Models on TV and in the movies

PatlaborUnit1,

In the latest episode of BSG Adama is distraught over losing Starbuck and goes postal on that sailing vessel. That was painful to watch!!! All that time and effort in measuring, cutting, tying, gluing, and trimming the rigging on a model that size take a huge amount of time.

There is an episode of "Leave it to Beaver" where Beaver is building a small sailing ship.                    

I've also seen built models sitting on their dresser.

overkillphil wrote:

I've noticed a trend in Bruckheimer shows for model builders to be portrayed as psychos and mentally ill individuals.

Well, many of us do appear to be on the eccentric side of life. When writing for TV, even more than movies, the writers will go for the quick stereotype rather than a well defined character, especially of the character has a one time appearance as opposed to a major or recurring character.

Keep your eyes open for a "ripped from the headlines" Law and Order: SVU featuring a model building dad who, along with his wife, overdose their daughter to death. I don't know if they'll pick up on it, but the sick who was charged in this crime in the eastern part of the state used to be in my club. 

Wirraway wrote:

Re, Top Gun, was that the scene where Slider has the (wooden ?) Model of the A4  in the classroom ? "Crashed and burned huh Mav ?" "Slider, you stink !"

after the girl (charlie was it) gave tom cruise the note.  in the same scene i think there was a large scale F-14 on the desk in the background.

overkillphil wrote:

I've noticed a trend in Bruckheimer shows for model builders to be portrayed as psychos and mentally ill individuals.

This sparked a little memory for me.  Did anyone ever see "Boyz N the Hood"?  I can't remember character names but the one guy who was staying on the straight and narrow and was on his way to college was a model builder.  His messed up brother always looked up to him and commented how he was always building his models.

Eric

Re, Top Gun, was that the scene where Slider has the (wooden ?) Model of the A4  in the classroom ?

"Crashed and burned huh Mav ?"

"Slider, you stink !"

Don't get picky aj

Besides the model of the town plays a big part in the movie Beetlejuice,as well as showing Alex Baldwin working on it in a few scenes.

 Don't forget TOP GUN. . .

Don

Glamdring wrote:

it when Magnum blew it up with a firecracker a couple seasons later when the two of them were having a little game of destructive one-upsmanship with each others favorite posessions.

Yep! I remember that that was my favorite episode! Just something about how juvinile that was just cracked me up!

Well, if we're going to include movie props as models, rather than modeling per se, let's not forget Godzilla (and all the sequels) with model tanks and planes attacking Ol' Nuke Breath! Or for that matter, any of the many stop action (ray harryhjausen style) movies and the early Star Wars/Star Trek movies (Pre CG SPFX) that used models as props, many made of identifyable parts from commercial models.

BTW, the Clint Eastwood movie refered to ealier is The Dead Pool, the last in the Dirty harry series.  

Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Patsy points out to Arthur that the castle is "just a model."

Beeteljuice: "Nice *expletive deleted* model".

Slap Shot: The Hansons and the 1/32 scale slot cars: "They brought their *expletive deleted* toys with them."

And old mans disease hits me, The Clint Eastwood movie where they use an RC car with explosives to chase Clint through the streets. . .

Don

JoeRugby wrote:

Ashton Keuthcer movie the "Butterfly Effect", main character is in a psych hospital and his room mate is brush painting a B24, with a bunch of compleed kits hanging from he ceiling.  The builder room mate was quite disturbed!  Perhaps an illeteration for the rest of the building community in the real world (?)

now i remember a few but the names of the movies i dont.  one a father character is painting a british plane (looked like 1/72) while waiting in bed for the mother figure.  dirty dozen the second mission the engineer corps made a mock up of the selected mission for the dozen.  countless military movies that show military mock ups of castles and such.  battle of the bulge the mock ups of the rocket bombs and the king tiger.  battle of britian the pilot gives his two sons models of hurricanes and me109's.  tora tora tora the sheet is pulled away to show a model of pearl harbor.

joe 

DesertRat wrote:

I'm suprised no one hasn't mentioned this already...    Magnum P.I- That one guy named Higgins who is the caretaker of the estate; once in awhile you see him sitting down and messing with a scale model of the Bridge on the River Kwai.

That's right!  He made it all with matchsticks, and I remember the episode exactly.  I loved it when Magnum blew it up with a firecracker a couple seasons later when the two of them were having a little game of destructive one-upsmanship with each others favorite posessions.  

I'm suprised no one hasn't mentioned this already...

   Magnum P.I- That one guy named Higgins who is the caretaker of the estate; once in awhile you see him sitting down and messing with a scale model of the Bridge on the River Kwai.

Here's one for our BBC viewers.

In season 1 of The Vicar of Dibley (one of my faves!) Jim is building a "Airfix (who knew!) model of the Spaceship Enterprise on the telly, and I spilt the bottle of glue, gluing my hand to it"

Where he raises his hand up for all to see and it is quite firmly glued to the small B&W television!

I almost fell out of my chair on that one.

David

JoeRugby wrote:

Ashton Keuthcer movie the "Butterfly Effect", main character is in a psych hospital and his room mate is brush painting a B24, with a bunch of compleed kits hanging from he ceiling.  The builder room mate was quite disturbed!  Perhaps an illeteration for the rest of the building community in the real world (?)

LOL!  Clearly the directors of the episode knew many model builders.  Maybe this was the most accurate representation of our inner selves.  Ha-ha-ha!

Eric

American Chopper: Shuttle Tribute bike. Paul Sr. and Mikey completely mess up a couple of kits.

8 Simple Rules: James Garner and David Spade are building models on the coffee table.

Glamdring wrote:

If my memory serves, there was a James Bond movie where the villain had a bunch of models of famous battlefields.  I'm pretty sure it was The Living Daylights.

That sounds right. It was a Timothy Dalton as 007 film.

 There's another TV moment I remember. On Star Trek: Next Generation, there is a scene where Lt. Worf is building a wooden boat model. The door chime rings, and distracted, he breaks the specific piece he is working on. Frustrated, he sweeps the mess into a desk drawer.