Ultraman Towards the Future Part 6

For one episode of Ultraman we needed some defensive hidden gun emplacements on UMA island. 

The picture below shows setting up for a shot with one of the gun emplacements. There was a single and a double gun set up that was hidden behind secret panels that opened up in the rock cliffs.

 

All the rock miniature set components for the show were carved by Tony Lees out of big chunks of polystyrene foam.  At the end of a work day he always ended up looking like the abominable snowman.

Fine foliage was shredded foam like that used used in cushions and pillows. It was shredded in old kitchen blenders, then soaked in green water based paint and dried.

  

Here I am working on the off camera side of the double gun section. The guns were made from components originally molded and cast for the aborted Total recall movie in 1987. These urethane resin castings were rocket launchers to go on the radio controlled vehicles they were building for a chase scene on mars. Unfortunately the film was cancelled before the vehicles were completed. 

I think the bases they sat on were also from this source but with extra detailing added.

 

Both guns could elevate and rotate in sync using a rod and tube, all moved by hand using the central wooden handle. The rock wall would hinge back and then slide up by pulling on the cord which goes over a pulley at the top thus revealing the hidden guns .

 

The guns were rigged to fire a tracer squib from each of the eight barrels. Each barrel had a brass tube cast inside it. All the pyro was done by Alan Maxwell and Judy Dabbs.

 

A third location for a gun was a ground based one that rose up through a round trap door that popped up and spread apart into two halves. The gun was mounted on a teeter totter parallelogram rig to raise it up and down by hand. Tony Lees (top right) is adding more foliage to the rock ledges.

 

 

The larger close up trees and bushes used predominantly plastic foliage. We purchased a stack of it choosing the types that had the smallest leaf shape available.

 

 

We also used a wispy natural dried foliage that was dyed green. The dye easily came off on your hands whenever you handled it.

 

 

Tony Lees is adding more foliage to the set. In this case he is more a green fingers than a green thumb. You can see the trap doors for the ground gun not quite in the closed position.

 

Photos are all by the model unit photographer Corrie Ancone.