Curtiss R3C-0 (Porco Rosso)

Porco Rosso (Japanese: 紅の豚 Hepburn: Kurenai no Buta, lit. Crimson Pig) is a 1992 Japanese animated comedy-adventure film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki. It is based on Hikōtei Jidai (“The Age of the Flying Boat”), a three-part watercolor manga by Miyazaki. Toshio Suzuki produced the film. It was animated by Studio Ghibli for Tokuma Shoten, Japan Airlines and the Nippon Television Network and distributed by Toho. Joe Hisaishi composed the music.

 

The plot revolves around an Italian World War I ex-fighter ace, now living as a freelance bounty hunter chasing “air pirates” in the Adriatic Sea. However, an unusual curse has transformed him into an anthropomorphic pig. Once called Marco Pagot (Marco Rossolini in the American version), he is now known to the world as “Porco Rosso”, Italian for “Red Pig”.

 

– courtesy of Wikipedia

The finished model:

The story:

As anyone who’s spent any time on this site reading probably knows, Porco Rosso (1992) is more or less my favourite Studio Ghibli film.  I’ve already covered my reasons for that while discussing my build of the Savoia S.21, so I won’t go into them again in detail here.  In case you’re too lazy to click on the link though, in a nutshell, it’s got a neat story with lots of flying scenes featuring float planes and flying boats.  ‘Nuff said.

The build:

To be honest, I also don’t really have much to say about the build either – and I seem to have skimped out on the pictures as well.  Unlike the Macchi M.52 that Porco’s Italian friend Mario flies, or the Air Pirates’ Dabohaze floatplane, or even the Security planes – which are all projects that will take some doing to achieve – the Curtiss R3C-0 is almost like the expected “other-half” of the two-part Porco/Curtis build.  It’s the one everyone does.

I suppose, for that reason, it was a little hard to get as equally motivated for this one as I was for the Savoia S.21, but the fact that FineMolds has made a smooth-as-butter kit available in 1/72 does a lot to off-set the general frustration factor that I often begin my build projects with, so I’m still calling this one a win.

Highly motivated or not, given its overall importance to my project, I went out of my way not to cut any corners.  I used the steadiest hand I could muster to paint in the cockpit details, I masked all the lines as straight as I could manage, and I opted out of the decals for everything but the essential markings.

The only small, almost anecdotal, part of the build is that I actually forgot to attach the windscreen for the longest time.  After everything was said and done, it looked so natural without it, that I left it in the box by accident.  It was only after reviewing various windscreen styles for a separate project that I notice it was missing.  After a frantic search, I found it in the spares box (luckily I never throw out any interesting-looking bits) and it was properly painted and attached.

All in all, I’m quite happy with this straight-forward build, but feel free to let me know what you think: