The Abyss Submersibles Project

Flatbed Parts!

It's spring cleaning time in my shop and I've benn pulling out old boxes of stuff to sort through and throw out. Mostly old junk that I no longer need or want. And then I come across this, a mostly complete set of original production castings for the 1/8 scale Flatbed model!!! I probably packed these away almost 25 years ago and had completely forgot I still had them. The ironic thing is that the box was on the top shelf, of a back storage closet and I almost didn't pull it down. Now I'm glad I did!

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Back to work on the digital Cab model. I've cleaned up the hull and sail scans and refined the interface of some of the other components with the scanned geometry. The challenge has been to incorporate the details of the various Cabs (one full size practical sub, one full size static prop, one 1/4 scale RC model and three 1/8 scale motion control models) into one composite model that best represents the "Cab" of the movie. Not only are there differences between each of these versions, each was also redressed several times, back and forth from Cab One to Cab Three, and there are even variations from shot to shot within a scene.

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Dave,
Great digital model. Looking forward to its completion.
It's amazing what you can find digging around in boxes. Are you going to build it?
(gofffan)
 
Dave,
Great digital model. Looking forward to its completion.
It's amazing what you can find digging around in boxes. Are you going to build it?
(gofffan)

Thanks Richard! I might build the Flatbed some day but I gave a lot of other projects to do first. The problem with the 1/8 scale flatbed model is its big, about 18 inches square, to wide to put on a shelf. But I do plan to scan the parts and do a smaller kit, should the Cab kit sell well enough.
 
This is coming along great!

What would your ideal "shelf compatible" size for this model be?

Nick

Most of my shelves are 10 to 11 inches deep. Your mileage may vary! The Cab kit at 1/24 scale will be about 9.2" long by 3.7" wide by 3.7" tall. Should the Cab kit prove to be popular I'll do a Flatbed at the same scale, which would be about 6" square by 4" tall.

I've been thinking a 1/12 scale Cab would be really nice, twice as big as the dimensions above.
 
I used to daydream about these at school sketching submersibles, I absolutely am enjoying this thread. If I had access to a workshop I would be making this, however if you like if you build this, and send me a high resolution photo, I would be more than happy to do a matte painting for you. Cos thats what I would like to contribute to this project pro bono. This film really inspired me on the career path that I am on, so I want to pay it back.

Rich

PS Have you seen Steve Neills gorgeous Seaview?
 
Details

The bottom rear hatch was never detailed out on the original models, nor was it on the full size mockup or practical Cab submersible. But it was seen on the Cab interior set during the sequence the ends with Lindsey's drowning (oops, Spoiler Alert!) So I took a couple of frame grabs and pieced them together to make a reasonably complete reference image of the hatch and modeled it to include in the kit.

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I joined this thread expecting to find some props and masks and trolls. Never in my wildest dreams did I expect to see pictures and read stories by the folks who actually MADE the incredible effects and props in jaw-dropping movies like The Abyss. To all you industry folks: Thank you for sharing; you might not realize just how incredible it is. Cheers.
 
Love the Abyss - I had an opportunity to speak to Cameron about it a year ago or so- when I mentioned it was a favorite of mine he asked if I was a diver, when I answered yes, he said he knew it because divers were the only guys who like the film. LOL.

Amazing pictures. Love to watch the model build progression.

Cheers!
 

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