JKim
Senior Master Sergeant
I'm wondering if this is ok to post here? I'm going to take a whimsical detour and I thought it'd be fun to share. I guess you could call it an "aircraft" but it is not real. It's featured in an anime called Laputa: Castle in the Sky. My daughters and I are big fans of Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli so I thought I'd put my modeling efforts into a birthday present coming up for my younger daughter. Miyazaki is a well-known aviation buff and he often fills his films with unique flying machinery. In fact, his latest film (The Wind Rises) is a fictional account of real life aeronautical engineer, Jiro Horikoshi, who designed the Mitsubishi Zero.
The flaptter is a single person flying machine propelled by pair of translucent, dragonfly-like wings. The Bandai kit is a 1/20 scale representation of the flaptter and features figures of the two young protagonists, Sheeta and Pazu along with a display base.
The kit appears to be a high quality affair. The instruction sheet features color photos of the completed model and can be used as a color guide for painting.
The instructions are in black and white and I don't see any English anywhere! I don't think this should be a problem on a kit of this type and the diagrams seem clear enough.
The instruction sheet also features what looks to be design sketches by Miyazaki.
There are 44 parts in different colored plastic. I've never seen this... one sprue features three different colored plastics, including clear!
Here is a closeup of the clear windscreen. I will snip this part off immediately and place in a baggy for safe keeping... don't want it get unnecessarily scratched.
The instrument panel is a two-part deal. No decals or photoetch so this will have be handpainted. I will explore the possibility of adding some details to cockpit... maybe wiring?
The wing tips are made of clear acetate sheet. Toying with the idea of tinting or painting them somehow to break up the monotony of clear plastic.
The figures are nicely detailed and are made up of multiple parts. I've NEVER painted a figure before so this will be a first for me.
A close-up of Pazu's head. Painting the face details... eyes, mouth ,ears... will be the biggest challenge but one thing in my favor is that I only have to replicate a cartoon face, not a real one!
Sheeta's head comes in two parts with here flying braids as a separate piece.
Ah... maybe painting the details WON'T be as hard as I thought! The kit comes with decals for eyes and brows for both figures!
The kit is designed to be snapped together without glue but I'm going to do all of the things that we aircraft modelers do, including addressing seam lines. That will be step 1... getting the figures cleaned up and painted!
The flaptter is a single person flying machine propelled by pair of translucent, dragonfly-like wings. The Bandai kit is a 1/20 scale representation of the flaptter and features figures of the two young protagonists, Sheeta and Pazu along with a display base.
The kit appears to be a high quality affair. The instruction sheet features color photos of the completed model and can be used as a color guide for painting.
The instructions are in black and white and I don't see any English anywhere! I don't think this should be a problem on a kit of this type and the diagrams seem clear enough.
The instruction sheet also features what looks to be design sketches by Miyazaki.
There are 44 parts in different colored plastic. I've never seen this... one sprue features three different colored plastics, including clear!
Here is a closeup of the clear windscreen. I will snip this part off immediately and place in a baggy for safe keeping... don't want it get unnecessarily scratched.
The instrument panel is a two-part deal. No decals or photoetch so this will have be handpainted. I will explore the possibility of adding some details to cockpit... maybe wiring?
The wing tips are made of clear acetate sheet. Toying with the idea of tinting or painting them somehow to break up the monotony of clear plastic.
The figures are nicely detailed and are made up of multiple parts. I've NEVER painted a figure before so this will be a first for me.
A close-up of Pazu's head. Painting the face details... eyes, mouth ,ears... will be the biggest challenge but one thing in my favor is that I only have to replicate a cartoon face, not a real one!
Sheeta's head comes in two parts with here flying braids as a separate piece.
Ah... maybe painting the details WON'T be as hard as I thought! The kit comes with decals for eyes and brows for both figures!
The kit is designed to be snapped together without glue but I'm going to do all of the things that we aircraft modelers do, including addressing seam lines. That will be step 1... getting the figures cleaned up and painted!
