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strobez
Greg Baker (strobez)
CA

Ghibli: Howl's Moving Castle (Aero-Kayak)

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Mystery Project "C" starts in this box... 
 

Album image #2
Look at all that neat stuff. Most of the sprues go back in the box, I only need the stuff at the bottom. 
 

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Close, but too round. Need to make it more oblong. First lay down a 2mm thick stripe of tape... 
 

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Then line up another piece of tape and the cut off the excess. 
 

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Glue it all together... with LOTS of putty! 
 

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After review, I discovered it was out of scale... so back to the drawing board. 
 

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So... once again... PSR! 
 

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Jumping ahead a bit. I added some styrene strips and sanded down one side to simulate panel lines, and finally started work on the wings using a bit of brass. 
 

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I think the seats are going to be tricky to get right. 
 

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Yep. I was right. Tricky! 
 

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Some paint, and voila! Mostly done 
 

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Front view 
 

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The other side 
 

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A view from the under side 
 

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I also made a little stand, so the wings don't touch the ground. 
 

Album image #17
Maybe I gave it too much of a slope. Oh well. 
 

Album image #18
Another front look 
 

Album image #19
And again. 
 

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Comments

2 24 July 2017, 16:38
Greg Baker
The Mehve and Flapter have been revealed, but can you guess where this one's going?
24 July 2017, 16:51
Choppa Nutta
Nope, not even slightly but you have piqued my curiosity 😄
4 August 2017, 10:50
Greg Baker
I realized, after some discussion with Coppa Nutta on some other albums, what was bugging me about this build was that it too (because of a reference domino effect) was out of scale. So I tore it down and basically started over.
12 August 2017, 23:43
Choppa Nutta
worth it though, you do want this collection to sit well with each other 🙂
13 August 2017, 00:10
Greg Baker
Yes indeed. Have you figured this one out yet?
13 August 2017, 01:11
trl
That's going to be Aero Kayak from "Howl's Moving Castle".
13 August 2017, 01:23
Greg Baker
Yay! That's correct!
13 August 2017, 01:34
Greg Baker
After a long bout of PSR, this project is now back on track. I'm still having trouble getting a smooth finish over tamiaya putty. No matter how much I sand, it seems the divests and dents never quite disappear. Am I missing a trick her? Or is it just I,possible to sand putty 100% smooth?
15 August 2017, 16:17
Choppa Nutta
I use super glue smeared over the area, stiffens it up and fills the gaps etc. 🙂
15 August 2017, 16:52
Greg Baker
I've never tried that. Can you sand it cleanly to a smooth shine?
15 August 2017, 22:15
Choppa Nutta
yep
15 August 2017, 23:04
Greg Baker
Ok... stay tuned.😉
16 August 2017, 00:33
Greg Baker
I didn't try the CA glue trick yet, because I decided to add some styrene strips and sand down one side so they act as panel lines. I also got started on building the wings using a bit of brass. Next up is the tail, and then the cockpit. I realized there was still too much body work to be done to start worrying about a final finish. Adding putty for the panel lines alone would've ruined it.
20 August 2017, 15:28
Choppa Nutta
coming along sweetly 😄
30 August 2017, 11:10
Greg Baker
Alright. The paint is on and this one is done, but for a final clear coat. Since I'm redoing the Mehve from Nausicaa, I gave the stand I build for it the first time over to the Laputa Flapter. It seemed a better fit, so I was able to just repurpose the original Flapter stand for the Aero-Kayak with very little modification. I basically just snapped the end off and touched up the paint.

Despite the u-turn for a scale adjustment in the middle of this build, I'm quite happy with the result. The paint was a bit darker than I was aiming for, but not enough for me to want to redo it (no matter WHAT Choppa points out!). I also might have toned down the rivets, but once you start putting them at 1mm intervals, you're pretty much committed.
2 September 2017, 23:17
Choppa Nutta
Looks good mate,
Btw, I hope haven't given you nightmares 😄
3 September 2017, 00:26
John Thomas
Greg, more great work
7 October 2017, 13:07

Project info

27 images
1:72
Completed
Scratchbuilt

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