"C" Movie Starship Miniature Effects Model

The model was crated up and shipped out on 9/13. It arrived safely in New York after more than two weeks on the road.

Considering the huge amount of time and effort that's gone into this project (3000+ man hours to date), we took no chances in packing this model. A huge and very heavy crate was built to protect it. In fact, we built a crate within a crate and padded it all with foam to absorb shock and lined it with styrofoam to protect against heat.

When the crate arrived, I am told there were *footprints* on top of it so I'm glad we went to all this effort!

Once the model was safely away, I turned my attention to wrapping up loose ends. Most important was the control box for the lighting effects. I have kept this secret until now. In fact, not even the producers of the movie know about it yet.

The control box is very complex and was built almost entirely from scratch. There are nearly two dozen knobs and switches. If is fuse protected and even has a built in fan to keep things cool. Best of all, the entire thing lights up so all the controls can be seen on a dark stage.
 
Thanks!

Mike, Rick Ingalsbe is painting it as we speak. The ship has been named, but I don't know if it's OK to reveal that just yet. It is an unusual name to be sure, but it seems appropriate for the story. This is to be a military vessel.
 
The crate arrived at my house on Monday. It took about an hour to get it open. There was only minor damage to the model, so somewhere along the way it experienced rough handling. Like I told Charles, there were boot prints on the crate lid.

Along with the control box for the lights, Charles is sending me all the remaining parts to finish the construction. It should all arrive by Friday. The producers are coming to pick up the model by mid month, as they have a tight filming schedule. This leaves me with just about a week to finish the construction and paint it! Wish me luck!
 
Charles, the controller - absolutely insanely wonderful!!! Top notch, they will certainly be surprised! Very nice indeed!

Rick - Good Luck!!!!! :) Lots of Red Bull and no sleep oughtta get you there!

-Sean
 
Working on the tightest possible schedule, I began detailing the only part of the ship I can––the 'pusher plate'–– until I get the control box and remaining parts from Charles.

The producers asked me if the honeycomb pattern of panels on the module could somehow be accentuated, because they were not easy to see on camera.

Last night I came up with an idea (below in this before and after shot) which is the first detail for the ship I completed. The producers really like the look of it.

[Since I don't have the control box to turn the lights on, I had to Photoshop the painted piece into the photo.]

Compare-2.jpg
 
Back in October I finished the construction on this model that Charles started and then I painted it, then turned it over to the producers.

After a few months of filming, the model shots were inserted into the finished film.

It has been a while since anything has been posted about this, that's because they asked me not to post any photos of the completed model until the movie is released.

Charles and I were contacted by the producers yesterday to say that they plan to announce that release date at the end of this week, so it won't be long until I can post lots of pics.

And now a little about the filmmakers... It is a short movie called "C - 299792 Kilometers / Second." It is the dream project of young filmmakers, Derek Van Gorder and Otto Stockmeier.

Created on a shoestring budget raised on the Kickstarter website, the fascinating thing about this movie is that they were able to achieve stunning visuals using all traditional SFX, and absolutely no CGI.

This decision has peeked the interest of some very impressive names such as the legendary Douglas Trumbull, who graciously invited the young filmmakers on a tour of his personal studio.

The "C" movie is an internet film to be released on the movie website soon. For more information, visit: C The Movie
 
It would really help though if CG artists studied and understood concepts of physics such as mass, momentum, and inertia.

The funny thing was in the 90s when I was in school for computer animation they made us take a physics class and the teachers stressed studying things to make them more realistic but it looks like it's been lost since then in movies. I love the design of this ship, personally I'd rather see a physical model augmented by CGI than all cgi any day.
 
Thanks!! The finished visual effects shots turned out really great. It proves you don't need CG to make impressive images on screen. There is one scene in particular that is so cool, I want to get a poster-sized copy of it to hang on my wall. :)
 
wow! I envy the talent and love the build. That ship is beautifully detailed and amazing. It would be great to see it in person and marvel over the small details. I am interested in seeing the movie when it is out.

Wow. Still blown away by the quality and craftsmanship.
 
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