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I have always loved Castle in the Sky; it was the first anime film I ever saw when I was a little kid and it made a big impression on me, for years I would just refer to it as Laputa until I grew up and found it again and have watched it countless times since. Any way, flash forward to now and I've wanted to get one of the flaptter kits for a while and I thought I'd missed my chance to not be bent over on price but managed to get one at a very reasonable price (I would have loved to have one of the robot kits too but they are hard to find let alone at decent price) So I got it on the bench and started cutting sprue, which felt really nice as its been a while after dealing with sculpting and 3d prints! IMG_20230823_191404849 by Nick Frost, on Flickr IMG_20230823_191451104 by Nick Frost, on Flickr IMG_20230824_192035458 by Nick Frost, on Flickr Obviously its Bandai so the moulding, detailing, and fit is really good! But I needed to do a bit of prep work with it to make the bits fit the way I want them too. Basically to avoid any fiddly/difficult masking for the front grill and the back area I modified the fit so that the main body can go together in one piece and I can fit the other bits in after. So I got the main body bits off and cleaned them up and sanded down all nub marks. IMG_20230824_193423265 by Nick Frost, on Flickr The two side halves go together and then there are two large lugs for the grill detail part that goes behind, so that would have to go on first. So I cut the part so that it can be slid in afterward when its together. So I can use tweezers for the thin grill part to go in and then slide this in behind. IMG_20230827_192121286 by Nick Frost, on Flickr Heres a quick shot of the front on (not glued yet) and this is where I've slid it in to text it and it pops in nicely IMG_20230827_192150410 by Nick Frost, on Flickr then I've cut some of the side parts where the instrument panel goes in, again so that it can be popped in from the front later IMG_20230828_151905778 by Nick Frost, on Flickr And to help with that fit for the instrument parts and floor, I sanded down the side thin location bits on the side of the front of the floor part by half, and widened the holes for the instrument panel pins. And for the lower instrument panel itself I cut the top pegs that fit in holes on the side parts, trimmed the bottom pegs to about half, then sanded down the sides so it can slide in and out without putting pressure on the sides and force it apart. IMG_20230828_164 Then for the little clear part I had to sand down some rectangular tabs that were on the side, and from the part that sits in the bottom there are two small triangular little flaps that help hold it in, but stop it just popping in when together. IMG_20230828_164616274_HDR~2 by Nick Frost, on Flickr So with that all done I glued the sides together and got the front on IMG_20230828_165247718 by Nick Frost, on Flickr IMG_20230828_172607976 by Nick Frost, on Flickr Then when it was dry I popped all the stuff in with no glue just to double check there was no more modifying to be done. So the front grill inner detail part just pushes in from the bottom after I've used tweezers to get the grill itself in. IMG_20230827_192150410 by Nick Frost, on Flickr IMG_20230828_195515825~2 by Nick Frost, on Flickr And then I got all the other bits in the cockpit. IMG_20230828_194712297 by Nick Frost, on Flickr So now its all back into individual bits ready to paint, oh and you can see I also glued on the front bump details. First thing I need to do next before I get the airbrush out is just fill the join that runs from the windscreen to the front seam. Thanks for looking, more soon

I've been putting this one off for a while now........partly because I dont want to mess this one up and partly because I absolutely love Studio Ghibli, with Porco Rosso being one of my favorite movies to come from the imagination of Hayao Miyazaki. Porco Rosso tells the story of a WW1 fighter Ace Marco Pagot (or Rossolini in the English dubbed version) who is cursed after refusing to fly for the Italian Airforce due to the fascist regime that takes over during the 1920/30's. Proco seeks to make a living as a bounty hunter over the Adriatic Sea hunting Air Pirates until he comes up against the American pilot - Curtis, who appears to be based on the American Aviator Glen Curtis. I believe it is still available to watch on Nextflix and I cannot recommend this movie enough...... So, on with the kit from Fine Moulds. This will be the earlier 2004 kit with the later release being the Savioa S.21F (the F being that it has a flying display mount) This one stunningly well made kit, and designed to be made with out the need to paint with some very thoughtful injection moulding. The polymer is super smooth and shiny so will need to be lightly abraded for the paint to adhere to. The engine is the same that you see in the movie with a nice easter egg included (the engine is called Ghibli whist translated is the Libyan-Arabic name for Hot Desert Wind) The tan coloured sprues are ment for the underside of the aircraft and the winpontoons as well as the interior structure You have 2 choices for Porco, one as the pilot or standing next to his Savioa...both are superbly detailed The instructions are all in Japanese but look to be easily followed. A little history on the flying boat, it would be nice to see if there are translated versions of these instructions, as I feel Fine Molds have put some serious thought into this kit. In preparation for this, and earlier this year Scale model Aircaft did feature a build of this very kit, so some great reference material I also have a copy of the Art of Porco Rosso too for some great screen shot and reference material too. A little more detail on the fictitious Savioa S-21 Flying Boat Hiyao Miyazaki is known for having a huge passion for aviation and flying, just one more aspect of Ghibli's movies that I love. And if it wasn't enough......Porco forms a part of an incomplete Ghibli tattoo on my right leg. This picture was taken a few years back just after it was completed. As with any new build 50% of the prep time is selecting the right paints to which I will be visiting eModels on Saturday to pick up some more rattle cans etc for this build. This is going to be a labor of love for me, so I hope that you will enjoy and tag along with me.....