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Thunderbird 3 Launch Bay


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Imai 1/350 Thunderbird 3 launch bay. Not anywhere near as accurate as the previous Aoshima TB1 and TB2 launch bays.

 

Apart from the plastic lower bay parts, the detail of which bear no resemblance to the photo of the studio model on the box, the upper walls are just cardboard with ludicrously thick black lining etc with 2D detailing. So the cardboard was replaced with 60thou plastic card and detail added with plastic strip, rod and spare parts. Topped of with a scratchbuilt roof and silo opening.

 

TB3 is accurate but the method of attaching the mid body fins and black "blebs" on the outriggers leaves a lot to be desired. The fins especially are so thin (as they should be) superglue or plastic glue have little surface area to keep them in one place. Eventually managed it!

 

Undercoated with Tamiya Grey and the top coat is Humbrol Satin Red which is more orange than anything so quite a close match.

 

Keith

 

 

 

Thunderbird 3 Launch Bay (3c)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thunderbird 3 Launch Bay (1b) REVISED

 

Thunderbird 3 Launch Bay (2b) REVISED

 

Thunderbird 3 Launch Bay (4b) REVISED

 

 

Edited by saturnapollo
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Thank you very much indeed, guys. Most appreciated.

 

That now completes the set. Only taken about 25 years!!

 

Here are the earlier TB2 and TB1 launch bay kits which have been re-released in the last few weeks. Interestingly the TB3 launch bay kit has not been re-released - the ONLY Thunderbird kit not to be, yet the most recent.

 

Keith

 

TB1 launch bay32a

 

 

TB2 Hangar6

 

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8 hours ago, John_W said:

Ah, the mystery of how TB2 lowers itself on to a pod, with no room for the wings either side...

 

8 hours ago, saturnapollo said:

And no space between the forward legs and the rear ones for the pods to pass under!

 

It was simply by the magic of Supermarionation.

 

In Space 1999 the same slight of hand allowed a gantry crane to pass straight through a solid wall

 

 

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  • 1 month later...

Great TB3 silo! Love the realistic weathering

 

I have this in the stash and one day I'll build it to go along with my TB3 launching through the roundhouse I built quite a few years back to build up the launch sequence :)

 

 

 

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 4 months later...
On 4/29/2021 at 2:44 PM, John_W said:

Ah, the mystery of how TB2 lowers itself on to a pod, with no room for the wings either side...

 

I had an idea about that, based on what we see on screen and what we don't. Maybe the "conveyor" that carries the pods is made of separate sections for each pod which can move individually or as part of a group. The pods move across until the correct one is beneath TB2, and then the pods on either side move apart -- if, say, pod 3 is chosen, pods 1 and 2 move further to the right as we look, and pods 4 to 6 mpve back to the left -- until there is room for the wings and TB2 lowers itself onto the chosen pod.

 

As for saturnapollo's point about where the legs are... well, that one's not so easy. Except that we have seen the pods move past on screen, so your guess is as good as mine as to how it works. And then there's the fact that the vertical jets used for VTOL (and hovering in episodes like End of the Road) also come out of the leg positions. Guess that was where the model was strengthened and so it was used for everything -- kinda like Stingray's nose, where the depressions were used for searchlights and sting missiles, and were supposed to be intakes for the hydrojets (!). Ah, the marvels of 2060s technology... 😁

Edited by Tarkas
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  • 2 weeks later...
On 1/26/2022 at 10:36 PM, Neil Lambess said:

I just want to know why all the launch bays are labelled with BIG  signs saying stuff like  "thunderbird 3 launch bay " do the Tracys suffer from short term memory loss ? Love it tho ....😉

Night watch were bored....so they got hold of the dynamo machine...door ,phone,deck,deckhead,fridge .....Thunderbird 3 launch bay....obvious really 😆😆

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