AbovlII: From Tall" Drl"er. with .... U.tlc blood and. 80re by the le8end.ry Dick Smith. Smith·. own formul. for blood. .... keup and. Ib .MI. de.crlbed. In lbl. I •• ue on page 28. Right: SF FU ... Production.· new logo ts cr_ted by Era •• t F.rino • ..en h .... workJog wlth.n O.bel'TJ .rum.tlon .tand.
Left: .... odel .... ker .... ualclan .nd co ... poaer. KeDnelb W.Lker deten. • • tep-by-.tep ca.e biatory of • ... odel .p.ce.hJp in the mU1og. W.lker·. lIlode.1 HlcenUy _ OD flrat prize. In the ··~tcII-,b.nt .. category.t the. Interaatioaal PI_tic .... odel.,..· Society COD beld. in Rlchlllond. V •• The eo-_ _ Uon regutsrly dr . .. ... odeJen from the . . . tern United Statea~
•
•
•
•
,
Editorial
4
Don Dahler and Dave Ellis
comment about the SF Short Film Search entries
Filmmakers'
Forum
_ _
_
6
. A regular department devoted to readers' comments about
filmmaking
, their
problems and
s
olutions
Contest
Winners
The results of the SF Short Film Search
Building
Your
9
Spaceship
Step-by-step construction history by model maker Kenneth Walker
Producers'
Bulletin
Board
_ _
Latest news of our readers productions
A Flash
24
in Space
_
The creation of a new logo for SF Film Productions
The
Crimson
Effect
_ _
Number2
28
Dick Smith's formula for realisticblood
BuDding
Your Own
Smoke
Generator
32
A simple method of generating smoke for miniature set and title effects
Close.up
_
3 3
Put your smoke generator to work
making
light
beam effects and
dazzling
tit
les
@vzid'.
Publlahed by:
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PubU.be ... :
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Don DohlerEdltol'·In·Chlef:
David HutchisonDealgD Director:
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W
ith lots of publiCity generated in STARLOG. FUTURE LIfE. CINEMAGIC and other film magazines, we had only a rough idea of how many entries to expect for the 1st Annual SF Short Film Search. A total of I I I films passed through our mailbox, through our pro·jectors and-more importantly-through our minds. It was quite an experience,
often exciting, often terribly dull, but when the prejudging sessions ended after
our final, four-hour screening on Sunday, April 8, 1979, one thing was clear:
there is a huge interest in amateur. fantastic filmmaking.
However, as exciting as the actual numbers are, some hard realities must be
discussed here. Although the 16mm entries were generally well conceived and executed (probably due to more experience on the part of the filmmakers), the
Super·8 entries were another matter.
With 80 Super-8 entries to try to judge and score objectively, we saw the
same mistakes about 65 times too often. Many of the films ran between 40
minutes and
as
minutes (1) each, with the faults becoming more painfullyob-vious to the point where a competantly made film was elevated to a rare joy. Next year, we hope that mosl entries are "rare joys" and in order to provide some guidelines and helpful hints, here is a list of the major problem areas evi· dent in the majority of this year's Super-S films:
Shots Held Too Long-Sure, your miniature looks neat and your animated
creature has charm_ but don't dwell on it and ruin the pace of the overall scene. Learn to cut to different angles, actions and reactions, Audiences don't care
how much work went into 8 complicated set-up if a particular shot is too long, Aim Too Long OveraU-Stay away from overly long "explanatory" dialogue ("'You see. this is how the thing-a-ma-bob overreacted and caused radiation which made the grasshoppers grow so big .. _ . ") Use short, snappy dialogue and imagery to "explain" complicated things; even if they are complicated ex·
planations, they won-t seem that way. Learn to edit scenes down to only what is
absolutely necessary.
Learn To Lighl-The biggest drawback to most of this year's films was flat, uninspired lighting_ Part of this problem may be due to the fast. Ektachrome
films and fast camera lenses, but those sort of modern-day advantages should
make it easier to get the lighting effect you want, rather than being an excuse to
"get by" with the least amount of light. It takes some time and experimentation
to achieve intriguing lighting effects, but it's worth the extra effort.
Use a Tripod-A hand-held camera constantly shaking and jiggling would
give The Crawling Eye a headache! Hand-held shots have their place, but mostly
they are out o{place in a polished production.
Acling- There's little credibility to a \3-year-old "professor," or an 18-year-old
starship captain! Let kids play kids, and get adults to play adults.
Sound-A good soundtrack can enhance a mediocre visual; a poor track can
ruin a perfect visual! Get used to the basics of recording and try for a uniform level and "feel" to the sound for each film. Try to recognize distortion and do
your best to eliminate clicks, pops, wind-noise and other pitfalls inherent to
single-system sound movies_ If you choose to put your soundtrack on open reel
or cassette tape, stick to a simple narration or musical background_ Without
some sort of syncing mechanism, dialogue will neuerwork on a separate, taped
track (and some of our entries proved thai).
Be Original-Sure, the term "be original" is a cliche, but so were half of the
films entered. If you're stuck for a good idea, find someone else who has one.
Filmmaking is usually a collaborative art, and if you're going to work hard for a month, or a year, on a film project, spend a week or two in advance on an
original, imaginative script. A good film begins with a good story, and if it's
not
a good idea or story, it's probably not worth filming.
Remember, we are not here to discourage creative filmmaking_ We only want
to see each and every filmmaker improve his craft, to be proud of his finished
product, and to know that he has done everything possible to create a good
amateur movie. The winners of this year's Short Film Search didn't have extra fancy equipment, just extra fancy ideas and imagination.
Finally, we'd like to say thanks to George Stover, Gary Svehla, Pam Dohler,
Don and Mary Leifert, Del Winans, Bill Littman and Sylvia Starshine who,
dur-ing the course of several weeks, helped us to prejudge and select the finalists. -Don Dohler and Daue Ellis
THE GUIDEBOOK FOR FILMMAKERS
The authoritative guide to Super 8 is back
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Handbook of Super 8 Production-the book thai gives you Super 8 at its best-is back In a newly revised edition. Gunther Hoos and Mark Mlkoias have brought their complete hands-on guide up-to-date with the changing technologies of Super 8 production-atl the latest equipment, systems, techniques and prices are here, In more than 300 pages of Information on everything in Super8. And now, a sturdy spiral binding to make the Handbook even handier!
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"The Handbook's 312 pages contain just about everything there Is to know about the craft and business of Super8 filmmaking. It deserves the attention of anyone seriously interested In the present state and future prospects of professional Super8 film production."-Matthew Fleury In Millimeter.
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"The most comprehensive book on Super 8. The authors, who are among the most knowledgeable of Super 8 filmmakers, describe the equipment that is available, tell how to select what's best for an Individu-al's needs, and describe how to make Inexpensive substitutes. More importantly, they detail how to use the equipment to its best advantage. It is an amazing compendium of Information, much of it unavailable elsewhere, making this a book that is a must for any serious Super 8 filmmaker".-Elinor Stecker, Camera column, The New York Times.
The second edition of Handbook of Super
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In Defense Of
""ToothJl'lcks
And
Rubber aand."
... While recently living in the Los Angeles tHee, the "film cepltel of the world," I was able to see, first·hend, some of the professional film modeling techniques thet are currently be· ing used In the great profusion of sclence·flction and fantasy space films being produced out there. And, to put It bluntly,! wes somewhat surprised at $Ome of the professional modelers' lit· titude.s; that the use of state·of· the·art technology Is the only way to fly. The older, tried·and· true modelbullding techniques. which have been called "by toothpicks and rubber bands."' seem to have .somehow gone by the wayside, and have been replaced by the great techno· logical impr~ment.s of epolty (listing resins, silicone rubber molding techniques and the like. It Is a.s if the current
technological boom in the film industry has made It almost mandatory to spend the most money to buy the latest model· fabriceting technical ad· vlloces ... and in the meantime, practically abandon the older methods of scratchbulldlng, used with greel effect up until practicelly the present time by the mejorlty of film·orlented modelmakers (not to mention amateurs), thus effectively leav -ing the "old school" modelers, with their seemingly old· fashioned techniques end ways, out In the cold.
I'm sure most people who have this magazine In their hands have read stories of the "old Hollywood," when many special·efrects technicians and modelmakel"3 did their work largely by the "seat of their pants:' Fantestic result.s were ach~ using no fancy com· puter controls, no monstrously overblow budgets, Just hard work and YdIl. These past masters pretty much did what had to be done with the rne.terial.s at hend. In the new Hollywood, a.s it appears to me, this Is no longer the case; it Is a.s if the older materials and techni· ques of yesterday have been laid aside In favor of whlltever new technology Is IIvallable at the moment. Of course, I edmlt I
Modehn.ker, musician snd composer, Ken Walker eppU.s surface detailing to his spec_hlp ror CJJIIVIlAGIC,
could have received a somewhat biased view of the current Holly -wood trend toward super. technology, as my tours through the studios were almost elt· elusively through the better· known. better·equipped facilities out there. But I very firmly believe that there is still value In using the older techniques and methods, where the quaiity of the finished product depends on the handiwork and skill of the in· dividual techniciarv'artisl, not 00
his materials. Do not misUike this for a condemnatioo of technical advancement; I welcome chenge as much as anyone else. M.y quarrel is with what I sense to be a ch2Inge in at· titude among "modern" film modelers, an attitude which seems to say that knowledge of technical advances is worth, perhaps, more than modetir19 skill. I disagree with this notion. It all reminds me of the days of (the original) King Kong where, even though the Kong model Itself WllS e product of the then· new foam·rubber technology, the model of the sea· going ship
In the film, the ship which car· ried the intrepid elO:plorers to Skull bland, was created melnly from "cardbolord and brns e5CUtcheon pins," a "toothpicks and rubber bends" technique if there ~r was one. And this model was superbly realistic on the
screen
, which
is really the important thing. But somehow,ldon't bel~ that the current Hollywood technology-orlented syndrome would allow such " In-ferio(R craftsmanship to be used. It ITIlIkes one feel as if a college degree In chemistry and elec· tronies is whet is now required to build rno<tels. And this Is quite a shame, since elO:cellenl modeling Is a reflection and a result of the sIciJl of /he modeler, not of his materials.
Ken Walker 5421 Silbert Road Norfolk, VA 23509
Readef3 are /nulled 10 carefully ex·
emine end comment on Mr. Walker's uety detailed Miele on "'The Toodlpkk end'RubberBand" school
of
modelconslrucllon-this I5sI.Je's COl.Ier slory.
Smoke Effects
... Try this for a realistic and In· cltpensive way of making billowy smoke. Go to your local hobby shop or chemical distributor and pick up ammonium chlo-ride. Heat it over an alcohol burner, etc., but not in the direct flame. You can use an old spoon. Also, do not use too much of the ammonium chlo· ride, since a Uiblespoon could fiJI your house with "smoke"-nevcr use it indoors.
David Kramer
3704 Mount Vernon Rd. Sebastopol, CA95472
Lift
-
off Tecbnlque
... In the course of my film elt -periments, I came upon a way to make a rocket launch that doesn't look like iI's beir19 pulled up by a string. This should be the last effect done with the rocket. Build your leunch ~dand some sort of background. Piece the background directly behind the ~d and make a thin incision from the bottom up to five inches from the top of the background. On the side of the rocket glue a T·shaped piece around five inches long. Now, thiS is the tough part; turn the set entirely upsidedown. Find some way of suspending the set and tack the background. if us· ing canvas or a similar material. to a flat board on the floor or your table. Plaa! the 'T' piece through the front of the incision and slide it up. Hold it UghL Place your Cl!lmera upside down and begin to eltpo5e. When you are ready for lift·off, simply let go of the"T' piece. Be sure to place something like a pillow at the bottom to cushion the impact.
A smoke effect is achieved by placing" small smoke bomb in the end. The smok~ should '('111 down simulating the lighter· then·air effect seen in .s-ctual launches.
If the instructions are fol· lowed. you will re<:eive realistic results that will leave your friends open·mouthed. I would really like to hear about the \Vay you use this effect.
Joey Niedbala 3288 Skipper Drive Virginia Beach, CA 23452
CONTEST WINNERS
The SF Science Ficlion Short Film Search
T
hese are the winners of thefirst annual SF Short Film Contest. Final judging took place at Balticon on April 15 with STARlOG publisher Kerry O'Qulnn, C!NEMAGIC editor David Hutchison and Wade Williams of Mossman-Williams Productions, Kansas City, acting as final judges. Don Dohler lind David
Ellis
headedup
theteam that
spent
many hours screening the entries for the first round of eliminations. Their first-hand reactions are the subject for this month's guest editoril!li on page 4. STARLOG -26 will include II feature on the winners with more behlnd·the -scenes stills and interviews with the filmm1lkers.
8mm:
Grand Prize AbducUon Raymond
::;an-loro. Holley
,
NY
8mm Science Fiction:
Arst Prize NighJ.speed. Mark Sullivan, Columbus, OH
Second PrIze
Aliens
William Clyne
,
fraser,
MIThird Price Dr. Romayo's Zombie
Em·
pire Richard Geiwitz, Baltimore, MD8mm Horror
I
Fanu.y:
First Prize Godzilla's Interview Blede Gelentine, Alexandria, VA
Second Prize Midnight Fanwy William Gowdy, Canoga Park, CA
Third Prize Dr€am Killer Mark laRue,
AatRock, MI
8mm Honorable Mention
:
Galactic W.m: Mike Lanzetta, Milford,MI
Rigel-7 Syndrome
TerryL
Hornsey,Alton, IL
Sorcerer's Duel Mark Hann<:lh, Delton,
GA
Captain ennaton from Prom.o Spo~.
16mm:
Grand Prize At The Movies Carl Surges, Milwaukee, WI
16mm Science Fiction:
Arst Prize Ful.uropolis Steve Segal,
Richmond, VA
Second Prize inleslines From Space Pat Carroll, Sliver Spring, MD
Third Prize Promo Spot Jeffrey
W.
Johnston, Oregon City, OR
16mm Horror
IF.n .... y:
First Prize
The
Fight.Game
DavidW.
Renwick, Northville, MJSecond Prize Elixir Pa t Cannon, Chicago. IL
Third Prize
Grog
John Dods, New Brunswick, NJ1 6 _ Honorable Mention:
Monster Monster Steve Segal, Rich· mond, VA2002:
A
Space Odyssey
Michael H, Okuda, Honolulu, HIThe Sleepeater Woody Welch, Los
Angeles, CA
•
... Filmmakers
'
orum
BucklngThe
Odds .. .
... These unique creations are
the work of Zin (short for Dzin· tars) Mezulis, an artist and sculptor residing in Toronto, Canada. Zin's whimsical
cha-racters should be an inspiration
for any of us who fuss and fume over the "rigors" of SC\.Jlpting a
detailed model in ciay. because
these pieces, believe it or not, lire made of stoneware-and
they life all one piece sculptures!! lin Melulis, born in Sussex, Eng1;~md. ""<:IS first taught to use htmdtools by his father. This led
to an unyielding desire to meke "things" and entertain local neighborhood kids by creating elaborate puppet shows.
Although he attended an art
school, lin found formClI
educa-tion to be distrllcting ("I was a
classic truant and unde
r-achiever."), so he rejected school· Ing In favor of real·llfe exper· ience. For six years Zin traveled throughout Europe. the Middle
E."st, Asia, Africa Dnd Central and South AmedcD. But his trll' vels were IIbruptly halted: he became seriously ill, was put in·
to a hospital for several months
lind finllily had to have a kidney
trllnsplant in March of 1976, Zin has bucked the odds, though, and is now enjoying II
thriving demand for his unusual stone and metal sculptures.
"I initially beglln in stoneware
because of its recognition as a legitimate Drt form by galleries
and collectors, since each piece
How to Create
00u9ual. Eerie
Special Effects
With Blackllghts
. Here's Dn ideD for unusual ef· fects with models, miniatures
selSand titles: blacklightcine· matography! The only materials you need are an XL or similar camera capable of using high· speed Ektachrome 160 film, fiourescent paints and, of course, some blacklightlamps (bulb·types will work well in
movie lamp reflectors).
Essentially, all you have to do Is paint your animation model or
,
Stoneware, goo tall,
is one of a kind lind not repro-ducable," Zin says. "'And being
self·taught, I developed many
tricks for rendering in high detail and I've found that because ifs
technically difficult to fire the
kind of thing I do, I don't really have much competition."'
It takes lin two to three weeks to create one piece; and he is
swamped with work these days, one of the main reasons why he can't get heavily into another
love-animation and special·
effects filmmaking. Neverthe·
less. he hopes that one day the
right opportunity will come along where his particular
abilities will be applicable to a
feature motion picture. Zin's sculptures. which are sold to private collections around the world, have been eK'
hibited throughout Canada and the U.S.
Don Dohler
miniature set·pieces with the
desired colors of fiourescent
paints, turn on the blacklights
and shoot! You don't need can·
ventional white (3200) light for
this type of shooting and, in fact.
the white light will spoil the bril·
liant effects of the blacklight glow.
Titles can also be shot under blacklight. One way is to paint
your lettering right onto a piece of glll55 and position the title in
front of a rellT·projected slide of
a background scene from your
film. An even easier method of this super·irnposed title look is
to blacklight a color photograph
(using white light) and position
Backwlodlog
Flaw?
.. ,[ just received your premiere
issue of CINEMAGIC and love it!
But one thing in it disturbed me
greatly-the article by John
Cosentlno on backwinding
Super·a. I found all his advice correct. Yet, when I presented
the solution to my father (he be-ing II man who understands the mechanics of how things work),
he told me about Mr.
Cosentino's and the entire Craven production's one fatal
flaw.
When you want to super, you
must put masking tape on the drive disk to prevent It from rotating. Now the tape is rorcibly stopping the drive disk, correct?
If so, does this not put a stroin on the drive motors? If iI's true, then, in time, the camera would
break, due 10 the strain on the
system. It may take months,
seasons, a year ... who knows? All I'd like to know is: what can I
do about it? My camera is a
relatively cheap GAF XL 120.
Secondly, when you super· impose people a'galnst little cave
sets, for instance, must the pe0-ple be photographed against a
black screen to prevent a '·ghosted"' image? My camera
does not have a through· the· lens
viewfinder, so how on E."rth can I
blend Images without
overlap-ping supered objects? Remember,l have lliow budgel
Doug Vorlsek 12 Arden Lane Matawan, NJ 07747
your title glass In front of it. In
both cases, the low intensity of
the blacklight will not cause the slide or photo to be washed out, and since your're shooting with
high·speed film, both the bright
flourescent titles and the back·
ground will eJ(pose IIdequately.
With some eJ(perlmentation, cinematography can new avenue of . lind the I to standard Steve Polwort 787 Portland Collinsville, IL 62234
AulhOf" John Cosentino replies:
'"Yes, the tape forcibly $lops the
cameras drive: disk, but as I
understand the mechanics of
Super·8 camera motors, the
molar's shaft keeps ttuning freely
with only a very minor strain (If
any al all) since a slip clutch is Incorporated into the molor·drioe
disk design. The purpose 0{ a slip
clutch is to prevent damage to the
motor should the drive disk ever becomejammed. I am not a
camera designer or repairman and therefore cannot guarantee mal
every Super·8 camera euer made
has a slip clutch capable of pro.
lecling its motor, but it is logical to
assume so. Personally, I have
used this backwlnding technique
far the pasl ten years with a
Super·a Canon (also on occa·
sion with a Kodak and a fulex); I
haue never had one spci:k of trou·
ble with the cameras molars. If
you are still worried. the best ad·
vice I can give you is to write the manufacturer concerned or lalk 10 a repairman about your camera.
As regaJds Mr. Vorisek's sec· ond lItld third questions. it would
take a whole al1.icle to answer them in detail, but uery brie(ly without gelling Into beam splitter
effects, two projectors, traveling
malles. etc ••... Yes, people
should be photographed In front
of a black background. The miniature set must also have a dark area to "super'" the people In· to so as to avoid a 'ghost·image.'
Laslly. without a reflex camenl it
is almost impossible 10 do exacl
aligning of multiple exposures.
Reloading Slngle-S
•.. For practically all spaceshots J hllve taken Kodachrome
40 (which hilS eJ(ceiJent grain
quality) into a darkroom and trllnsferred it into a Fujica car· tridge, With the Fujica camera I have complete backwindlng
cap-ability. Blending these effects with Jive action and some anima·
tion (for computer·simulated graphics) I have nearly com·
pleted my film. High Frontier,
which features an O'Neil\esque
space station, and a stargate se· quence at the c!imaJ(.
Jerry Genco
136 Oakvlew Ave.
@jk'1MIf
COVER STORY
BuDding
Your
Spaceship
A de
t
a
il
ed step-by-step
case
history_
By KENNET
H
WALKER
T
ome, making models (or"building miniatures," as
we modelmakers like to
say) is more than just a
relaxing hobby: it is an outlet for
creative expr~ion in three-dimen·
sions, and gives one the feeling of
sharing in the present creative
explo-sion of Hollywood special effects. It fol -lows from this that a true model· ing/special-effects fanatic like myself
would want to go
that
one step furtherand actually design 8 model from the ground up, without relying on com -mercially bought kits or other peopl~' designs at all. (If sculptors and painters
can do it, why not modelers?) I wanted
to build a really s~cuJar. omi·
nous, war·ready spacecruiser, using as
orIginal a design as possible, with
working raygun lights, cargo bays that
opened and dosed, etc.
From the start, I plemned on using
my model in some way in a Super·8 or
16mm science-fiction film opus. And this ultimate use was actually the guiding factor in the model's overtJlI
design and construction. I didn·t realize
at the time lhtJt what was plarmed to be
a three·ta-four week labor of love
would turn into tJ year· long project.
As the months of part·time
assembly of my model progressed, I
first became fascinated and then totally
absorbed in the quest for a model I
would be retJlly proud of; one that
would look as realistic as possible
when viewed on the screen.
Certainly I could have finished the
model in a month or so, just to see it
completed; but the more I worked, the
more I saw that I could improve and
add to the model. just to.give it that ell.' tra bit of realism. This additional time
and effort paid off In a model that,
when seen on film, looks like an enor·
mous battlecruiser, but is in reality an
lS-lnch.long conglomeration of wood,
plastic and cardboard.
Initial Design
My main idea for the spaceship
model came from a single drawing I
Autbor and modelm.-ker Kennetb Walker, whUe In Loa A.ngelea.
made back. in 1976, and my inspiration
for that came from-believe it or
nOI-the shape of a front door house key! It
had the perfect "spacecraft" configura·
tion: sharp angles, a large "body" and a
protruding front section. From that
one small drawing I decided to make a
full·size ·'blueprint"· of the basic shape
of the model. This was rather detailed, since I was planning to take my parts
measurements from it Basically, it
showed the
outline
of all the differentangles, levels and outcrops the model
was to have. I should mention that I
was doing a lot of rough sketches of
changes that I wanted to incorporate into the ship, concurrently with doing
the blueprint. These sketches included
such things as pra<:ticallighting pla~,
ment (including internal wiring
schemes), movable-and removable
-sections of the model and general
·'fay·gun" placement. This Illst area was
a phase of design and construction thllt
I gave a lot of time to, since I wanted
armament pltJcement- much of it
prnctical and working-to blend in
with the overall design of the ship.
A few tips before starting construe·
tion of a scratchbuilt model; Build it as
large as you reasonably can. A larger
model can usually be made much
more realistic· looking, since it is easier
to add small detail to, and the "scale"
of your detailing and painting can
more nearly equal the scale of the
model. (To show what lengths pro film
modelers will go to for realism: Derek
Meddings' Supertanker "miniature"
from The
Spy
Who Loved Me was63
feet longl) My own model ended up be·
ing 18 inchl!s long, and I found that af·
ter finishing it that it should have been
about
24
inches long. A larger modelis much easier to photogrnph: it will fill
the film
image
while being that muchfarther from the camera's lens, and will
therefore be easier to keep in focus,
And you'll want to film your miniature
with as wide·angle a lens setting as
possible; this approximates "real
world" perspective distortion.
PrIor
to
Starting Construction
As this model was going to be: the
most complexly designed thing 1 hlId
attempted up to this time, I reasoned
that some preliminary thinking-about
materials, techniques, tools needed, etc.-certainly couldn't hurt, and
might prepare me for unforseen diffi·
culties. My first order of business was
to buy a motorized hobby saw (the
Ore-mel Motosaw, available from hobby
shops for the stiff price of around $60).
I knew I would be doing a lot of com·
plex. sawing of balsa wood, and figured
that such a fine piece of equipment
would come in handy, if only to speed
up the sheer bulk of the proposed
woodcutting. This was probably the
best investment I made, as this
saw
came in handy for practically every
type of cutting job,
Of
course, motor·ized equipment like this is not essential
to the making of an e)(cellent model:
the skill
of
modelbuilding lies in the...., modeler. not in his equipment. But I
Imust ~dmit that this saw and my mo· torize!!! hobby drill (from Se~rs. for
about $40) made life a lot easier,
These two major expenditures out of
the way. I started thinking about the proper
glues
to~, As most ofmy
proposed model would be made out of
cardboard. balsa and plastic, I decided
on one of the water·soluble white glues like Elmer's. The reason I usually
prefer white glue over regular
(tube-type) plastic cement is that the former
does not react chemico!llly with styrene
plastic sheeting, and can be wiped off
The _pa ... te plec_ of ... tte
t.o.rd hlive been cut Into I.yers. Note. the. .upport rod at right.
in case of a mistake. True, a much bet· ter weld could be made with plastic ceo ment. but it seems to invllriably get on
the outside 01 parts where It doesn't belong, and actually etches its way into the plastic before it can be cleaned off.
White glue presents no such problems,
and holds well enough for most jobs; besides, it's thicker ~nd acts as a sealant. For cementing small details, however, white glue is more trouble than it's worth.
Two more types of adhesive are
definitely worth mentioning. About
three·quarters of the wo!ly through the
construction of my model. I "dis·
covered" Kodak
910 Superglue
~nd Plastruct Plastic Weld cement (~ liquidthat comes in a jar, and is available at most hobby shops). Both have proven
to be indispensible; I only wish I had known about them when I started on the model. Plastic Weld cement can be brushed on a plastic part with a small artist's brush, and creates an actual
weld between two pilistic pieces that is
almost stronger than the material itself-and no glue "streamers."
Perfect for joining very tiny details to a
surface with practically no mess.
Kodak's 910 also allows you to glue
semi· rigid plastic sheeting over rounded forms In the space of ~bout 5·10 seconds drying lime-practically im· possible with normal plastic model ce-ment. My main use for this stuff,
though, was in sticking small plastic
details to A) previously painted sur·
faces, and B) to non·plastic surfaces,
where ordinary plaslic cement would nol have worked.
All glues, however, share one qual· ity: They are excellent for some ap· plications, poor for others. Unfor· tunately, there is no such thing as a truly univerSllI glue (even Superglue
has its limitations). Match your adhesive to the materials you are us· ing. For example, to join two pieces of balSll wood together you would use a
glue with some type of water base (Elmer's). since water will absorb into
the grain of the wood itself and create a very strong bond when dry. And have a damp sponge handy when working with white glue. as you'll probably be using your fingers a lot to rub glue off of the places where it shouldn't be; and if it dries on your fingers you'lI end up transferring globs of dried glue 10 the surface of your model. Q·tip swabs make excellent "wiping cloths" to get excess white glue out of normo!llly inac· cessable pllICes. (Any dried while glue
that remains on a plastic surface can
be easily "erased" off with a pencil eraser.) No matter what type of glue
you decide to use, be sure to take a
piece of sandpaper and roughen up the back of any plastic sheeting you will be applying ... il helps the glue to do a better job of bonding.
Since yoo might be using many dif· ferent liquids in the construction of your model (fiberglass resins, glues. paints. etc.). it's best to pick a suitable brush for each substance and label that brush for its one purpose only; this will keep the bristles in better condition.
I also gathered together.!ln lIssart· ment of X·acto hobby knives. hand SlIWS and the like. plus many different types of SlIndpaper.
Assembling the Basic Structure
Since this article concerns the build· ing of a spaceship model to be used solely for filming purposes, certain de·
sign, detailing and painting schemes
ho!Id to be worked out-schemes that are somewhat exclusive to such a use of models.
The basic substructure of my model
was constructed of matte board-thick cardboard-which is available at any art supply house. The ship's main form
was built up in "levels" of this matte
board: large pieces were cut to eKactly match the basic
shapes
outlined on the life·size blueprint. then blocks of balsa wood were glued between the layers toseparate them the correct distance. At this stage of construction. the model was really nothing more than sepa· rated. horizontal pieces of cardboard. But this "skeleton structure" was the part of the modellhat had to
be
the strongest, in order for the model tohold together during subsequent film· ing and rough handling. This SlIme
··building·in·levels" technique can be done with plywood taking the place of the matte board, but the increase in weight may offset the advantage of the extra strength. Basic matte board is ac· tually quite strong.
How I was going to finally support
my spaceship model during filming' was something that I had to fig· ure out at the very outset of construc· tion. in order to make any mounting
poinls."n integrlll port of the: model, Rlther than something just added on as an afterthought. I immediately scratch· ed the idea of using string or wire to support the model, because even the most Hinvisible" thread or wirestrand tends to show up in the finished film. I
wanted the model to be supported very firmly, by supports that would not be visible to the camera at all, My method was to build a long. hollow, rectangular "socket" that would run the whole length of the ship, into which would go a support rod made of hardwood (this is the poor man's '·self·indexing" mount), This support socket would then allow the mounting of the ship from either the back or front, to facilitate holding the model in the dif· ferent positions it would occupy in front of the camera. In other words. I would mount the ship from the rear if I wanted to photograph it from the front,
and vice versa, thus hiding the support with the model itself. Of course, I would also need to cover the pro· truding support rod with black velvet, so that
none
of it could be seen-as when photographing the model from the side-and then strive to keep the movie lights off of it as well.Obviously, this support socket need· ed to be built into the model at an ear· Iy stage of its construction. I did this by taking my first major m2ltte board tem· plate-which happened to be the one that ran down the horizontal "center" of the model, "slicing~ it into an upper and a lower part-and laying my wood· en support rod on it. then simply build· ing the socket iUOtJfId the rod by enclosing it in balsa wood glued to the matte board. Then I simply slid the support rod out of its temporary "coc· coon" while the glue dried, I was amazed at the strength of this struc· ture; my support rod scheme is so strong that I can lill my ship at any an· gle for fftming by simply rotating the support rod itself. (i.e" by tilting the camera tripod head that I had clamped the support rod to).
Once the problem of supporting the model was taken care of, I began the actu2l1 construction of the ship. My original plans called for several work· ing lighting systems to be located throughout the model, for ray·gun ef· fects,engines, "conning tower" lights and so on. This meant I!lying out the internal wiring for these lights and building electrical hook·up points near the exterior of the ship for feeding power to the bulbs. Since I would be moonting my ship from both the front and rear, I decided to put in identical power hook-Up points at both places. This meant running two sets of iden· tical wires throughout the model. Some of the lights, however, needed
only one electrical hook-up point, since these lights would be seen only if the can-oera were looking directly at them, These included the "engine" lights (wires were run to a separate electrical plug facing the front of the ship) and the front "headlight" (wires were run to the back of the ship only), TIle electrical wire I used, Radio Shack two-c:onductor, 24-gauge "speaker
wire" (50 feet for about $1.50). [chose for its flexibility, which makes it perfect for getting into small places.
I decided to use "miniature" phone plugs and sockets for the hook-up points themselves; they're available from Radio Shack also, Since the sockets are meant to be mounted
Ihrough holes cut into thin, nat material like sheet metal, I needed to devise some way of permanently moonting these things rigidly to my model, in a very small amoont of space, and somewhere away from 'the actual surface of the model where they wouldn't be seen. Using a small alu· minum plate drilled with holes for the sockets was out of the question, since there was really no way of rigidly moonting a piece! of metal to a balsa· wood·and-cardboard structure that would withstand the pushing in and pulling out of electrical plugs. So I decided to make a small flat plate out of l/l·inch·thick plastic sheeting, drill· ing hol!!s into it for the sockets_ I then glued this plate into a long deep slot cut into a pil!Cl! of balsa wood; this balsa constructIon was then glued to one of the! matte board levels at the front of the ship (near
the
mounting point), and more balsa was butted up and glUl!d against thetop of
the plastic plate wher!! it mI!t the next higher matte board level. This made: for a very strong electrical socket support, and !oince there was no metel involved. the! sockets were all!!lectrically isolated from each other. The rear hook·up points were similarly built and in· stalled. While running all the wiring to the lights themselves, I found that I had to cut "tunnels" into many of the balsa· wood support blocks located through-out the armature of the model; this could have been avoided had I planned my construction better,After the electrical wiring and sub· structure of the model were com -pleted, I started building up the outer surfaces of the model. I envisioned my ship having many angular, tWisting, sharply defined details, without any truly rounded surfaces at all. To me, roundness signifies a soft. graceful look-which was exactly what I wanted to avoid. since this was to be a mas· sive, powerful space bauJeship, not en aerodynamically designed glider. The curving, twisting 21ngles of my model (known as "developed surfaces") were constructed by first building "ribs~ of balsa wood between the mette board layers at all of the edges where any two surface planes were to meet-similar 10 walls being built between one floor 21nd another of an open·faced building -and then gluing "Silkspan" over these supports. (The wood that would be in actual contact with the Silkspan was carved down to almost a knife edge. Ihus forming a perfect support to "fold" the surfacing material over.)
Don't skimp on the number of wood -en rib supports for the Silkspan-yoo'lI need one everywhere the surface is supposed to change direction. Silk-span,21 paper·type material, is one of the products used to cover the wings of flying model airplanes; it is available 21t most hobby shops and is very inexpen· sive. A square yard costs about 45<: (that's enough to completely cover two small models), For gluing this stuff to balsa and cardboard, you can use ei· ther white glue or dear model·airplane
"dope," a thick lacquer product avell· !lble at hobby shops, My method of creating the surfaces out of Silkspan
The .ssembly or the v.rious
levels with wood block .p.c::us.
was to build each single curving sur -face of the model separately, cutting a separate piec:e of Silkspan for every open cavity that existed betwl!en the wooden support ribs. Start at a single place on the model, and branch out from there as if you were building a "hoose of cards." only the C!lrds here are the adjoining surfaces·to·be. You'll be using one small side area of a pre· viously "built" surface to glue the next adjoining paper surface in con-junction with the remaining wooden support ribs around the
new
open cavi· ty. This is much e2lsier and logical in practice than it sounds on paper. This technique even works for curved, twisted angles and surfaces! In other words, the wooden support ribs need not all be the same height or length. or even parallel.Each time I finished gluing a section of Silkspan material over an open cavi· ty-over the surrounding wooden sup-ports and leaving 00 side of the mate-rial unsupported- I wet it with water. This caused each piece to actually shrink and to pull tight, getting rid of any wrinkles still In the material and produced a very tight. smooth surface (the whole object of using the Silkspan in the first place). Be careful oot to gl!t any glue on the large flat expanses of Silkspan prior to the wetting process. because it will not dry and stretch cor· rectly; use glue only around the edge!s of the material that will come in con-tact with wood or with other surroond-ing (already-stretched) Silkspan areas.
11
Which brings up one other important efforts on it, since there is almost
no-detail: Each wooden cavity must be thrrr~ptadic.i!ll that can be done. About,
covered and "stretched" one-at·a·time~ree-quarters of the way through con· if you cover
all the spaces
at On<;f! and struction of my ship,I
found thatI
hadthen
wet this large surface ar~ as one to go back and "repairH some of thepiece, you'll find that any dried glue model's dried and shellacked Silkspan
that Is holding adjacent overlapping due to too many wrinkles ... the result
pieces of Silkspan to each other will of my not checking the stuff dose elso be practically impervious to enough the first time it was applied. I
water-which means that these small either repapered over the first layer. or
areas, when dried, will not have tried to fill in the go!lps with modeling stretched with the rest of the piece, and putty. Neither of these emergency
so will cause a lot of wrinkles o!Ind de- measures worked very convincingly, so
pressions in the surface. j!'or this I finally ended up gluing thin plastic
reason, apply and wet the Silkspan sheets to these areas to give them a flat
pieces one at a lime. You'll find thzlt surface. When you're not careful the any glue which happens to get on first time through, it simply means
these already·stretched surfaces will more work later
on:
you can't fix a not cause any problems. And bear in mistake by making more mistakes!mind that this stuff is still paper: wo!ltch I used masking tlIpe to build up the
that you don't poke your finger curving angles on the underside of the
through it. ship's ·'snout." I begl!Jn by cutting o!I
Tbe wooden .upport .tlck
In_rted into the model.
Another, perhaps easier, method of
Silkspanning is to wet each piece of
material
before
it is glued Of shellac:eddown. This technique works equally
well, but is messier.
After the Silkspan material has thor·
oughly dried, it will need to be totally covered with more model airplane dope to build up its thickness and strength: around 15 or so coats were
needed on my model to give these sur·
foc:es 0 semi·rigid strength-rigid
enough to glue surface details to later.
When planning out the areas you
want covered with Silkspan don't at·
tempt to stretch it across sp&ees IMt ore smaller than about
¥_
inch square-the material will not stretch enough to make up for wrinkles, etc. Other surfacing techniques should beused-or at least tried beforehand,
By the way, I've found that the
quicker Silkspan dries, the tighter it
stretches; so I used one of those hondo
held hair dryers-on a /ow heat setting!
-to speed the drying time. You can
also dry your dope cOo!ltings this way,
which will allow you to build up 15
coats in no time. And don't expect your coatings of dope to hide any wrin·
kll!S tho!It are still in the material; in
fact, wrinkles are slightly accentuated.
So
If you end up with a wrinkled pieceof c:oated Silkspan, you'll have to tear it off ond start over: don't waste future
12
number of l/_·inch·wide strips of tlIpe,
whose lengths were slightly longer
tho!In the distonce between the two sepllroted horizontal motte board lev·
els(templotes). Then I o!Ipplied
these
strips of tape to the two surfaces, thus covering up
the
gop between the lev·els.
1
slightly overlapped each piece oftlIpe, ond in the end had "built up" a
curving surfece thzlt would hzlve been very difficult to make any other wo!ly. I then coated this mosklng tlIpe surface with mo!lny coatings of dope, to give it
more rigidity o!Ind to hide the overlap· ping tape ridges. (You c:ould use fiber. glass rl!Sin for this.)
B6id6 Silkspanning the surface of my model. I decided to carve large ir·
regularly shaped outcrops and such out of blocks
of
balsa wood. Thismeant finding 0 way to give a very
smooth surface to a
wood
IMt is essen·tially porous. full of many $ITIo!I1I
""vo!llleys" in the groin. A magozine arti· de I happened to read at the time men·
tioned thot balsa could acquire 0
smooth, glass-like finish by being C:Oo!It·
ed with a stuff c:alled "polyester sand·
ing resin:' FIberglass resin is another
name for it. It's basically the
sc:.
ne liq·uid that is brushed over fiberglass
cloth, the material used for c:overing surfboards and for making speedboats. Gloss resin, which Isn't really thot ex·
pensive-o!Ibout $2.75 for a pint can,
enough to cover several whole models
-can
be
bought ot hobby shops undervarious names, When dry and sanded
with very fine sandpllper--220 grit or
higher-it does produce a very
smooth, almost plostlc·like finish on
well·sanded balsa wood. Naturally,
polyester sanding resin gives a great
finish to surfboard·type fOo!lm if that is
who!It you've carved your model out of
... but not. to basic styrofoam. They ore two different animals: glo!lss resin will eat into styrofOo!lm! Watch that you
don't get it on muc:h of anything else,
either. I tried brushing a C:mlt on over
some of the doped Silksplln mo!lteriall
had c:onstruc:ted earlier, hoping the glll55 resin would make this stuff even smoother. Well, just the opposite oc·
cured. The resin's instruction'ssaid not
to use it over shellac (dope), but I
wllnted to ~ for myself-unfortunate·
Iy. This produced e "melted slag"" look
on the Silkspan, which necessitated even more work to correct! Perhaps
the resin could produce o!I nice hard fin·
ish when epplied to fresh Silkspan. al·
though I never tried this.
Interestingly, some top Hollywood pro modelmokers came the entire basic: shape
of
their models not out of balsa, but from another imported wood known as ""plIttemmaker's wood, M whic:h is said to be infinitely more carv· eble and SlIndable than balsa, And then, instead of using this Cllrved pieceitself liS the model's basic structure, a
mold
1
5
made of it (similar to e mold being made of II clay lInimation model for later fOo!lm c:asting); but instead of filling the two halves of the finished silicone rubber mold with liquid fOo!lm rubber asone
would for on animotlon model, 0 liquidepoxy
is used in con·junction with a layer of woven fiber·
glass c:loth (which is a finer grade of material IMn regulor surfboard·type fiberglass doth). So actually, many of the Hollywood models one ~s on the screen are pretty much one·piece epoxy castings, IIB·inch thic:k or
so,
with holes and such drilled Into them
for lights, etc:.
After you've applied one or two COlIts
of
gloss resin to lIlI of the ex·posed wood ond motte board on your model. you'lI most likely need to sal'ld the surfaces slightly to get a really glass-like finish. I mo!lde sevellli
miniature sanding blocks for this pur·
pose, some no larger than II, inch x 1 inch. For SlIndpllper [used -220 grit all the way up to extremely fine -600 grit.
I use 3M·brand 'Wetordry Trl·m·ite."
o!Ivoliable at most well·stocked hzlrd· ware stores. Surprisingly, mony hobby
shops do not stock this paper. By the
WllY, some modelers even wet their sandpllper to get the smoothest possl· ble finish on their models: this is up to
you. With my homemade sanding
blocks, I was o!Ible to get into the tiniest
nooks and crevices, which is important
if one 15 looking for e professional·type glassy finish.
A wooden .upport db I. placed
The elec:trlu.l harnu_ &. run to the front "headUghb"
prior to buDding up the front of the model.
Although most of the compound an· (a{!er the doping step Is complete) and
gles on the surface of my model were wipe it off. This should comp1etely fill
easily creat~ using the wooden·ribs in the crack, leaving what looks like
technique, I had to devise a different one continuous surf&ee.
method to create those angles that
would meet another surface concavely.
ElIch of these new surfaces was built
by first cutting out an appropriately
sized sheet of Silkspan material (with
enough extra material to slightly over·
lap t~ surrounding areas). One ~ge
of thi5 Silk.spon WtlS then glued to a
long, thin strip of hardwood (like a
popsicle stick), one ~ge of the stick
having been sanded down to e knife·
like edge-necessary for the new sur·
face to "wrap around" the piece of
hardwood, creating a sharply delin·
eated line where the two different plane
surfaces would be meeting. My Sears
motorized hobby drill-with a sanding
drum attached-made quick work of
these knlfe·edged wooden parts and
produc~ some very sharp edges. You
can also create these by using regular
sandpaper: glue or tepe a 5heet of
sandpaper to a flat surface end run the
wood over it. The next step wes to glue
the knife·edged wooden stick (with the
Silkspan atteched) to the well of the
space
that I wented to cover, mekingsure that the knife edge of the stick
was
exactly
up against the edjoinlngplane surfece line. At this point the
Silkspen wes still wevlng freely In the
air. After the stick had dried in posi· tion, I wet the Silkspan end lit the same
time glued it over ell the remllining
wooden supports rT\lIklng sure to get it
liS tight liS possible. Use Elmer's or
clear dope for this. When the entire
construction had dried, 1I flat, tight sur· fece had been produced. Then I
pro-ceeded to COdt the new surface with
dope. If there happens to be a crack
along the line where the two Silk·
spanned surfaces are meeting, simply
squirt some white glue on the crack
BuUcllng
the
""
Bomb Bay
IbyGun
"
The "Bomb Bay Ray Gun" (hereafter the B.B.R.) is the term I geve to the
sec·
tion of the undersideof
the ship that Ihad designed to fold out of the model (hence the term "bomb MY"'). ThIs WoM
to be a type of powerful ray gun, with a working light to simulate its "rey eye"
I found it neceSSllry to build the
main body of the model lind the B.B.R.
es separate units, In order to speed
construction i!lnd detlliling of the B.B.R. I envisioned it having meny
interior details, whkh me2!lnt that I
couldn't have done this type of work
on it had I gone ahei!ld lind built the B.B.R. into the ship et the beginning.
Building in the lighting system would
also have been overly difficult this way.
And, since I hadn't reelly worked out
the complete conflguration of the rlly
Dnd its method of "lIppearing"' out of
the bottom of the ship, I could design
-and change designs-as [ went aiong,
The first order of business, before
starting work on the B.B.R. sub-unit it·
self, WllS to design and build the hole
or bay in the bottom of the ship from
which the B.B.R. would emerge. In
keeping with
the
overall design ofthe
model, I wanted this opening to be
shDrply angular; I thus chose a pen· tagon shape for it. This hole needed to
be
built at the outset oftlH!
model'sconstruction, since when the B.B.R.
was retracted into the ship, it would be
occupying space nellr meny interior
electrical wires, and near
the
model'smounting rod coccoon. (Actually,
these three construction schemes-the
bomb bay rey gun, the internal wiring
and the method of building mounting
points Into the model-all had to be
designed Simultaneously, so that they
wouldn't interfere with each other.) The
one constant idea I wanted to incor·
porate Into the 8,B.R. was that it
should fold down out of the shIp, from
hinges elong its rear; and that, when
folded up into
the
ship, it would appearas just part of the continuous surface
of the ship's underbelly.
The first step to building the B.BR
sub·unit WllS to design lind construct
the ray gun light source itself. (By this
time I had a feirly good idee of what [
wanted the final B.B.R. to look like.)
The front (visible) part would be a
rounded hemisphere, like lin eye. This
WllS cut out from part of a clear pli!lstic
oval·shaped hemisphere I bought at a
local arts·and·crafts store (these lire
normally used for enclosing decou· page kits, dried flowers, etc). To cut a
portion of the hemisphere lIway from
the surrounding plastic WIIS a some·
Removable top glvu ac:c _ _ to
"RaJ' G_" and .older points.
whDt difficult lDsk.
I first taped the hemisphere down to
1I piece
of
matte board, on which I haddrawn two para.llellines. These lines
were my cutting guides, liS I WllS going
to use my motorized hobby
saw-whose blade isaround three inch·
es long, longer than the height of the
plastic hemisphere Itself -to cut
through both cardboard lind, ebove it,
the plastic of the hemisphere. This
method worked quite satisfactorily,
since the S21w'S blade was perfectly lit
right engles to the cllrdboard cutting
guide.
To the convex (front) side of this
piece of plestic hemisphere I added
very thin horizontal strips of flat·bleck·
painted masking tape.
1bHe
stripswere placed close enough together so
that only very thin strips of the plastic
hemisphere were showing through.
Behind this ph!!lStic I wanted several
bright lightbulbs, to "'beam" light out
between the
tape
strips. The bulbs Ichose to use for this (and for most of
the other) model's lighting w@reGen·
13
eral Electric (GE)
-233
and-222
(fo-cused) bulbs, available at hardwarestores. These are very bright when
hooked up to just one flashlight bat·
tery, and you can usul:llly increase their brilliance by hooking another battery up to them in series. (Test this scheme
before you seal such bulbs up inside
your model.)
For the "ray eye" I used two GE
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233
bulbs and one-
222 f
ocusedbulb in the center, for the "pupil" of the
ray
eye.
I built balsa wood mounts forthese bulbs by carving out a circular
trough in the wood blocks, and taped and glued the bulbs into these troughs. Since there would really be no way of getting to these bulbs once the B.BR
A e bulbs. The entire hemisphere can·
struction was then enclosed in sheet plastic on the top. bottom and sides.
whose dimensions exactly fit those of the pentagon·shaped hole already cut
in to a section of the bottom of the
model.
To create the hinges for attaching the rear of the B.B.R. to the hole in the
model. I used several layers of masking tape. and simply taped the back of the B.B.R. to the outside of the moder! un·
derbelly. This tape would be covered over with plastic sheeting in a later
step. Be sure to use enough layers of
masking tape (or other super·sticky
tape), as I found out that. due to repeat· ed flexing, the tape hinge became
"Bomb b.y Ray Gun .... _mbly mounted Into the model with ray "eye" visible. was sealed to the model itself. I decid,
ed to solder wires to the bulbs. and
forego the use of sockets. When at,
tempting to solder II wire to one of thc:se GE bulbs, you'lI flnd that
the
metal (brass. I think) of the bulb casingitself will not "eccept" the solder. What I did was to teke some fine emory metal sanding cloth end polish the
small solder points already on the bulb, melt'a little extrll solder onto these
points-quickly
SO as not to harm the tiny interior wires that connect to the fIIament-and solder my wires to them. The speed with which you dothis is important, since you run the risk of damaging the alr,tightness of the bulb. (You'lI know If this has happened: the bulb will immediately bum out
when hooked up to your battery,) Between
these
light sources andthe
inside of
the
plestic were several differ·ent colors of dear acetate to diffuse and color the Ught. The frosted plastic I used was "Lenscreen" (avllilable from Edmund Scientific Co., Edscorp BuJldlng. Barrington, New Jersey 08007). The colored acetate is also
available through them. I found that, when working with such short dis-tances between the lightbulbs and the diffusion material, several 5efJlU41.ed layers of Lenscreen were needed in or· der to reduce visible "hot spots" from
weak as time went by. You might also
try a stronger plastic·based tape. What kept the B,B.R, firmly concealed in
the
bottom of the ship was simply friction
between its
parts
and some ofthe
ship's internal wood and plastic struc, tures; the B.B.R. was built to some
rather exacting tolerances especially for this reason,
In an earlier stage of the modeJ's
construction, I had built a section of
the top of the ship-the arell right over
the
B.B.R. assembly-to be removable. since I would need to get to the B.B.R.In order to "push it out" of the under· side of the ship
on·camera,
to make itappear to be a huge motorized struc·
ture. This Is also how I hooked up the B.B.R:s electrlclll lighting wires to the
Inside view showing hemisphere sbape of p ... Uc...,. "eye,"
main power buss that had already b~n
built into the ship. By the way. as I was
fitting the B.B.R. assembly into the bottom of the model, I found it
neces-sary to tie the electrical wires already in the model into bundles, to help keep them out of the way of the interior
parts of the B.BR This necessitllted building small wood "tie·back" sup-ports inside the ship to keep the wire bundles from hanging free. and getting in the way.
This may sound obvious, but when you first begin designing your space·
ship model, you should take into ac·
count how you are going to support
the model in its later stages of con· struction, so lhal you can work on ii, paint it, etc, without breaking off or
denting anything previously applied. My own model, as it neared comple· tion, could only be rested on its
top-or mounted from one of the two
mounting points, of course-because the tape hinges I used on the B.B.R, assembly weakened with age and repeated flexing. I could not rest the weight of the model on this area. es
the
details on the outside of the B.B,R. happened to jut out from the bottom of the ship even when the B.B.R. wasretracted into its bay, thus pushing the
assembly into the body of the model farther than It was meant to go. As you
can see, logical mounting points for your model are a must, and come in handy as you work on it.
BuDding Wing
·
Tip
ft.yGun.
Since my interest in special effects
had been largely formed from seeing George Pars Waro{the Worlds when I
was young, I knew that I wanted to in,
clude in my model some type of Mar· tian war machine· like wing·tip ray guns, and that they should be blood· red in color.
To build these ray guns. I first se· cured a GE
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233
bulb into the hoi· lowed·out recesses along both sides ofthe ship. at
the
outside tip of themod,
ers "wings:' between two levels of the horizontal matte board templates. Since these bulbs were in there to stey for better or worse, I soldered perma,nent wires to them, which were led out to both the front lind rear electrical
hook.up points of the model. I then
covered these glued· in bulbs with a deep-red piece of acetate filter (but no
diffusion material). Then. for
the
ectual exterior "red crystlll raydome." I scrounged up an old bicyde reflector,and cut It Into pieces to fit over the bulbs, (This stuff was extremely hard to
cut into small pieces, because as soon
as my motorized saw cut through the plastic, it heated up and welded itself back together egain!) Most bicycle reflectors are actually made of trans· parent-but prlsmed-plastic, with no actual mirror·like reflector material at all. After this cutting had been done, I
