Studio Ghibli Mystery Project(s)!

[NARSES2]

Awesome scratching skills mate.

Yup, amazing 

[TheChronicOne]

So cool!!!!!   

[strobez]

Thanks guys! I knew when I picked up that pair of white wings for $0.50 in Tokyo that I was going to try and turn them into the glider from the Miyazaki movie Nausicaa of the Valley of the wind. But I have to admit, it's turning out even better than expected. It's into the home stretch now.  After a ton of sanding, I've got some white primer on and now it's ready for painting.






I've been using mages of the official 1/20 kit from Bandai as a guide, be decided just to more or less go with the panel lines "as is" instead of trying to remove them all. I claim artistic license!

Meanwhile, the Laputa Flapter needs a bit more work.  Trying to scribe some panel lines and the ended up punching through a soft patch of putty, so I need to do a bit of touch up repairs.

[Dizzyfugu]

Sweet!   

[Rick Lowe]

Nice work! 

[strobez]

Thanks for the kind words, guys! It means a lot considering some of the amazing work I've seen on this forum.

A bit of an update. First, I had to do a bit of a repair job on the Flapter. Scribing the panel lines went a little wonky given the styrene/putty/styrene transitions.  So I decided to try laying down some 0.01mm plastic paper and PSRing only one side.  Hope it works!



Meanwhile, I picked up a couple of these babies in the discount bin at the LHS for another Sci-Fi GB project I've got plans for, but it seems to work for another Ghibli-related one as well. Glad I bought two "just in case".


Here's what's in the box. I'm only going to use the long tube and marry it to the front of an Academy 1/72 MiG-21 drop tank and the left-over tip of the Academy F4U-4 tank I used to make the Nausicaa glider. Waste not want not!


I need to make it less round and more oblong-shaped. So I cut 2mm strips of tape to set the measurement along the awkward surface...


Then, using the first tape as a guide, I inverted the tape line to show me what needed to be cut.


Cut and glued. I also used a bit of styrene tube to cover the gap.


Meanwhile, some of the left over Spad XVIII parts gave me another (related) idea...


The angles aren't quite right using the existing parts, but some styrene tubes and careful glueing... and voila!


Man, that's tiny! I'm a little worried about the handle bars, seat and propeller...


All four mini projects together. The glider is finished, but you get a bit of a preview of the stand before I finish painting it. I'll post completed pics later.

[zenrat]

Is that going to be Tombo's propeller thrust bike?

[strobez]

Good eye! Yes, indeed. That's exactly what I'm gunning for!

I'm not going TOO crazy though. For example, on Tombo's prop bike, the front wheel is smaller than the back.  I decided that was too risky to attempt.


The first part (basically the bike itself) is done.


Oh, and I thought I'd throw in some pics of the Nausicaa Mehve with stand...

[TheChronicOne]

Right on, homie! I love the bike so far. 

[strobez]

Alright... let's review...

Mystery A = Flapter from a Laputa: Castle in the Sky
Mystery B - Mehve from Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind
Mystery C - TBD
Mystery D - Propeller Bike from Kiki's Delivery Service
Mystery E - What!? There's another one?!

I got the first coats of paint on the Flapter, a two-tone copper combo.  After it's fully dry, I'll start masking and get the cockpit interior colours down.

The Mehve is complete, including the stand (minus a coat of Future for protection).  It's sitting on the shelf and making me happy.

Mystery C was puttied and sanded like crazy, but I noticed some gaps.  So it's back to the "R" portion of PSR. 

Tombo's propeller bike was glued, and then I added putty - mostly to help hold it together!  For the propeller, I decided to use the wheel support from a couple of Spad XIII. What a handy kit to have... lots of good bits!


Rather than just use the actual propellers, I just cut the wheel supports in two.  They're a bit shorter than I'd like, but the accurate paddle-shape and the built-in handles made it an easy choice. I also used a modified bit of support structure to add a bit of stability to the prop stand.  The hub is just a bit of thick sprue, cut sanded and drilled to fit.


After assembly and a bit of primer.  Looks like a bike!


While that's a drying...

I decided to just go for broke on my Ghibli scratch build.  I have a Nausicaa gunship and both of the signature planes from Porco Rosso (my favourite Miyazaki film), but those are just OOTB builds.  I've been planning one more scratch build, so may as well just tackle it now.  After a bit of research, I've decided to use the Academy 1/350 Cutty Shark kit as my base.  I know nothing about ship models, so I had to do some pretty intense research and guessing, but in the end It seemed to be the best combination of size, general shape, and most importantly... cost.  Ship models don't seem to come cheap, but at $6 this was by far the winner.  I'm quite happy because the most cost effective option also seems to be the best fit for the project.  When was the last time THAT happened!?


Luckily I also found a couple of Bandai Gundam-like kits in the $2 bargain bin at the same time.  I just wanted the wings, but there's some other neat bits I'm sure I'll use in a future project.  There were only two kits, and I needed four-of-the-same wings, so everything seemed to work out.  All in, this project clocks in at $10... plus I found I could use the steering wheel from the Cutty Shark for Mystery Project C - Bonus!


Of course, the first thing I did was slice it up.  Cut the hull into the basic shape and patched up the hole.  Probably not water tight... 


Not pretty, but functional.  Patched on the inside and I added supports to both keep the shape solid as well as give me something to drill into to attach the wings.


Here's the work tray, with each of the projects in various stages of completion.  The missiles are the final touches for my entry in the Soviet GB, the Area 88 Yak-38. Think I can ask for an extension on the deadline? 

[zenrat]

I think I know what it is.  From Laputa?

[strobez]

Nope...sorry. It's not from Laputa.  You're probably thinking of the airship Goliath.  I'll give you a hint though, all these projects are (more or less) 1/72 scale.

[Old Wombat]

Not my field of SF but I like what you're doing here!

[NARSES2]

I've no idea what it is but I'm enjoying watching it go together, lovely work 

I'm also amazed at how clean your cutting mat is 

[TheChronicOne]

This keeps getting better and better!!!!  Ambitious as hell... I love it.