Yeah, Angelina Jolie is cute and all, but even she's no Caroline Munro... 

Gamera

..........

I remember 'Sky Captain' as being kinda so-so, I should watch it again. I think the P-40s turned into submarines or something like that? 

 ....

Yes...as I recall-  the movie copied "The Spy Who Loved Me" in that aspect............

........regretably, no Caroline Munro to dress up the movie

Yeah, in one bizarre bit of triva it's believed that the first porn sent via internet was by Amiga since it was the first computer to have a resolution to depict something better than naughty stick figures. Though of course considering the bandwidth back then you've have to wait an hour or so to download one picture. 

I remember 'Sky Captain' as being kinda so-so, I should watch it again. I think the P-40s turned into submarines or something like that? 

Gamera,

thanks for that info.

I must admit I was unaware of the hardware and software used in creating Babylon 5 but am still impressed by the specs of that Commodore 

http://www.pcmuseum.ca/details.asp?id=27

as I recall the weak specs of the average consumer computers ( and their price ! ) from that era.

Though completely CGI, I was not very impressed by the special effects of the movie: "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow ".  Nice seeing a P-40, though , even if only CGI. 

I was tempted to buy a 21st Century pre-built version of the movie P-40 but decided I did not have room to store it. Maybe I will mark one of the new tool AIRFIX kits to match the movie even though not the same version P-40.

Hmmmm, interesting turn in the thread here. Yeah, 'Tron' and 'The Last Starfighter' were the first two movies as far as I know to feature CGI. Oddly enough though 'Tron' despite occuring 'inside the computer' the CGI was slow and clumsy enough that Disney's animators actually drew a lot of the computer stuff in by hand. I didn't know about 'The Black Hole' but since Disney did 'Tron' too it's certainly possible. 

All this stuff was done with huge CRAY mainframes that cost mammoth sums to produce and took forever. I remember reading that Dr. Carol Marcus's Genesis demo video in 'The Wrath of Khan' took over nine months to render for this little five minute or so clip.

'Babylon 5' was the first production as far as I know to make CGI practical as the new Commodore Amiga computer with 'Video Toaster' software could do everything a CRAY could do ten years earlier faster and cheaper.

'Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow' was the first I believe to feature CGI everything, with only a handful of sets actual real props. Everything else was green-screen.  

Real G

Tron and The Last Starfighter were the first movies with significant CGI I believe.  Starfighter came out in 1984, Tron maybe 1982-3.  Oh my User, it was so long ago!

Time sure does pass quickly.............local tv station is advertising the 50th anniversary of the 1966 tv show Lost in Space premiering on networks across the USA.

I might even scratch build a tank similar to those in the film Tron...

The one Disney Sci-Fi film I did see in the theater was "Black Hole' in 1979 and am now surprised to read that the movie was one of the first to feature CGI...

Would have been nice if the Black Hole model of the Cygnus had been molded in clear plastic as the movie version was internally lit; not possible as molded in kit form.

stikpusher

 

 

Sprue-ce Goose

 

stikpusher

I tell ya, if I could not have been a soldier or cop like I ended up, my other dream job was to be one of the ILM model makers... Too bad CGI killed that off...

 

 

 

Now that you mention CGI ....does anyone know how long ago CGI replaced filming physical models?

I am thinking mid 1990s - sometime after Terminator 2- but am not certain.

 

I remember "Memphis Belle" being CGI replacing miniatures in the early 90s.

 

I did not recall hearing that at the time   ; makes sense, now that I think of some images I remember from the theater.

Will need to pull my DVD and view it again as the last view was on the old "boob tube" and not on an HD tv.

Tron and The Last Starfighter were the first movies with significant CGI I believe.  Starfighter came out in 1984, Tron maybe 1982-3.  Oh my User, it was so long ago!

Sprue-ce Goose

 

stikpusher

I tell ya, if I could not have been a soldier or cop like I ended up, my other dream job was to be one of the ILM model makers... Too bad CGI killed that off...

 

 

 

Now that you mention CGI ....does anyone know how long ago CGI replaced filming physical models?

I am thinking mid 1990s - sometime after Terminator 2- but am not certain.

 

I remember "Memphis Belle" being CGI replacing miniatures in the early 90s.

stikpusher

I tell ya, if I could not have been a soldier or cop like I ended up, my other dream job was to be one of the ILM model makers... Too bad CGI killed that off...

Now that you mention CGI ....does anyone know how long ago CGI replaced filming physical models?

I am thinking mid 1990s - sometime after Terminator 2- but am not certain.

Hi " G "

   You can fudge those with Woodland Scenics or Walther Cornerstone H.O. scale flatcar engine loads .   T.B.

I wish you guys had preserved those, I love to see them. 

First time I saw that rule in effect is when a friend built a horrid resin kit of a Land Wasser Schlepper and a month or two later HobbyBoss came out with about four different kits of different versions of the blasted thing... 

I tell ya, if I could not have been a soldier or cop like I ended up, my other dream job was to be one of the ILM model makers... Too bad CGI killed that off...

I do have a dream project to build a M4A1 DD tank and have pretty much all I need to start. But I know that when I do, somebody- Tamiya, Tasca, Dragon, Italeri... will come out with one in kit form. My armor conversions always do.

Stik,

Wow, the coincidence is frightening! I started building a 1/48 Y-Wing in high school and got rather far.  I think I was only missing a few small components (primarily the ship gun barrels on the front of the engine nacelles) then gave up when my rolled ABS engines started to deform.  I also started a 1/48 Falcon, but got only as far as the cockpit module.  The hull framing was started, but it was too much too soon.  Sorry no pics!  I wish we had digital cameras back then.

I think the only time I got trumped by a kit manufacturer was when I heavily modified a Hawk V-1 into a Reichenberg piloted bomb.  I changed or modified almost every part of that dreadful kit.  I took my newly completed model to the local IPMS meeting, and was greeted by "Oh, you already got the Tamiya V-1?"

I'm not planning on scratching up anything at the moment, but if something catches my fancy, I'll take up the challenge.  So the time limit is what, 20 years?  

RG, Star Wars inspired me to do a Y-Wing also. I sacrificed my USS Enterprise for the engine nacelles, and used sheet plastic signs for the rest of the airframe. As well as serious raiding of my spares bin for detail parts. A few years later they came out with the small scale snap tite kit. After Empire came out, I started on an AT AT, again using store bought sheet plastic signs. But MPC releasing that kit stopped that project before completion. I wish that the scratch built Probe Droid that I made at that time had survived to this day...  Yeah I did a few projects, others not named here, of the sort already...

I think I remember seeing that a few years ago G, I still love it!

I've been thinking for some time about trying to sculpt some figures I can't find, maybe I'll take you up on that TB and try it this year...

I tried it several times, with not much luck.  My first attempt was in 1977, right after seeing Star Wars.  I wanted a Y-Wing so badly!  I pulled out my junk box and realized that I didn't have the junk or the necessary skill to pull it off.  Nevertheless, Star Wars planted the seed for that crazy desire to scratchbuild stuff.

Many years later as I accumulated more skills, I attempted several Japanese anime scratchbuilds, which so far only resulted in one completion:

https://flic.kr/p/cRU8m5][/url]ADP Heli-Right Side 2 by N.T. Izumi, on Flickr

The thing is, it took over twenty years to get the thing across the finish line!  It seems to be a recurring pattern for me (start project, run into problem, halt project, decades pass, new skillset is obtained, restart project).

So... I think I'd better stay away from the challenge!  But I do agree that scratchbuilding one thing you are passionate about is a worthwhile endeavour.  And it should be something you really want, as that will provide the critical push to get it done.

Every time that I did a scratch project, or serious conversion, somebody comes out with the kit about the time that I finish up... 

plasticjunkie

I remember many years ago somebody took a steam loco and kit bashed it into a German bomber sort of a flying  locomotive with wings and props. It was on display at the front window of Orange Blossom Hobbies in Miami. 

 

Just after the premier of Star Wars, someone built a space ship using a number of Space 1999 Eagle kit halves combined with what, apparently , was once a clock radio.

Beautiful work.

Was on display at the Chicago Squadron Shop for almost a year.

mississippivol

What? Well nuts...might as well churn my own butter, too

 

Can't make butternut squash soup without butter...............

GMorrison

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvTL8KFSnuQ

 

Cool Video !

What? Well nuts...might as well churn my own butter, too

I remember many years ago somebody took a steam loco and kit bashed it into a German bomber sort of a flying  locomotive with wings and props. It was on display at the front window of Orange Blossom Hobbies in Miami. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvTL8KFSnuQ

I have not been able to find them, except I did find the TM, in Italian, for 150 Euros on eBay.

Not going there.

I am wondering if any scale drawings are even available for that engine.

http://www.museonicolis.com/en/doc-s-49-222-1-isotta_fraschini_mas_torpedo_boat_diesel_engine.aspx 

I just might. I've got a dormant project to scratch build the interior of the 1/35 Italeri MAS boat. The big impediment will be those monster Isotta Fraschini W block mills.

tankerbuilder

..............

      This is how many years ago I took an M-48-A-1 and turned it into a Lunar Exploration vehicle . Even with the Bubble Top and Op Center inside . It was nothing but FUN !..................

 

That reminds me of what the tv show model builders did with 1970s era Tamiya kits when building Space 1999 vehicles.