Bacagalas in Vegas?

      That sounds Ominous. Is that some kind of modelers Disease? Wherein All the models are strange 100% scratchbuilt Spaceships the likes of which I have never seen before but totally love watching being Built!!

 I mean c'mon what's not to like, no love, here?

Thanks for stopping by Tanker-Builder, glad you are enjoying the ride!  Yes, the Bakagalas is strange - it looks like a bobtailed Me-321 Gigant made out of hand wrought pig iron.  Lessons learned from this project will be applied to other equally weird closet projects from 30 years ago.  I'll need to speed things up, since I don't think I have 33 more years left!

So the landing gear sponsons are finally permanently attached!

It's a seemingly insignificant step, but it is a milestone.  I was feeling pretty good about it, so decided to start roughing out the canopy, something I dreaded doing.

I used an old business card to make a template to establish basic dimensions.  The template represents the mid-level set of horizontal framing, which is where the canopy is widest.  It overhangs the fuselage to provide downward facing windows.  The current plan is to build up the framing like an eggcrate, paint it black, then fill the recesses with UV resin to form the window panes.  That's the plan, Ripley.

HURRAH!!! 

Hi;

     Every time I look at that ship I am waiting for those BIG Muscular looking wings to Flap! That thing is awesome!

Tanker-Builder

Hi;

     Every time I look at that ship I am waiting for those BIG Muscular looking wings to Flap! That thing is awesome!

 

Ha ha!  Nah TB, the sound you are hearing is metal fatigue!  

Okie-dokie, we had more progress over the weekend.  Fabrication of the canopy gave me concerns because of the extensive framing.  I had thought about cheating by making an eggcrate latticework filled with clear UV resin.  This would allow for precise shaping while providing a robust structure that could take a lot of abuse.

Most of the assembly was banged out in one evening.  I re-did the forward section framing a bit, but I am happy now.  The canopy still needs a few frames below the "belt line" and a bottom strip to allow integration with the fuselage.  But so far, so good.

The rear panel will have a pair of MG positions ala Ju-88, and the roof will have an open gun position.

     That is amazing Real G, I have a hard time with a shake and bake Tamiya kit, and you just "whipped some structure up"  crazy man....in a good way.

The canopy looks really cool, love the way you did it.

Gamera and Armornut,

Thanks guys!  I'm refining the lower framing to get the best fit to the fuselage.  Maybe I should have used finer strip stock, but the framing in the anime looked quite thick.  This week should see 99% of the seam filling on the airframe completed.  Next week should see all the vents and patches in place.  I'll be woking on the defensive armament in parallel.  The base rings I added for the turrets are not to my liking, so I will remove and replace them.

That leaves 4 weeks to make the poky-out bits, riveting, and paint.    I better hurry.

Metal Fatigue?

   Or modeler Fatigue? How do you keep it up like this? I have to take five day breaks sometimes. Whatta Strange looking Canopy Shape! what Show or Story is this from? Anyway? 

    I felt it was what happened to a C-119 Flying Box-Car from the forties if it went to another Dimension!

TB,

Modeler's fatigue happens when I lose interest in a model, but this one is special.  I think that is the most important thing when embarking on a long term project.  I too also need some breaks, but I have a fast approaching deadline now, so if I think I'm gonna drop dead, I'll have do it later.    Or as Jesse Ventura said in Predator: "I don't have time to bleed!"

The Bakagalas is from the Hayao Miyazaki anime film "Nausicaa of the Valley of the Winds" (Kaze no Tani no Nausicaa).  I think the creators used the Messerschmitt Me-321/323 Gigant for inspiration.  The Tolmekian Corvette seen in the film was more the size of the "Dollar Nineteen".  I think they used a termite as inspiration for that one - it's the smaller tandem winged aircraft in the pic.

Hmmmm;

     I will have to see if that's available on DVD.Looks interesting!

Tanker-Builder

Hmmmm;

     I will have to see if that's available on DVD.Looks interesting!

 

It is (under the Disney label).  But stay away from Harmony Gold's "Warriors of the Wind", which is an abused, violated, and lobotomized version of the classic.  I also reccommend "Porco Rosso", an entertaining story set in the 1930s Adriatic Sea area with lotsa floatplanes.  And a pig as the main character!

Tanker-Builder

Hmmmm;

     I will have to see if that's available on DVD.Looks interesting!

 

Hayao Miyazaki's work is friggin' magic. And that's coming from someone who generally doesn't like anime that much. 

TB: You might check your local library. Just ask if they have any of Miyazaki's films. If they don't they can probably get it by inter-library loan. 

Personally I think I liked 'Spirted Away' the most. But they're all good. 'Porco Rossi', 'Spirited Away', and 'My Neighbor Totoro', seem like to me might be a better first step for someone unfamiler with anime than 'Naausicaa: Valley of the Winds' though.

"Nausicaa" was the second modern anime I watched, and as such it is one of my all time favorites.  Before Nausicaa, I thought all Japanese anime was super robot and cutsie kids' shows.

"Totoro" accurately portrayed rural Japan to a tee.  I spent a couple of summers at my grandparent's house, which had a big rice paddy a few blocks away.  There was a light forest going the other way, which we walked through to get to my aunt's house.  Watching Totoro was like going back through time to Japan in the the 1970s.

"Spirited Away" was one of those "mind blown" kind of movies for me.  The train near the end of the story reminded me of riding the old Keisei train to Tokyo.  Dang it still has those ugly maroon velvet-like seats even today!  The rythmic clack of the wheels on the tracks is something I find nostalgic.  

"Grave of the Fireflies" is a gut wrenching story that is not for small kids, but is a great film.  My friend who loaned me the movie warned me to not forget to have a box of tissues handy - he wasn't kidding.  "Princess Mononoke" was a bright cheerful story compared to it.

I think the only Miyazaki film I didn't like was "Howl's Moving Castle".  I just could not relate to the story or characters.  I didn't see "Ponyo" but the look of the anime didn't appeal to me.

It's now the weekend after a rather brutal, no 4th of July off work week.  Time to get back on with the project.  I am going to insert these vent details into the wings:

So someone has made a 3D model of the Bakagalas:

https://cults3d.com/en/3d-model/game/tolmekian-transport-nausicaa-of-the-valley-of-the-wind

Wingspan is around 100cm, so 40" compared to 27" for my model.

Not much to report for now, as it's all slogging thru the little details now.

Those vents look cool!

So there's a 3D print out there- but this is YOUR model and NO-ONE ELSE has one like it- how friggin' cool is that!?!?!

Thank You;

 I will go to my Library and see. They have a good film Archive and lots of Manga which I grab from time to time.

Gamera

Those vents look cool!

So there's a 3D print out there- but this is YOUR model and NO-ONE ELSE has one like it- how friggin' cool is that!?!?!

 

Yep, that's the long and short of it.  I would like to see someone build one of those 3D printed models.  It says on the site that additional detail may need to be added, so all the plating would need to be supplied by the builder.  Maybe I'll see one at the Nats!

No progress photos from the weekend, as it was all filling/sanding and dropping in small surface details.

Hmmm;

     Ya know, You got me to thinking. I have in the file-cabinet of doom, a space ship that I started years ago when the POM bottles first came out. Yes, It's a space DragonFly! I may take it out and finish it between my other model projects.

      I found some foil that has a pattern like a Beehive interior. I may get some Clear eggs and use them to put this inside for the " Eyes"

TB,

If you do restart that project, I have done my work as the Model Devil's advocate.  I do that kind of thing.  It's my job. 

Well.I

      I decided I need two more POM Bottles to get the proportions right. The Body is a very areo-dynamic Lotion Bottle and the Head is a medium sized Clear ornament ball. The Eyes are in progress now. The landing Gear and Armaments are next! Then the wings for atmospheric flight! The scale is such that the fighters it launches are little RESIN Bumble-Bees!

No idea how I've managed to miss this thread.

You have some serious talent going on, G. Really great stuff. So glad I finally found this.

Oh Greg!

      You are in for a lot of fun on this one!

Greg, thanks for stopping by this crazy train.  Cue Ozzie Osboune:  "All aboard!  Ha-ha-ha!" 

TB, in my best Minions voice "Make-make-make-make-make-make-make...!"

Updates have been slow because the work doesn't really show any progress.  I have been adding vents, which take more time than I have guessed, and doing various other odds and ends getting the model ready for its final coat of primer.

Those rough openings are for the gun turrets.  Some are open air, like a WW I scout, others are domed or set in armored frames like a WW II bomber.

The engine module is loosely hanging on - it will be glued down after it is riveted.

The trailing edges have these long "fingers" that need those triangular fairings.

I need to finish adding details by the end of next week if I am to have a chance at finishing this thing by mid-August.

Hmmm;

 Wonder what dem tings is for?

Tanker-Builder

Hmmm;

 Wonder what dem tings is for?

 

The vents help let the crazy out.  The trailing edge "fingers" discharge the crazy that builds up on the outside. 

See?  I had to let out some craziness.

There was an air pocket under the skin which revealed itself big time when I tried to drill some holes.  A relatively large sliver of skin began to lift off, but after finishing up the hole I was cutting, a puddle of CA along with the recessed vent detail made things better.  Just a little putty and it will be all right.

Darn it, I'm moving too slowly - I timed myself adding those recessed vents, and it takes around 30 minutes EACH to set in place.  Of the 18 or so remaining, 10 still need to be built.

  " Divert all power...to ..front.. deflector shields, all power to ...front deflector schields".

      " Ties at 137 mar 5..."  "Stay on target" 

     "I can"t hold them "

      " Stay on target"

    You got this Real G, hang in there.