Been having fun in quarantine. Restoring, and assorting my Imai P-Land (sea)and Q-Land (space)kits. I think my obsession with these started in the 70's as I was glaring ads in my Father's "Model Art" magazines from Japan. Alas I could never actually find them as the Hobby Store my Dad frequented would only get random sci-fi kits as "Shipping space fillers". Not to say there weren't ones I regretted passing. But I had already learned many of the kits had great box art, the built-up you left much to be desired if not problematic in design. Many were pretty bad, and left half assembled out of defeat. But these P-Land kits were a distant fever dream. These are incredibly slow to find. I'm probably off of being complete by 3 un-built kits. I've luckily obtained 2-3 built up to play with. I also am the proud owner of Original Q-Land Box artwork. 3 of which were on YJP and the other two obtained from a private seller in Australia. Pretty sure it's the fragile nature of these kits and the vaccum-netic tiny vehicles, as I'm sure many were just tossed in the trash by jaded kids or ended up in a cursing Dad's foot, plus the Gerry Anderson crossover that could make them harder to find. Although I just cannot find any evidence, and I always look in Japan. I've never seen one in any vintage shop. Anyway as time progressed I'm sure i will share more images and stories.
Such stuff as dreams are made on Yes, i also would love to see more photos. This is hardcore toy-nerd education at its best ...
Amazing Paul. Best new thread contribution in ages. I've always admired your deep - and very amazing - model collection, and these are right up there. Seeing the three assembled sets is amazing; the aesthetic, the detail, the incredibly cool design and construction - I can immediately see (and also feel) why you were so smitten with these on that first tease of them as a kid. Congratulations on you wonderful hunting to have collected the ones you have. I look forward to the future shares.
Fantastic. Those green fish with yellow eyes are such a cool and strange feature hanging off the side like gargoyles on a skyscraper.
These are awesome, thanks for sharing! Love the fish as well @Brooklyn_Vinyl. Were these sold as sets or individually so one could make their own combination?
The Terror Fish and Sub are from the TV show "Stingray" along with Submarine 707R were incorporated into the P-Land line with other "odd scaled" vehicles and even a diver. The Q-Land and P-Land sets could be combined together. I have one partial built Q-Land set and all the vehicles. Q-Land sets are the hardest to acquire. Although I am the proud owner of the original box art. These are the smaller P-Land sets that include one "Pod". The larger sets include 3 Pods. Where did they all go?
Terror Fish torpedo FTW! The box art is fantastic. IMAI came out with some amazing kits with awesome box art but these take the cake. Aquaphibians captaining the Terror Fish. Down the rabbit hole I go....
Incredible Paul!!! Thanks for sharing those additional photos of the sets. I have to say, this is one of the (sometimes uncommon) sets where the box art at the model are both absolutely fantastic. While I completely love the art that is used on many of the Japanese models (horror, sci-fi, etc), the actual product doesn't always live up the imagination I give it. But the P- and Q-land sets are definitely not in this category. @Brooklyn_Vinyl You are totally right Jonathan, they are amazing. I don't want to divulge from the topic of this thread, but another winner from Imai is the 'Steel Monster' kit (you can see more monster fish at the link).