Ultraman Towards the Future AKA Ultraman Great part 12

Building site in HO scale

The building site miniature set that the creature bursts up through I originally made for a television commercial. designed to be shot looking down, a giant bankers foot was to step into it. I'm not sure if it was ever used or not as I never saw the finished commercial. It was made using a number of HO scale model railroad accessories making it 1/87th scale. It was another of my models to be donated to the production.

 

The two headed creature's name was Bogun which was amusing as a "bogan" is an Australian slang term that roughly equates to a "redneck". This was another of the creatures that eventually was re-made into a man-in-a-suit for shots of it fighting Ultraman and subsequently shot in Adelaide South Australia with a different crew.

 

The pit walls were built up around the original model which was slightly re-arranged to suit the new action with a breakaway ground surface the creature could punch through.

Adm Grace is fitting some random laser cut acrylic trusses we had left over from the UMA underground base miniature set. The rock surface above is some more thick aluminium foil (fin stock) scrunched up and painted. Actually the model steelwork he is handling looks like it came from the parking garage miniature originally made for the aborted 1987 Total Recall production.

 

This was the model as it was finished for delivery to the commercial makers.

There was a small joke in the rubbish skip.

This is the view that was required for the commercial. It was intended to be only seen from above composited into an aerial view of a city.

Ultraman Towards the Future AKA Ultraman Great part 11

 Martian Landscape

The martian landscape was another set built by Tony Lees.

 

The Martian Lander spacecraft started as another one of my own personal spaceship projects which was donated to the production and completed by David Tremont with the addition of the communications pod and the final paint finish.

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This was my original Lander project in primer before it was modified for the Ultraman production. The engine nozzles were from a Revell 1/72 space shuttle kit. I was inspired by a mushroom shaped ship I saw in a small photo in an issue of Cinefantastique magazine.

 

 

David Tremont on the set with the completed lander- seemingly asleep.

The Goudis puppet in its original form made by the puppet crew Steve Roswell, Vicki Kite, Graham Binding, Norman Yeend and Warren Beaton. It was one of the puppet creatures that eventually got re-made as a man in a suit for a fight sequence with a man in a suit Ultraman.

The cable controlled Ultraman puppet built by Warren Beaton squares off against the puppet Goudis. It was a very hot summer during the shoot and to get the depth of field for the high frame rate shots they needed a lot of light. The sun light was provided by a large Dino light, nine globes in a panel that gave of a massive amount of heat raising the temperature of the sand on the set above 55 degrees celsius (131 farenheit). There were two portable air conditioners running that failed to make any dent in the temperature in the studio. Walking into the studio from the workshop was a real shock to the system.

Goudis and Ultraman with foreground left to right, Jaimie Crooks the First AD, Joanne Parker camera assistant, Paul Nichola Visual Effects supervisor, Steve Roswell and behind him Paul Moyes miniatures unit gaffer. The people in the background I am not sure about.

 

Paul Nichola the Miniature Effects supervisor looking down the eyepiece as Adam Newcombe manipulates the Ultraman puppet.

 

This was the workshop area with the puppet crew occupying the right side corner. Visible in the picture left to right are, actually I'm not sure who that is on the far left, then Vicki Kite, Steve Roswell and Norman Yeend.

 

This was the model makers side of the room. From left to right are David Tremont, Adam Grace and me.

Ultraman Towards the Future AKA Ultraman Great part 10

In one episode the F18 models again feature flying over a miniature landscape with a volcanic anomaly caused by the Goudis monster.

 

The set was built by Tony Lees, mostly from polyurethane pouring foam with the background rock formations out of polystyrene foam. Once again some very impressive scenic art by Len Armstrong in the painted cloudy sky.

 

 

 The glowing volcanic protrusion was made from heat forming a perspex sheet and backlighting it with orange gels. It was covered with polyurethane foam which was carved into detailed rock shapes. Fine cork chips provide the small crust details.

 

Dry ice was used for the low lying steam and mist.

 

A squadron of FA18 models hung from the overhead wire cable for straight flight. The top most aircraft is in a banking turn which means it was hung from the boom rig.

In the picture below the lead aircraft is again on the boom arm and is swinging in an arc and banking to look like it is peeling off from the formation.

 

 

Boom hung model aircraft over the glowing lava field. You can see the wires that go to the wing tips which go up and over a pulley on a small 12 volt geared motor at the end of the boom. Rotating the motor forward or reverse banks the aircraft left or right. The model is supported by two other wires one at the nose and one at the tail.

 

Here the formation of models are on the cable that goes across the studio and travel in a straight line. No banking is required on this rig.

 

 The UMA Hummers are sent out to deal with the anomaly. Above is one of the hummer models with a blast from either a smoke machine or liquid CO2 aimed at the volcanic centre.

 

A larger scale section of the rock wall was built for some close up pyro action. It was a large perspex sheet, backlit, with vertical rock pieces attached. Paul Fardouly and myself are up top getting ready to pour methocel ( a clear food thickener) and cork chips down the surface for a flowing lava effect. The string across the top has a series of strips of a pyrotechnic material that will ignite and drop down into frame to simulate falling hot rocks from the volcanic activity. Steve Newman Miniatures unit DOP with the camera on a jib (left) and Phillip Hearnshaw 2nd unit director (striped shorts) on the right.

 

 

Paul Fardouly and I are both wearing safety face shields due to the proximity of the pyro explosions as well as the flaming volcanic debris raining down. These shots were from the POV of an attacking aircraft. The Camera is wrapped in thick foil to protect it from the pyro. The lens has a matte box with a clear glass filter installed to protect it.

 

 

 The Goudis monster puppet in his second incarnation. It is a different form from the version in episode one  so a new puppet Goudis was built for this episode.

 

 

Puppeteer Ross Browning operating the Goudis mk2 puppet. Steve Newman operating the Arii SRII 16mm camera.

The picture above shows the new Goudis with a cable controlled Ultraman puppet built by Warren Beaton. The Ultraman puppet although pretty sophisticated was not able to do all the fighting action that eventually it was called upon to do. When we started Ultraman none of us realised the importance of the one on one fighting scenes to the show and the Japanese producers. Most of us had never seen an episode as it was never shown in Australia. As I understand it, eventually this conceptual over-sight lead to a great deal of political upheaval between the main unit in Adelaide South Australia and the miniatures unit in Sydney. The end result was that a series of the monsters was additionally made into men in suits and a new unit was set up in Adelaide to film some fight sequences on a couple of outdoor miniature sets. This all came with an added cost to the South Australian Film Corporation's budget, who were the Australian producers of the show. As I was not involved in this unit I have no photographs or information about its work.

 The picture above shows Adam Newcombe puppeteering the Goudis mk2 and Ultraman puppets locked in a strange embrace with Paul Moyes the model unit Gaffer assisting.

Thanks for looking, more soon.

 

Ultraman Towards the Future AKA Ultraman Great part 9

One Ultraman episode was filmed at an RAAF Air force base and we had to match the hangar in miniature. It was also a further outing for our contingent of FA18 models in 1/48 and 1/32 scale.

Miniature aircraft Hangar model 1/48 scale FA18 models parked out the front with the UF-O creature hovering above. In the background is a warehouse model built for a previous episode with no roof. The lack of roof was not visible from the low camera angle. Unfortunately I can't recall who built the hangar model.

 

In the episode the UF-O creature breaks out of the hangar by punching through the roof. The bent out roof panels were made from the same thick aluminium foil known as "fin stock" as used for the blasted rock walls of the under ground UMA base. The aluminium panels were pressed between two Evergreen textured styrene sheets to impart the same corrugations as on the rest of the model.

 

Here I am attempting to superglue the Evergreen styrene roof panels down which expanded and buckled under the heat of the studio lights. The foreground FA18 model is 1/32 scale with the 1/48 scale models behind.

 

 

Of course the UF-O creature causes havoc. One of the 1/32 scale models is trashed. Pyro effects were by Alan Maxwell assisted by Judy Dabbs.

 

 

The aftermath of the explosion. You can see the specks of black soot on the foreground aircraft model that would pepper everything in the vicinity of the pyro. It would all have to be cleaned off for use in another shot. Models tended to get dirtier and dirtier as the model shoot progressed.

 

A second 1/32 scale model about to take one for the team. You can see that the model has been pre-broken and loosely put back together so that the explosion will split the back of the aircraft flipping both halves apart. You never see the obvious break as in the edit the shot will usually start right at the point of the pyro detonating.

 

 

There was a shot of the UF-O breaking through the roof from the inside of the hangar so a special breakaway interior roof section miniature was built by David Tremont. It was a very fragile structure that was placed upside down so the UF-O model could be dropped through the structure.

 

With the camera mounted upside down it would appear that the UF-O was rising up through the roof. The picture below shows the shot being set up with Steve Newman the model unit DOP on the left and David Tremont in the back. I think it may be Philip Hearnshaw the second unit director on the right.
As usual there were two high speed cameras filming the action, the Arri SR II on the left and the Photosonics Actionmaster on the right.

 

  This is roughly how the scene would look through the camera. The curved trusses were cast from a silicon mold in a brittle resin that would break easily as the UF-O was dropped through them. All the broken debris would obviously travel "upwards" relative to the camera with none of it "falling" back down. The shot is so quick that there is no time to notice that it seems to defy physics.

 

 As with almost all the models built for the show the hangar exterior model gets re-used and makes an appearance in the Gigasaurus episode as some sort of industrial building. In this photo you can see its outline and the unpainted chipboard back wall that was never seen on camera.

 

 

 Here it is with a number of small diecast toy cars parked outside.

 

 

 Here I am spraying Santa Snow over the scene to show the effects of Gigasaurus' freezing breath. Paul Moyes the model unit gaffer looks on.

Thanks for looking, more soon.