Hasegawa 1/72 Space Wolf SW-190

KIT #: 64501
PRICE: $21.40
DECALS: Nine options +
REVIEWER: Scott Van Aken
NOTES: 2011 boxing

Space Pirate Captain Harlock (宇宙海賊キャプテンハーロック Uchū Kaizoku Kyaputen Hārokku) is a manga series written and illustrated byLeiji Matsumoto, serialized Akita Shoten's Play Comic from 1977 to 1979. The series was adapted into an animated television series in 1978 directed by Rintaro and produced by Toei Animation. A computer-animated film adaptation of the same name premiered in 2013.

The series follows the titular Captain, an outcast turned space pirate after he rebelled against Earth's Government and humanity's general apathy.

The series' ships were licensed by Hasegawa so they could produce models of some of them. In addition to the main pirate ship "Arcadia", Hasegawa has produced a nice kit of what appears to be a standard one person space fighter, not unlike the Vipers from Battlestar Galactica.

THE KIT

From what I can gather from the kit number (CW-01), this is Hasegawa's initial offering in their Creator Works line of kits that are geared towards Japanese anime subjects. In this case, it is the Space Wolf SW-190. According to the instructions, this is a space fighter carried aboard the Arcadia and can operate in both space and atmosphere. It is armed with a pair of pulse laser canon in the nose and Vulcan cannon in the wing.

There is really a lot of plastic with this kit, though some of it is for the display stand. It has a cockpit tub with decals for the side consoles and the instrument panel. The seat is nothing like the real thing and is pretty much a convenient shape on which to mount the four piece pilot figure. The side control stick is molded into the right hand.

The nose gear and cockpit assembly slot into the two fuselage halves. There is an upper nose cowling section and while there is no indication of any nose weight, it would be helpful to load up if you plan on displaying the model on its landing gear. Wings are in upper and lower halves with two piece intake and two piece exhaust assemblies that are trapped between the wing halves. As a note, Hasegawa provides clear light lenses for the wing tips and fin tip so to use those the solid ones will need to be clipped off.

A separate nose cap with intake is provided as are canards. The cockpit cover has a separate windscreen and canopy that are somewhat reminiscent of that used on an FW-190. On the leading edge of the wings are inserts for the wing guns. A large ventral intake is provided that apparently snaps to the bottom of the fuselage with polycaps.

The landing gear and nicely done with separate wheels and gear doors. Conversely, closed doors are provided for an in-flight display. For things under wings, you have two drop tanks that fit onto pylons that are already molded into the lower wing sections. A large, articulated display stand is provided and it apparently just clips onto the ventral intake.

Instructions are well done and provide the usual Gunze paint references. There is some English included to help out in some areas. Markings are quite extensive and are based on three basic paint schemes. One is the box art scheme of RLM 82 light green over dark grey. These schemes have a definite WWII Luftwaffe look about them. Next is a white airframe with RLM 65 and maroon trim. The final options are in FS 36320 grey over 36495 grey with 35237 bluish grey trim. The large decal sheet gives a ton of markings and lots of numbers so you can produce a variety of craft.

CONCLUSIONS

This is another interesting subject for those who like sci-fi subjects and are not hard wired into Star Trek and Star Wars as being the only viable sci-fi options. Frankly, I had never heard of the series before stumbling across this kit on Amazon and at such a low price (free shipping), I thought it would be worth picking up to see what it was like. I am impressed by how nicely done it is and I'm sure you will as well. Give it a go.

REFERENCES

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Pirate_Captain_Harlock

May 2015

My thanks to me for picking this one up.

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