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2 DAYS - i THINK |
No prizes for guessing what material the Harvester
was made from. Wonderful FOAMEX or FOAMALUX (a brand name). The obvious
choice, as, like gerty and a lot of the company hardware, it was flat-sided,
angular and chunky. This was intentionally meant to give a corperate feel
and I think it worked. we always have a scale figure nearby so we can be
mindful of the scale. this was one 12th scale like the Rovers and the Base.
Dr Who - David Tennent stands in as he's about that size. |
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BILLS TRACKS |
Bill handed me some toy crane tracks, which
he'd stuck together until they were the correct length for the Harvester,
but I had to check they were going to fit before I took it any further.
I clad some thin Foamex inside for dressing later and Bill figured out a
way of doing the broad track (using cut-up car mats and foamex strip) which
would be applied later. Now I had to think of a way to attach them to the
body and make them removable. |
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SAFE TO GLUE |
Once I know there are no major adjustments
to be made and everything works, I glue the main structure together and
the masking tape that was previously holding it together can now go. Ive
even sorted the scoop arms at this point and beefed up the harvester ends
with upturned dumpster toys (orange) |
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QUITE A BEAST |
The first rough assembly is always good to
do as soon as possible. I can see the finished item in my minds eye a lot
easier now. |
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PRINTER CARTRIDGES |
More time saving 'wiggets' were disected printer
cartridges (in grey, next to the orange). cut in half and washed thoroughly
under the tap. couldnt have magenta dripping all over the set now could
we? |
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TOY DIGGER ARMS |
More toys came my way in the form of digger
arms, which were a pretty good length for the smaller center scoops. Not
that strong, but then they didnt have to push any REAL dust - or so we thought.
I put some tiny wheels low down at the back so you wouldnt see them, to
prevent the scoops from buckling backwards when they snagged on something. |
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MORE FUN |
You can see Bills broader track in position
here and I was having fun dressing around the LED torches installed for
the headlights. I also thought lengths of ladder would sell the scale and
be a practical detail to add. |
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HIDDEN DETAIL |
The Harvester was to be shot along with the Sarang base
in the background, as a scavenged, older unit, used for spare parts. if
shot at the end, we could have put more time into the hero harvester and
trashed it goodstyle for the scavenged scenes because it wasnt needed
again. We were told that the Sarang base scenes were to be shot FIRST.
Without the time to build two harvesters, Bill suggested hiding the innards
behind panels, which we could remove or replace as required. Unless you
knew where to look, you'de never know they were there and even then...
As It happened all the hero shots with the entire Harvester
were shot FIRST........D'oh!!
|
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IN HINDSIGHT..... |
Maybe more of a time restriction, but, one
much larger removable section would have been more noticable than several
small ones |
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NOT ORANGE ANYMORE |
Grey Plastic Primer is what we prefer for
spraying models wth before anything else as it etches into the plastic and
so subsequent layers key to it and dont flake off AND it evens out all the
different tones into one and makes it harder for the underneath colour to
poke through and influence the colour on top. Brings it all together! |
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PAINT PROCESS |
Some of the primer grey I may use as an actual
colour, so I mask some panels off now, before I go any further. |
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THE BEHEOMOTH |
Jokingly posing here for the 'Cinefex shot' as we all
quip in the trade. serious face of concentration and all.
Ironically, this made it into the pages of Cinefex! at
last!!!! Only taken 20 years!!
|
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LITTLE SHOVEL |
Another small piece of input was this shovel
at the end of a chain. Unfortunately the chain caused problems swinging
side to side during high speed filming, so had to go. The Shovel survived
- not that you can see it in the final film as nearly all of the detail
at lower levels is obliterated by the computer generated moondust. |
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HIDDEN WHEELS |
The toy tracks wouldnt actually be the practical
way of moving the harvester as they werent made to support this kind of
weight (and believe me we tried - it just wasnt going to happen) so I had
to support the majority of the harvester on 4 trolly wheels. You can also
see the extra detail I neednt have bothered with. many access panels too,
for threading of electrical wires. |
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NEEDS SOME COLOUR |
I think thats it. all the construction work
is done. Now its a matter of painting it. |
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I FELT IT WAS RIGHT |
Knowing that the Harvester was travelling
on felt on stage, I had to duplicate conditions in the workshop, so I stapled
some felt to the workbench.The wheels were on a vertically adjustable piece
of timber inside. The amount of weight bearing down on the rubber tracks
had to be just so. took about 5 attempts to get it just right. I think it
was so fine, the added weight of the arms might have made a difference.
Should have thought of that at the time!! Lucky for me it was alright on
the night (as they say) |
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FIRST DIRT |
As there is no rain on the moon and only 6th
gravity, I couldnt rain-streak the dirt, but just hope things like static,
magnetism, odd bits of grease, would help dirt to cling to the Harvester.
In corners mostly. The Harvester was chucking up a LOT of dust too - would
be weird if it was clean. Everything was done in the biggest rush possible
- if Id have had more time - I might have done a better job, but then you
run the risk of it looking contrived if you labour over every blob of grunge.
Chuck it on!! |
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MORE DIRT |
This is where all the used moondust is ejected.
spewed out is what we ended up with. maybe there should have been MORE dirtying
down!? |
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LAMP TEST |
Those new LED torches are really bright! You
can see a close-up of some of the wiggetting behind the front panel, but
it has not yet been weathered! |
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SWITCH ON |
There was also a lamp at the rear, which Bill
switches on prior to the cameras rolling. |
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SAY CHEESE |
...WELL, THE MOON'S
MADE OF IT, INNIT? Well, Yes it is, but its not flat, certainly not BEFORE
the Harvester has been by, with its levelling scoops. But thats what the
set had to be, else the harvester wouldnt have worked at all. I think the
arms would have to be segmented affairs with a pivotal joint inbetween each
segment. Only NASA would notice this though wouldnt they?.....and the guy
who made it. |
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TAKE FOUR |
A tricky little scene where the rover drives
into the back of the harvester - not a shot we were aware of until the last
minute. Richard St Clair pulls the rover. eventually, there was enough footage
to edit together into the final sequence to make it clear what was going
on. |
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THE TROUBLE WAS... |
The Harvester was a film model and not a practical
piece of hardware. we just didnt have the time to make it so. Thus, the
harvester would only really travel along a truly flat surface - not something
you're going to find easily on the moon, unless you're behind a Helium3
Harvester!l The set had to be checked for rocks and bumps prior to each
take. |
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"PULL! YOU SHEEP-HEADS!" |
....A line from MOBY DICK...yet
thats how all the MOON vehicles were moved. tungsten wire is fine and
strong enough to pull a heavy object like the Harvester. Bill cut his
hand pulling this beast.
I didnt spend much time on stage
- I was far too busy in the workshop - which I feel more comfortable with
anyway.
|
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DAMAGE BEGINS |
The scoop arms were the main areas that came
in for damage as they snagged on the felt and put pressure on the glue joins.
most of them were bolstered with minute black cable-ties to help. |
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DEPTH OF FIELD |
Main problem when shooting from eye-level
(as one should when shooting miniatures - thats the law as set down by the
late great DEREK MEDDINGS) is depth of field - and the foreground being
out of focus. This was just a shot I quickly took. I think production sorted
any problems they had with DOF in post-production. |
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A CLEAN SWEEP |
again, notice the flat surface for the Harvester
to travel on. |
