Propeller Bicycle (Kiki’s Delivery Service)
Kiki’s Delivery Service (Japanese: 魔女の宅急便 Hepburn: Majo no Takkyūbin, “Witch’s Delivery Service”) is a 1989 Japanese animated coming-of-age fantasy film written, produced, and directed by Hayao Miyazaki as an adaptation of the 1985 novel of the same name by Eiko Kadono. It was animated by Studio Ghibli for Tokuma Shoten, Yamato Transport and the Nippon Television Network and distributed by the Toei Company. The film tells the story of a young witch, Kiki, who moves to a new town and uses her flying ability to earn a living. According to Miyazaki, the movie portrays the gulf between independence and reliance in teenage Japanese girls.
– courtesy of Wikipedia
The finished model:
The story:
So, Kiki’s Delivery Service (1989)… what can I say? Probably not too much actually. Don’t get me wrong, it’s probably the second-most popular of Miyazaki’s films after My Neighbour Totoro (1988) and certainly like it as much as anyone. It’s a heart-warming tale about growing up and finding your way in the world, and it’s got some great moments that are both majestic and humorous. What it doesn’t have a lot of though, is vehicles fit for modelling.
Besides the train where Kiki takes shelter from the storm and Tombo’s friend’s jalopy, there’s not a lot. I guess there’s the runaway airship that plays a central role in the film’s climax, but that would take more of a commitment to the cause than I’m willing to give. So what’s that leave you with? Well, there’s Kiki’s broomstick… and Tombo’s propeller bicycle.
The build:
Of course that causes another problem. Where do you get a 1/72 scale bicycle? Well, the only answer I could see was, to build it from scratch.
Sounds simple enough, but it’s a bit deceptive. Ever try to draw a bicycle without looking at a picture? It’s a bit trickier than you think, but once I had the plan though, assembling a few thin polystyrene rods into a bike frame was relatively easy. The main challenge was keeping something so small and fragile straight while the glue dried. Oh, and I will confess to cutting a bit of a corner. In the actual propeller bike, the front wheel is noticeably smaller in diameter than the back. I chose to ignore that fact for the sake of my sanity.
So I just rifled through the spares box and came up with some bits of an Academy Spad XIII (leftovers of the leftovers I used for the Laupta Flapter project) that could be fashioned into the wheels (of the same size) and an oversized propeller. Nothing too difficult, but some careful placement and a bit of patience. I was even able to scratch up a little broomstick to act as the third leg of the tripod so that it would stand on its ow.
However, in a case of art following… uhm… other art… the cruel hand fate decided that the propeller should mirror it’s on-screen inspiration more closely than I probably would’ve liked. When I went to photograph the final product, the styrofoam tray I was using to prop up the backdrop fell over and smashed the whole thing to bits. While I did consider just going ahead with the photoshoot and declaring the project represents the bicycle after it goes flying off the cliff, in the end I glued it back together.
Of course, it wasn’t nearly as good as it would’ve been, but good enough for inclusion in the project. Let me know what you think:
