SAFS SPACE TYPE Fireball

The Fireball- one of the all time Ma.K classic designs! Getting to build the original SF3D version of the Nitto kit was an incredibly satisfying experience. It's almost unbelievable what these kits were doing in 1983 - I was still far from being born even, but I imagine the response to these kits with springs, wires, and realistic mechanical details must have been wild! The Fireball is the classic SAFS equipped for space use and has been the star of many of the original SF3D magazine articles. I actually traded a modern Wave Fireball kit for this Nitto one!

The kit was painted with the Finisher's Ma.K paint, and while the temptation to do the classic all-over off-white Fireball color scheme was very high, I decided to do something equally understated but have a little bit more variation. The kit decals were very old and rather than risk them disintegrating the moment they touched hot water, I used leftovers from a Wave Snake Eye kit. Additionally, the kit hand was replaced with a modified Gundam hand as the old Nitto kits have the fingers molded together and a more natural hand position was desired.

One of my favorite things about the Fireball is the exposed rocket engines on the back, with tubing and pipes running from the fuel tank to the thrusters. The heat wear on the thruster bells was done with markers for a burnt look. 

One of the negatives of the old Nitto kits is that the pilot head sculpts are kind of terrible - very soft detail and not a lot of character to the pilot, so a Wave pilot head with the helmet was added instead. Also the Nitto kits don't have a moving joint for the hatch, so this is permanently open.

The base is made from various odds and ends of spare parts and a small LED light strip was added internally so it could have a cool under glow appearance when lit up.

I highly recommend the Fireball to everyone - if you are a Ma.K fan, this classic (have I used that word enough?) is such a good build and is a great look into the history of Ma.K and SF3D. Now maybe it's time to build the newer Wave one and see how they stack up against each other...