Since 1985, when I was 11 years old, I have been wanting all three 1/12 model kits of the armor of the three leads of Super Dimension Cavalry Southern Cross/ Robotech Masters. I have always loved the series with its unique ensemble cast and the distinctive looking armor the soldiers wore throughout the short run anime series. These kits were released by three model kit companies, Arii, Imai and LS. Why it was split between three companies I can only speculate but it has made tracking down these kits quite difficult over the years as the LS and Imai kits are difficult to locate.
The most available to me of the three kits was Lana’s Isavia / Nova’s kit made by Arii. It appears that Arii Southern Cross kits are the most easy to locate. Unlike the Macross kits, the Arii Southern Cross kits, compared to LS and Imai kits, are the better detailed kits of the three companies. I bought it back when I was a kid but I never built it as I wanted to wait until my skills matched what I had in my head on what they should look like. As a few months ago it has been started.
My second pick up was just last year when I picked up the Imai 1/12 Mary Angel/Marie Crystal kit at Mandrake in Tokyo. In fact I consider this kit the rarest of the three as I had never seen one for sale over the last 20 years. This kit will be the most challenging to paint as the armor is actually polished metal and I will have to use Alclad paint to finish the kit.
The final purchase was just last week when I won the LS 1/12 Jeanne Francaix/ Dana Sterling on an online auction site. This is the kit I have been wanting for years since I was a kid as it is the lead character of the series and the most iconic armor of the series and I always just happen to miss out on a sale or lost it in other auctions. I am looking forward to building this one!
The circle is complete! After over 20 years I finally own all three kits. I will continue looking for the other Southern Cross kits but the center of my Southern Cross display will now have all three leads from the series.