Ghibli Project - The Vehicles

[strobez]

Well, given that the 2017 Sci-Fi GB has now been put out to pasture, I decided to start a brand new thread to post my ongoing adventure in terms of my "Studio Ghibli" project.

Instead of trying to move/split the topic, we'll just start fresh here.  That seemed most appropriate because the last project that was still standing (along with a couple of dorment ones) is really going to be a "do-over" anyway.

I sort of lost steam on my Lupin III: Castle of Cagliostro little yellow Fiat 500 project.  The main reason for that is that I ended up trying to make a Fiat 600 look more like a Fiat 500 than any sane man should... and the frustration was starting to take it's toll.  So, instead of just succumbing to the darkness, I went back to the drawing board (and eBay) and got myself an honest-to-god 1/72 Fiat 500 this time - by way of an ancient little PEZ toy.  I paid more than I wanted to for it, but that's mainly because I was paying a collectors price for a tiny little toy I was about to chop up.  Still, all-in-all, it was less than I spent on lunch today anyway... so it's all relative, right?

the nice thing is that, now that I somewhat know what I'm doing, I was able to create a better mold, faster and create some resin casts of the shell quite quickly (and well too!)  Of course the chassis/base I'd originally created no longer lines up and fits, so I need to really start over, but I'm hoping the the combination of lessons learned and not having to try to turn something into something it's not, will make the project easier and smoother.

So,  welcome back to the 1/72 Fiat 500 build... together again for the first time!

[strobez]

Oh, I spared you all a look at my messy molds/casts, but one thing I should mention.  One of frustrating things about the PEZ toy is that the split between the shell and the chassis is not at the natural break between the two.  The chassis retains the lower portion of the shell (about 1/3 of the way up the door).  Which is mostly fine if you're just fitting the two parts together, but was very tricky to handle when mold-making.  I didn't really want to have to create a whole separate mold for what would amount to "extensions" to the body shell... nor did I want to have to attach those extensions to every single casting, so I thought I'd be smart and cut the bits off and attach them BEFORE I made the mold.

Note to self, trying to get vinyl to stick to anything is a PAIN.  I tried every type of glue I could think of and NOTHING would get those bits to stick together.  In the end, I had to use a hot glue gun and try and trim off as much of the excess as possible.  It wasn't pretty, but it more or less got the job done... but even then I had to be very careful not to rip the glued on pieces off by accident.  Wow.

[strobez]

Cleaned up the flashing from the windows and cut open the sun roof, but I've learned from experience not to cut out the doors/engine hatch before fitting the chassis.  It weakens the overall integrity of the shell and causes it to twist and collapse a bit.  So best to have the chassis fitted to the final width first and then let the shell conform to it to retain its shape rather than trying to fit a chassis into a wet noodle of a shell and hope it lines up.



Luckily my experience pays off and it all fits.  I will need to reshape the wheel wells just a bit to accommodate, as well as trim the axels a bit so the wheels don't stick out too much.

[strobez]

Just a bit of an update.  Got most of the interior structure (seats, wheel wells and dashboard) in place.  It still looks a bit rough, but some putty and sanding will take care of most of that...

[strobez]

Just a bit of an update.  The dash is starting to come together...

[strobez]

It took a bit of prompting, but I'm glad I got over the hump and started working on this project again.  I finally just decided to bite the bullet and get some colour down on the interior.  Perhaps not quite the red/grey scheme I would've otherwise chosen, but it's faithful-ish to the Lupin III anime upon which it is based.  I suspect the (mostly) white body makes the blend a bit more stark at this point.  Hopefully it'll come together a bit more in the end.

Once I had the colour painted on the interior, I went about glueing the shell to the chassis.  That left some (expected) gaps around the wheel wells, so out game a bit of epoxy putty to the rescue.  I filled in the gaps and gave a rough shape to the wheel trim.  After some sanding, Tamiya grey putty and more sanding, I think I was finally able to tame it.  The trim around the wheels might be a bit overlarge, but it's an anime car, so I'm willing to live with a bit of an exaggeration.



I was basically happy with the first coat of yellow paint.  I didn't really find any nasty surprises on the main body.  All that PSR seems to have paid off as even the tiny little microbubbles from the resin casting were finally filled in.  It will require a second coat of paint to cover the colour variation brought about by the grey putty splotches, but I suspect they will soon disappear.  About the only thing I was really debating was if I should try to remove the rear tail lights and use a bit of clear sprue... still thinking about that...



I also laid down a coat of paint on the cut out door/trunk.  Having multiple copies available really made this much easier than trying to separate them intact from the main body.  I just took the clippers to one of the spares and set about paring it down to size. Super easy.  The one problem I noticed is that the paint did reveal some of the scars that were missed in the PSR rounds.  You can't seem them well in the pic, but they're there.  I'm not sure if I just chalk it up to "of course Lupin's car is going to have some scratches/dents" (especially considering the sorry state it eventually ends up in), or if I try to fill/sand/repaint... 

I'm thinking "of course there's scratches" sounds entirely reasonable to me...  but we'll see how well it goes on the "need to cut some tiny vent slats into the engine access hatch" part of the equation...

[zenrat]

Give you a tip Greg, temporarily attach the doors and boot and paint the whole lot together.
Yellow is a bugger of a colour for mismatching and parts painted separately will take any opportunity to look a slightly different shade.  You might think you will get away with it because you had the same undercoat and counted how many passes you made with the airbrush but trust me, you won't.
Don't ask me how I know this.

[Captain Canada]

Nice work ! Tiny little guys eh ?

[strobez]

Now that I can sense completion, I've been working diligently on my little Fiat 500 project.  I must've painted and repainted the chassis about 6-7 times already... fingerprints, scratched off paint... you name it.  Oh well.



I needed a few scratch details... like the hood ornament.  Just a few bits of sliced up styrene, but I think it does the job.



I also needed to get the rear engine in order.  The Lupin III car comes with a turbo-charged blower engine, so of course I needed to scratch up the blower (and the door support rods).  It's a bit thicker than I would've liked, but I wimped out and used a bit of square tubing and sanded it into shape rather than building it from the ground up.  I can live with that.



The wheels align and still fit after all my work with the epoxy putty... thank goodness.  The angle of the rear door looks good too.  I cut the support rods the same but after installation I noticed it was out of alignment so one needed a trim.  Perhaps my engine compartment is not plumb and level?



You can't quite see it, but I chopped up a bunch of 0.3mm styrene rod bits, dipped them in CA glue and then clumped them all together.  They work reasonably well as a bunch of cigarette butts to fill out the ashtray.



I almost forgot the windows!  This was an (expected) bit of pain.  I basically had to painstakingly cut, trim, trim, trim, sand, swear, sand some clear plastic into shape.  I then use a very  little amount of white glue massaged into the joint for support and then wiped off the excess.



Not quite sure I was 100% on the rear window... but I can live with it.

[PR19_Kit]

I keep having to remind myself to look at the scale on the side of your mat and the knife to ensure I realise just how TINY this is! 

[zenrat]

I've made 1/25 butts for overflowing ashtrays but doing it in 1/72 is ridiculous!

[Hobbes]

Great job on such a tiny vehicle 

[NARSES2]

I keep having to remind myself to look at the scale on the side of your mat and the knife to ensure I realise just how TINY this is!

Same here Kit - absolutely fantastic work 

[strobez]

Well, she's done. In the end it's not quite how I was hoping it was going to turn out, but I'm satisfied. For a scratch build that started as a 1/72 scale resin cast of a giveaway toy... I'll take it.

It's also a bit amazing how taking up close and personal photos of the project can be a bit disheartening as every blemish becomes magnified beyond good taste.

[strobez]

By the way, it occurs to me that perhaps many of you don't quite understand how awesome Lupin III's Fiat 500 is... this will explain (even if the clip is from the Italian dub) - https://youtu.be/7Jn-QEb2MWg

Note the ashtray...