The Abyss models

[Apollo]

I have a friend who works security there and it was hard but he got a few pieces.


I made the trip there quite a few times and always wanted to take a blowtorch with me to hack off some pieces but never did.

someones got to live nearby and pull a few pieces

 

[CB2001]

Steve Johnson, who was responsible for the creature effects in the film has five videos up about the making of the aliens, and even an amusing story on the set.

YouTube - Back Into The Abyss: Part 1
YouTube - Back Into The Abyss: Part 2
YouTube - Back Into The Abyss: Part 3
YouTube - Back Into The Abyss: Part 4
YouTube - Back Into The Abyss: Part 5

 

[tekkonkinkreet]

Yup, the Montana was huge. 70 feet long and about six feet in diameter. I found out years later, that my model crew had set up a sort of club house inside the hull with a mattress, TV and mini-fridge and would hang out in there when they got too tired to work!

I know this is an ancient thread, but it's great reading Dave's posts and seeing various videos detailing ABYSS production. Dave, you wouldn't remember me, but I was the day-shift camera assistant and mocon tech at DQ's gantry stage, where many of the film's Montana shots were created. I was just a snotty 19-year-old at the time, but I have great memories of that shoot (spent my 20th birthday on the smoke-filled Montana set and then got pulled over on the way home and made to submit to a drunk test because of smoke-reddened eyes!).

Great to see all the posts here. ABYSS remains one of the last great in-camera effects movies, and the miniature shots still hold up beautifully.

m

Uploaded a few pics of me and my DQ colleagues working with Dave's models:

Me and Paul Vigil checking batteries, bulbs, and the RP projector
Me walking onto the Montana set
Me, Ken Larson, and Mike B., probably checking Flatbed's batteries
Me driving Flatbed on the Montana set

 

[DaveG]

Just started a new replicas project thread...

http://www.therpf.com/f10/abyss-submersibles-project-129858/#post1956011

 

[nick daring]

Does anybody have any good reference for the NTIs? I would love to sculpt a scale one someday.

Nick