ULTRABIRD 2 UPDATE

Thanks to William Schwartz sharing my post about the Ultrabird, his friend Mark Suggs has not only identified it and its manufacturer but also found a few box photos.

As Mark says " This looks like it was made by a company called ICBM, which IMAI could be reselling under a new name to avoid royalities. A very common practice in Japan during the 70's and 80's."

Mark went on to post a photo of a pre-assembled version.

And just for good measure, the box art for the Ultra Bird 3, a Thunderbird 2 knock-off

My thanks to Will and, especially Mark for all this updated info.

Also, another friend August Ragone added that although Imai would indeed repackage old kits and re-christen names, this was not the case with ICBM who, August insists were simply a fly-by-night company.

August also found a video on Youtube (in Japanese) showing the boxes and the kits. Thanks for the additional info August. I think this finally puts this little mystery to bed.