Studio Ghibli Howl’s Moving Castle Model Created With Trash

YouTuber Studson Studio is known for his incredible models and dioramas. Previously, he made the house from Kiki’s Delivery Service and the bathhouse from Spirited Away. But his latest is, perhaps, the most impressive one yet.

“The first time I set my sights on it, I knew I needed to try my hand at building it,” the YouTuber said about Howl’s Castle from the iconic Studio Ghibli film. The castle first appeared in the 1986 novel Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones, which was adapted into a feature animated film of the same name in 2004 by Hayao Miyazaki.

Here is how the Ghibli Fandom Wiki describes the structure: “The moving castle appears from the outside as a tall, off-balanced, black-brick castle with four square towers and three doors…The four towers often billow smoke, and the harder Calcifer works, the more smoke is issued.”

The goal was to recreate the castle at 21-inches-high and make it from trash. To get ready for the build, Studson Studio collected an array of garbage, including plastic bottles, cup noodle bowls, instant rice bowls, and a gallon kimchi jar, which was used for the main part of the castle’s body. A plastic milk bottle was turned into the castle’s tongue.

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Studson Studio also used things like coffee stirs to make wooden doors and odds and ends from Gundam models for things like pipes. Sculpting clay, modeling paste, and foam were used to flesh out the piece.

Pre-painted, the model was a “hideous hodgepodge” of colors. Studson Studio primed it in flat black. The painting was then done with craft paints and Tamiya metallics.

The end result is impressive.

The entire walkthrough is over 50 minutes long and, besides being entertaining, is incredibly informative.