The Endless Nausicaa Model Thread

Modeling Subjects Science Fiction
81

Pinkie promise requires that I do work every night, so I started planking the right outer wing leading edge. It’s just like the left side, but now I know I can lay the strips down oversize and neatly trim when done.

https://flic.kr/p/KtkFnm][/url]Bakagalas-76 by N.T. Izumi, on Flickr

https://flic.kr/p/26nLpWp][/url]Bakagalas-86 by N.T. Izumi, on Flickr

I also planked the underside of the right outboard flap, so it’s now done. The left wingtip got more sanding, but the aileron will need to be in place for final shaping. I am hoping to get the wings 100% done by the end of next week. The fairings for the rocket engines will follow.

82

No photo updates over the weekend, as I still cannot figure out how to post photos from my phone. But rest assured progress is being made! The underside of the wings are now fully sheeted with balsa, and the starboard wing tip is being fabricated.

My immediate goal is to finish plating the wings by next weekend (pinkie promise!). I’ll start the engine fairings next. I’ve been thinking really hard about how to build them. Based on more study of anime stills, I also decided to locate the outboard engines further inboard compared to my sketches.

The rivets from Archer should be in my hands on Monday (well, half my order - they gotta make more!). So what are we gonna do? Apply rivets! And when are we going to do it? Real Soon!!! Wait, this is a Bakagalas, not Buckaroo Banzai!

Things are going reasonably well now, so from here progress photos will look more more like progress. Woo hoo, so exciting! Primer will raise the excitement level to, like, eleven or something. [:P]

83

Okay, here is what I got done over the weekend. I finally filled in the undersides of the outer wings with balsa wood. The mating surfaces of the balsa were sanded down to get the best fit possible before gluing down. I was going to plate over the extreme ends with plastic, as there were tabs there that would have interfered with the fit, but realized it was easy to just trim away a little wood to clear the tabs.

https://flic.kr/p/J8v7GZ][/url]Bakagalas-87 by N.T. Izumi, on Flickr

https://flic.kr/p/26FFRcA][/url]Bakagalas-88 by N.T. Izumi, on Flickr

https://flic.kr/p/27QrxdT][/url]Bakagalas-92 by N.T. Izumi, on Flickr

https://flic.kr/p/255CEvL][/url]Bakagalas-93 by N.T. Izumi, on Flickr

Once the undersides of the wings get plated over, primer will be applied overall to have a look at what I’ve got. There are dozens of vents all over the wings which are randomly placed and are highly inconsistent in the anime, so I’ll need to place them by “feel”.

So anyway, this is what the big bird looks like at the moment.

Bakagalas-91 by N.T. Izumi, on Flickr

Nutso, now I feel like (re)doing the Pejite Gunship!

84

That looks just simply fantastic!!!

Just wondering but do you have any estimate on how many hours, both the original build and the current that you have put into her? That’s a pile of work and I’m just curious.

85

Gamera, I have absolutely no clue as to how many hours have gone into this project so far. All I know for certain is that it was started in 1988, I worked on it intensively for a couple of months, and then it was mothballed in the Closet of Doom for 20+ years! It came out a couple of times, but no actual work was done on it until this February. I don’t even remember doing the basic framework, so peeking inside the fuselage and wings is like seeing things for the first time.

BUT - Now we move forward! One of the wings had its underside planked last night.

https://flic.kr/p/27NbdyG][/url]Untitled by N.T. Izumi, on Flickr

It took a while to sketch out the panels to get a nice flowing pattern. At least the opposite wing will not need to suffer that delay. See all the crazy scribbling on the panels? That was to keep them from being mixed up during the application process.

https://flic.kr/p/257XXBE][/url]Bakagalas-95 by N.T. Izumi, on Flickr

What I did was cut a sheet of plastic to cover a large section of wing, marked out the panel lines, then cut each piece out, beat the hell out of them to impart a hammered texture, and applied them individually, cutting and trimming as needed to fit. I think I need to get a slow-set CA glue, as the one I have “grabs” too quickly.

Here is what the “hammered” finish looks like:

https://flic.kr/p/27NbcR9][/url]Bakagalas-97 by N.T. Izumi, on Flickr

And so the other wing will be done tonight.

https://flic.kr/p/27Nbeih][/url]Bakagalas-96 by N.T. Izumi, on Flickr

Then the engines! I can’t wait.

86

Oh wow, I can tell you’ve put a lot of time in her!

Love that ‘hammered’ texture. [Y]

87

Thanks Gamera! I’m now a little worried that I beat up the panels too much; the old topsides look nicer. [:$]

I didn’t have much time to work on the model last night, but I did cut out the paneling for the other wing.

https://flic.kr/p/27RfS2S][/url]Bakagalas-98 by N.T. Izumi, on Flickr

https://flic.kr/p/26ybzdx][/url]Bakagalas-99 by N.T. Izumi, on Flickr

The large panels run chordwise, and sure beat trying to make each panel one at a time.

I also did a little planning on how to locate the eight fin-like engine fairings under the wings. Their alignment is critical, as the inboard fairings have “biplane” flaps which must be level and square both in plan as well as from front/back. More jigs are in the future, but simple ones!

88

Pinkie promise is holding out this week! I wasn’t feeling up to working on the model last night, but a 9:30 pm “Oh well, I’ll just sit here and think about what needs doing” turned into a 3-hour build session. It’s all good. I got the other wing plated over at last!

https://flic.kr/p/26SsvQQ][/url]Bakagalas-100 by N.T. Izumi, on Flickr

https://flic.kr/p/KQ2e5b][/url]Bakagalas-101 by N.T. Izumi, on Flickr

I still need to finish the wing root fairing plating (which is not much), plus patch unwanted gaps.

https://flic.kr/p/25dajQQ][/url]Bakagalas-103 by N.T. Izumi, on Flickr

I’ll save shaping the ailerons and wing tips for Saturday, as there is a lot of seriously messy “sand-test fit-sand-test fit-rinse and repeat” to do. Oh yeah, I have to plate over those curvy inboard flaps - no escaping that task now! And then I can move on to the new task of building the engine fairings.

I fished out an old Monogram AH-64 Apache rotor assembly that looks about right for the biplane (Fairey-Youngman?) flaps. I’ll probably plate them over to get a consistent look.

All this rediscovery of old techniques combined with new ones has gotten me thinking more and more about the Pejite Gunship. I’ll confess I wasted some time last night thinking really hard about the construction approach I’d need to take to make it better than the one I started 30 years ago. I will NOT resurrect that project - pinkie promise!!!

89

Hmmm. Well you, sir, are a model builder while I am a mere kit assembler.

Really nice work.

90

Kearsarge,

Nah I’m just too stupid to fully understand the complexity of a project when I start one. We’re all modelers. Guys who sniff at “kit assemblers” are just egotistical jerks. The important thing is to have fun, no matter what level modeling you are at.

And I’m having fun. All this problem solving is actually stimulating and is restoring my model ju-ju. [:P] It is making me think about follow-on projects, which means I have poisoned my own mind. [:|] Darn it, you guys were supposed to become infected!

91

AWESOME, AWESOME, AWESOME.

Thanks for showing your log the way you do. Lots of work there with the model and posting updates. Greatly appreciated. Learning lots about working in plastic, which I am just starting in.

92

Thank you, Peter Pan! But if you ever need to do stuff I am doing, you are building one really crappy model! [:D] Or a vac-form. [:P]

Time for a mini-update. I got the aileron cutouts sorted, and have started on the ailerons proper.

https://flic.kr/p/281otft][/url]Bakagalas-104 by N.T. Izumi, on Flickr

https://flic.kr/p/281ot2c][/url]Bakagalas-105 by N.T. Izumi, on Flickr

Ha-ha, see that crack in the old plastic panel? It shattered when I was pulling off the trailing edge strip! Stuck it back on and will fill/sand after the primer goes on.

The undersides of the wings, with their 30-year fresher plastic paneling, look a lot more orderly than the battered topsides.

https://flic.kr/p/KSxHbE][/url]Bakagalas-106 by N.T. Izumi, on Flickr

Looks like I will actually be able to get the wing paneling done by the weekend, meaning I can start on the engines. I hope to make rapid progress to boost the entertainment level!

93

Okay guys, some progress! I wanted to start the underwing engine fairings, and alignment was going to be important. So a jig with a sliding component was built to set the fairings fore/aft on the wings, ensure vertical alignment, and locate the critical pivot points for the biplane flaps.

https://flic.kr/p/KVBq1S][/url]Bakagalas-101 by N.T. Izumi, on Flickr

The fuselage belly had to be plated to bring the model level in the jig.

https://flic.kr/p/27ZCva9][/url]Bakagalas-104 by N.T. Izumi, on Flickr

Testing, testing. My fat hands and sausage fingers could not fit in the narrow space bewteen the jig base and wings, so it’s going to be tweezers all the way.

https://flic.kr/p/KVBpSA][/url]Bakagalas-102 by N.T. Izumi, on Flickr

https://flic.kr/p/25kXehm][/url]Bakagalas-105 by N.T. Izumi, on Flickr

https://flic.kr/p/286VKhB][/url]Bakagalas-106 by N.T. Izumi, on Flickr

If all goes well, I’ll end up with something like this.

https://flic.kr/p/25kXe6j][/url]Bakagalas-107 by N.T. Izumi, on Flickr

94

I am quickly running out of plating to apply to the airframe, which is a good thing! The last remaining areas were the wing roots, so they were addressed. I got one side done last night and started the other side, but ran out of time.

https://flic.kr/p/273vgUC][/url]Bakagalas-109 by N.T. Izumi, on Flickr

https://flic.kr/p/26LmUVg][/url]Bakagalas-110 by N.T. Izumi, on Flickr

Only four more small plates to go!

https://flic.kr/p/273vh7G][/url]Bakagalas-108 by N.T. Izumi, on Flickr

I spent most of my bench time last night working out the engine fairing structure, and extending the rails on the alignment jig to assist with locating the secondary engines. The four outboard engines are much simpler in shape so will not require the jig.

Sorry to bore everyone with months of rough carpentry. Like the dragons in “Game of Thrones”, the detail stuff is coming - soon. (But I confess to not watching the show.)

95

Still coming along great! Love how everything looks.

96

Thanks for your support Gamera!

Well, the wings are finally plated over, so more interesting things can happen now.

https://flic.kr/p/Jwewqz][/url]Bakagalas-112 by N.T. Izumi, on Flickr

There are lots of little stuff to clean up, but they are not a problem. For example, the upper wing fillets were short at the back end. 30 years ago, this was an “uh-oh” moment, but now we just shove a sliver of sheet plastic into the gap and sand it flush. Too easy. Any overly gappy plating will be dealt with the same way.

https://flic.kr/p/L3bdbh][/url]Bakagalas-113 by N.T. Izumi, on Flickr

So after much thinking and planning, the engine fairings will be started tonight. Can’t wait!

97

And this just showed up in the mail!

https://flic.kr/p/L3Hpb1][/url]Gunship-01 by N.T. Izumi, on Flickr

When Bandai acquired the molds for the Nausicaa kits from Tsukuda, they re-engineered them for snap fit and tried to mold the parts in individual colors. I knew there was some alterations to the parts to improve them, but the scope of modifications done to the Gunship came as quite a surprise. In addition to improvements to the Nausicaa and Mito figures, the Gunship’s panels lines appear to be completely different. It’s almost like a new kit. There are also gun muzzles molded into the Derringer-like nose of the aircraft, which was definitely not on the original Tsukuda kit. I am very pleased. Okay gotta put the new toy away and get on with the Bakagalas!

https://flic.kr/p/L3HoTY][/url]Gunship-02 by N.T. Izumi, on Flickr

98

I wonder what Mito is doing in the back seat of the Gunship? Giving the Tolmekians the “birdie”? Aw nuts, now I want a 1/72 Tolmekian Corvette…

99

The engine fairings got a start last night. I only got as far as roughing out the core structure due to much measuring and recalculating.

https://flic.kr/p/28cqxCr][/url]Bakagalas-115 by N.T. Izumi, on Flickr

Some 2mm plastic rod stubs were added to the base plate of the core structure to assist in alignment. Holes were drilled into the 0.040" base plate to give them some gluing surface area, and the excess on top was trimmed and sanded flush. Oops, I drilled the holes off-center on the wings! I can fix that. I have to stop these careless mistakes, but I did say I was a measure once, cut twice kind of person. [:P]

https://flic.kr/p/28cqxtP][/url]Bakagalas-116 by N.T. Izumi, on Flickr

https://flic.kr/p/2882G9W][/url]Bakagalas-118 by N.T. Izumi, on Flickr

The previously made jig assists in getting the fairng to be square all around. It occurred to me that the holes for the biplane flaps would be easy to mark on the outside of the finished fairings if I made another slider for the jig. I’ll show what I mean when it comes time to mark them.

100

Ohhhhh now you’re getting into the really complicated parts!

And nice gunship. Gosh, I haven’t seen the movie in years…