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Thunderbirds Quite special to be working on Thunderbirds in any form and an opportunity to give something back to a show which gave me so much as a child. Working under my long time boss BILL PEARSON out of Pinewood Studios, with a small modelmaking team. Unlike the TV series, the Thunderbirds' vehicles In the Movie will be predominantly computer generated. Luckily for us, the story involved an oil-rig explosion, so a 1/48th scale miniature had to be made. |
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Big rig? | The majority of the rig - minus the main tower and the damage. A combination of a welded steel sub-frame, with timber and MDF sheeting and pre made boxes, screwed to that. Then clad with 2mm ABS sheet and the usual detailing atop of that. | |
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I made this bit | I didnt make all the oilrig, far from it, very much a team effort, but highlighted in pink are the areas I was responsible for | |
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Four to be exact | The only parts of the rig that had to match a full size set. So I followed the set builders drawings to the letter and visited the set several times during construction to make sure everything matched perfectly (although,I don't know why - you never even see them in the film!) | |
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Just what I would have done | John Lee added an Orange stripe to my Pyramid in my abscence. Looks right, breaks up a large surface and gives it a bit more scale. Thanks John. | |
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. Oh no!! | As is often the case, its easier to make something complete and then damage it afterwards, rather than try and build the damage into it - especially hard to do when the production dont know where they want it damaged yet! None of that hurts at all as long as it ends up on screen. As it turned out, it didn't really end up on screen...thats the bit that hurts (well, lets call it a huge disappointment) | |
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A pipe here a pipe there | Its amazing how little you have to do to change the look of a "wigget". The "wiggets" in this case being three little toy vehicles. Only the pattern maker who designed the toy would recognise them...or someone who used to play with them a lot during childhood. Thats assuming the camera is close enough and lingers long enough on it for you to see it! Often, details like this may only register on a subconscious level and serve only to supply more information to the eye, where there was none before. | |
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Toy in position | A four sided object, but only three sides will be seen by the camera. Heres one side with the finished piece installed. The paint ties all the pieces together, as does the dirt, making them one. | |
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Enjoyed this | A better shot of the principal area I was working on. | |
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On a roll | I think the juices must have been flowing on this one....no torture over where a piece should go....it didn't really matter where stuff did go at the end of the day, as long as it looked busy and not too crazy, it would be fine | |
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Just having fun | Without the paint, you can see how many pieces were involved...I always take these shots to remind me how I made something and how long it took to make...just in case I'm asked to make something similar in the future. | |
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Abstract art? | Detail for the underside of the rig. Thrown together very quickly out of all sorts of leftover plastic junk. In shadow, the underside would be hardly seen at all, but, just in case, we thought random industrial shapes silhouetted would look believable. | |
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Spot the cassette player case | Another panel for the underside | |
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It might be seen....you never know | A bit of fun....but kinda neccessary (from the rigs point of view). We knew there was an aerial shot looking down on the deck, and a diving bell would be the kind of thing you would expect to see. | |
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So much detail | Now I'm just being silly.....a funky liftcar....shall we motorise it and give a bit of life to the platform? No....there isn't time!! |
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