Macross Plus (マクロスプラス Makurosu Purasu^?) is a four-episode anime OVA (Original Video Animation which is designed for home viewing and are not broadcast) and theatrical movie in the Macross series. It was the first sequel to the original Macross television series that took place in the official timeline (Macross II was quickly retconned by series creator Shoji Kawamori as a parallel world story in the Macross universe). Plus was a groundbreaking combination of traditional cel and computer-generated animation at the time of its release, paving the way for the incorporation of more computer-generated imagery in Japanese animation.

Both the OVA series and movie were released in Japan by Bandai Visual and in North America and Europe by Manga Entertainment. The Australian VHS version was released by Manga Entertainment and the DVD version by Madman Entertainment under sub-license from Manga Entertainment. It features several new mecha designs inspired by the original series.

Molded in a light cream plastic, there are eight standard and one clear sprue provided so this is not a quick build kit. The aircraft is a two seater however it comes with but one pilot figure. Though the cockpit is fairly nicely detailed, there is no control stick nor rudder pedals. There is a nice instrument panel and the area behind the back seat has nice detail as well.

The fuselage is split into upper and lower sections. There is no indication if any nose weight is required. The back section of the lower fuselage has a lot to be added including the engines and various weapons pods. Landing gear is quite detailed and this goes for the engine pods as well. The layout is similar to the VF-1A reviewed earlier in that the main landing gear are part of the engine pods (which are also the legs in the other transformations of this vehicle. As such there are considerable parts with this one. I do not see a closed gear option, but perhaps that can be done. The exhaust nozzles are adjustable.

The wings are fixed in the forward sweep position and simply slot into the fuselage. Vertical and ventral fins are attached to the engine sections and the last major construction step has the builder bring together all the various sub assemblies. Cockpit coverings can be molded either open or closed as one wishes. The rear cockpit section has a 'lobsterback' replacement piece that can be used if one so wishes.

Instructions are well done withthe usual Gunze paint references. This one is basically a light cream-brown  which is a mixture of white and radome tan. There is a lot of detail painting and the decal sheet takes care of a lot of the color in this one. The sheet is nicely printed and should work well enough. One thing for sure, there are a lot of decals included and this is shown by the quite large section provided for placement and painting.

I am sure that this is not everyone's cup of tea, but if you like sci-fi and want to branch out beyond Star Trek/Star Wars, this sort of thing will make for a very nice change of pace. For one thing, this Hasegawa kit is very nicely molded and should build into a rather impressive model that will be a bit bigger in this scale than an F-14 Tomcat.