THE PHOENIX from ‘Battle of the Planets’ (1978) created by Tatsuo Yoshida

This is one of the most famous fictional 'spaceships' from TV. The tv show ‘Battle of the Planets’ was re-edited and dubbed American version Japanese tv show ‘Science Ninja Team Gatchaman’created by Tatsuo Yoshida and produced by Tatsunoko Productions in 1972 and sometimes referred to simply as ‘Gatchaman’ or ‘G-Force’.

G Force. was specially trained team of teenagers with the ability to ‘transmute’ into individual G Force personas, with sophisticated vehiceles and equipment. the most powerful of which was their ship ‘The Phoenix’. A huge aircraft capable of travelling underwater and even in space. It possessed athe abil;ity to ‘transmute’ into a non carporeal ‘Fiery Phoenix’ that literally looked like a gianbt bird mnade of flames.

It was an animated TV show and the look of the Phoenix is abit inconsistent. The original design and on-screen artwork features a more curved and elegant appearance. This became more angular as more dynamic animated artwork was required – presumably easier to draw. This paintng is sort of an amalgam of what the ship looked like most of ther time.  

The scale of the ship is a bit fluid too - not uncommon for sci-fi. I used the clear dome on top as a reference point for the size as members of G Force are seen standing up inside it, so it must be close to 8 feet high. Extrapolating from this, I estimate the ship to be about 350feet (or 107metres) in length. A model kit in 1/350th scale would be a chunky foot long.

There have been several model kits of the Phoenis over the years, including recent resin kits which are accuarte - forergoing the play features of the earlier kits favour of accuracy. Finally. But a Tamiya kit in the 1970s would have been fab!

Designed by Matsuki Nakamura

You can see more about this kit in ‘What If Fantasy Model Kits #22 on my YouTube channel.