Here's a photo of the walker before we started working on it. You can see the neck rings are open and the front one only has one diagonal.
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I hope this helps.
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I hope this helps.
Studio Scale (:p) AT-AT
- Thread starter MonsieurTox
- Start date
dragnink
Well-Known Member
I had the same question, to save J some explaining(?) he thinks they only made one master. To make it easier to mold, both the top and bottom
are left intact. From two castings, the front one gets the rear top portion behind the ring cut away. The rear one has the space between the ring and the two angled
ones removed, resulting in two different-looking neck sections that originated from a single master part.
Thanks for the picture(s), we appreciate all your support.
They should have let you guys repose it.. looks like it's either depressed or had too much to drink. Maybe it could stand an AA meeting or two.
are left intact. From two castings, the front one gets the rear top portion behind the ring cut away. The rear one has the space between the ring and the two angled
ones removed, resulting in two different-looking neck sections that originated from a single master part.
Thanks for the picture(s), we appreciate all your support.
They should have let you guys repose it.. looks like it's either depressed or had too much to drink. Maybe it could stand an AA meeting or two.
MonsieurTox
Master Member
Thanks Fred !
Well Mike
Not everything is true I never drink water nor wine, only Coke This is just one of the multiple examples John, you are right, however like Matt exaplained, only one master was build and trimmed differently to get 2 different parts. One master, one set of mold, 2 different parts. Time and money saved, that's good !
Those guys were awesome. Your pic of the parts laying on the table was of a great help ! I've only seen two pics of the inside of these rings, yours is one of them !
Thank you !
Thanks for the picture(s), we appreciate all your support.
They should have let you guys repose it.. looks like it's either depressed or had too much to drink. Maybe it could stand an AA meeting or two.[/QUOTE]
We did re-pose it. This is the "before" picture. We removed it from this base, and remounted it to a new base without the small speeder and little walker, and repositioned the stance.
They should have let you guys repose it.. looks like it's either depressed or had too much to drink. Maybe it could stand an AA meeting or two.[/QUOTE]
We did re-pose it. This is the "before" picture. We removed it from this base, and remounted it to a new base without the small speeder and little walker, and repositioned the stance.
MonsieurTox
Master Member
Yeah it looks much better now ! Too bad the small snowspeeder is no longer on the base !
Side guns done, the head is mostly complete, I just need to mold and cast the back plate :
Side guns done, the head is mostly complete, I just need to mold and cast the back plate :
MonsieurTox
Master Member
John,
Are the screws joints tightened at the max ? Im wondering that because the stop-mo models need to have joints that are easy to move but since now it is mostly a displayed model and due to the transport (vibrations etc) it has to have no moving joints. Is it shipped screwed to its base ? Or removed and put it in some foam ?
Thank you !
We did re-pose it. This is the "before" picture. We removed it from this base, and remounted it to a new base without the small speeder and little walker, and repositioned the stance.[/QUOTE]
Are the screws joints tightened at the max ? Im wondering that because the stop-mo models need to have joints that are easy to move but since now it is mostly a displayed model and due to the transport (vibrations etc) it has to have no moving joints. Is it shipped screwed to its base ? Or removed and put it in some foam ?
Thank you !
We did re-pose it. This is the "before" picture. We removed it from this base, and remounted it to a new base without the small speeder and little walker, and repositioned the stance.[/QUOTE]
Your parts are fantastic! Just amazing!
I never heard the story about the neck rings being from the same mold, but it makes sense. I can imagine that it may have even been a change after the master was molded. As if the rings were originally intended to be the same, but then they altered the parts to make it more functional or visually interesting. That stuff happens all the time. Just like being repainted on set (which can lead to differences from shot to shot.)
I never heard the story about the neck rings being from the same mold, but it makes sense. I can imagine that it may have even been a change after the master was molded. As if the rings were originally intended to be the same, but then they altered the parts to make it more functional or visually interesting. That stuff happens all the time. Just like being repainted on set (which can lead to differences from shot to shot.)
MonsieurTox
Master Member
Thank you !
I was thinking they may have cut the upper brace of the front necklace because they needed more range to get the head look more up (to shot down a snowspeeder
) which would have been impossible if that brace was not cut, it would it the other one and reduce the range of move ?
Yes, the screws are tightened quite securely for display and transportation. Even for animating the screws are set surprisingly tight.
The walker travels mounted to its base in a custom crate that keeps it in position. Before we worked on it, it most have suffered some kind of impact or drop, because I'm sure that was not the pose it was supposed to be in. It looked like it was falling over! All the joints were tight, so it most have been a heck of a jolt to shift it that far.
The walker travels mounted to its base in a custom crate that keeps it in position. Before we worked on it, it most have suffered some kind of impact or drop, because I'm sure that was not the pose it was supposed to be in. It looked like it was falling over! All the joints were tight, so it most have been a heck of a jolt to shift it that far.
MonsieurTox
Master Member
Thank you for the explanation ! It will help to transport rhe mine if I never need to do it My AT-ST's suffered from several car trips.
Master primed, ready for rubber !
My AT-ST's suffered from several car trips. Master primed, ready for rubber !
dragnink
Well-Known Member
Dug through an older ref. book I hadn't picked up in a while, "Star Wars Archives" by Marc Vaz.
Forgot there was a nice shot of this model in there. The book was published in '95. By the early 2000's some ref.
pics by Frank Wire showed the severe forward shift of the pose at an exhibit in Brooklyn, so that puts a rough timeline of when
it got shuffled around causing the tip forward. After that happened, maybe it was tightened down in that pose by someone who was
afraid to do any serious readjusting?
Besides Martin mentioning paint touchups to Boba Fett's costume, were you guys given any other models that required a significant amount of work?
Phil Tippett said these were very difficult to animate, one time Jon Berg got sick (!) in the middle of filming and called out of work so Phil was left to animate two of them (the ones closest to the camera). Doug Beswick preferred animating the one furthest away in each shot since he didn't have as much time as Jon and Phil prior to filming to practice with the models.
Forgot there was a nice shot of this model in there. The book was published in '95. By the early 2000's some ref.
pics by Frank Wire showed the severe forward shift of the pose at an exhibit in Brooklyn, so that puts a rough timeline of when
it got shuffled around causing the tip forward. After that happened, maybe it was tightened down in that pose by someone who was
afraid to do any serious readjusting?
Besides Martin mentioning paint touchups to Boba Fett's costume, were you guys given any other models that required a significant amount of work?
Phil Tippett said these were very difficult to animate, one time Jon Berg got sick (!) in the middle of filming and called out of work so Phil was left to animate two of them (the ones closest to the camera). Doug Beswick preferred animating the one furthest away in each shot since he didn't have as much time as Jon and Phil prior to filming to practice with the models.
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martinmack
New Member
we did fairly significant work on most of the ships in the Identities exhibit...the most significant amount of repair was the AT-AT I believe, but we did a fair amount of touch up, repair and cleaning on most all the ships. Someone earlier asked about the flaking paint and what we did with it. In almost all cases the paint was removed, bagged and catalogued then fixed. If anything was left loose it would have been a liability in transit and on display so we were pretty careful to ensure that everything was secure and durable for travel. In addition to the ships we also did some latex work on pieces like the Ponda Baba mask, fixed up some Jar Jar development sculpts, and rebuilt a bug droid full size suit. There was a lot of variety in the project for sure. There was a fairly intense repaint on the A-wing if I remember right, along with a couple of the tie fighters. It's a bit of a blur after a couple of years...
Martin forgot to mention the repairs to the 2 foot Falcon, a Snow Speeder, Shuttle Tyderium, TIE Bomber and the rust colored Mon Calimari Pickle Ship.
The Falcon had some pieces that had fallen off that needed to be re-attached and some repairs to the engine cover where the 37 year old styrene had gotten brittle and broken apart.
The Snow speeder and TIE Bomber had similar issues. On the Pickle ship, a bunch of the styrene blisters were starting to pop off and had to be glued back down. It had a big pile of parts that had fallen off that needed to be re-attached.
The Tyderium had some loose parts, some popped panels and the center wing/fin had to be repositioned because a "field repair" had glued it in the wrong position.
Oh, and I almost forgot the Star Destroyer had some loose parts, The Mouse Droid body mounts, and then X-Wing helmets had some fixes too...
…it does blur a bit ...
The Falcon had some pieces that had fallen off that needed to be re-attached and some repairs to the engine cover where the 37 year old styrene had gotten brittle and broken apart.
The Snow speeder and TIE Bomber had similar issues. On the Pickle ship, a bunch of the styrene blisters were starting to pop off and had to be glued back down. It had a big pile of parts that had fallen off that needed to be re-attached.
The Tyderium had some loose parts, some popped panels and the center wing/fin had to be repositioned because a "field repair" had glued it in the wrong position.
Oh, and I almost forgot the Star Destroyer had some loose parts, The Mouse Droid body mounts, and then X-Wing helmets had some fixes too...
…it does blur a bit ...
martinmack
New Member
that's one reason why John's an excellent business partner...he has a much better memory than me!
dragnink
Well-Known Member
Great info guys, sounds like they kept you very busy, maybe too busy?(since Martin forgot what he was working on) :lol
It's always been a dream of mine to get a chance to visit the archives. Even a lot of the employees at the ranch in recent years were only allowed in under special circumstances, a far cry from earlier times when Don Bies was curator. Hopefully if things pan out with Lucas's cultural arts museum, many of these pieces will eventually be on permanent display. I guess he's had some problems settling on a location and has had to shift priorities away from the Bay area and is considering Chicago as a possible spot for the new museum (heard it on the news today)..
It's always been a dream of mine to get a chance to visit the archives. Even a lot of the employees at the ranch in recent years were only allowed in under special circumstances, a far cry from earlier times when Don Bies was curator. Hopefully if things pan out with Lucas's cultural arts museum, many of these pieces will eventually be on permanent display. I guess he's had some problems settling on a location and has had to shift priorities away from the Bay area and is considering Chicago as a possible spot for the new museum (heard it on the news today)..
I hope he doesn't take it elsewhere because I live in the Bay Area and, dang it, this is where the films were made. The Presidio board is a bunch of morons if they let this slip away!
I hope we aren't derailing this thread too much, Sorry, if thats the case.
I hope we aren't derailing this thread too much, Sorry, if thats the case.
anamorphicWayne
Sr Member
Fascinating pack of information. There is something I'm curious about. Which model is feature in the first five photos? I've heard stories about this resin AT-AT. Is this one of them? It also looks similar to the one at the exhibit or does it merely have the same pose? :confused
Attachments
dragnink
Well-Known Member
Not sure Wayne, rumor is that they took an AT-AT in that pose then casted several copies (as gifts, some went to ILM'ers and the one in the photo with some of the model makers was given to a Star Wars fan club member). One of them even appeared in a video segment about ILM's work on Star Wars on a local access tv program in 1980 (Eve magazine I think?)
They all appear to have similar weathering, Steve Sansweet used to have one which was replaced by the Master Replicas version he has now.
They all appear to have similar weathering, Steve Sansweet used to have one which was replaced by the Master Replicas version he has now.
