The Scale Models of Studio Ghibli

The Studio Ghibli projects:

My Studio Ghibli Project breaks down into two main sections:

  • the 1/144 scale projects are mini-dioramas that represent some of the classic scenes from the animated films and manga series.
  • the 1/72 scale projects are “miniature museum” presentations which are more or less stationary representations of the vehicles as they appear in the animated films and manga series.

These categories also include my current build plans, but I may add more project categories as the whimsy takes me.

The passion:

I’m a big fan of Hayao Miyazaki’s manga and animation works – almost right from the very beginning.  One of my earliest true “anime” experiences was watching the uncut and original Japanese language version of of Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984) in the late 1980’s.  At that time “Japanimation” (as it was widely referred to at that time) was extremely hard to come by.  In that pre-internet world, Japan was still shrouded in mystery, so seeing of Nausicaä in it’s original form was a thrill.

I think I’d seen the US-bastardized version called “Warriors of the Wind” after renting it from my local Blockbuster (remember those?!), but it was so rife with editorial cuts that the true majesty of the epic is almost unrecognizable.

And that glider? Man, who doesn’t wish they had a personal glider that they could use to just blast off and soar among the clouds?

Following that eye-opening experience, I quickly became of Hayao Miyazaki and what became Studio Ghibli.  While all the films are good if not great, my favourites are Laputa – Castle in the Sky (1986), Porco Rosso (1992) and (shamefully recently) Castle of Cagliostro (1979).