive decision was that the ship was so "plain and simple," that it wouldn't be a good seller. Aurora also dropped the ball when they cancelled the 1966 model of the "Batcopter," (essentially a dressed-up Bell 47G.) The pattern was shelved when the "Bat-Craze" dropped off after "Batman" was taken out of production. But as it was, we wouldn't get a Bell 47 / H-13 until 1994. As always, thanks for your work, and a look at what might have / should have been, but wasn't quite.
Would be interesting to know if the minutes of Airfix's product planning meetings from the sixties still existed. One can only guess that, where Thunderbirds and earlier shows were concerned, the wealth of toys available for these shows would have undermind the market for kits. Regarding the Angel Interceptor, perhaps Airfix were already in their "grown up phase" by then , despite the AI kit being a good seller?!
Another great video and excellent artwork. The Comet Miniatures TB 1 is a resin & white metal kit their Stigray and Fireball XL5 kits where the vac form models. Yes the Japanese part work TB2 model has electronics and working lift legs its amazing.
Hmm. I am sure it had vac-form parts - the fuselage and wings... and the blue section, nose cone and engine section were injection molded. Maybe my mind is playing tricks on me... it would not be the first time :)
I have this very kit in my collection and there are no vac form parts but that doesn't mean you are wrong there maybe a vac form kit out there but it's not the Comet Miniatures one shown.
I have made several versions of FAB1. Even a cut shorter convertible sportster and an open door 'section of clear roof hinged upward and door lowered downward' and an 8 wheelwe stretch limo.
Great series of artwork Matt , l think lady Penelopes Rolls would be great in 1/24th scale . One of the vehicles you missed was the Fire Fly bull dozer type vehicle , another one as good as the Mole l think . I really liked you painting of Thunderbird 2 , great job 👏 👍
I was on the fence about the Firefly as it appears it 2 episodes.. 3 if you count that fab scenes of Alan showing off the base to the two kids, and it is in the line up of vehicles in that giant garage area. But I am not done yet.....
Thank You. So glad you enjoyed it. Please feel free to share with friend who may also appreciate it. The more views and subscribers the channel gets the more content I can make.
Wow! If you were employed in Airfix's marketing and ideas department back in the day they would have had a sales win with this lot for sure. I would even forgive them for having your artwork for this particular series over the legendary Roy Cross!
What always bugged me about Thunderbird 5 was the 'INTERNATIONAL RESCUE' lettering in the window looking inward, as if John was likely to forget who he worked for. I admit that it wouldn't really make much sense facing outward either, for random passers by one assumes, but it would at least be consistent with the other graphics. Great concepts as ever!
I know what you mean.... it doesn't make a whole lot of sense. The scaling of that set to the 'real thing' is pretty way off too, but that is the case with all of the cockpit sets except maybe TB4.
Awesome ! I along with countless others were disappointed in the quality of Thunderbirds models on offer to us in the 1960/70’s. The JR models always seemed to be aimed at a very young age group as the models had traction wheels built into them. Dinkey toys only offered a Thunderbird 2 which was ok, but nothing like as detailed as the model portrayed in the show. I did however recently though purchase one of the limited edition Thunderbird 2 models from the Anderson website. It is stunning. If the Airfix models that you’ve artistically created here had been available, it would’ve made a fortune for Century 21 toys merchandise company !
@@zh84 The original TB2 was green and actually had a pretty nice shape. not wholly accurate but good enough. This was later released in a sort of turquoise metallic colour. Then they made a new one - the blue one - which was slightly larger and had sturdier legs (a complaint from the original is that the legs always got bent and would not fold in properly). The shape of the blue one was far less accurate. the top of the pod was straight. Ugh. This later got a black plastic underside and red legs at some point... then a white plastic underside. Double/Triple Ugh.
@@Matteline The "sort of turquoise metallic colour" was the one I got for my birthday. And yes, I know about the legs: it went back to the shop because one of the legs promptly failed and it was exchanged for another.
Wouldn’t it be fantastic if Airfix jumped on the nostalgia bandwagon ( like corgi with Stingray) and released a TB2. With today’s level of detail, slide-moulding etc. There must be a market for it. Great video as always!!!
MY GOD, HAVE YOU BEEN COPYING MY POSTS?!?!? 😊😊😊 lol - I've been writing these type of comments on every Airfix video / short I watch. Whilst Corgi and, to a lesser extent, Scalextric understand and have embraced their patriotic duty, Airfix appear to believe these kind of models are beneath them (save for the occasional re-release of the Angel Interceptor). It's even more frustrating when you consider that the Hornby Group already has the required licences. Looks like we'll have to wait for the MD of Corgi to get promoted (?) Into the Airfix top seat....😊
Ive always been amazed by the fact that Airfix never made Thunderbirds kits. It took Imai to do it...what a loss to airfix, can you imagine how collectable they would be now....if Airfix did them now, they would be a sure fire win!
I know..... I think of them in the same way s I think of 'Forbidden Planet' in its original premisses next to all the music shops behind Charing Cross Rd / Tottenham Court Rd. That was all there was back then.... I have their TB1, Stingray and Fireball XL5... somewhere. I also had some of their small white metal things - the Seaview and the Flying Sub.
@@awol1703 That was just a book shop in Denmark Street, you need to go to Forbidden Planet 2 to get the Movie and Comic book stuff which I think was on New Oxford Street (don't know as I rarely went to that one, spent more time in the book shop)
Bachmann in the UK sell a variety of Thunderbirds kits - I reckon they're reboxed Japanese models. I built FAB1 which is claimed to be 1/32 but the others are mostly 1/350 IIRC.
Yeh, i think they are the same as the 'AIP Adventures in Plastic' kits which are I believe re-issues of the very good Aoshima kits. The TB1, TB3 and TB4 all have optional parts to reflect the different models/versions seen in the episodes. Really great kits.
I remember in the sixties getting finally Thunderbirds 5 it was a hideous toy! You could tell back then! that it was a toy adapted to look vaguely like TB5 It sort of worked but didn't! Unlike all the others and Yes! I did have the TB4 one and that was great!! I just wish I had kept them all! but then! They were toys to play with! Sigh!! 😩😥
Fantastic idea to have pod vehicles in blister packs. TB3 is a very strange thing. So much money spent on creating a huge studio model that was hardly used?.....And just how could it survive re-entry being shaped like it was, then just 'float' above the round house and drop back perfectly onto 3 blast collectors? Brains sure did live up to his name. I too was lucky to receive the Rosenthal TB4 as a kid, it was so accurate to my young eyes, more accurate than any of the other JR21 models. The only one I didn't get was TB5....no big loss there. I do remember seeing one suspended from the frame of an outdoor market stall at some seaside town in the late 60's and thinking to myself, "Is that supposed to be Thunderbird 5?"......I wasn't impressed.
I often thought that the grey domed bottom of the maim of TB3 was so.e.sort of heat shield as it reminded me of the Apollo Command Module' heat shield.
Yeah, me too, to a point, but too many bits outside of that dome . Maybe Brains found a way of using massive retro-energy thrust to slow the thing down? Well they were all nuclear powered!!!
.....well, it is a possibility. there are some other Thunderbirds and Anderson stuff in some of the other videos, crash tenders, helijets....so much cool stuff...
(2nd post - apologies but I'm commenting as the video plays) Lets get this straight then - a 1/144 TB2 with internal pod details and working legs - so, like the Takara / Deagostini TB2 then? Hopefully at lot, lot cheaper - I didn't get THAT much pocket money as a kid! 😊 Seriously, a really enjoyable video - especially the picture of the dad and son bonding session with TB2 at 8:33 and the blister pack mock-ups for the pod vehicles moments later - they look so real - HOW DID YOU DO THIS? Obviously we're now reasonably well catered for for TB model kits but I'd like to see a similar video for Stingray or UFO (the latter might gee up those slackers at Round2...)?
The pic at 8.33 is from.an old 1970s Airfix catalogue. That pic.is a father and son working on the then NEW 1/24th scale Hurricane superkit. I was limited in the angle I could.show TB2 as i had to kind of fitb it to tlwhere rhe people were. That said I had to move and replaint the dads hand and made him hold one of the engines. And repaint some.of.the kids hands. The sprues on the table are elements from my blister pack images. I put in a set of instructions too... I'm not sure how well that can be seen. Thiis was a late addition to.the video so is pretty rough. But I thought it was fun and evocative.
Ha - It is already done, I love that truck. it is just waiting for some of it episodic colleagues... the individual pieces take a while to do ad te videos take a bit of work to put together.....
Possibly, a range of 1/12 models of Lady Penelope dressed in her "F.A.B" fasions? A diorama of Brains, with Braman, working in his laboratory or a kit of one of the Tracy brothers riding a hoverbike?
A line of all the main characters could be fun. Each on a suitable diorama base... similar in tone to the Aurora Monster or Prehistoric scenes kits.. and as you say with appropriate props.
Yes, I have a pile of those old Imai Thunderbirds kits as well - now with the amazing Aoshima (AIP in the UK) kits available, it's not even worth digging them out of the loft, let alone trying to accurizing them! I'm still hoping that Airfix do the decent (AND PATRIOTIC!) thing and make Captain Scarlet, Stingray and Fireball kits (Round2 Models having the 1999 and now UFO licences) but I guess the world needs another Spitfire first..... With regards to your TB1 kit - the Aoshima /AIP is 1/144 and a reasonable size so your suggested scale of 1/72 is optimistic, bordering on the plain greedy 😊😊😊
I have a couple of the Thunderbird 2 kits by AiP. Both the standard green, and the transparent ones. Although the plastic is very thick compared to the aeroplanes i usually make, they go together rather nicely. I've made the green one, but plan to paint half the transparent one, so that i can put it on a small turntable. See the outside and the inside in one model. I may spend out on another green one and the hanger bay set so that i can make the full set of pods......if i have the money/space/time!!
@matthewpengelly761 Love the half and half idea Matt - might try that one myself! I have the TB2 pod set - well worth it if you can score it cheap. Shame AIP didn't import the TB3 launch bay though...
I have not done it yet. I have not been able to find much decent.reference, i.e. no behind the scenes photograohs. And the shots in the show are all profile and are pretty blurred. Plus it shot down TB2 so 'boo'.
I guess someone has to start the ball rolling with a scale. I was surprised to learn that Aurora Models issued their AFVs in 1/48 scale back in the 60s and 70s. Following the likes of Tamiya setting the scale ar 1/35 for decades, this smaller scale has only recently been making a comeback....
There's no 'standard' car (nor any other vehicle) scale. What a ridiculous statement. Tamiya, Fujimi, Monogram, Heller, Italeri and plenty of others are (or were) 1/24th. Airfix's 1/32 cars were as popular with builders back in the day as any of their other series so please explain how in your humble opinion they were wrong.
I think Tracey Island must have been built by a government contractor. Anyone else would have planted the palm trees on the T2 launch strip a bit further apart….
I always assumed the sheer volume of major building projects that were apparently going on during 2063-7ish (Marineville, the aforementioned island, every doomed megastructure/transit project in Thunderbirds, Zero X, Cloudbase, all the Lunarville bases, every remote-yet-crucially-important facility that the Mysterons targeted) that Jeff never had to worry about the workmen who made his base revealing what they’d just built because it was simply another project in a very busy period of construction work
My take on this was, it was deliberately done as misdirection. By making the runway look too narrow to accommodate an aircraft the size of Thunderbird 2, no-one would ever suspect it was based there. There was a story in one of the TV21 summer specials about Brains needing a replacement part for something, and the circuitous steps they took to make sure it could never be traced back to Tracey Island. That implies that the Traceys would never have had contractors build the base, so I assume that, before he designed and built the Thunderbirds, Brains must have first created some advanced, heavy-duty construction machinery. 🤔
Would your Thunderbird 2 kit's pod have an opening rear door? It's seen in a couple of episodes, where the auxillary equipment used is small. I made one for one of the pods (I have a full set), which fit the standard IMAI TB2. It does look rather cool, actually.
Yes. I dont know if it was all the lods. Probay was. Certainly Pod 6 (Perils of Penelope) and Pod 4 (Atlantic Inferno), although the interior shot of the pod in that episode shows the rear wall and.no door is visible :)
That "Elevator Car" in the blister pack! F.A.B.! Those packs were great, and to have all the vehicles, at pocket money prices, S.I.G.!
My exact thoughts. My limited pocket money of the day would probably see all those Series 1 kits collected but no Thunderbird 2 to put them in!
I hope there is a model company out there watching your videos because there is still a huge market for these type of kits. Accurate kits I hasten to add! Many thanks for the upload.
Atlantis, Moebius or Pegasus, are you listening!?
@@lancerevell5979 I think MPC/ Round 2 are doing a Mobile. They did an excellent job on the Eagle - 1/48th / 22 inch and 1/72nd.
@@MattelineUpdate on Round 2's UFO licence - despite announcing the UFO licence in 2022, nothing will be available until 2025(at least). Apparently, yes, they will start with the Shado Mobile in 1/35 which means most of us will be too old and senile to care if / when they ever get around to releasing the UFO saucer or Skydriver. I heard a rumour some time ago that they got a new MD who doesn't care for sci-fi which, given the lack of momentum on this desperately awaited franchise, doesn't seem to be too far of the mark.....
Thanks for that intel. Oh well. in the mean time you still have me and my wishful thinking
@@jeffholt9437 😂👌. You made me laugh with the too old and senile comment. It's true though.
Best part of the narration, "allows for 100% believability especially as a 10 year old child"
There will always be a space for Thunderbirds in my heart. They were Sunday mornings on ITV. I also remember the clear pegboard style kits. Thanks for the nostalgic walkback in time.
FAB 1 brings to mind the 007 Aston Martin DB5 box. Nice!
Thanks, I am really happy with how that one came out :)
I grew up on Thunderbirds in the 1970s as well. For me, this is the the best episode that ever was or will be. Thank you!
Thank You... it has been a long time coming, I am glad it was worth the wait :)
Utterly wonderful imagination and even better artistry! I wish I had grown up in your imaginary world!
I love this series you have going on. Takes me back to my childhood. Keep it going Boss!
Great job, Buddy...watching this was like reliving my childhood right there! 👍🏻
Absolutely brilliant, i grew up on Thunderbirds in the 60's and even sat in the real FAB 1, so many memories and your artwork is spot on, thank you
Wow. There's a clip on TH-cam of the full size which I think was made to promote the first movie - car on 'Blue Peter;.
@@Matteline It came here to where I live in the 60's, along with teh James Bond car from Goldfinger, they were both in the carnival fate and teh FAB 1 was then on display at a local garage where I got to sit in it along with my sister
I like the way you think!! I always wished for models of the vehicles just the way you described.
Love the hinged palm trees seen with T2! 😂
Perfect.
Thank You
Excellent stuff - thank you
Thanks for another great video! I've always wished, and still do, wish there was a model of the sort of civilian truck. The one that is saved by Scott firing the harpoon into the cliff face before Virgil lifts it away with the magnetic grab on thunderbird 2. That was always my favourite episode, and you're right. Nobody would buy thunderbird 5. Poor old Allan!
The civilian truck - the Gray & Houseman Explosive Tractor is 'coming soon'. I LOVE that vehicle. Designed by Mile Trim. One of the best episodes and I think I read it was one of Gerry Anderson's favourites.
Not sure the recent Aoshima (and still available Bachmann AIP kit in the UK) TB5 kit was a big seller - especially as it was one of the most expensive kits of the range....)
Really FAB,thanks.
Great stuff Matthew. Love them all.
DeAgostini did, a few years back, a very large scale Thunderbird 2..lit with sounds and ( semi) working ng legs...it also came with all the pods and rescue vehicles...done as a subscription part work.. but everything in your wish list model.
Great episode..and I'd love any and all of these kits 🙂
And it was 1:144 scale also there was an addon at the end of the sub for a second pod with clear plastic sides so you could see the rescue vehicles.
It has working legs although the gear mechanism is ingenious it is not always reliable and often slips and TB2 rises with a drunken list,
@@solospirit4212 Aye, and it cost about 2 grand 🙄
@SamLowryDZ-015 I think there was a working launch ramp option too...they really went completist on the collection.
@BillyRiff-RAF indeed..those part works add up quick with @£10 a week over two years plus. But the finished model is pretty spectacular. And, as mentioned, DeAgostini went about as far as they could with it.
I missed it initially, but if DeAgostini ( or Fanhome now) we're to bring it back I'd subscribe 😁
@@solospirit4212 I have not seen this in the flesh, but plenty of pics and videos online, the shape of the nose is all wrong with the cockpit windows are way too high. The rest of it looks really good - and those 1/144 scale pod vehicles - some motorized I think! - are terrific. I can't believe they basically 'botched' this key area.
I am not a Thunderbirds fan even though it is just slightly older than myself! I prefer UFO and Space 1999 and it would be amazing if you could do the same type of piece for those shows. However I love the love you put into these videos, keep up this original and beautiful work.
It is in the works. I did the SHADO Moon Mobile in a prior video.along with some of the Captain Scarlet vehicles from the 2 moon episodes. I was having a moon phase...
TH-cam recommended this to me, and I genuinely thought you were just going through ACTUAL sets that existed back in the day. I didn't realize that you drew these until you straight up said so! These are so great, they're so authentic to the period these sets would have been released too!
Thank you.
We are not worthy! We are not worthy!
Such beautiful art work!
Thank You :)
Another super vid. All my favourites in this one. Would buy all of those now.
Your artwork is always fantastic but for me the illustration of thunderbird 2 is absolutely spot on. I haven't seen any illustration that conveys the presence which thunderbird 2 always has when on screen but also its massive size. I wish I was able to paint like you and do justice to these iconic craft as you have done. Can't wait to see more 👍
Thank you so much for the kind words. I find painting 'Thunderbird 2' can be a bit intimidating. It is lilke painting a movie star. I like the word 'presence'. All of the Thunderbirds have to perfect to do them justice... but you just have to jump in and do your best.
Thanks, love these videos. I'd have been mad for these kits if they had existed when I was kid building Airfix kits in the 70s
Absolutely. And I think small, cheap, 'Series 1' kits in the blister packs would have been fantastic! Hanging up on one of those rotating rack things.
It would have been interesting if Anderson Productions had done some mash-ups, like Thunderbirds and Stingray. 😊
I'd like to see some new good scale kits too. 😎👍
They actually did a fantastic kit of Stingray back then! That was a kit, attached to wires to make it move! I had a friend that had one and it was! back then huge!
In the 1960's, the comic produced by Gerry Anderson's Century 21 company, 'TV21', had lavishly illustrated comic strips, wherein Fireball XL-5 and Stingray join forces, and later, Thunderbirds and Captain Scarlet would feature in each other's strips. All the above were set in the 2060's, whereas Supercar and Joe 90 were set in the 1990's and early 2000's. Supercar had it's own, rather light-hearted strip, and Joe got his own comic.
The strips in TV21 were very serious in nature - and some of the Thunderbirds strips, with exquisite art by the great Frank Bellamy, were very gritty indeed.
They have been collected into graphic novel format, and are definitely worth seeking out.
Brilliant. Love your work.
Thank You
Great work as ever! I'd love an episode featuring "guest" spaceships from Space:1999....
🤔
I spent a small fortune buying the Aoshima full Diorama kits of Thunderbirds 1 & 2 & 3 with the card backgrounds, extra pods and whatnot, but if Airfix were to bring out this series I would happily buy them all, build the airfix kits and keep the old Aoshima kits in the stash as an investment. Bring it on Airfix !!!
I would LOVE a 1/32 Mole kit. Get on it, old chap. And your artwork is beautiful.
I know,.. i should have mentioned that it should have the option to be motorized:) The original model seen in the show was approx. 1/24th scale. Just over 2 feet long. And utilised many parts form the Airfix Girder Bridge kit. Circle of life.
th-cam.com/video/__90Sm0gfYM/w-d-xo.html
Have you bought / built the Aoshima (Bachmann / AIP in the UK) 1/72 Mole kit? It makes a fantastic model and the Japanese Aoshima version comes with a motor for the drill!
@@jeffholt9437 I dom't have the AIP one... I have two of the Aoshima ones :) a nice kit.
@@awol1703 same kit so your 👌
This looks great, Matt; especially the "Blister Pack" kits! Actually, It's hard to believe that Airfix never kitted any of these for real the way they did with the Captain Scarlett Angel Interceptor. These kits would be a natural follow-on. Do you know why Airfix never brought out a "Thunderbirds" kit series?
107th Like.
I have no idea why Airfix only did the Angel Interceptor.. That kit is a constant seller. Even if they only got onto the Anderson stuff with Captain Scarlet, why not do the following shows the SPV, or other 'cars'. or UFO or Joe 90. They did the Eagle and the Hawk.
I wrote to Airfix a while back and asked them, but got no reply.
@@Matteline I'm guessing that by this time, Airfix doesn't know why they didn't produce models of the "Thunderbirds," and the others you mentioned, either . . . .
Here in America when I was in grade school, Aurora was literally bombarded with requests to make a model kit of the Jupiter 2 from "Lost in Space." Word is, the executive decision was that the ship was so "plain and simple," that it wouldn't be a good seller.
Aurora also dropped the ball when they cancelled the 1966 model of the "Batcopter," (essentially a dressed-up Bell 47G.) The pattern was shelved when the "Bat-Craze" dropped off after "Batman" was taken out of production. But as it was, we wouldn't get a Bell 47 / H-13 until 1994.
As always, thanks for your work, and a look at what might have / should have been, but wasn't quite.
Would be interesting to know if the minutes of Airfix's product planning meetings from the sixties still existed. One can only guess that, where Thunderbirds and earlier shows were concerned, the wealth of toys available for these shows would have undermind the market for kits. Regarding the Angel Interceptor, perhaps Airfix were already in their "grown up phase" by then , despite the AI kit being a good seller?!
Another great video and excellent artwork. The Comet Miniatures TB 1 is a resin & white metal kit their Stigray and Fireball XL5 kits where the vac form models. Yes the Japanese part work TB2 model has electronics and working lift legs its amazing.
Hmm. I am sure it had vac-form parts - the fuselage and wings... and the blue section, nose cone and engine section were injection molded. Maybe my mind is playing tricks on me... it would not be the first time :)
I have this very kit in my collection and there are no vac form parts but that doesn't mean you are wrong there maybe a vac form kit out there but it's not the Comet Miniatures one shown.
I have made several versions of FAB1. Even a cut shorter convertible sportster and an open door 'section of clear roof hinged upward and door lowered downward' and an 8 wheelwe stretch limo.
Do you have any pictures that you can share?
I will see what i can do.
Great series of artwork Matt , l think lady Penelopes Rolls would be great in 1/24th scale . One of the vehicles you missed was the Fire Fly bull dozer type vehicle , another one as good as the Mole l think . I really liked you painting of Thunderbird 2 , great job 👏 👍
I was on the fence about the Firefly as it appears it 2 episodes.. 3 if you count that fab scenes of Alan showing off the base to the two kids, and it is in the line up of vehicles in that giant garage area. But I am not done yet.....
A fantastic memory Jerk for me!! also a "I wish it was true" moments. Very well done. Great stuff.
Thank You. So glad you enjoyed it. Please feel free to share with friend who may also appreciate it. The more views and subscribers the channel gets the more content I can make.
Wow! If you were employed in Airfix's marketing and ideas department back in the day they would have had a sales win with this lot for sure. I would even forgive them for having your artwork for this particular series over the legendary Roy Cross!
Thank You. I can only dream of what Roy Cross would haVe done with this subject natter. The Angek Interceptor box art was amazing.
What always bugged me about Thunderbird 5 was the 'INTERNATIONAL RESCUE' lettering in the window looking inward, as if John was likely to forget who he worked for. I admit that it wouldn't really make much sense facing outward either, for random passers by one assumes, but it would at least be consistent with the other graphics.
Great concepts as ever!
I know what you mean.... it doesn't make a whole lot of sense. The scaling of that set to the 'real thing' is pretty way off too, but that is the case with all of the cockpit sets except maybe TB4.
Awesome !
I along with countless others were disappointed in the quality of Thunderbirds models on offer to us in the 1960/70’s. The JR models always seemed to be aimed at a very young age group as the models had traction wheels built into them. Dinkey toys only offered a Thunderbird 2 which was ok, but nothing like as detailed as the model portrayed in the show. I did however recently though purchase one of the limited edition Thunderbird 2 models from the Anderson website. It is stunning.
If the Airfix models that you’ve artistically created here had been available, it would’ve made a fortune for Century 21 toys merchandise company !
I got the Dinky Thunderbird 2 for my birthday in about 1979. It was BLUE. I was absolutely appalled.
@@zh84 The original TB2 was green and actually had a pretty nice shape. not wholly accurate but good enough. This was later released in a sort of turquoise metallic colour. Then they made a new one - the blue one - which was slightly larger and had sturdier legs (a complaint from the original is that the legs always got bent and would not fold in properly). The shape of the blue one was far less accurate. the top of the pod was straight. Ugh. This later got a black plastic underside and red legs at some point... then a white plastic underside. Double/Triple Ugh.
@@Matteline The "sort of turquoise metallic colour" was the one I got for my birthday. And yes, I know about the legs: it went back to the shop because one of the legs promptly failed and it was exchanged for another.
@@zh84 It looked so much better in green. I have no idea why they changed it.
Wouldn’t it be fantastic if Airfix jumped on the nostalgia bandwagon ( like corgi with Stingray) and released a TB2. With today’s level of detail, slide-moulding etc. There must be a market for it. Great video as always!!!
MY GOD, HAVE YOU BEEN COPYING MY POSTS?!?!? 😊😊😊
lol - I've been writing these type of comments on every Airfix video / short I watch. Whilst Corgi and, to a lesser extent, Scalextric understand and have embraced their patriotic duty, Airfix appear to believe these kind of models are beneath them (save for the occasional re-release of the Angel Interceptor). It's even more frustrating when you consider that the Hornby Group already has the required licences. Looks like we'll have to wait for the MD of Corgi to get promoted (?) Into the Airfix top seat....😊
@@jeffholt9437 😂😂👍🏻
Ive always been amazed by the fact that Airfix never made Thunderbirds kits.
It took Imai to do it...what a loss to airfix, can you imagine how collectable they would be now....if Airfix did them now, they would be a sure fire win!
Airfix and Gerry Amserson's shows - two British instititutions. A perfect match.
1/72 would be a dream kit
...sorry this comment just showed up with no context. Which kit are you referring to?
@@Matteline TB2
Money on the table in the past and now.
Discovering Comet Miniatures in my early 20's blew my mind😂
I know..... I think of them in the same way s I think of 'Forbidden Planet' in its original premisses next to all the music shops behind Charing Cross Rd / Tottenham Court Rd. That was all there was back then.... I have their TB1, Stingray and Fireball XL5... somewhere. I also had some of their small white metal things - the Seaview and the Flying Sub.
@@awol1703 oh yeah🙌
@@awol1703 That was just a book shop in Denmark Street, you need to go to Forbidden Planet 2 to get the Movie and Comic book stuff which I think was on New Oxford Street (don't know as I rarely went to that one, spent more time in the book shop)
14.39....Stingray seat? It also appeared in another Thunderbirds episode traversing a huge wall mounted map IIRC?
Bachmann in the UK sell a variety of Thunderbirds kits - I reckon they're reboxed Japanese models. I built FAB1 which is claimed to be 1/32 but the others are mostly 1/350 IIRC.
Yeh, i think they are the same as the 'AIP Adventures in Plastic' kits which are I believe re-issues of the very good Aoshima kits. The TB1, TB3 and TB4 all have optional parts to reflect the different models/versions seen in the episodes. Really great kits.
I remember in the sixties getting finally Thunderbirds 5 it was a hideous toy! You could tell back then! that it was a toy adapted to look vaguely like TB5 It sort of worked but didn't! Unlike all the others and Yes! I did have the TB4 one and that was great!! I just wish I had kept them all! but then! They were toys to play with! Sigh!! 😩😥
Fantastic idea to have pod vehicles in blister packs. TB3 is a very strange thing. So much money spent on creating a huge studio model that was hardly used?.....And just how could it survive re-entry being shaped like it was, then just 'float' above the round house and drop back perfectly onto 3 blast collectors? Brains sure did live up to his name. I too was lucky to receive the Rosenthal TB4 as a kid, it was so accurate to my young eyes, more accurate than any of the other JR21 models. The only one I didn't get was TB5....no big loss there. I do remember seeing one suspended from the frame of an outdoor market stall at some seaside town in the late 60's and thinking to myself, "Is that supposed to be Thunderbird 5?"......I wasn't impressed.
I often thought that the grey domed bottom of the maim of TB3 was so.e.sort of heat shield as it reminded me of the Apollo Command Module' heat shield.
Yeah, me too, to a point, but too many bits outside of that dome . Maybe Brains found a way of using massive retro-energy thrust to slow the thing down? Well they were all nuclear powered!!!
...or maybe it would land like the 'SpaceX' rocket. Quite impressive!
th-cam.com/video/twmWOseADQQ/w-d-xo.html
Airfix Girder Bridge.
I'll get my coat......
Is that to go to your local model train shop and buy another one (Dapol Girder Bridge)?
@@jeffholt9437 🤣 The very same one!
Awesome work ❤ any plans to do the ASR jets from thunderbirds?
.....well, it is a possibility. there are some other Thunderbirds and Anderson stuff in some of the other videos, crash tenders, helijets....so much cool stuff...
(2nd post - apologies but I'm commenting as the video plays)
Lets get this straight then - a 1/144 TB2 with internal pod details and working legs - so, like the Takara / Deagostini TB2 then? Hopefully at lot, lot cheaper - I didn't get THAT much pocket money as a kid! 😊
Seriously, a really enjoyable video - especially the picture of the dad and son bonding session with TB2 at 8:33 and the blister pack mock-ups for the pod vehicles moments later - they look so real - HOW DID YOU DO THIS?
Obviously we're now reasonably well catered for for TB model kits but I'd like to see a similar video for Stingray or UFO (the latter might gee up those slackers at Round2...)?
The pic at 8.33 is from.an old 1970s Airfix catalogue. That pic.is a father and son working on the then NEW 1/24th scale Hurricane superkit. I was limited in the angle I could.show TB2 as i had to kind of fitb it to tlwhere rhe people were. That said I had to move and replaint the dads hand and made him hold one of the engines. And repaint some.of.the kids hands. The sprues on the table are elements from my blister pack images. I put in a set of instructions too... I'm not sure how well that can be seen. Thiis
was a late addition to.the video so is pretty rough. But I thought it was fun and evocative.
@@Matteline yes - I had seen the undoctored pic previously. Once again, amazing work on the blister packs 👍
My missing favorite is the Grey & Houseman explosives truck from End Of The Road.
Ha - It is already done, I love that truck. it is just waiting for some of it episodic colleagues... the individual pieces take a while to do ad te videos take a bit of work to put together.....
@@Matteline Looking forward to it! 👍👍😁
How on earth do you knock these out in such short time? Do you ever sleep?
😴
Possibly, a range of 1/12 models of Lady Penelope dressed in her "F.A.B" fasions?
A diorama of Brains, with Braman, working in his laboratory or a kit of one of the Tracy brothers riding a hoverbike?
A line of all the main characters could be fun. Each on a suitable diorama base... similar in tone to the Aurora Monster or Prehistoric scenes kits.. and as you say with appropriate props.
Yes, I have a pile of those old Imai Thunderbirds kits as well - now with the amazing Aoshima (AIP in the UK) kits available, it's not even worth digging them out of the loft, let alone trying to accurizing them! I'm still hoping that Airfix do the decent (AND PATRIOTIC!) thing and make Captain Scarlet, Stingray and Fireball kits (Round2 Models having the 1999 and now UFO licences) but I guess the world needs another Spitfire first.....
With regards to your TB1 kit - the Aoshima /AIP is 1/144 and a reasonable size so your suggested scale of 1/72 is optimistic, bordering on the plain greedy 😊😊😊
I think 144 is a bit too small... it is a lovely kit. Optimistic? maybe but it's my dream :)
@@Matteline lol
I have a couple of the Thunderbird 2 kits by AiP. Both the standard green, and the transparent ones. Although the plastic is very thick compared to the aeroplanes i usually make, they go together rather nicely. I've made the green one, but plan to paint half the transparent one, so that i can put it on a small turntable. See the outside and the inside in one model.
I may spend out on another green one and the hanger bay set so that i can make the full set of pods......if i have the money/space/time!!
@matthewpengelly761 Love the half and half idea Matt - might try that one myself! I have the TB2 pod set - well worth it if you can score it cheap. Shame AIP didn't import the TB3 launch bay though...
Did any kit model company ever make a really decent Zero X model? As in, accurate and easily made modular?
I am.not aware of one. I think there is/was a nice, quite large die cast model that has separate wings, and MEV.
Did you do one on the USS Sentinel, the missile ship that shot down TB2 in "Terror in New York"?
I have not done it yet. I have not been able to find much decent.reference, i.e. no behind the scenes photograohs. And the shots in the show are all profile and are pretty blurred.
Plus it shot down TB2 so 'boo'.
FAB1 should be in 1/25th scale, that's the standard car scale.
Understood. Although as stated in the video Airfixs scale of choice for cars was 1/32nd.
@@Matteline And they were wrong...
@@BronzeGiant Maybe so, but in the interest of authenticity I did the kit in 1/32nd.
I guess someone has to start the ball rolling with a scale. I was surprised to learn that Aurora Models issued their AFVs in 1/48 scale back in the 60s and 70s. Following the likes of Tamiya setting the scale ar 1/35 for decades, this smaller scale has only recently been making a comeback....
There's no 'standard' car (nor any other vehicle) scale. What a ridiculous statement. Tamiya, Fujimi, Monogram, Heller, Italeri and plenty of others are (or were) 1/24th. Airfix's 1/32 cars were as popular with builders back in the day as any of their other series so please explain how in your humble opinion they were wrong.
I think Tracey Island must have been built by a government contractor. Anyone else would have planted the palm trees on the T2 launch strip a bit further apart….
I always assumed the sheer volume of major building projects that were apparently going on during 2063-7ish (Marineville, the aforementioned island, every doomed megastructure/transit project in Thunderbirds, Zero X, Cloudbase, all the Lunarville bases, every remote-yet-crucially-important facility that the Mysterons targeted) that Jeff never had to worry about the workmen who made his base revealing what they’d just built because it was simply another project in a very busy period of construction work
My take on this was, it was deliberately done as misdirection. By making the runway look too narrow to accommodate an aircraft the size of Thunderbird 2, no-one would ever suspect it was based there.
There was a story in one of the TV21 summer specials about Brains needing a replacement part for something, and the circuitous steps they took to make sure it could never be traced back to Tracey Island. That implies that the Traceys would never have had contractors build the base, so I assume that, before he designed and built the Thunderbirds, Brains must have first created some advanced, heavy-duty construction machinery. 🤔
@@origami-unicorn whoosh… :)
@@bob_the_bomb4508 Oh, you were making a _joke?_ My bad.
Though to be fair, jokes are easier to spot when they are _funny_. 😐
@@origami-unicornno worries mate, I’ll draw it in crayon for you next time :)
Would your Thunderbird 2 kit's pod have an opening rear door? It's seen in a couple of episodes, where the auxillary equipment used is small.
I made one for one of the pods (I have a full set), which fit the standard IMAI TB2. It does look rather cool, actually.
Yes. I dont know if it was all the lods. Probay was. Certainly Pod 6 (Perils of Penelope) and Pod 4 (Atlantic Inferno), although the interior shot of the pod in that episode shows the rear wall and.no door is visible :)
Maybe latest consumer grade resin printers plus top grade print files mean you can have these at any scale. Not sure how to do FAB1 'glass' though
Nice artwork indeed , you should really be working for Airfix!