Ghibli: The Castle of Cagliostro (Fiat 500)

Choppa Nutta
Seems this album is .............

Greg Baker Szerző
Can you guess? I'll give you a (major) hint... the car is a Fiat 500 (it's even yellow!)

Choppa Nutta
it's Lupos car

Greg Baker Szerző
Yes indeed! Super easy. Lupin III's Fiat 500 from the Miyazaki-directed Castle of Cagliostro

Greg Baker Szerző
I was super-stocked to find a cheap (less than $2!) answer to my Fiat 500 scratchbuild shell problem. For a 1970/80s throwaway pull-back toy, the detail is amazing and the size is spot-on accurate (41mm).

Greg Baker Szerző
Added up a couple of pics. Did a layout for the seating/engine and chopped up the Kubelwagen soft-top to fit on the Fiat. Also threw together the little motorcycle.

Greg Baker Szerző
I successfully made a resin cast of the body shell... now I can screw up a few times if necessary. 🙂

Acki
Cute! I love this!

Choppa Nutta
Clever stuff Greg ! 🙂

Greg Baker Szerző
Thanks Choppa! Some bright spark has pointed out to me that this car is actually a Fiat 600 not a 500... So I'm going to try to do some surgical procedures to try and bring it more in line.

John Thomas
Greg, very nice work again

Greg Baker Szerző
Ok... now that the Ponyo submarine is finished, I'm back working on this little project. Finished opening up the shell and accidentally broke the window frame in the process. Luckily that should easy enough to fix. I've got the wheel wells and dashboard in place, so I expect it'll be downhill from here... famous last words.

Rv
Great ! 👍
Just one comment: the wheels seems too big no ?

Greg Baker Szerző
Yes.. indeed they are. I've been struggling a bit with how to deal with that. The problem basically comes down to the fact that a) I'm trying to grind a Fiat 500 out of a Fiat 600 shell and b) the wheel wells aren't quite accurate. The wheels I've got look perfect, but are indeed too big. However, the wheel wells are also too big, so if I get smaller wheels, I have to deal with that problem next. I don't think there's much choice though, so I've started work on plan "b" - sanding down some smallish jeep wheels to remove the treads. However, to extend the wheel well rims... I dunno. Maybe a bit of epoxy putty? That seems the least painful way. Since the shell is resin, I can't just cement some styrene extensions on... and CA glue is less forgiving about trying to fiddle something into place. I'll try a couple of tests before I decide... any suggestions are welcome!

Patrick Hagelstein
Whow! That is cool! I like the push toy, ideal for 1/72 dioramas.

Greg Baker Szerző
Rv - I added a new pic of the beginning of plan "b"... smaller wheels!

Rv
👍

Greg Baker Szerző
Ok.. I admit it. I just couldn't get the Fiat 600 to look enough like the 500... so I'm declaring a do-over - this time with a real Fiat 500 shell. New master (courtesy of an ancient PEZ toy), new mold and a new resin cast victim. Luckily now I know what I'm doing... yeah right!

John Thomas
Greg, nice casting work. Keep up the good work.

Spanjaard
amazing....

Martin Oostrom
👍
😄

Greg Baker Szerző
I'll be really happy if this one works the way I imagine it. The car is such an iconic piece of the movie and is pretty much adorable besides. I just hope I can do it justice.

Greg Baker Szerző
Finally got back to this one. A bit of paint down and it looks totally different.

Greg Baker Szerző
Finally got some yellow paint on the body. All the putty and sanding seems to have paid off. The wheel trim is a bit heavier than reality, but I'm okay with that. The big question is how much to I care about the scratches on the doors... what would Kerry do... hmmm?

Greg Baker Szerző
Still doing touch ups on the yellow, but I like how the interior looks a LOT better now. The door still has some scratches on it, but I'm begining to care less and less...

Greg Baker Szerző
😢

Peter Hardy
Your car Greg or your wife's?

Greg Baker Szerző
Heh... just wait till you see the size of the machine gun that's going in it... THAT will answer your question.😉

Choppa Nutta
nice work 🙂

Greg Baker Szerző
Well, she's done. In the end it's not quite how I was hoping it was going to turn out, but I'm satisfied. For a scratch build that started as a 1/72 scale resin cast of a giveaway toy... I'll take it.

Greg Baker Szerző
Btw... for those who are unfamiliar with this cool little car... Youtube Video

gorby
That's a tiny, tiny masterpiece. Excellent result, particularly considering what you started with.

Spanjaard
pretty nice result IMHO 🙂

John Thomas
Just more outstanding work. cool video too

Choppa Nutta
nice 🙂

Rv
Well done Greg ! Such a nice build, congrats ! 👍

Peter Hardy
Well that is a BIG gun! My car?

Daniel Klink
Fantastic Greg!! I love it 👍

Greg Baker Szerző
Thanks mates! I added up another pic to show the scale... just a wee bit over 4cm with the trunk closed. The close up pics really show every blemish, but it looks fine sitting on the shelf with the rest of my growing collection. I'm just proud that I got a bunch of 1/72 scale cigarette butts in the overflowing ashtray on the dash board. 🙂