1984 · Hobby Japan
SF3D began as a feature in the May 1982 issue of Hobby Japan under the name, “Wonderful Junk Kit.” Included in that early feature was a scratch-built kit built by Kow Yokoyama of a powersuit pieced together from a Microman action figure, ping pong balls, and salvaged model kit parts.
The response to Yokoyama’s design was huge - the era of “realistic” mecha was just taking off, after all - and so a regular feature in Hobby Japan was born. This new series, dubbed SF3D Original, featured story and background details by Hiroshi Ichimura alongside kits created by Yokoyama. Yokoyama’s kits would later be joined by those of other scratch builders, like Makoto Kobayashi, as the workload increased under the demands of a regular column. SF3D ran regularly in Hobby Japan through 1985.
SF3D takes place in the distant future, following a cataclysmic World War IV that all but wiped-out life on Earth. Human settlers return to Earth, specifically Australia, and soon find themselves unhappy with their overlords in the Galactic Federation. Crime runs amok and the settlers are unable to restore order themselves, so the Galactic Federation tasks the Strahl Democratic Republic (SDR) with straightening things out down under. The SDR’s methods are heavy-handed and the settlers soon find themselves thrown under the boot of vaguely Germanic totalitarianism. In turn, the unhappy settlers hire mercenary forces to get rid of the SDR and war breaks out in post-apocalyptic Australia.
(from the Box:)
The storm which is World War IV engulfs the continent of Australia. War sparks ingenuity. Ingenuity birth technology. Technology is escalation. The puppet regime which is called Shuttoral World Government is the enemy. The Australian-led resistance grows in strength with the advent of the HAFS ‘Jerry’, a tow-legged tank with a ground speed of 54 km/hr. War continues…
January 11, 2885: New Canberra City falls to Australian forces. The Germans retreat south skirting the desert.
