First of all, a brief introduction. My name is Jay Chladek and I am a Yank. Some of the lurkers might know me from hanging out at some of the SF and regular model forums on the web (Starship Modeler, Aircraft Resource Center). Mad Max has always been a favorite of mine from day one and I longed for a proper Interceptor back when all we had were warmed over Ford Mavericks and Torinos that people were trying to pass of as Interceptors. As such, I was very glad when Aoshima started doing these in 2003 and got a little carried away in spots because of my love for the Black on Black Falcon.
I picked one of the new kits up last week at a US based model convention called Wonderfest. Granted I already have five of the previous Aoshima incarnations in my stash, but I was drawn to this one specifically because it had a figure of Dog and I needed one for a Road Warrior diorama I plan to do this coming year.
Anyway, as for a brief review, I compared the new kit with one of the old ones. One of the knocks against the original Aoshima kit is that supposedly Aoshima based their data on a replica Interceptor Falcon that somebody in Japan did and it was a hybrid of Mad Max and Road Warrior details and not quite right for either. With this new kit, it seems they've corrected those errors to make the kit accurate to the Road Warrior version of the car.
Both kits still have about 80% in common as the body and chassis are the same, as are the basic dashboard, fuel tank and tires. Where Aoshima did most of their accurizing work is in the interior behind the dashboard as they tooled up a new interior tub and door panels. Gone are the padded doors (actually, they are still on the parts tree, but unused). In their place are the proper stripped out doors with the openings to the outer door panels. Roll cage bars are also included, as is the rear luggage rack with the proper caged appearance. Accessories added to the interior are Max's shot gun and a box of dog food (to go with the can). Indeed a decal has also been included for the box of dog food now as well. Externally, the major change involved replacing the rear Sunraysia rims with the proper spoked variety seen in Road Warrior (the spare still is a Sunraysia rim). The decal sheet is about the same and it still includes two styles of MFP shields and the MFP number plate. Some of the hybrid features still remain in the kit as well and are called out in the instructions, such as the radio box on the interior ceiling. These can be left off pretty easily though.
Dog is molded in two white metal pieces and is holding the bone in his mouth. This is the bone that Max hooked up to his shot gun trigger when he had Gyro Captain in the back. I sort of hoped Dog wouldn't have the bone, but this does allow modelers to do the diorama of Max, Gyro and the Dog together if they can whip up a figure of the Gyro Captain (Max figures can be somewhat easy to obtain in resin in this scale). In my case, I am going to assume that dog used the bone for other things prior to that scene.
As such, if somebody wants to do a proper Road Warrior version of the car, THIS is the kit to get. The old Aoshima kits still have value if somebody wants to do a Mad Max version of the car since not much needs to be added to it to back date it (rear trunk lid and glass, lower front spoiler, rear spoiler, rear interior seat back and passenger seat). Those bits aren't that hard to scrounge or scratchbuild. Trying to make a Mad Max version from this newer issue is tougher since the interior is all stripped out and a few of the key parts to do it have been left out. As such, there is still life for the older Interceptors. I don't plan to chuck my kits anytime soon anyway. Only thing that might make me do so would be if Aoshima were to finally tool up a proper Mad Max Interceptor from the first film, but that still may take a few years due to whomever owns the distribution rights for the first film.
As for my plans for the other Interceptors, how about some "what if" versions? For instance, I've been pondering what the GT would have looked like if it were painted up in the same colors as Max's Yellow XB. It might look pretty sharp in those colors actually.
I have the next two days off, so I think now might be the time to tackle building a pair of Interceptors, one Road Warrior and one Mad Max style. I plan to take plenty of pictures along the way as well.
