Ghibli: Laputa - Castle in the Sky (Flapter)
Here's the box from the donor kit... an Academy Spad XIII
The kit itself comes from a couple of failed attempts at the Spad XIII. Already partially chopped up!
Lets's cut some more!
These pods from an Airfix Gnat will do nicely...
Pods cut to size and glued together.
Ok. The engine cowl has been filed down and opened up. I also glued some extra strips to a bit of styrene.
Some sanding done to check the basic outline... looks okay.
A bit more sanding and the front pods are glued on. Started on the cockpit.
Cockpit taking shape. A bit of wing for the floor and some scratch built instrument panels.
And now for the putty... lots of putty.
I only used half this kit for my Tintin sub project... hmmm...
Bingo! I can use this for the underside!
First, a bit of surgery...
Yeah... not quite 100% perfect... but you can't be too choosey in a kit-bash, right?
From the side it looks good.
The bottom looks good too...
Hmmm... the front's not quite right, but there's not much I can do about that.
Covered the gaps with some styrene.
Ok... I can live with that.
The side still looks okay.
A bit of filing to shape, and it looks okay.
The cockpit is looking pretty good.
Alright then... let's dive back into the putty!
Drilled some holes for the hand rails and test fit.
Okay. Now to get started on the wings... using a bit of sprue and some 1/144 missiles.
Sprue cut to size and notched.
Okay, the joints are in place.
Added some handrail anchor at the top.
The missile tips should work alright to attach the wings.
Couldn't resist test fitting the canopy (another leftover from my Tintin submarine build).
Ok. Added a bit of detail to the cockpit.
The panel lines needed a "do-over", so I'm attempting some repairs.
Comments
19 May 2024, 23:51 -
Album info
A little kit-bashed scratch-build of the "Flapter" used by the Dora gang of pirates in Laputa: Castle in the Sky. I had a sliced up bit of a failed Academy 1/72 Spad XIII lying about in my spare "odds and ends" box and it struck me how much it looked like a Laputa Flapter. Add the bottom from a 1/100 Me162 Komet (Tamiya) and a lot of sanding, and voila!
