EDF Recon Patrol Cruiser Avatar

from "Starblazers" 1979

Scale: 1:360
Initial Release: 1982
Medium: Styrene
Kit Rarity: 4

About the Design

First broadcast in 1979, "Starblazers" was an American, English-language adaptation of Japan's "Space Battleship Yamato" anime series, a hugely popular franchise that premiered in 1974. A serialized space opera dealing with Earth's response to an alien invasion, the original Japanese series ran in three parts between 1974 to 1980.

A minor player on the larger dramatic canvas the Earth Defense Force (EDF) Patrol Cruiser Avatar was one of the few "Starblazers" designs to employ the "command hull/engineering hull/engine nacelles" configuration popularized in the "Star Trek" T.V. show.  In fact, this design is radically out-of-step with the "battleships in space" motif that dominates this anime series.

About the Kit

This Japanese import was available briefly in the U.S. in the mid-1980s and turns up every now at then on Ebay.

This model is an original 1982 issue.