Attack Tomahawk

In part three of my Macross 1/100 Destroid build off, I would like to introduce perhaps one of the most popular Destroids in the original Macross TV series, the Attack Tomahawk.

For my Part 1 review of the 1/100 Arii Destroid Defender Click Here.
For my Part 2 review of the 1/100 Imai Missile Phalanx Click Here.
For my Part 3 review of the 1/100 Imai Attack Tomahawk Click Here.
For my Part 4 review of the 1/100 Arii Spartan Click Here.
For my Part 5 review of the 1/100 Arii Spartan Metalize Custom Click Here.

The Attack Tomahawk was the most armed of the original Destroids. With up to 10 types of guns, two flame throwers, six large rockets and two huge rocket dispensers made it one of the formidable ground weapons and much remembered mechas of Macross.

When the Destroid model kits were released in 1982, the four Destroids were split between two model kit companies. Arii released the Spartan and Defender while Imai released the Missile Phalanx and the Attack Tomahawk. Of the two makers the Imai kits were more accurately designed, better proportioned and easier to build than the Arii kits.

After Imai’s demise, Bandai purchased the molds to all of the classic 1980’s Macross model kits and began reissuing the kits with a slight box art changes and with a 25th Anniversary sticker on the box. Today many of these kits are still available through vendors such as Hobby Link Japan.

The Attack Tomahawk kit comes with: 2x brown sprue, 1x water slide decal sheet, 1x instruction sheet.
Of the four kits I believe the Tomahawk is the easiest and quickest to build. The only aspect of this kit that takes a few days to build is the arms, as it is made up of four components that build up upon each other and needs a day to cure before the next step is taken.

Imai molding and construction are top notch for both their Destroid kits; especially for the era they were produced. The molding is crisp, the parts fit together tight with a good flow of construction. In fact I only had one issue while making the kit. The machine gun barrels in the head had some issues.

The head guns needed to be painted metal and the best type of metals paints need a bare plastic for the paint to look correct. Accordingly the gun parts needs to be put in after I finish the model. I decided to cut the barrels off the backing part, glue the backing in the head, paint the barrels and add them later. In the long run, this did not work out, as the barrel ends did not have enough glue area to glue correctly to the backing. Luckily I had another kit and I decided on cutting the part in half with the barrels still attached, and then insert the parts into head after I was finished. I put glue on the back of the parts and they dried firmly in the head. It took a few tries to get it right but the end results are good and solid.

The only part that was unusable was the antenna that was included with the kit. It was impossible to cut it off the sprue and my example broke off in three parts when I did try to cut it off. I eventually just stole the Gerwalk antenna out of the Bandai/Imai 1/72 Valkyrie model kit. It actually looks better and closer to the box art than the antenna that was supplied with the kit.

I generally build kits out of the box only adding a few small details when needed. In this case I added some photoetch mesh in the vents on the back and heels. It gives the area a little detail that was not possible to inject on the plastic in the 1980’s.

I painted the kit with Tamiya paints. Usually the Tomahawk is a lighter shade than the other Destroids but since I already painted the Defender and Phalanx with a light tan, I did not want to go even lighter. I opted for a darker tan to keep in the spirit of the Tomahawk in a different shade than the other tan Destroids.

I am not a preshade painter I prefer to paint the base color and then lighten the paint a shade lighter and carefully spray the middle of the panel. I used Andreas paints to paint the smaller touchup items such as the gray on the legs and red on the call number on the back.

After painting I applied a Testors clear gloss coat for the decals to apply to. I did not have any issues with the decals but I was disappointed that the decal sheet did not come with the four white leg flash decals on the leg that are pictured on the box. I had a spare Missile Phalanx sheet and I was able to use them on this kit. This is perhaps my only real issue with this kit. Another minor letdown is that the kit does not come with any type of “nose art” decals but I was able to find a useable decal of a Bat that was used on airplanes in the 1920’s in my spare decal box and apply it to the lower left leg.

After a flat coat I applied thinned oils, airbrushed exhausted areas with black and added silver pencil flakes throughout the kit to give it that real robot worn look that Macross kits look best in.

One let down might be is the lack of articulation. While the Missile Phalanx looks excellent in a neutral position the Attack Tomahawk always looks great in an action pose. Unfortunately, this kit of the Tomahawk lacks any real articulation, but still looks very good in its neutral pose.

There is not much to say with this one but it’s a fun, inexpensive kit that is easy to build and paint for the beginner but enough of a challenge and detail for the experienced builder to make standout and good looking model kit with. With the kit usually retailing for $7.00 there is no reason why one should pick one for their Macross collection today.

©2011 article and pictures by Leonardo Flores and CollectionDX