Blue Thunder
Review by AJProDie-Cast
Blue Thunder was a high tech helicopter (Sci-Fi really) that was in a 1980's movie and then a campy television show. The helicopter used for Blue Thunder was a French-made Aérospatiale SA-341G Gazelle modified with bolt-on parts and an Apache-style canopy (BTW: I always keep this in Sci-Fi realm because the real copter did not fly well and they often had to use a model).
The box is a simple graphic with back page overview and Styrofoam tray.
There is some simple assembly required (put together rotor) and it comes with flat plain base (I put it away... looks like drink coaster).
The detailing and craftsmanship are wonderful and I am grateful I bought it when I did.
The cockpit snaps off and inside is some anonymous figure (can you tell if it is Roy Scheider??).
Great detail again, you even have seat belts and fire extinguisher inside.
The rear rotor spins (hard to do with finger), which could have easily been solid plastic and underlies the quality.
One weird thing i can't recall if from the movie...the black paint on the die-cast parts is bubbly and rough looking. The paint does not flake off, it is universally textured on fuselage, and the non-black parts next to it look fine...so I will assume it is not a flaw in the paint.
Overall, I pre-ordered the TV version... which was cancelled and makes me even happier I bought this baby when I did. It goes right next to Airwolf in my collection and my 80's Sci-Fi heart.
(BTW: you may have noticed the plastic wrap on my Flexi-stand version one. The black rubber toppers degrade and leave black marks on collectibles. Plastic wrapped taped down solves issue...one unwrapped, looks fine normally.)
Posted 7 May, 2011 - 16:34 by AJProDie-Cast |
Comments
10 comments postedBlue Thunder, another classic, "OH YEAH!" run to the TV when the show was on, even though I think it came on late in the evening for a kid. Maybe I'm remembering wrong...
Nice review, with lots of great angles. I love these models.
As to the texture on the fuselage bottom, that seems like something realistic. Have to go back and watch some of the movie again. I forgot about the cockpit layout with the rear co-pilot seat sideways, with all the tech-y gadgets.
And wow, just searched up the news release for this and it was Nov. 08. Time zips by.
I was always a big Blue Thunder fan - although I never saw the TV series. The movie was very cool, but the design of this thing really did it for me. I always wanted the toy they made for this in the 80s. Great review!
A little TMI but started collecting because modern chogokin solved two things that frustrated me majorly in my childhood. 1. item availability (Mr. Big's Popy Yamato...mocked me 2. items looks like the "real" thing (got a shogun warrior Poseidon...with its star missiles and weird backwards legs...). .lol
Case in point, only Blue Thunder toy I ever could find when I was child, looked like a blue plastic bat but ironically the picture on the box looked exactly like the collectible reviewed here...
Great review!
I have a non-related question though.
When providing an object to compare the sizing, why do you use a can of Tab?
Not a Coke/Pepsi fan?
Tab is not that popular here in Canada...
I figured I needed a known size object for context...but with a "avatar" feel like Josh's little robot he puts in all his reviews..and TAB is unusual and something I drink and most people don't know is even still made so...there you have it:)
Man, I´ve been thinking all this time it was a Vintage Can... Here en Mexico has been out of the market for 20+ Years.
According to some internet sources, it's supposed to be armor. Why the designers thought that "armor" = "unfinished cast surface" is unclear; maybe their sources were WWII-era tanks or something.
I could also see it being some kind of insulating material to reduce the helicopter's IR signature; this is supposedly a low-observable aircraft, after all. But in that case I'd have expected more of a baffle around the exhaust; something other than a bare metal tube, at least! (Cobra gunships in Vietnam often had structures of vented sheet metal, to prevent shoulder-launched SAMs from getting a good look at the hot tube and to mix in cool air with the hot exhaust and reduce the overall heat signature.
cool comment, thanks
"BTW: you may have noticed the plastic wrap on my Flexi-stand version one. The black rubber toppers degrade and leave black marks on collectibles. Plastic wrapped taped down solves issue...one unwrapped, looks fine normally."
Wow, this is really REALLY important to know. You really should write an entire article about this.
I've had this happen with other stands and toys over the years, and it really sucks. My Kenner Super Powers collection got ruined by the plastic cases I had them on display in. Once left on the shelf on display, the sunlight caused the plastic to yellow and discolor, which left a "film" on the figures wherever the plastic touched them. Hundreds of dollars and years of hunting ruined in a matter of two months. I've seen what some 3rd party cases can do to boxes too... like Michael's brand display cases, they can magnify the light, and i've seen them make vintage box art fade in weird patterns...
This type of info should be in big, bold letters, to help out your fellow CDXers out there. I'd hate to see someone's collection, especially something vintage and impossible to replace, get ruined by the rubber because they didn't know this...
dude, thousands of thanks for mentioning this...
made forum topic on it and paint issues I have had.