SPECTRE’S BIRD 1

The mysterious SPECTRE rocket ‘BIRD 1’ from the James Bond Adventure film ‘YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE’ Directed by Lewis Gilbert (1967)

‘You Only Live Twice’ is full of iconic moments - the bad-guys car being hi-jacked by elctro magnet, james Bond running across rooftops tackling bad guys at every turn, the aerial attack on ‘Little Nellie - Bond’s auto-gyro, the first time we see Ernst Stavro Blofeld, the giant volcano base and this rocket ‘swallowing’ American and Russian space capsuales. Tremendous stuff.

Bird 1 launches from the lake in the extinct volcano - and should not be confused with Thunderbird 1 (from TV’s Thunderbirds) which launches from a swimming pool. It is a 2 stage rocket and the nose cone opens in order to capture American and Russuan space capsules. Airfix’s other rocket and space vehicles were all in 1/144 and this would naturally be in that same scale. And white plastic. This kit would come in at approximately  10” tall. Not very big. You should get the USA and USSR space capsules too! As this would be a kit of the 1960s, there would be plenty of rivet detail - Airfix’s speciality at this time - and the nose cone have ‘do not cement’ moving parts.

Designed by KEN ADAM

Special Effects by JOHN STEARS and CLIFF CULLEY