Imai SWORD model kits are a SWORD sub-genre in their own right and would make a fabulous collection. As with all the outer fringes of SWORD toys and kits they are hard to come by. I've only ever seen pictures of them, which I continue to drool over. Super Scarlet collector and SWORD bloodhound Terry has flagged up this fabulous Imai Moon Crawler kit from the land of the Rising Sun. It's kit number 4 in the UFO Star Base series from 1972 with box art by the Japanese Showa master Komatsuzaki Shigeru. The Moon Crawler takes centre stage in the cover picture and the contents are shown below but I just cannot tell how big it would be biult up. Does anyone know?
Komatsuzaki Shigeru is without doubt the Seventies heir of the Sixties SWORD box art crown. He continued the tradition if fabulous SWORD art on Imai's boxed kits. From one of a number of books about his art, below is a picture of his original art from 1971 for another Moon Crawler study, where the vehicle is again it's centrepeice. The kit itself translates to Space Attack Squadron and the finished box art and contents appear below. Again I just can't make out how big the finished Crawler would be. Are they Spacex sized, C21 SWORD sized or somewhere in between?
I have a Japanese book about the UFO TV series and it covers the toys and model kits. Without the grabs the moon crawler body is stated as 31mm long. As you know the domes were taken from the larger Moonbase kit and used to make separate cheaper kits. I'll post some images in the forum asap.
ReplyDeleteJudging by the thickness of the sprue trees holding the parts, these were indeed small kits.
ReplyDeletePics uploaded to the files section of the forum. The Moon crawler is on ufo_book_mini_imai6_7.jpg . Interesting that the Japanese have called it a laser tractor.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the pics Yorkie. Sensational! I've never seen them before. Is it the UFO Chronicles Book? Do you mind if I post the pictures on the main blog? Fab stuff!
DeleteYes it is the UFO Chronicles book from the mid 2000s. A great little book which covers the series and its British and Japanese merchandising. It even has pics of the rare Bandai Skydiver and Lunar Carrier kits and their instruction sheets. Pity I can't read Japanese though. Feel free to edit and post the pics.
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