Flapter (Laputa – Castle in the Sky)

Castle in the Sky (Japanese: 天空の城ラピュタ Hepburn: Tenkū no Shiro Rapyuta) (known as Laputa: Castle in the Sky in Europe and Australia) is a 1986 Japanese animated steampunk fantasy-adventure film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki. It was the very first film animated by Studio Ghibli and was animated for Tokuma Shoten. It follows the adventures of a young boy and girl attempting to keep a magic crystal from a group of military agents, while searching for a legendary floating castle. The film was distributed by Toei Kabushiki Kaisha.
– courtesy of Wikipedia

The finished model:

The story:

Nausicaä (1984) might’ve been the first one I saw, but Laputa: Castle in the Sky (1986) is my second-favourite of Miyazaki’s animated movies. And it’s a VERY close second behind Porco Rosso (1992). I can’t quite remember the first time I saw it – mainly because I’ve watched it so many times – but I suspect it was after renting it from the local comic shop back in the late 1980s. As I’ve mentioned before, back in those days, anime was a rare and mythical beast. We didn’t even know what to call it… anyone else remember “Japanimation?” Anyway, as luck would have it, our local comic shop owner in Edmonton was pretty well connected with his peers in Vancouver and had better than average access to Japanese manga and anime. As such he was able to bring in some jaw-dropping items from time to time.

However, while Laputa might have technically been available, It certainly wasn’t cheap.  If I remember correctly, the Laputa VHS tape was over $300 if you wanted to own it.  Certainly we’ll above my budget for such things then (and probably now!) and likely above that of most of my peers as well. So instead of selling, the shop owner decided to start a small anime rental business on the side. As I recall you had to leave a deposit (left or right arm? Either will do), but for a small fee you gained access to a glorious world previously undiscovered. Through that system I was able to watch not just Laputa, but also Black Magic M-66, God Bless Dancougar, Gal Force and several others – all in gloriously indecipherable Japanese, without even the hint of a subtitle! I loved it!

Personally I think that speaks to the raw power of Miyazaki’s work. Black Magic and Dancougar were pretty easy to follow if you’ve ever seen The Terminator and anything with a giant robot in it. However Laputa, while easy enough to follow plot-wise, left me craving the details. Where did Sheeta come from? What happened to the castle? What’s up with that stone?

Obviously I would eventually get the answers (as much as anyone ever has) to those questions and more, but it was probably all the more impactful the first time I saw it because it REALLY left me wanting more.

The build:

Anyway, this Flapter project is the one that started me down the 1/72 scale Miyazaki path. One day, as I was looking at some of the parts I’d cut up for a failed build of the Academy 1/72 Spad XIII, I realized they sure looked a lot like the body of a Flapter. So a little bit more cutting and a bit of glueing, and suddenly I was on my way.

So I started this project without really knowing where I was going, or how I was going to solve any of the challenges along the way. In retrospect, I think it’s happy coincidence that it came out as well as it did in the end – I certainly didn’t plan it that way.

The first large hurdle was the undercarriage. At first I just planned to leave it as is – more of a reimagined Flapter than any real attempt at accuracy, but I accidentally stumbled across the 1/100 scale Messerschmidt Me163B Komet, which was in the same box as the Me262 that I used in my Tintin Shark Submarine project.  With just a bit of modification (a bit of squinting) it turned out to be nearly exactly what I needed.

The second real hurdle was the side vents.  I’d though about painting them on, or using a homemade decal, or just leaving them off.  Then I struck on the idea of glueing a few strips of thin polystyrene together and then applying it to the sides.  One of the few times something worked just the way I imagined it would!

Anyway, in the end I think the scale is probably a bit bigger than 1/72  (maybe 1/70 or so), but given the materials I had to work with, I’m pretty happy with the result.  Let me know what you think: