Cetacean - The Man From Atlantis submarine - Completed

Re: Cetacean - The Man From Atlantis submarine - Help

Well, I replaced my waterlogged keyboard, so once again I have the powers of punctuation and capitalization returned to me!:cool

Now as to what I was saying, crackerjazz..I may have been too abrupt in my conclusion, because looking back at your pictures, the sub height and mountain height aren't as similar as I thought. Disregard what I said, and chalk it up to a hasty judgement while stressing out about my keyboard! :behave

(now, why doesn't the spell-check recognize 'judgement?) :confused
 
Re: Cetacean - The Man From Atlantis submarine - Help

Whew - that was close, LMFAOSchwarz :) The post inside the mountain is on permanent duty
and would be hard to move.The apex is in fact about the height of the conning tower but looks
otherwise depending on the angle of the take. On the other hand - now that I think about it -
the mountaintop would be easy to build up with some styrofoam.

002-3.jpg

Attached the bow diving planes and sprayed the whole thing with a fresh coat of gray. I'm thinking
about whether to put a connector at the mounting point or just thread the wire down through the
channel and into wooden base.

003-2.jpg



004-2.jpg



001-4.jpg
 
Re: Cetacean - The Man From Atlantis submarine - Help

Hmm..not sure I can help you re: the wiring, c.j.. Without it in front of me, it's hard to make a guess!:confused I'm sure you'll do something wise!

Not that it's necessary, but were you going to add any fake sea life to the rocky surface, you know...plants of some kind? I'm just asking 'cause that's the point where I'd chicken out!

What is that small picture? I recognize Patrick Duffy, but the text is illegible. It almost appears, from the shirt he's wearing, a young Duffy guest-starring in Star Treks' 'Where No Man Has Gone Before', and decided to cut an album while he was at it!:lol
 
Re: Cetacean - The Man From Atlantis submarine - Help

It looks like Duffy's surfacing in a pool ... that's not his shirt, that's his skin!

I make the text out as:

CETACEAN
Man From Atlantis (1977)

MAN
FROM
ATLANTIS
 
Re: Cetacean - The Man From Atlantis submarine - Help

psion said:
It looks like Duffy's surfacing in a pool ... that's not his shirt, that's his skin!

I make the text out as:

CETACEAN
Man From Atlantis (1977)

MAN
FROM
ATLANTIS
Click to expand...

Now that you point it out, I can read it too! :)
 
Re: Cetacean - The Man From Atlantis submarine - Help

It is essentially a screen capture of the credits freeze frame with the ID text for the model superimposed on it. Nice idea actually.
 
Re: Cetacean - The Man From Atlantis submarine - Help

Yes it was the opening credit snapshot on which I just added some text. I thought it nicely
represented the show. Patrick Duffy didn't really sport a Moe (3-Stooges) haircut though so I'll
probably choose something else. I'm still experimenting with some good shots.


ManFromAtlantis.jpg



002Constructedlightbox.jpg

Cut up some pieces of acrylic and built a lightbox to make the title easier to read.



004sandedglasstofrostitup.jpg

Sanded the back plate to frost it up a bit.



005Sandwiched.jpg

Sandwiched the picture in between.


009Experimentedwithlightplacement.jpg

Experimented with light placement.


006Lightboxinaction.jpg

Lightbox in action. Don't know what text to put it there. I initially wanted to put in submarine
specs, then I thought maybe the simpler the better. The green "Man From Atlantis" doesn't stand
out against the blue background. Maybe I should make the blue a bit darker. On another note, it
should be Mr. Schubert's face in there. It was his ship originally, after all.



007BadtotheBone.jpg

I tried adding some text on a nice dark backround. See how it nicely stands out. Hey, wait - wrong ship! :)
 
Re: Cetacean - The Man From Atlantis submarine - Help

This is so great, and I love the illuminated panel idea. I promise not to crack any more silly jokes about it!:lol
 
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Re: Cetacean - The Man From Atlantis submarine - Help

A thin black surround on the text should pop it out really nice if you can do it. Otherwise, maybe changing the color to a brighter green (more like a yellow green) would probably work. I think Duffy should be there in the picture since Schubert was a relatively minor character (yes, he was the nemisis, but I recall he got eaten by a giant jelly fish)... unless you plan to scratch a tiny swimming Patrick Duffy that is.

Now if you wanted to have a really silly in-joke, slip in a picture of Duffy in the Shower from the infamous Dallas "last season was a dream" bit. ;) I mean hey, its Duffy and he's in the water again. :D
 
Re: Cetacean - The Man From Atlantis submarine - Help

JMChladek said:
...I think Duffy should be there in the picture since Schubert was a relatively minor character (yes, he was the nemisis, but I recall he got eaten by a giant jelly fish)... unless you plan to scratch a tiny swimming Patrick Duffy that is.
Click to expand...

I wonder if a picture of Victor Buono might work? Whenever I think of him (not that I do daily, or anything lol) I think of The Man From Atlantis.
 
Re: Cetacean - The Man From Atlantis submarine - Help

Victor Buono just might work :) Not much background about the ship's origins in the show, but Mr. Schubert must have designed it himself.

001Weathering1.jpg

Weathered the model according to the 38-inch prop photos. Several months ago I tried emailing the
person who advertised the prop auction but haven't been lucky to get any reply. I would've asked
whoever won it for just a few more shots. He sure is one lucky fella!


003Weathering3.jpg



002Weathering2.jpg



004Weathering4.jpg
 
Re: Cetacean - The Man From Atlantis submarine - Help

Awesome build and an excellent outcome !

If one may ask, were there any line drawings by yourself or from another source that might be available ? Wanting to build a variant of the Cetacean as a steampunk airship and would welcome any technical references to said vessel, thanks !
 
Re: Cetacean - The Man From Atlantis submarine - Help

crackerjazz said:
SFXVol1Cetaceanscreencap2.jpg
Click to expand...

Looking back on the earlier days of this thread got me to thinking that this image might be a good one to illuminate. Might give the model display a scientific "credibility", and would be a perfect way to introduce any and all who might see it in the future! Eliminate hearing "Who's that guy?", and instead hear Wow! "What a cool submarine!"

Just a thought.

Oh, and I really like the upper deck weathering effect. Gives it an air here, water here clarity.
 
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Re: Cetacean - The Man From Atlantis submarine - Help

Thanks, LMFAOSchwarz. Patron Zero, thanks - didn't really work off plans but sort of drew lines over
the photos of the 38-inch prop and screenshots (youtube at first, LOL, but got the DVD later on.)
to get dimensions. I would enlarge or reduce the photo so that the sphere matches my ping-pong ball (40mm) size and would get the resulting dimension of other parts from there.

Tailfin.jpg

This DVD screenshot for example was very useful in that it gives you the profile of the tailfin, the
shape of the conning tower, the shape of the bell housing, the ballast valves, the trusses and the
dimensions of the passageways in relation to the spheres. Almost everything is made of basic shapes,
except for the conning tower which is the hardest to pin down. I sort of drew mine on a paper first
before transferring to styrene but had to modify even after building. All screenshots of the back
of the conning tower are blurry.


Here are some other DVD screenshots I took and used as reference photos. For most of them I had to
adjust brightness because the smoke-filled room in which they filmed the sequences blurred the details.

009Sideview.jpg



008-1.jpg



010shapeandwidthofbowplanesandshapeoffronttriangle.jpg

Gives shape of front of deck and shape of bow planes.


021Propellershape2.jpg

Shape of propeller.


019basesideview.jpg



020base2.jpg



011Conningtowershape.jpg

Shape of back of conning tower.


015Frontcloseup.jpg



013Details.jpg

Location of headlights and windows.

022Bellhousing.jpg

Shape of bell housing.


But most of all, keep referring back to the 38-inch prop auction photos, albeit missing the bell
housing ring and tailfin, as they are clearer than the DVD screenshots. the Cetacean is not the prettiest of sci-fi ships but it's the nostalgia it brings that makes it special to me. Just like when Anton Ego does a taste test of ratatouille and it zaps him back to his childhood kitchen table. And it brings me back too - to the magic of using real models in movies than CGI. When I detect "fake" in models, I smile. When I detect "fake" in CGI it makes me fume and want to turn into the Hulk (the Lou Ferrigno kind).
 
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Re: Cetacean - The Man From Atlantis submarine - Help

This is one of THE BEST scratch builds/dioramas I've ever seen! Thanks for sharing it with us!:love
 
Re: Cetacean - The Man From Atlantis submarine - Help

Crazy about the subject, and awed by this excellent build.
Besides that, I've got to say that this has been a very informative and entertaining thread..One of my faves in recent memory.
 
Re: Cetacean - The Man From Atlantis submarine - Help

Thanks, guys! :) Just finishing the wiring now and installing a switch. Really nice feeling you get when you're wrapping up a project. It'll be my first completed project on RPF when I finally show the completed model.
 
Re: Cetacean - The Man From Atlantis submarine - Help

Thanks Crackerjazz, I'm looking to go a bit upsize-scale, likely to use 90mm craft ornament bulbs for the spheres as well as 'fill in' the skeletal superstructure above such.

I need a bit more surface area to work with as The Cetacean turned steampunk airship will have rivet details and deployable Cavorite lifting rods.
 
Re: Cetacean - The Man From Atlantis submarine - Help

I neglected to mention my admiration for how they filmed the sub in a smoke-filled environment. If this had been filmed in actual water I don't think it would have looked anywhere near as realistic. Something about "miniature water" always just looks like water, even when you're not seeing the tell-tale giveaway sign of a miniature model...water droplets!
 
Re: Cetacean - The Man From Atlantis submarine - Help

Yes - and safer for the model and cost-effective, too.

002-4.jpg

The Cetacean got lonely in the Marianas Trench. She wants a proper docking bay.


004-4.jpg



003-3.jpg



Patron Zero, I'm looking forward to your build.
 
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