Ghibli: Laputa - Castle in the Sky (Flapter)
![](/albums/img/0/2/9/365029-26441-81-p.jpg "The panel lines needed a "do-over", so I'm attempting some repairs. | View full picture")
Comments
8 July 2017, 15:32
Greg BakerWell, it's not Tintin... but it's a similar kitbash to create a sci-if machine..😉
9 July 2017, 14:52
Greg BakerAdded a few more images after some sanding and scratch building was complete. I confess, the second Spad XIII fuselage was a false trail to throw you off the scent. It's starting to take shape now though... I think it should be almost recognizable to those who've seen it before.😉
10 July 2017, 15:23
Greg BakerI'm still thinking on how best to adapt/fabricate the underside though. That might be tricky.
10 July 2017, 23:12
Dave FlittonI worry for your sanity! I will watch until the guys with the white coats take you away 🙂
10 July 2017, 23:32
Greg BakerYeah, I'm worried a bit already. After a bit of scrounging, I decided to use the Me163B that was part of the kit I used on my Tintin shark submarine as the donor for the base. Not a 100% perfect fit... but about as close as I can expect. Lots more glueing, filing and putty... but the basic shape is more or less complete. New pics added.
11 July 2017, 15:08
Greg BakerNew pics added. If you don't know what this is by now..l then you don't know what it is.😉
13 July 2017, 16:37
Greg BakerGah! Trying to scribe panel lines and add rivets and I punched through a soft patch of putty. Looks like some repairs are needed.
23 July 2017, 00:05
Choppa NuttaI recognise it, it's the ornithopter charriot the "pirates" use in Castle in the Sky
though to be fair I needed to remind myself which film it was 🙂
At first I was thinking "maybe the Gunship from Nausicaa ?"
Great work again Greg !! 🙂
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23 July 2017, 10:30
Greg BakerYes indeed! It's the Flapter from Laputa Castle In The Sky. I kept looking at a cut up bit of a Spad XIII and couldn't help but notice how similar it looked. At first I was just going to do an approximation of it... but after I started, I tried to make it as close as possible. It's not quite right, but about as close as you're (well, I'm) going to get from a scratch build.
24 July 2017, 04:49
Choppa NuttaI think your use of shapes and the way you've combined them is really clever 🙂
24 July 2017, 06:08
Greg BakerThanks! It's not easy to just scrounge areound, but you usually dine something to do the trick!
24 July 2017, 17:00
Greg BakerThere we go... more or less finished. I just need to make a few little touch ups here and there, but the Flapter is basically done. Fun stuff!
3 August 2017, 17:00
Choppa NuttaLove it !!
inspired to create something like this too, maybe the gunship from Nausicaa ? 🙂
3 August 2017, 17:16
Greg BakerThanks for the comments guys! It was a fun little project. If I had a "do-over" I might have done it a bit differently (or at least the "right" way the first time), but all in all, I'm pretty happy with the result considering it was scratched together from an already cut up bit of a Spad XIII fuselage and the underside of a "useless" 1/100 Me163B kit that was just an extra part of a kit I'd already used on another project. I'm going to finish up the stand and I think I might give the wings a coat of the Tamiya "smoke" clear acrylic so that they don't disappear quite so completely.
4 August 2017, 05:19
Greg BakerChoppa Nutta - There's already a 1/72 Bandai kit for the Nausicaa gunship, so that would just be a glutton for punishment in my opinion. That being said though, the Pejite gunship that Asbel flies... now THAT has some promise. There are some useful drawings available online to help you get started...
4 August 2017, 05:22
Choppa Nuttaah so, didn't know that Greg 🙂
but I like a challenge plus I'd prefer it in a larger scale 😄
and yes, Asbel of Pejite's gunship is also very cool too as are the Corvettes, the Dorok cargo ships and the cute flying cauldrons too, in fact pretty much all of the designs in Nausicaa are amazing 🙂
4 August 2017, 09:06
Choppa NuttaHey Greg, look what I found 😄
very tempted !! 😄
scalemates.com/kits/1005767-..08-1200-moewe-with-nausicaae
4 August 2017, 10:44
Greg BakerYeah, me too. I used that kit as a reference. I prefer 1/72 scale generally, but that one and the similar 1/20 Flapter from Laputa tempt me a great deal. There are also Laputa robot kits, a couple other Nausicaa kits, a Tiger Moth... lots of temptation.
4 August 2017, 23:44
Greg BakerIs it bad that I picked up a 1/72 Sturmtiger Assault Mortar kit yesterday because I thought "geez, that looks like the one from Nausicaa...". Uh, oh.😉
10 August 2017, 00:30
Greg BakerHeh! Thanks Antonio. I'm quite pleased with how it turned out actually. The only thing I'd have done different would have been to trim back the length of the fuselage. It's just a tiny bit too long. Oh, well...
22 August 2017, 15:00
Greg BakerThanks John! That's means a lot coming from a scratch builder like you!
23 August 2017, 16:15
John ThomasGreg, your scratch building skills have serviced you well. I don't know much about your little Ghibli projects but from what I have seen they are really fantastic. Looking forward to future projects
23 August 2017, 17:55
Choppa NuttaThe Flapter body would be good as a quad copter you ride like a chariot
you could even make the blade protectors look like insect wings 🙂
23 August 2017, 18:06
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!
