Bandai 1/20 Ohmu from Nausicaa

[jkim]

Hi guys. John here. I am in the midst of another full-blown case of lost modeling mojo. My Corsair and Bf109K-4 projects have ground to a complete halt. I was trying to keep up with other people's builds here at SPAM but even that has pretty much stopped. This happened at about the same time last year so maybe it is a new norm for me... a sort of summer vacation. But I'm trying to break out of it. For whatever reason, it has been hard getting re-started on my two aircraft projects. So I'm going to try another route.... away from historical aircraft. On Father's Day, my younger daughter gave me this little kit...



Nausicaa is best known as one of Studio Ghibli's many anime movies. In this story, the planet is covered in seas of poisonous miasma, a deadly by-product of ancient wars. The Valley of the Wind is one of the small human enclaves that exist on the fringes of desolation and Nausicaa is this kingdom's princess. When neighboring factions intrude upon the peaceful Valley of the Wind, Nausicaa embarks on a mission to save her people from an inevitable war and also to figure out the mystery of the miasma... is it more than just a deadly poison... does it hold the key to the regeneration of the Earth?

Giant bugs and insects feature heavily in Nausicaa's world. Instead of being the objects of revulsion, Nausicaa considers them sentient beings worthy of her respect and compassion. The subject of this model is an Ohmu. Ohmu's are huge tank-like bugs that are capable of leveling cities but are usually peaceful. Nausicaa is appalled when she happens upon a baby Ohmu, impaled with spears, being used by humans to stir the Ohmu herd into an angry stampede.





The kit is fairly simple and like most Bandai kits, is designed to be snapped together without glue. I thought it would be a simple and quick build, hence a good candidate for mojo regeneration.




There is a figure of Nausicaa included. Since this is anime or cartoon figure, painting will be correspondingly simpler... another reason I'm hoping this kit will get my mojo in gear.


Decals for the eyes and eyebrows have been thoughtfully included. However, I will probably take a stab at painting the eyes by hand to impart more of a anime/cartoon feel to the figure.


Most of the pre-paint work will be removal of mold seams and some gap-filling. The Nausicaa figure and her trusty friend, Teto, are just about ready to paint.

[speedgraflex]

John, I was thinking about your earlier Murakami project yesterday in the highest terms. This may be my favorite project I have seen you create and I look forward to seeing your work here.

One aspect of art (I apply this to model making) is that the practice of art promises greater understanding the deeper you go into its system. Frankly there is no bottom once digging begins. Digging as deep as many artists here do will lead to a feeling of numbness or sensation of loss, in my experience. With each project hours are spent studying historical documents, interpreting photographs, which is itself the occupation of an historian in addition to the development and execution of techniques for realizing the model itself.

What I have learned is that the modelers I admire most like you develop and allow to flourish additional pursuits which allow the artistic digging to fill back with new materials (ideas in the case of my burgeoning metaphor).

A Bandai kit is a marvel of design and I look forward to following along with you as you put the pieces together.

[jkim]

Thanks for comments Bruce! It's strange how desires/passions ebb and flow. Periodically, I'll look at the present state of my current builds and I just can't seem to work up the inertia to advance the work any further. It's like dipping your toes into a pool... I know I'll enjoy myself if I can just take the plunge but I pull my toes out and go watch TV. A few weeks ago, I was determined to get the resin sidewalls of the K-4 painted. Just those two parts... get em painted and maybe things will flow from there. I thought about some of the paints and almost... almost reached for a brush but all of a sudden I had an urge to replace my topshots on some of my fishing rigs.

I AM fishing more and when I'm not, I find myself thinking about it more than modeling. I just got a GoPro Hero 7 Black and tested that out on our family jaunt to Davis/Berkeley. So I'm guessing it's just that time of year. More fishing and less modeling. But I don't want to take a six month break like last time. I feel a NEED to finish my projects and hopefully, I'll jump in the pool soon!

In the meantime, I'll try and get this little Ohmu figure painted and presented to my daughter. It's essentially a painting exercise and a pretty simple one at that.

[Floki]

I can understand fishing taking priority, here in Indiana if you don't fish in the summer than you better like ice fishing... It's not for me.

I've never seen this anime, sounds pretty interesting.

[speedgraflex]

John! Have you tried editing with DaVinci Resolve 15... or to put this another way—how do you edit your footage?

[jkim]

I can understand fishing taking priority, here in Indiana if you don't fish in the summer than you better like ice fishing... It's not for me.

I've never seen this anime, sounds pretty interesting.

Not just the fishing itself but the hardware aspect of the sport takes up alot of my brainspace. In addition to painting lures, I also like to tinker with the reels.

Nausicaa is a good anime. But the graphic novel is GREAT. If you like fantasy ala LOTR, Nausicaa is a wonderful read. English translations are widely available.

John! Have you tried editing with DaVinci Resolve 15... or to put this another way—how do you edit your footage?

My videos are pretty crappy... very basic. I just splice together clips using Vegas Pro and sometimes I'll add some background music to hide the wind noise. In all honesty, the main target audience for my Youtube channel is myself. I just wanted a record of my fishing trips to watch at my own leisure. Do you know how Resolve 15 compares with Vegas Pro 16?

[jkim]

I've cobbled the body of Ohmu together. It is comprised of five outer shell pieces mounted onto a central block frame. There were some minor seams that were filled with Mr Dissolved Putty. Unlike my aircraft builds where a smooth joint is desired, the skin of the Ohmu is rough and uneven. The sanded joints were going to stand out so I applied additional putty in random blotches along the seam to match the outer skin.

[speedgraflex]

Happy Friday! Excellent seam work. Simply perfect. I appreciate how you kept the feathering as smooth as possible. Really beautiful photos too. I have used Vegas and really like using it. Resolve is not going to compete well against using Vegas to edit and add music to your videos, though.