Nausicaa was the first Miyazaki film that I watched back in the 1980s, and it was stunning compared to the Japanese shows I was familiar with (Mazinger Z, Raideen, etc). What really blew me away was the design of the aircraft, which had an almost Mobeius aesthetic. I loved the chemical rocket propulsion, open cockpits, and utterly alien layouts. Tsukuda released a couple of plastic kits from the movie including the Valley of the Winds Gunship, and promised an extensive lineup, but alas none materialized.
After watching the movie, I was so crazy about having models of the hardware from the show that I began a couple of scratchbuild projects. The first was the Pejite Gunship, which made a spectacular but brief appearance in the movie. The small one man fighter with its blood red paint scheme reminded me of the first Me-163B Komet to perform a combat sortie.
I didn’t really have any scratchbuilding experience back in the day, so I used some questionable techniques, like plank on frame! I also used Bondo filler between plastic formers to make compound curved parts like the mid wing bulges. Just the forward fuselage was vac formed over balsa masters, which is what I should have done for the entire airframe.
The model is guesstimated at 1/48, as I only had some development sketches and movie stills to go by. I think my interpretation was off, as I feel the wings are too chunky overall.
Below are some bits I made for the cockpit. 20 years of knocking about in a box has led to one of the control handles breaking off. The little triangular thing on the left is a sighting vane, made from carved sheet plastic. I can’t see well enough to attempt such things anymore; I’d better not lose that part.
The second “oldie-moldie” project is the Tolmekian Empire “Bakagalas” heavy transport. The lumbering Me-323-like aircraft were seen being decimated by the Pejite gunship in the movie. For this model, I used aircraft plywood and sheet plastic profiles and formers filled in with balsa wood to establish the basic shapes, and covered the surfaces with bent up sheets of plastic. The aircraft in the movie had a lumpy, bumpy, saggy look to them, which carried over to the enormous wings. They had all manner of dihedral and anhedral along the entire span, which would have made the Handley Page Victor blush! Scale is again a best guess, but I am claiming 1/200 and am sticking with my story! As you can see from the photo below, the span is over two feet.
Again, plank on frame sheet plastic construction featured in this build. I started having trouble when I got to the outer wings, where the leading edges were too sharp to bend the sheet material around, thus bringing the project to a halt. I didn’t think to heat form or use thin sheets of epoxy putty at the time.
I used a compass needle to make rivets (which will now require the use of an Optivisor to complete the work). It is interesting to see that the sheet plastic has yellowed differently over the years in storage. I started the twin fins and the landing gear fairings, but can’t find them at the moment. Back then, I was stumped for a source of multiple balloon tires. The aftermarket has sure grown, as it will be extremely easy to get them now.
When I started these projects two decades ago, I just charged into them without knowing how I would make any of the parts. I think I bit off more than I could chew, which is what led them to be shelved. The Bakagalas’ structure is extremely sound, and has withstood time well. The Gunship’s proportions look off to me, so it might be scrapped and redone using smarter techniques. I never did start on the Tolmekian Corvette, which looks like a scrapped He-111 fuselage with tandem wings. Maybe I’ll attempt that one and the Pejite Gunship in 1/72, to go with Tsukuda’s Valley of the Wind Gunship. Which I also have not started. [:$]
Anyhow, comments, critiques, and a motivational kick in the pants are welcome!
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