Sakata, 1:48 scale, Space Rengo Kentai, "Suisei", (Or as I call her, 'Space Judy')

February 25, 2025 · in Sci-fi · 23 · 188

This was outside my comfort zone with this... Ok, yes, it still has wings and a tail, plus some kind of engine looking power plant up front, but it's a space ship, and it's not my normal go to.

I won this in a raffle at our monthly club meeting. On the table were the usual kits and I saw this and thought, "Why not?"

It's actually a pretty nice little kit. Snaps together, although I had to glue everything because that's what I do, I build models, and that's what I do. I was going to paint it up as if it were a Japanese Dive Bomber, a 'Judy" if you will, complete with Hinomarus and yellow wing leading edges and numbers on the tail fin. I should have, because the decals that come with the kit are not very good.

I did use Tamiya Acrylic paints, IJN Dark Green over IJN Grey Green. Weathered it with Flory Washes and AK Weathering Pencils, thinned oils and some pastel chalks.

I'm glad I did this. It was fun and I enjoyed it a lot. I think for my next oddball build, I'm going to knock out that 1:48 scale, Bandai, Star Wars snow speeder... Yeah, yeah I think so...

Reader reactions:
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23 responses

  1. Clearly something different but very nice looking build, Frederick @fjs3
    Just wondering how this powerplant would work in space.

  2. Love it, Frederick!
    Always great to step out of your comfort zone from time to time, now you have another excellent and, this time, "different" model to proudly display in your display case!

  3. That's just plain weird! Solid work to get it to the finish line, Freddie.

  4. Great work, Frederick (@fjs3). These kits always look very interesting when you see them at the hobby shop or at shows and my mind always starts thinking about all of the cool things you could do with them, This is a cool paint scheme, even though a "Judy" paint scheme would also have looked very cool.

  5. I tend to ignore these kits as they don't resonate with me; I really like the esthetics and visual grace of this model as you built it.

  6. Interesting! Do you know which tv show or comic book this is part of?
    BTW the model looks great

    • Honestly Marcello, I have no idea. I do not think it’s from any show or movie. It is part of a series of kits that feature the Battleship Yamato as a space battleship, also capable of launching these attackers in addition to shooting huge lazer cannons at enemy targets. Somehow I think it fits under the Anime umbrella ?

  7. Very Judy-like Frederick and very cool

  8. Nice! You definitely see the heritage...

  9. Definitely don't see these built too often. Nice job on building and painting it.

    Space Battleship Yamato is a long running anime franchise that first aired in 1973. It was brought to the US as Starblazers. Right now we are upto episode six of the reboot's third season in Space Battleship Yamato: 3199.

  10. Well done, Frederick. Kind of Klingon like.
    You never know where a new subject/genre will lead to. At minimum it normally revives the mojo.

  11. Certainly a unique subject . You did a nice job building and painting it.

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