Konami Fireball XL5 Review

Konami produced this nice little model, measuring about 4.6 inches long. These Konami models were sold as 'Candy Toys', exclusively in Japan. Don't be mislead though, these are not at all like breakfast cereal giveaways as you can see from our photos. The 'candy' seems incidental as it's in a very tiny packet. Fireball XL5 was packaged with a very detailed model of the Space Intruder Detector (SID) from UFO.
All painting and lettering is finished and the items can be displayed as soon as you get them out of the packet. What you see here is exactly what you get.

	Konami Fireball XL5 - Starboard View This is the Konami XL5 model on it's display stand.
	Konami Fireball XL5 - Port View The Konami Fireball XL5 looks quite different from our own 3d computer model. A major difference is the porthole arrangement and the white XL5 lettering.
	Konami Fireball XL5 - Upper Starboard View Very few XL5 toys have been made over the forty years since the series was broadcast. Despite it's diminutive size this is one of the more accurate toys.
	Konami Fireball Junior Here's the detached nosecone of the ship - Fireball Junior. Fireball Junior detaches to explore planets whilst the main body of the ship remains in orbit.

There are several problems with this model.
Firstly it looks wrong. I suspect this model was based on publicity pictures that were created after the TV series had finished. These often featured mock-ups which only bore a superficial resemblance to the Fireball XL5 miniature. The porthole arrangement is wrong. There is a red bulge on the back of Fireball Junior, with 4 circular apertures. The ship is far too dark. The XL5 lettering on Junior should be black not white.
There are also problems with the way the model was made. The main fuselage is open-ended and hollow. This makes the model look unfinished. The central control dome at the front of the main section is off-centre. There are deep grooves in the wing pods, separating the red from the yellow.
Konami seem to have produced this Fireball XL5 model as an afterthought. They have produced excellent models of dozens of other Gerry Anderson series craft. This model is not, unfortunately to the same high standard, and is rather a disappointment.

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