Creator Works (Hasegawa) 1/72 Space Wolf SW-190 'Yuki Kei Special'

KIT #: 64731
PRICE: 3200 yen SRP
DECALS: One option
REVIEWER: Scott Van Aken
NOTES: 2016 limited edition

HISTORY

Captain Harlock (キャプテン・ハーロック Kyaputen Hārokku, also known as "Captain Herlock" for the English release of Endless Odyssey and as "Albator" in French-speaking countries) is a fictional character created by manga artist Leiji Matsumoto and the protagonist of the Space Pirate Captain Harlock manga series.

Harlock is the archetypical Romantic hero, a space pirate with an individualist philosophy of life. He is as noble as he is taciturn, rebellious, stoically fighting against totalitarian regimes, whether they be earth-born or alien. In his own words, he "fight[s] for no one's sake... only for something deep in [his] heart". He does not fear death, and is sometimes seen wearing clothing with the number 42 on it. In Japanese culture, the number 42 is associated with death (the numbers, pronounced separately as "four two", sound like the word "shini"—meaning "dying/death").

The character was created by Leiji Matsumoto in 1977 and popularized in the 1978 television series Space Pirate Captain Harlock. Since then, the character has appeared in numerous animated television series and films, the latest of which is 2013's Space Pirate Captain Harlock.

Yuki Kei is one of Captain Harlock's crew members and as is the norm, she has her own distinctive ship, one of many Space Wolf SW-190s.

THE KIT

From what I can judge, there have been many different boxings of this kit. I've found at least two others. What makes this one somewhat unique is the eye-piercing shade of pink that the kit is molded in. Undoubtedly to reduce the need to paint, but it should make for a very nice base on which to paint once the seams are filled.

The kit comes with a large display stand as it can be built either on the ground or in flight. This particular boxing includes the figure of Yuki Kei in resin. Typical of these sorts of kits, the cockpit looks just like a standard modern jet fighter, though in this case it is set back farther than the norm.

Each of the wings is upper and lower halves with short intake and exhaust areas. Basically a blanking plate right behind each section. Gear wells are molded in the lower wing halves and you get a properly complex gear selection. You also get gear up doors, something you'll want to consider if using the nicely done display stand.

This aircraft is a canard design and also includes a very large power unit on the lower fuselage. There are inserts for the wing leading edge guns and pylons for the big main guns are molded on the lower wings. You can pose the canopy open should you wish and while there is raised detail on the instruments, decals are also supplied. There are also optional parts for the lower fin with the 'ground' option having this folded. The large main guns look like Ju-87G tank buster guns on steroids.

As usual, instructions are well done and use Gunze paint references. The decal sheet is quite extensive and provides markings for everything that isn't pink or otherwise easily painted. I'm not sure how well the white bits will hold up with all that bright pink, but I'd be pleased if they were opaque enough to prevent color bleed-through.

CONCLUSIONS

Another neat and almost never seen in the US kit from the folks at Creator Works. These kits look to be great builds and are very much something different from the usual mass of Camaros, Panzers, and P-47s.

REFERENCES

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_Harlock

October 2017

Copyright ModelingMadness.com

Thanks to Kevin Dolin for sending this one to me. Thanks Kevin.

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