Thoren
I was a child of the 1980's, and one of the many things that I associate with the 80's is Robotech. I remember when Robotech was new and the concept of planes that could change into robots was amazing! It was all hitting around the same time as Tansformers and the less popular Go-Bots. Also, since you can't have a cartoon with out a merchandice tie-in, Revell stepped up and provided hungry public with Robotech Defenders. This model was called 'Thoren' in that line, and was one of my favorites.
Robotech was actually 3 different anime cartoon series from Japan that were spliced together. In keeping with the theme, Revell took models from totally different anime series to make the Defenders line. I think they were from about 3 or 4 different anime series as well, and only the models that were taken from Macross actually appeared in the show. I thought they looked pretty cool, and as a kid I had a few different models from the line. This was one of my favorites.
I did the whole thing from the box with one exception. The head of the pilot was taken from another pilot figure. The head was pretty sorry looking and I figured I'd just replace it with a better one. It turned out pretty well. Other than that, construction was pretty straight forward. The only problem is you need to build it in stages, painting at the end of each stage. If you try to build the whole model and paint it at the end, you'll have a hell of a time getting the hard to reach areas painted.
Paint and Decals
The paint scheme is pretty basic. All black. There are a few other colors, like the feet, and the silver sensor on top of the head. The missiles in the shoulder launcher are white, and there is that spot of red, but to be honest, this was pretty easy to paint. Decals were pretty easy too. Just a quick gloss coat and put them on. Simple, easy, and effective.
The cartoon that this model came from actually had a completely diffferent paint scheme than the one Revell had in the instructions. The model was molded in green and gray, and the model in the cartoon was the same paint scheme, with a lot more markings on it. I can see why they changed the colors though. You wouldn't want people to thing its from another show or anything. I mean, its not like it it never showed up in Robotech. Oh, wait. Nevermind.
This was an easy model to build and was a great reminder of growing up. I just wish I still had all those models. Rebuilding them is a lot cheaper (and more fun) than getting 'new' models to build. I have this one out in the living room, and my wife likes it. It looks good sitting above the DVDs, and hopefully I'll add a couple more in the not to distant future.