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.

Ultraman Towards the Future AKA Ultraman Great part 8

 We had a range of aircraft models that were featured in the show.

A couple of episodes of Ultraman featured the RAAF ( Royal Australian Air Force) as attacking aircraft in the air and on the ground. In 1989 the RAAF was flying FA18 aircraft, now more than 30 years later they still are. We built up a number of plastic model kits of the FA18 in 1/32 and 1/48 scale. Below is is one of the larger 1/32 scale models used for closeups and pyro.

 The larger 1/32 models in flying mode were mostly mounted by clamping a wing in a C-stand just out of frame, as they were usually used for close ups

In the two pictures above one of them meets a fiery demise due to some creatures malevolent intent. The model was covered in a pyrotechnic material and ignited with an electric igniter. A fan was placed further back and below to blow all the pyro smoke back and look like the aircraft was in flight.

 

For a quick scene of the FA18s parked at a base a small set was cobbled together from some UMA base service equipment, cocnut matting hills and model building bits we had on hand. The foreground plane is 1/32 and the rest are 1/48 scale.

 

Here I am watching Adam Grace peruse the instruction sheet to figure out the decal placement on the completed 1/48 scale kits. All the kits came with RAAF markings which was handy for us. I think we may have added an UMA triangle decal to the centre of the RAAF roundel which covered the kangaroo.

 

This shows a flight of 1/48 scale kits on their wire rig. Sometimes they were hung from a converted TV microphone boom and swung in an arc. In this case when they were in formation they were hung from a simple wooden rig that was attached to a cable that traveled across the studio in a straight line.

On the left is Hisashi Ogasawara who was the Tsubaraya productions wire specialist sent out from Japan. He was always referred to by the Japanese supervisor Koichi Takano as his nickname, which we were told translated as "Turtle". His credit on the show was "Manipulator". Our Japanese translator is assisting (right) unfortunately I don't remember his name. 

Visible in the picture above is Hisashi Ogasawara's winding mechanism brought out from Japan that moved the flight of aircraft models along the cable across the studio. It is a modified Film rewind handle with an aluminium pulley with three different diameter pulley grooves machined into it. The three different diameter grooves allowed for three variations in gearing allowing a wide range of speeds. It is mounted to a wooden base that is held down by a couple of heavy weights. As the pulley wheel was wound by hand the formation of aircraft would travel across the studio.

Martin Williams (standby props) attending to the wires. You can see the simple wooden marionette handle the models are suspended from which in turn attached to the cable that was wound across the studio. Above and behind him is the end of the boom arm that provided a curved trajectory for the models. Because the models on the boom appear to turn, a small slow speed geared 12 volt motor provided a banking motion as the boom was swung. This was controlled by a simple switch mechanism that provided forward and reverse direction to the motor which effected left and right roll of the model. Each model was supported by a thin tungsten wire at the nose and the tail with two more wires going to each wing tip which wrapped around the banking motor pulley.

David Tremont built a large scale missile for a close up launching shot. 1/32 scale FA18 models on the bench. There is also a tiny hummer model on the bench next to a kit missile that he was matching in the larger size.

Above is the modified TV microphone boom arm in use flying the UF-O creature.

 One of the smaller hummer models hung from the boom arm.

In one episode a full size crop duster aircraft is featured. I made up a small balsa kit of the aircraft to match the full size.

It had a small electric motor and a battery inside to spin the prop.It was only ever seen at a distance so was fairly simply detailed with some crop spraying pipes and nozzles under the wing as well as a matching livery to the full size aircraft.

 

 In the photo above I am switching on the electric motor prior to the shot with Jaime Crooks the First AD (left).

 

 

For another episode a military General arrives at UMA base to chew everybody out in an eye bulging display of over the top acting and we needed a quick shot set up of his aircraft arriving. We used a few bits of the UMA base set and one of my own personal kit bashed aircraft projects for the scene. The only thing done to the aircraft model was to add some RAAF markings with an UMA triangle decal. As I remember the kit bash used two Airfix Vulcan kits joined to a B1 bomber nose and fuselage. The outer wing tips were from a Skyray. In the shot the aircraft is slowly rotating on the turntable as if it just landed. You can also see one of the 12 volt Phillips halogen miniature bayonet lamps mounted on the ground under the rear of the aircraft. This provided a bright flaring backlight, I think to represent landing lights, but mostly to add a bit of interest to a quickly cobbled together shot.

 

I never got that model back and have no idea what happened to it. I fact I never got any of my donated models back.