MOCs inspired by Hayao Miyazaki films are fairly common (I’ve lost track of the number of brick-built Totoros and No Faces I’ve seen). But of the Miyazaki works I’m familiar with, the one with the fewest MOCs I’ve run across is Howl’s Moving Castle. This is likely due to the fact that the art for the Moving Castle itself is hard to pin down.

I recently rewatched the film after finding Jan Woznica’s mini-MOC (Flickr and Instagram ). Miyazaki’s vision of the castle is part Baba Yaga hut, part steampunk warship, part creature, a splash of early 1900s architecture, and a hint of something that reminds me of the animation used in various Monty Python works. Difficult to capture is an understatement! Jan delightfully captures the difficult-to-pin-down moving castle in microscale, complete with micro Sophie, Turnip Head, Calcifer, Markl, and Heen.

Jan was kind enough to answers a few questions about the build.

Michael: I'll admit I looked at building Howl’s Moving Castle a while back but couldn’t figure out where to start! So I'm going to lead with the obvious… where did you start?

Jan: I knew the turrets are such an iconic shape and are a large part of the castle, and I had to get them right or the build would be unrecognizable. So I looked through a shortlist of possible solutions in this scale and quickly settled on 4x4 domes as the best shape. I’m quite happy with the way I’ve solved the attachment of the gun barrels since domes lack obvious connection points. Once the three turrets (there are four in the original, but I went with what looks better at this scale) were ready, it was only a matter of placing them in the correct positions, building the “face” and adding lots of greebles.

Michael: Honestly, you capture the feel of it so well that I didn’t even notice the difference in the number of turrets! Starting from the turrets is a great reference point, and the microscale 16x16 size of the entire MOC really works well. Are there factors that drove that specific scale?

Jan: The main constraint that essentially forced me to work in this scale was the intended purpose of the MOC. It was a wedding gift to my cousin who loves Miyazaki movies and especially “Howl’s Moving Castle” (she was also the one who introduced me to Miyazaki). It couldn’t be too cumbersome, so she could place the model wherever she’d like. On the other hand, I’ve wanted to fit a lot of detail, so it couldn’t be too small. A 16x16 studs base was the resulting compromise: small enough to fit on a bookshelf, large enough to have clearly recognizable features.

Michael: I love MOCs as gifts and especially something as special as a wedding gift! Constraints can really drive creativity if used right. With the scale set by the turrets and size constraints, was there any part of the build that was particularly rewarding/challenging?

Jan: The face was much more difficult to create than I had anticipated. I needed to arrange angles very carefully to recreate shapes of the original. In the end, I used Mixel joints to allow for larger freedom of placement, but as a result, it’s more fragile than I’d like.

Michael: Capturing the face is definitely one of the things that killed my attempt at Howl’s Moving Castle. Mixel joints are fantastic for weird angles, but they are indeed difficult to reinforce. Now for a couple of fun questions, what’s the best way to watch Miyazaki? Dubbed or subtitled?

Jan: Personally, I watch almost exclusively subtitled. I have nothing against dubs, but English is my second language, so subs make it sometimes easier to understand. :)

Michael: Completely understand. The friends that introduced me to Miyazaki and amine were split on the dub/subtitle argument so I learned to watch in both. I do love Billy Crystal’s take on Calcifer in the English dub of Howl’s Moving Castle. Finally, what is your favorite piece to use as a greeble/detail?

Jan: I like Bar 1L with Clip Mechanical Claw very much—it’s a simple piece but allows for a lot of connections at different angles and is much easier to attach than ball joints. I guess you can’t see it, but the castle features a lot of those clips holding different greebles together.

Michael: Those are fantastically useful pieces! That explains how you got those headlight bricks at those fantastic angles, as well as a few other things. Thanks so much for sharing about your fantastic creation. I hope your cousin loves it at least three times as much as I do!

Howl's Moving Castle - BrickNerd - Header.jpg

Be sure to check out some of Jan’s other work I’m partial to his Samurai Jack as well!

What is your favorite Miyazaki film? Have you built a MOC inspired by any of the studio’s films? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.

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