Ghibli: Porco Rosso (Macchi M.52r)

Greg Baker
After what I had to shell out for the Vintage Models resin kit of a Macchi M.52 in 1/72, I decided to try to make a resin cast copy and work off that instead... it's more work because a) I have no pressure chamber, so there are bubble issues and b) I'll have to scratch some of the finer parts myself... but there's always putty for a) and I probably would've done b) anyway, right? 🙂

I spared you all the pics of the messy incompetent mold-making process, so we're skipping right to the part where I actually have copies to work from.

Spanjaard
i would have not mind the mold making process... never done a resin casting myself..... 😉

Calvin Gifford
Very nice!

Greg Baker
The resin casting wasn't hard, but there is a bit of a learning curve. The first molds I made, the wing moved around a bit in the clay and made the final product too thick. Bubbles are also an issue if you don't have a pressure chamber (like me), but luck, determination, putty and some sanding should take care of most of the problems.

Spanjaard
thanks Greg

Greg Baker
Wooo... I like the gold on red... made a few touch ups to the red fuselage and the white float undersides, then masked off and painted the gold bits and some green for the tail. Next up is the Propeller.

Greg Baker
Propeller and windscreen added. I used white glue for the windscreen, so we'll see how that works. Getting close to finished now. A bit of rigging, a touch up of red paint, a coat of future and a few decals left.

Greg Baker
Well, she's done. Ever had a model that had a cascade of errors? After getting the gold paint on, by accident I touched the fuselage and got a bit of gold flakes on the side. No big deal, right? I had to spray my Savoia S.21 the same colour, so I decided to give it a touch up. For some reason the paint didn't blend properly and I had a couple of greasy/shining spots which were way more visible that the few flecks of gold...

Then, I got the rigging on relatively easily, but not before splattering a few drops of CA glue against the right side of the fuselage. So I had to do a few touch ups again... which resulted in a bit of the masked gold parts to be a little less crisp. Oh well. But then I just HAD to add some light panel washing, didn't i?! Not only did it not work well, it wouldn't wash off and then, it started to take the red paint with it.

So, back to the drawing board and ANOTHER coat of red paint on the left wing tip... which didn't really work because the dark shadows still show through. And to make matters worse, an errant bit of masking tape ripped the round decal off the side!

Luckily with a bit of warm water and some persuasion I was able to get the backwards decal bit off the masking tape and back in position... only now is sevearl chunks. <sigh>

I'm almost scared to give it another dose of Future to seal on the decals. What ELSE could happen?! 😉

Spanjaard
CA has a tendency to stick to places and remain liquid and attach itself to where is will be move visible 😛