Fujimoto’s Submarine (Ponyo)

Ponyo (Japanese: 崖の上のポニョ Hepburn: Gake no Ue no Ponyo, literally “Ponyo on the Cliff”), initially titled in English as Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea, is a 2008 Japanese animated fantasy film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki, animated by Studio Ghibli for the Nippon Television Network, Dentsu, Hakuhodo DY Media Partners, Buena Vista Home Entertainment, Mitsubishi and Toho, and distributed by the latter company.  It is the eighth film Miyazaki directed for Ghibli, and his tenth overall.  The plot centers on a goldfish named Ponyo who befriends a five-year-old human boy, Sōsuke, and wants to become a human girl.

 

– courtesy of Wikipedia

The finished model:

The story:

I’ll admit, Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea (2008), is not my favourite of Hayao Miyazaki’s works.  It’s not bad, but it’s definitely not as epic as most of his other movies.  The story focuses on a platonic love story between a boy and his… fish.  It’s more or Miyazaki’s take on the the Hans Christian Andersen story The Little Mermaid.  However, despite the fact that the ocean features so prominently as the setting, Miyazaki does manage to squeeze in a flying machine… albeit one that flies underwater.

When I was decided what vehicle I should include from Ponyo in my quest to create 1/72 scale models from all of Miyazaki’s work, there was really no question about it.  Fujimoto’s flying submarine was the only real choice.

The build:

Of course the problem is, where do you get a model kit of a 1/72 underwater flapping boat…  the short answer is… you don’t.  What you can get though is a 1/350 scale Cutty Sark kit easily enough from Academy and start cutting!

As you can see from the pictures below, with a slightly modified version of the Cutty Sark hull (basically removing the front and back fin-shaped protrusions) and a set of four “wing-things” from a random Bandai Gundam-something kit, you’re already in business.

Filling in the main structure for hull was easy enough, but the shape, or more precisely the slope, of the cabin gave me fits.  Getting the polystyrene plastic two warp around at just the right angle and get glued in place was quite challenging.  I have a feeling that part of that was simply because of my technique, but even after some deep thoughts and a bit more practice I think it would still be a challenge.

I did end up building a full interior for the sub, but I probably shouldn’t have bothered.  Despite all the windows, once it’s all buttoned up, it’s very difficult to see much of the inside.  Oh well, it was still fun.

For the porthole windows I just did a little pressure moulding using some round polystyrene rods and tubes and a bit of leftover clear plastic packaging.  What as much more difficult as getting in the main front windows.  I thought I left enough room for them to be glued in place, but it was quite difficult to do – at least without smearing CA glue all over the clear bits.

In the end though, I think all the hard work was worth it.  The movie itself might rank among my favourites, but the Fujimoto’s submarine sure does.

Feel free to let me know how you feel about it: