I found it weirdly inspiring when I realised how much of it was off-the-shelf kits - seeing the kind of results they got with stuff that anyone could buy face me a new perspective on model making.
Indeed. Derek and his guys really knew what they were doing and what would work and what would not work. To see the other end of the spectrum (no pun intended) check out the movie 'Star Crash' aka 'The Legend of Stella Star' from 1978. Starcrash VFX behind the scenes - th-cam.com/video/VHB-UyKbPWE/w-d-xo.html Starcrash trailer - th-cam.com/video/pzfuNSpP0RA/w-d-xo.html
Its funny you mention the TB3 landing pads, as I was researchinf them for this video, and cut that bit out as there was not enough infomation. I have not found the exact type of vaccum motor. I thought possibly it was from the speherical Hoover seen in the reactor base, but it seems to not be the case. However, I did identify that the top part of the TB3 landing pad is a separate piece and is a 35mm film can sitting on top of the vaccuum cleaner motor thing.
I grew up with Thunderbird's and the great Derek Meddings effects. It always impressed me the amount of detail they put into EVERYTHING even stuff that was going to be blown up! Like the Fireflash @ 11:21 the curtains in all the windows like...............WOW that is attention to detail! I can see WHY Derek Meddings was chosen to do the special effects in the worlds most complex action sequences in the James Bond franchise! Derek WAS the Grandfather of special effects the man so many copied. RIP Derek Meddings 1931-1995 He got so little credit but LOVED his job. I have watched Jerry Andersons shows over and over even still as an adult. For 50 minutes we can forget the awful world we live in today and lose ourselves in a world we WISH we had.............
I’ve spent a long time creating a meticulous personal collective of every toy and model kit and household object used in this series, and where they are used (all of the vehicles, buildings, etc). Many nights of squinting at still pictures and screen grabs, and comparing them to kits or toys lol. I’ve IDed much of what I believe is possible to do given the detail you can see on screen, but I still have a way to go. It’s a process involving just gut feeling as to what something is, often my initial reaction yields results. They used some pretty out there stuff. Nice video on the most classic of all of the kits they used
Wow. i ma going to do a couple more videos on some of the more widely used toys and kits. A couple of holy grails for me are the specific 'cake tins' used for the Sidewinder's arms' and my current mission to identify the creation of the Crablogger's wheels :)
Just a note of credit. Derek Meddings also did miniature modelling and special effects on the James Bond films from "Live And Let Die" to GoldenEye". 💥💫
Derek Meddings did most of the miniatures for Superman the movie, Superman II, Tim's Burtons' Batman, Krull, Santa Claus -The Movie and Spies Like Us. Some really, really great stuff. The sequenec at the 'Drive In' in Spies Like Us is one of my favourites.
Lovely video - I used several Girder bridge kits on the London spacecraft I built for Blake’s 7 back in 1977 at Space Models. An homage to Thunderbirds. Happy to chat - please get in touch if of interest
Tha ka for commenting. I looked at your website some astonishing work. I am in awe of the model of the Soace Shuttle and boosters on the lanch pad. Beautifully photographed too. It looks real. And then to see the picture of you standing next to it...its so small. Even more remarkable. Incredible work!.
Absolutely. There is a design sensibility that is key to the success of this sort of thing. The quality and quantity of quality work is astonishing. Derek Meddings was a genius at design; knowing when something needed to be designed from scratch and when it could be 'sourced' and then detailing it all to look used and real. The work in these series - especially 'Thunderbirds' - is better than most movies of the time!
Those little bridge plates seem to have been Derek Meddings' 'universal greebly'. The bridge kit is still made by Dapol - and it's still pretty crisp. I have a couple in my kit stash, along with Mobile Crane, Signal Gantry, and Pontoon Bridge kits. Another favourite greebly, was the cab roof from the Airfix Scammell Tank transporter. Am odd five sided shape.
Me too - where was the Scammell transporter roof used? I feel like I have seen it, but I'm not sure where... maybe in the gubbins on the rear of a crash tender?
@@Matteline - I couldn't say off the top of my head, but when you see it, you'll know what it is. It is often used in pairs, too. It's such a peculiar shape, that, if you showed one to someone, they wouldn't have a clue what it was.
Yes do more videos of kits used in the Anderson shows. These are good examples of just what a genius Derek Meddings was and his contribution to following film miniature effects for years to come.
I think the frame under TB2 launch ramp is actually parts from the Airfix pontoon bridge. The Anderson team were fond of using the Airfix Starfighter with engines from a 1:48 scale hustler bomber added and the Airfix twin rotor helicopter was widely used, often with very little modification (other than adding the motors for the rotors)
I am 99.9% sure the TB2 launc ramp is the girder bridge. That TB2 model was approx 3 feet long, so the scale works out. I am only aware of two helicopters. Copter watchdog from 'pianoforte peril' was a cinceterd toy helicopter. And the twin rotor copters seen in the movie 'Thunderbirds are Go' movie and 'Give or Take a Million' and an episode or two of Captain Scarlet and Joe 90 I think, look to use only the fuselage of a Wessex helicopter. But I am. It 100% sure.
Ha ha. I think it has received too much love! It never bothered me. I always thought it was some sort of exhaust extractor thingeee. The things that are really tough to handle are the kitchen bowls and colinders used for the lunar base in the Captain Scarlet episodes set on the moon. I have done a companion video on the Caterpillar Tracks seen on many of the Anderson vehicles.
Derek Meddings, Brian Johnson and the team including Mike Trim, Brian Smithies, Ian Scoones, Ian Wingrove, Harry Oakes, Shaun Whittaker-Cooke and many more in a small building in an Industrial Estate in Slough did absolutely sensational work! They deserve more recognition
Yep. They used the various bits and pieces of that kit everywhere. I made this design showcasing the mose used kit part. It is a bailable on mugs, T Shirts, phone cases etc. images.app.goo.gl/wv2G6jeuQQF8vGh77
One part I used to have as a toy back then! Was the two sort of towers either side of the section his shape used to take off from! They were two toys you could use to look over a wall and had mirrors inside them to angle to then see over the wall! If you look at them they were upside down and you could see the lever that you used to use to adjust the mirrors inside ok! I hope that makes sense! I remember thinking that was them back in the day! That was such fun thanks 🙂😉
That same toy telescope that you describe appears in an episode of 'Stingray' in one of the puppet sets. - The Lighthouse Dwellers' I believe. Great stuff!
Excellent - half the fun of watching these shows or looking at the retail models and/or the movie models is identifying the greeblies used to detail same!
I was playing 'Star Wars' Battlefront and in part of the age you can hide out on top of the Millennium Falcon to evade stormtroopers. When you are up there you cane male out some kit parts., it;s low poly / low res, but there's an unmistakable T34 tank hull! (probably a Tamiya 1/35th). Fun!
Thats a very interesting video . The maufacturers of these kits must've been working overtime to produce them when Derek Meddings and his team started using them to kit bash models, lol 'We need to make another 2000 girder bridges , for Gerry Andersons special effects dept '..... employees start groaning 😆
A kitbash that I found recently is the engine pods on the Zero X’s lifting bodies from the movie ‘Thunderbirds Are Go’ came from an American bomber called the XB-48. The only difference that is that the XB-48 uses clusters of 3 engines, while the Zero X uses clusters of 4.
I see the similarity with the XB48. I think they (Derek Meddings amd Mike Trim) were always looking at contemporary and advanced design ideas of the day to inform their models. But in terms of 'kit-bashing' Idont think there were any kits of the XB48 around at that time and at the size and scale needed for parts to be used in tge 6 foot long Zero-X model. I could be wrong of course, but as such as 'star vehicle' I would think it would have been totally scratch built.
I lived in Slough near to the site of the AP studio some years ago.. Walk out of Stirling Road, turn left and walk along Edinburgh Avenue and you'll reach Farnham Road where Woolworths was. They sold Airfix kits, Medding's crew must've been regular customers.
Thank you. I have read the stories about Derek and his team heading down to the local Woolworths for parts. It's great to put some context to this. I wonder though, given how many of the Girder Kits they used if they purchased a bulk order direct from Airfix?
@@Matteline I think they might have done a deal with the man at Woolworths. In those days if you were the manager of the branch you were someone and head office wouldn't have been on your case if your figures were a penny off plan. BTW, the Woolworth's building is still there, on google maps look for the building advertising pizzas
@@Matteline well i've been in the business for 40 years and started in atop motion and model VFX so all this is near and dear to my heart. I should comment more often but I watch and love every one if your videos so please keep up the great stuff and thanks again!
@@Matteline Thats right Dapol bought the moulds from Hornby who got Airfix when they went broke. They were made by Kitmaster first and Dapol have now gone back to using that name for the range of kits. On Thunderbird 5 they also used another of the kits from this range The Dockside Crane jib is used underneath to hold the antenna The kits are still made in Wales too. One of the very few things for model makers still made in UK
Great video - most of the info has been out there in the Anderson modelling community but your video goes into greater depth with the spotting of these parts. I think we've all got a girder bridge (or two?) In our stashes! With regards to the use of aircraft kits, I've been up in the loft just this morning measuring up the Starfighter and Hustler kits for the Zombite fighter.......
Excellent. Yes nothing new here, but I figured getting a lot of in one place was a good idea. The old ''Eagle Transporter' website was a great place for people to share info. Some really great modellers on there.
One thing I always noticed in the TB2 hanger was where did the pods on either side of the selected one go when TB2 lowered because if they kept the same spacing has they where rolled out at they’d be almost directly under each wing, oh and I can’t rmember the first or the last ever been used.
Yeh there is film-making sleight of hand in terms of the Pod positoms between shots. Yes, both Pod 1 and Pod 6 have been taken out on Rescues.. POD 1 on the episode with Alan's racing car (Move and You're Dead' and 'Security Hazard'. Pod 6 is taken in the 'Perils.do.Penelope' (one of the monorail episodes) and in 'Attack of.the Alligators' with Thunderbird 4 aboard. Not in Pod 4 as usual. It is not explained why.
As a model maker all my life, seeing those film models and what they were made from, inspired me a a young age, most of the space stations and space craft were made from many Tamiya, Airfix, Monogram kits, the huge space station in 2001 was hundreds of these kits and this method was also used in Alien, before the introduction of CGi, which is somehow, not the same as the " real thing "...and film makers are going back the these roots...
I think it is important to recognise the two facets to this technique. The art of adding detail to a model - like the space station in 2001 or the Millennium Falcon - where the kit-bashing is adding to a designed and constructed model. And then there are models which are built entirely from kit bashed model.kits and the like. Several of the fighter planes seen in Thunderbirs are examples of this. (A video on these models is in the works). Or the famous (infamous) hairdryer spaceship from 'Dr Who' / 'Blakes 7'. They are both artistic techniques. And great fun!
Airfix pontoon bridge is also there. Great dry assembly kit, no longer available. Airfix Bailey pontoon bridge is, I think, what supports the T2 ramp…?
sadly virtually nothing exists. a number of the models were destroyed - intentionally - during the course of the filming. International Rescue always saved the people but sometime the hardware ended up exploding. Some were canibalised to make different models for new episode. And this bit is heartbreaking, most of the models and puppets and sets were thrown in a skip when the business shot down in the early 1970s. A handful of the models survived and sometime show up on auction. A moonbase Interceptor from UFO, the 6 wheeled jeep / half track from Thunderbirds, one of the Ocean Pioneers tankers, a futuristic bus and some other ancilliary models. But apparently none of the major stuff. I imagine some of things must be in private collections, but there are stories form the people who were working there at the time of these skips just full of this stuff. Of course, today, the contents of those skips would be worth tens of thousands of pounds now.
I think it would have been cool to have kits of the Thunderbird crafts, 1,2,3 & 4 at their launch stations. 4 could be a bit larger scale coming out of pod 4 and Thunderbird 5 could come with a small globe of the world or something perhaps?. This may sound a bit funny, but I want a model of Thunderbird 3's round house. Ring house. Whatever it's called.
The range of Aoshima 'Thunderbirds' kits (now being sold under AIP in the UK) does include the hangar's for TB1, TB2 and TB3 (although all of these hangar kits are just the immediate surroundings. so no swimming pool, no folding palm trees or cliff house... and no ROUND HOUSE. But it's a start. I think the TB% comes with a stand that is the globe... but I am not sure. TB5 always seems to get left behind in the merchandising and it is the case here - this kit is a re-issue of an old IMAI or BANDIA kit. Not terrible, but not in the same class as the newer kits of TB1, TB2, TB3 and TB4.
I've added a link here to the recent video from Century 21 Films where series diector David Elliott indicates the use of the girder bridge kit in the Thunderbird Launch Bay replica on screen in the original studios before their senseless demolition. th-cam.com/video/b9T5DHYBGPw/w-d-xo.html
Sorry mate, you missed something. I remember this from watching the programme when it aired. It's something one of the team admitted to with some degree of embarrassment in one of the documentary videos. Pause your video at 6 min 21ands you'll see it. On the back wall of TB1's hangar, spot the circular thing with a ribbed. pointed dome in the middle. That's a plastic lemon juicer painted silver! How do i know? My mum had one in the kitchen. Perhaps appropriately, given it's purpose in lfe, it was yellow.
Ahh yes, you are eferring ro the 'lemon squeezer in Thimderbird 1's launch area. Many household objects, toys and model kit parts were uaed in making the miniature sets and models..This video is specifically about the 'Airfix Giirder Bridge' kit.
I found it weirdly inspiring when I realised how much of it was off-the-shelf kits - seeing the kind of results they got with stuff that anyone could buy face me a new perspective on model making.
Indeed. Derek and his guys really knew what they were doing and what would work and what would not work. To see the other end of the spectrum (no pun intended) check out the movie 'Star Crash' aka 'The Legend of Stella Star' from 1978.
Starcrash VFX behind the scenes - th-cam.com/video/VHB-UyKbPWE/w-d-xo.html
Starcrash trailer - th-cam.com/video/pzfuNSpP0RA/w-d-xo.html
The landing pads for TB3 are the fans from vacuum cleaners.
On the desert nuclear reactor they use an entire spherical Hoover for the dome!
Its funny you mention the TB3 landing pads, as I was researchinf them for this video, and cut that bit out as there was not enough infomation. I have not found the exact type of vaccum motor. I thought possibly it was from the speherical Hoover seen in the reactor base, but it seems to not be the case. However, I did identify that the top part of the TB3 landing pad is a separate piece and is a 35mm film can sitting on top of the vaccuum cleaner motor thing.
@@Matteline I have heard people call them "motors", but I question that, they are more like an inlet fan.
I grew up with Thunderbird's and the great Derek Meddings effects. It always impressed me the amount of detail they put into EVERYTHING even stuff that was going to be blown up! Like the Fireflash @ 11:21 the curtains in all the windows like...............WOW that is attention to detail! I can see WHY Derek Meddings was chosen to do the special effects in the worlds most complex action sequences in the James Bond franchise! Derek WAS the Grandfather of special effects the man so many copied. RIP Derek Meddings 1931-1995 He got so little credit but LOVED his job. I have watched Jerry Andersons shows over and over even still as an adult. For 50 minutes we can forget the awful world we live in today and lose ourselves in a world we WISH we had.............
I’ve spent a long time creating a meticulous personal collective of every toy and model kit and household object used in this series, and where they are used (all of the vehicles, buildings, etc). Many nights of squinting at still pictures and screen grabs, and comparing them to kits or toys lol. I’ve IDed much of what I believe is possible to do given the detail you can see on screen, but I still have a way to go. It’s a process involving just gut feeling as to what something is, often my initial reaction yields results. They used some pretty out there stuff. Nice video on the most classic of all of the kits they used
Wow. i ma going to do a couple more videos on some of the more widely used toys and kits. A couple of holy grails for me are the specific 'cake tins' used for the Sidewinder's arms' and my current mission to identify the creation of the Crablogger's wheels :)
I know a lot of people would love to learn more about all this stuff. What are your plans for the information you have compiled?
I mostly remember the Airfiz railway footbridge and the Hornby Dublo lowmac used to ferry the crew under Thunderbiord 3!
Yes.
Yes, it was an Airfix Lowmac...
6:20..... don't forget to mention the 'Lemon squeezer'
Just a note of credit. Derek Meddings also did miniature modelling and special effects on the James Bond films from "Live And Let Die" to GoldenEye". 💥💫
Derek Meddings did most of the miniatures for Superman the movie, Superman II, Tim's Burtons' Batman, Krull, Santa Claus -The Movie and Spies Like Us. Some really, really great stuff. The sequenec at the 'Drive In' in Spies Like Us is one of my favourites.
And the shed basically where he made those shows! Truly amazing!
Lovely video - I used several Girder bridge kits on the London spacecraft I built for Blake’s 7 back in 1977 at Space Models. An homage to Thunderbirds. Happy to chat - please get in touch if of interest
Tha ka for commenting. I looked at your website some astonishing work. I am in awe of the model of the Soace Shuttle and boosters on the lanch pad. Beautifully photographed too. It looks real. And then to see the picture of you standing next to it...its so small. Even more remarkable. Incredible work!.
Craftmanship of very high quality Good team helps.
Absolutely. There is a design sensibility that is key to the success of this sort of thing. The quality and quantity of quality work is astonishing. Derek Meddings was a genius at design; knowing when something needed to be designed from scratch and when it could be 'sourced' and then detailing it all to look used and real. The work in these series - especially 'Thunderbirds' - is better than most movies of the time!
Fascinating to know the details thanks.
Those little bridge plates seem to have been Derek Meddings' 'universal greebly'. The bridge kit is still made by Dapol - and it's still pretty crisp. I have a couple in my kit stash, along with Mobile Crane, Signal Gantry, and Pontoon Bridge kits. Another favourite greebly, was the cab roof from the Airfix Scammell Tank transporter. Am odd five sided shape.
Me too - where was the Scammell transporter roof used? I feel like I have seen it, but I'm not sure where... maybe in the gubbins on the rear of a crash tender?
@@Matteline - I couldn't say off the top of my head, but when you see it, you'll know what it is. It is often used in pairs, too. It's such a peculiar shape, that, if you showed one to someone, they wouldn't have a clue what it was.
@brianartillery Thanks. And to clarify we are talking about the sort of canvas roof bit?
@@Matteline - Yes, the tractor roof. Out of context, it doesn't look like anything else. It's a most peculiar five sided shape.
@@brianartillery Thanks. I have seen it on it's on the rear of the Mobile, near the brake lights :)
Enjoying your videos. Thanks for posting
🥲God Bless your memory Mr. Anderson
You picked-up on that tiny piece of plastic on T2 pods, wow man, amazing
this is why i love too super detail my models.the greebles ;)!!!!!
Yes do more videos of kits used in the Anderson shows. These are good examples of just what a genius Derek Meddings was and his contribution to following film miniature effects for years to come.
Greebling is a noble art. :)
I think the frame under TB2 launch ramp is actually parts from the Airfix pontoon bridge. The Anderson team were fond of using the Airfix Starfighter with engines from a 1:48 scale hustler bomber added and the Airfix twin rotor helicopter was widely used, often with very little modification (other than adding the motors for the rotors)
I am 99.9% sure the TB2 launc ramp is the girder bridge. That TB2 model was approx 3 feet long, so the scale works out. I am only aware of two helicopters. Copter watchdog from 'pianoforte peril' was a cinceterd toy helicopter. And the twin rotor copters seen in the movie 'Thunderbirds are Go' movie and 'Give or Take a Million' and an episode or two of Captain Scarlet and Joe 90 I think, look to use only the fuselage of a Wessex helicopter. But I am. It 100% sure.
I think the lemon squeezer in TB1's launch bay deserves an honurable mention. I just doesn't get the recognition it deserves.
Ha ha. I think it has received too much love! It never bothered me. I always thought it was some sort of exhaust extractor thingeee. The things that are really tough to handle are the kitchen bowls and colinders used for the lunar base in the Captain Scarlet episodes set on the moon. I have done a companion video on the Caterpillar Tracks seen on many of the Anderson vehicles.
Fascinating. I admire your depth. Great model making.
Derek Meddings, Brian Johnson and the team including Mike Trim, Brian Smithies, Ian Scoones, Ian Wingrove, Harry Oakes, Shaun Whittaker-Cooke and many more in a small building in an Industrial Estate in Slough did absolutely sensational work! They deserve more recognition
@@Matteline their model making kept me glued to the screen. And your artwork is amazing.
I loved how in depth you went with this!
Brilliant vid! I can’t stop seeing this kit now😅
Yep. They used the various bits and pieces of that kit everywhere. I made this design showcasing the mose used kit part. It is a bailable on mugs, T Shirts, phone cases etc.
images.app.goo.gl/wv2G6jeuQQF8vGh77
One part I used to have as a toy back then! Was the two sort of towers either side of the section his shape used to take off from! They were two toys you could use to look over a wall and had mirrors inside them to angle to then see over the wall! If you look at them they were upside down and you could see the lever that you used to use to adjust the mirrors inside ok! I hope that makes sense! I remember thinking that was them back in the day! That was such fun thanks 🙂😉
That same toy telescope that you describe appears in an episode of 'Stingray' in one of the puppet sets. - The Lighthouse Dwellers' I believe. Great stuff!
@@awol1703 I was a tiny bit young to remember that LOL 🤣🤣🤣🤣
Yes! The old Marx "Sooper Snooper" periscope.
@@6milphil975 Thanks! I could not remember the name! They were fantastic toys hey!!
Very enjoyable look at the building blocks of the models. Well done. Cheers Peter.
Excellent - half the fun of watching these shows or looking at the retail models and/or the movie models is identifying the greeblies used to detail same!
I was playing 'Star Wars' Battlefront and in part of the age you can hide out on top of the Millennium Falcon to evade stormtroopers. When you are up there you cane male out some kit parts., it;s low poly / low res, but there's an unmistakable T34 tank hull! (probably a Tamiya 1/35th). Fun!
Thats a very interesting video . The maufacturers of these kits must've been working overtime to produce them when Derek Meddings and his team started using them to kit bash models, lol
'We need to make another 2000 girder bridges , for Gerry Andersons special effects dept '..... employees start groaning 😆
Fantastic research Pal !!!
Thanks for watching. Researching this stuff is good fun. Stumbling across that kit at Jennings was an incredible moment.
A kitbash that I found recently is the engine pods on the Zero X’s lifting bodies from the movie ‘Thunderbirds Are Go’ came from an American bomber called the XB-48. The only difference that is that the XB-48 uses clusters of 3 engines, while the Zero X uses clusters of 4.
I see the similarity with the XB48. I think they (Derek Meddings amd Mike Trim) were always looking at contemporary and advanced design ideas of the day to inform their models. But in terms of 'kit-bashing' Idont think there were any kits of the XB48 around at that time and at the size and scale needed for parts to be used in tge 6 foot long Zero-X model. I could be wrong of course, but as such as 'star vehicle' I would think it would have been totally scratch built.
I lived in Slough near to the site of the AP studio some years ago.. Walk out of Stirling Road, turn left and walk along Edinburgh Avenue and you'll reach Farnham Road where Woolworths was. They sold Airfix kits, Medding's crew must've been regular customers.
Thank you. I have read the stories about Derek and his team heading down to the local Woolworths for parts. It's great to put some context to this. I wonder though, given how many of the Girder Kits they used if they purchased a bulk order direct from Airfix?
@@Matteline I think they might have done a deal with the man at Woolworths. In those days if you were the manager of the branch you were someone and head office wouldn't have been on your case if your figures were a penny off plan. BTW, the Woolworth's building is still there, on google maps look for the building advertising pizzas
I used to take the 279 bus to Jennings. Near Green Street.
Terrific! Thank you!
Glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for the feedback.
@@Matteline well i've been in the business for 40 years and started in atop motion and model VFX so all this is near and dear to my heart. I should comment more often but I watch and love every one if your videos so please keep up the great stuff and thanks again!
They also used a lot of foot bridge and signal gantry kits. All these are still available a great source of girder work.
There is a company named Dapol who I believe are still making most of the kits. Check out model railway retailers. Or research Dapol Girder Bridge.
@@Matteline Thats right Dapol bought the moulds from Hornby who got Airfix when they went broke. They were made by Kitmaster first and Dapol have now gone back to using that name for the range of kits. On Thunderbird 5 they also used another of the kits from this range The Dockside Crane jib is used underneath to hold the antenna The kits are still made in Wales too. One of the very few things for model makers still made in UK
@@cedarcam Thanks for the feedbak. I mention the dockside crane - and other railway kits - in the 'Kit Bashing - Models in Thundebirds' video.
Great video - most of the info has been out there in the Anderson modelling community but your video goes into greater depth with the spotting of these parts. I think we've all got a girder bridge (or two?) In our stashes!
With regards to the use of aircraft kits, I've been up in the loft just this morning measuring up the Starfighter and Hustler kits for the Zombite fighter.......
Excellent. Yes nothing new here, but I figured getting a lot of in one place was a good idea. The old ''Eagle Transporter' website was a great place for people to share info. Some really great modellers on there.
One thing I always noticed in the TB2 hanger was where did the pods on either side of the selected one go when TB2 lowered because if they kept the same spacing has they where rolled out at they’d be almost directly under each wing, oh and I can’t rmember the first or the last ever been used.
Yeh there is film-making sleight of hand in terms of the Pod positoms between shots.
Yes, both Pod 1 and Pod 6 have been taken out on Rescues..
POD 1 on the episode with Alan's racing car (Move and You're Dead' and 'Security Hazard'.
Pod 6 is taken in the 'Perils.do.Penelope' (one of the monorail episodes) and in 'Attack of.the Alligators' with Thunderbird 4 aboard. Not in Pod 4 as usual. It is not explained why.
As a model maker all my life, seeing those film models and what they were made from, inspired me a a young age, most of the space stations and space craft were made from many Tamiya, Airfix, Monogram kits, the huge space station in 2001 was hundreds of these kits and this method was also used in Alien, before the introduction of CGi, which is somehow, not the same as the " real thing "...and film makers are going back the these roots...
I think it is important to recognise the two facets to this technique.
The art of adding detail to a model - like the space station in 2001 or the Millennium Falcon - where the kit-bashing is adding to a designed and constructed model.
And then there are models which are built entirely from kit bashed model.kits and the like. Several of the fighter planes seen in Thunderbirs are examples of this. (A video on these models is in the works). Or the famous (infamous) hairdryer spaceship from 'Dr Who' / 'Blakes 7'. They are both artistic techniques. And great fun!
Airfix pontoon bridge is also there. Great dry assembly kit, no longer available. Airfix Bailey pontoon bridge is, I think, what supports the T2 ramp…?
The TB2 ramp structure is definitely the Girder Bridge. The 'pontoon bridge' kit is much smaller. And I believe was not released until 1970.
*"A Bridge* [not] *Too Far."* 😊
My god, this bloke is observant!
Thanks. I think :)
I wonder what happened to those excellent sets and models?
sadly virtually nothing exists. a number of the models were destroyed - intentionally - during the course of the filming. International Rescue always saved the people but sometime the hardware ended up exploding. Some were canibalised to make different models for new episode. And this bit is heartbreaking, most of the models and puppets and sets were thrown in a skip when the business shot down in the early 1970s. A handful of the models survived and sometime show up on auction. A moonbase Interceptor from UFO, the 6 wheeled jeep / half track from Thunderbirds, one of the Ocean Pioneers tankers, a futuristic bus and some other ancilliary models. But apparently none of the major stuff. I imagine some of things must be in private collections, but there are stories form the people who were working there at the time of these skips just full of this stuff. Of course, today, the contents of those skips would be worth tens of thousands of pounds now.
I think it would have been cool to have kits of the Thunderbird crafts, 1,2,3 & 4 at their launch stations. 4 could be a bit larger scale coming out of pod 4 and Thunderbird 5 could come with a small globe of the world or something perhaps?. This may sound a bit funny, but I want a model of Thunderbird 3's round house. Ring house. Whatever it's called.
The range of Aoshima 'Thunderbirds' kits (now being sold under AIP in the UK) does include the hangar's for TB1, TB2 and TB3 (although all of these hangar kits are just the immediate surroundings. so no swimming pool, no folding palm trees or cliff house... and no ROUND HOUSE. But it's a start. I think the TB% comes with a stand that is the globe... but I am not sure. TB5 always seems to get left behind in the merchandising and it is the case here - this kit is a re-issue of an old IMAI or BANDIA kit. Not terrible, but not in the same class as the newer kits of TB1, TB2, TB3 and TB4.
I wonder how many of those girder kits thay used
I counted at least 50 in the rocket hangar in the movie 'Doppleganger'.
Nice video! Will you do one on the tracks too?
Yes. I am working on the caterpillar track video now. And some of the other kits that were especially popular with the Meddings team.
Bet airfix made a packet.
I counted at least 40 kits in that Dopplegager hanger alone! ... although I day say they may have been re-sue from other models
I've added a link here to the recent video from Century 21 Films where series diector David Elliott indicates the use of the girder bridge kit in the Thunderbird Launch Bay replica on screen in the original studios before their senseless demolition.
th-cam.com/video/b9T5DHYBGPw/w-d-xo.html
Thanks for that. From the excellent documentary 'Filmed In Supermarionation' directed by Stepehn La Riviere.
Sorry mate, you missed something. I remember this from watching the programme when it aired. It's something one of the team admitted to with some degree of embarrassment in one of the documentary videos. Pause your video at 6 min 21ands you'll see it. On the back wall of TB1's hangar, spot the circular thing with a ribbed. pointed dome in the middle. That's a plastic lemon juicer painted silver! How do i know? My mum had one in the kitchen. Perhaps appropriately, given it's purpose in lfe, it was yellow.
Ahh yes, you are eferring ro the 'lemon squeezer in Thimderbird 1's launch area.
Many household objects, toys and model kit parts were uaed in making the miniature sets and models..This video is specifically about the 'Airfix Giirder Bridge' kit.
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