Hobby Industry Inside Vol. 29: Full specs of the 1/24 Athrada G.S.X., the future car model with "real car taste" that Aoshima is aiming for!

When they hear that Aoshima Bunka Kyozai Sha (Aoshima) is making a plastic kit of the anime "Neon Genesis GPX Cyber Formula" (......), many may ask, "Hasn't this been made into a kit a long time ago? They may turn their heads and ask, "Hasn't this been made into a kit before? The concept of the "1/24 Sugou Asrada G.S.X.", the 20th kit in the series, is very different from the previous kits, and Satoshi Shigeta, who has been deeply involved in the "Cyber Formula" series since the OVA series as a mechanical drawing director, has been involved in the development of this kit. Mr. Satoshi Shigeta, who has been deeply involved in the development of "Cyber Formula" since the OVA series as a mechanical drawing director, participated in the development of the "G.S.X". He reinterpreted the deformed design of the anime to add consistency and persuasiveness to the real car's taste.
We spoke with Hidemi Iizuka of Aoshima, who was in charge of planning, Akihiro Hara of Unitech, who was in charge of design, and animator Satoshi Shigeta about the specifications of the "latest interpretation of the Athrada G.S.X." kit.

Putting the Know-How of Car Model Development into Character Kits

──When did Aoshima first make a plastic kit of "Cyber Formula"?

Iizuka: It was around the time when the first OVA "Neon Genesis GPX Cyber Formula 11" (1992) was released and had established a certain degree of popularity. At the beginning of the series, I think it had a strong aspect as a character kit. Although it was a display model, it was a bit different in taste from our regular car models, as only the exterior was made.


─ ─ Looking at Aoshima's website, it says that "Commercialization of Cyber Formula racing machines has resumed" with the "No.10 Super Athrada AKF-11 Aero Mode" released in 2006.

Iizuka: We have been doing this since the 90's, but "Cyber Formula" is a series that comes and goes in waves in our company. I guess that has something to do with it. Recently, there has been a third boom, so to speak. Until now, we have been making kits of the OVA version of the machine, but since it is linked to the period setting, we finally decided to make a kit of the first machine from the TV version, the "Asrada G.S.X". The hydrogen engine, AI navigator, and other futuristic technologies of the TV show are now approaching reality, so we wanted to create a plastic kit with a different concept while adding a modern interpretation of the actual car.
On the other hand, we have already commercialized the Countach and the Aventador in our 1/24 Super Car Series, which reproduced even the engines, so we wanted to feed back the know-how we had accumulated in this area. We also have a setting drawing of the engine in the setting materials we borrowed from Sunrise, so I thought we could create something that would be distinct from past "Cyber Formula" plastic kits.


Hara: However, I thought that people who buy "Cyber Formula" plastic models are not scale modelers but fans of the anime work, so I kept the number of parts as small as possible.


─ ─ Looking at the prototype displayed at the Hobby Show, it seems that the parts are color-coded in great detail.

Iizuka: We color-coded each runner, and left some elements as a character model so that it would be close to the image in the play if decals were applied to the unassembled model.

─ I understand that there is an interpretation of the actual vehicle, but is the form different from the anime setting?

Iizuka: It differs greatly.

Hara: We aimed for proportions that would look realistic and comfortable even when placed next to a real car model.

──The Aslada G.S.X. has gimmicks such as movable wings.

Hara: If we had to put in hinges to make them movable, it would inevitably look bad, so the wings are not movable but replaceable. In this kit, we tried to reproduce the internal mechanisms depicted in the settings as much as possible, and depending on how the kit is assembled, we designed it so that the parts can be removed and viewed even after completion. Also, the design of the wheels is very simple, but we interpreted that the original wheels are probably behind the wheel caps. That said, the original Asrada should not exceed the technology of the OVA and other sequel series. Therefore, we asked Tomo Shigeta, the animation director, to make specific suggestions regarding proportions and detailed consistency.