Why Miyazaki continues to build a super-sized model of the sailing ship Barracuda from "Mirai Shonen Conan" that measures over 2 meters: Interview with Miyazaki Mecha Model Club President Kanoh [Hobby Industry Insider #76

Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind" (1984) and "Laputa: Castle in the Sky" (1986), Studio Ghibli's first animated feature film, were the first works to be produced by Studio Ghibli. The mechanics in Hayao Miyazaki's works have long been beloved by modelers, and in the 1980s they became the subject of garage kits for enthusiasts.
The Miyazaki Mecha Model Club is a modeling club that continues to create the mechanics depicted in Miyazaki's works, both major and minor. The centerpiece of the club, which celebrated its 20th anniversary this year, is a 1/24th scale Barracuda model car built by its president, Kanou. Kanoh commissioned Akira Noumiso, a fellow member of the Miyazaki Mecha Model Club, to create a figure of the retro-style sailing ship that plays an active role in all the episodes of "Conan: The Future Boy" and reproduced many famous scenes from the series. No matter how much he likes to do it, how could he continue to make huge models over 2 meters long as a hobby?　We spoke with Kanou and Akira Noumiso, who had just finished their 20th anniversary exhibition.

Remembering the excitement of "Mirai Shonen Conan" that I once saw when I met Mr. Yasuo Otsuka

───How many members does the "Miyazaki Mecha Model Club" have?

Kanou: Right now, we have about 25 members.

─ When did you start the club?

Kanoh: In 2001. We started when a modeler in Osaka who had made a full scratch model of the self-propelled artillery of the Tolmekian army in "Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind" jokingly suggested that we should form a modeling club that only scratches Hayao Miyazaki's mechanisms. In 2012, we exhibited our works in the island booth. An island booth is a separate exhibition space, like an island, dedicated to a single club. We have exhibited at the island booth every year since then because "Miyazaki Mecha Model Club is popular with a wide range of customers.


Noumiso But even though we are a club participating in the Shizuoka Hobby Show Joint Exhibition, we hardly use commercially available plastic models. We mainly do full-scratches, so all we use are plastic boards.

Kanoh: The organizers of the Shizuoka Hobby Show are hoping that visitors to the show will be inspired to build plastic models after seeing our works. Yet, all we use in our works are plastic plates, plastic rods, and putty. We are a circle that maintains its popularity thanks to Miyazaki's and Studio Ghibli's works, so I feel sorry for all parties involved.

─ ─ Today is the 20th anniversary of the "Miyazaki Mecha Model Club," but did many fans of Ghibli's works come to the exhibition?

Kanoh: Model fans and Ghibli fans, male visitors were both, and I think many of the female visitors were Ghibli fans.

Noumiso When I participated in the exhibition at the Aeon Mall in Nagano Prefecture, people who were not interested in models also came to see my work.

Kanoh: I was honored by a passing lady who asked, "Did you make all of these yourself?" She would compliment me, saying, "You have good taste" (laughs). (Laughs.) The mothers and fathers who watched "Conan: Future Boy" when they were in elementary and junior high school were very happy to see my work. When their parents showed them "Conan," the children said, "Oh, there's Jimsy! and they guessed the names of the characters as they looked into the model.


─ ─ I think you are a modeler who makes a lot of models, aren't you?

Kanoh: No, not really. I make kits of AFVs (tanks and armored vehicles), but recently I have stopped just before painting any of them. I had no knowledge of ship models either.

─ ─ In "Conan: Future Boy Conan," the gigantic aerial fortress "Gigant" is very popular, isn't it? Why did you decide to build the humble Barracuda?

Kanoh: I first saw "Conan" at a sensitive time, when I was preparing for university entrance exams. A friend recommended me to watch the show, and the first episode I watched was from the fourth episode, "The Barracuda. If I had seen it from the first episode, I might not have made the Barracuda. That's how great the scene in episode 4 when the Barracuda sets sail was. The sailors are busily running and working to "raise the anchor," but once the ship is out to sea, all you can hear is the sound of the wind and the creaking of the yards. The use of contrasts of motion and stillness made the scene of Conan and his crew leaving on the ship very moving. How cool, I thought. When I grew up and became closer to Mr. Yasuo Otsuka, the character designer and animation director for "Conan," I remembered that wonderful staging of the Barracuda.

─ Mr. Otsuka is very knowledgeable about Jeeps and has a strong connection with the modeling world, but how did you come to meet him?

Kanoo: When I was making resin kits of tank carriers, I was invited to join a group that only made models of soft-skins (unarmored military vehicles). The modeling circle was founded around Mr. Otsuka and was called "Wheel Nuts. The word "NUTS" was a combination of the word "nut" for a screw and English slang for "idiot" or "nerd. But I built the Barracuda not because I wanted to show it to Mr. Otsuka, but because I met him, remembered the excitement of Conan the Future Boy, and gradually became more and more interested in making a model of it. ......