You need to mention that it was Derek who came up with the idea to use model kit parts to enhance the detail. Many people credit ILM for coming up with the idea but it just shows what a creative and innovative genius Derek was.

@Matteline

9 ай бұрын

Thanks for the feedback. Yeh Derek was an incredible talent. and the work they did on the Anderson shows - especially Thundrbirds - is some of the best vfx work ever put on film. I did mention that Derek and his team came up with this technique in the first 20 seconds of the video. I wanted to dive into the actual models. not do a history of the technique. maybe a bina fide subject for anotehr video, I made a video a few years back where I made a futuristic fighter plane out of kit parts and talk about the origins of kit bashing there. Here is a link: kzread.info/dash/bejne/X5mhqbuxna_TeM4.html

Once you first spot the Airfix kit parts, you can't stop seeing them. I think Thunderbirds got progressively more realistic with its models as the series went on. In the early episodes it's all bubble domes and fins, later on the design gets more down-to-earth.

@andrewemery4272

9 ай бұрын

"And a special thank you to Airfix: you are the supports to my Truss..."

@helmutquad-sd9yn

8 ай бұрын

For me, every part of Aiifix is new. I never knew how many special railroad parts Airfix sold. I only bought WW2 planes and trucks from Airfix. This was a very interesting video !

Meddings was a genius and deserved his Oscar for his work on Moonraker and later a BAFTA for Goldeneye.

@Matteline

9 ай бұрын

Moonraker was nominated only, it did not win. 'Alien' won the vfx oscar that year. . Derek's work on Moonraker is stupendous, but I feel that 'Star Trek The Motion Picture' should have won. Other nominnes were 'The Black Hole' and '1941' so a pretty tough year. Derek won his oscar for 'Superman the movie'.

How special effects have changed the movie industry. Can you imagine if your everyday household 3d printer was about in this era,the fun they would have had. 😊

Awesome video. Enjoyed the shows and model work ever since Supercar. Never realised until decades later that a lot of parts were source by kit bashing. Your videos take this to a new level showing these model kit sourced parts and where they came from. It must have been a fun time for the special effects crew to visit hobby store, craft shops, and discount stores and fill their shopping karts with kits of all genres. Thanks for taking the time to research this and post it. Drop into Max's live-streams so we can all sat hello and thank you. Take care.

Another Airfix kit used in large amounts, was the 'Pontoon Bridge' - both the girder rails and chequerplate decks. Another thing that kit parts were often used for was explosion debris - small amounts scattered, with balsa scraps and fullers' earth, on top of models that were to be blown up. The high speed photography used, then shows pieces of rubble, etc., ostensibly from the building, falling to earth. The explosion at the start of every Thunderbirds episode, shows this off beautifully.

@Matteline

9 ай бұрын

Thanks for watching and for taking the time to comment :) I don't the Airfix 'pontoon bridge' was available in the 1960s. And according to 'scalemates.com' it was first issued in 1970... so I guess it could have been used in UFO. But I can't think of an instance off hand. The Airfix Girder Bridge was used extesnively. Check out that video - there's a link in the description above - and see if that is what you are thinking of. Please let me know as I am always looking for new archeological finds :).

1:00 It made me smile to see the well-known sequence of Thunderbird 1 arriving at its launch station, and then you cheekily superimpose '7.5"' and '2.5"' to show us how big the set really is and spoil the suspension of disbelief! ;-) But apart from that I have always found it completely convincing, a tribute to the great Derek Meddings and his team. To borrow from Larry Niven, corners had been cut only where it wouldn't show.

@argy8141

9 ай бұрын

I'll never watch Thunderbirds in the same way again. Great vid

Born in 1961 here, obviously grew up with all this from my childhood in the UK. With the information you are dredging up here, I am even more in awe of what these guys were doing. The creativity and resourcefulness is staggering and humbling. This stuff brightened up countless boring suburban lives and imaginations in the '60's and '70's. I believe some of the FX guys got ill from the explosive chemicals they were using to give us this entertainment... they are giants!

@TryptychUK

8 ай бұрын

Some have said Derek Meddings died young (64) because of the toxic fumes from the pyrotechnics.

Imagine the special effects guys from the 60s and 70s kitbashing with the sheer number, range and scales of kits available today!

@MrPolicekarim

7 ай бұрын

I know! Makes you want to take a lie down!

It is amazing that this intricately detailed futuristic world was made with cheap plastic model kits and entirely created in Slough.

@Matteline

9 ай бұрын

The models were expertly art directed this sort of work can easily go astray if not properly designed.... they designed great shapes and then detailed them. Like Star Wars.

When I was a kid, playing with model kits, Lego and figurines, I was having so much fun. You grow up and you tell yourself (or people tells you) that those things are for kids and you need to become an adult. The hardship of life hits you, having fun is complicated, expensive or just none existing and you battle anxiety, depression etc Now I am going back to a "simpler" time, where I am having fun creating figurines, building sets, doing stop motion and I dont give a flying fluff of what people or society thinks about what should be fun at what age. Ever since I stop doing things on the computer, which in the first place was supposed to make life easier, I am feeling more relax and I enjoy everything I do manually for fun, whatever time it take.

@Matteline

8 ай бұрын

Great. Good for you.

@ernestgalvan9037

8 ай бұрын

”…I am having FUN…” FUN, the most important part of this, or any hobby. Sadly lost. Keep on having FUN, having a blast! ENJOY your time in your hobby!

The irony is that there are now model kits of models made from model kits.

@Matteline

9 ай бұрын

The 1/48th scale Eagle Transporter is so detailed that you can actually make out the kit parts that were stuck on it. One part used on the original 44" Eagle miniature is from the lunar module that is included in the Airfix Saturn V kit. We have the Saturn V kit and compared this piece to the 1/48th MPC Eagle..and it is exactly twice the size - as it should be as the MPC 1/48th is half the size of the original model. What fun. Also in the Star Wars Battlefront video game, you can climb around on top of the Millennium Falcon. it is not super hi-res up there, but good enough to identify some kit parts such as a Jagdpanther hull!

I watched Thunderbirds simply to marvel at the models, sets and practical effects. But it never occurred to me how big these models were until you put them in context with the size of the parts. Even today if I see any Thunderbirds clips, I still blows my mind how skilled the model makers were on this show. Just imagine what they could do with 3D printers. Very interesting video.

Loved Thunderbirds and Airfix in the ‘60’s and early ‘70’s, as a boy. Loved making dioramas, blowing up models and filming it all with my mates. You taught me something fascinating on a trip down memory lane.

@Matteline

9 ай бұрын

That's graet to hear. Thanks for the feedback.

Thanks for the video, the old kits I built back in the 60’s and 70’s wow, always enjoy your videos

Not forgetting the matchbox cars and trucks they used a lot in the series along with corgi and many others.

@Matteline

9 ай бұрын

Yes... that's a whole video or two. As a kid I had one of the lorries that you see at London Airport.

I love Airfix and love Thunderbirds but I can only marvel at you have managed to spot so many obscure uses of kit parts. I have spotted a few over the years but these are almost all new to me - well done.

Holy crap! Is this not the most perfect Gerry Anderson dive ever? Great work!

@Matteline

8 ай бұрын

Wow. Thank You! Please take a look at the other videos on my channel too. Not all Anderson related, but maybe of interest.

It is funny how the models of aircraft, space rockets etc don't look that dated today. But the control panels are another story!

A study of the Thunderbird’s “kit bashing” would be a great dissertation for someone attempting an Arts Phd.

This is brilliant, really inspirational work. Thanks for sharing

I bought that footbridge in 1976 for my layout I had in the loft.

Airfix have just announced the SRN-1 is returning to their Vintage Classics range. 😄

Great vid...As a hobby Airfix modeler this is fascinating to me...I use to watch Thunderbirds in the 70's although I was never a big fan...I was a bit alienated by the fact it was very American ironically when it wasn't...I still don't understand why it wasn't a huge success in the US at the time, I mean it must have been aimed at the US market otherwise everything could have just as easily made very British...I think the US missed a trick...Anyway, I have so much more appreciation of Gerry Andersons work these days...Harryhausen was my idol too in those days

@Matteline

9 ай бұрын

Thanks for commenting. I think part of the reason that it did'nt catch on was that they split the 1 hour episodes into 2 half hours. I guess to fit certan time slots. I have spoken to some American friends and they say they recall it being on but it 'never ended properly' (probablsy because it was sliced in half!)

@lewistaylor1965

9 ай бұрын

@@Matteline That's interesting...makes sense...Looks like Thunderbirds was killed before it had a chance...US broadcasters feeling their kids had low attention spans...or adverts would have made the episodes 90 mins long too...Real shame I think because US is where the money would have been...I like the fact they were low budget though...Same with DR.Who and Red Dwarf...the low budget made them quirky and they lose something when they become expensive and 'safe'...As a kid I was convinced Thunderbirds was American and the characters were stereotypical and schmaltzy which I didn't like...but I understand why now

I loved Thunderbirds and watched every episode from the first to last as they were aired. I often wonder how those amazing model creators would have reacted to the installation of a modern 3-D Printer in their workshops... with awe and avarice is my guess.😄

Loved this video. Thank you so much. The level of imagination and inventiveness shown in Thunderbirds and other Gerry Anderson shows is beyond anything made today. Everyone that worked on these shows deserves our admiration. This video adds to understanding the level of their imagination. Can't wait for more like this👏👌👍

Well done! They kit bashed stuff just like ILM did for all the Star Wars ships. You could tell though the budget for same - Airfix for the Thunderbirds - Tsmiya and Hasegawa for Star Wars. LOL

@Matteline

9 ай бұрын

don't forget 2001 A Spaec Odyssey. that set the standard look, and expecttaion for what spaceships should look like. And don't forget when they were making Thudnerbirds I think Airfix and some of the foreign train set stuff was all that was available in the UK. But yeh I thought about that too. But even Star Wars has some Airfix kit parts from the 1/24th scale Me 109 and Harrier superkits!

@Wild-Dad

9 ай бұрын

@@Matteline - yep - totally agree!!! Unfortunately, I don't remember ever seeing any of those Airfix kits in the early 70's when I started my HO layout. There were lots of other kits from Europe that could be found in our local hobby shop, (Vollmer, Falker, etc) but I honestly don't remember these Airfix kits. But then, Thinderbirds and all such were all in the 60's so I probably missed them as my parents usually stayed in dept stores as opposed to going specifically to hobby stores.

The yellow 'ASR' aircraft - F-104 fuselage for sure, tail fin changed and under-slung engine added... Amazing how just painting in the rear of the canopy helps the disguise.. Also think the red and silver 'Z' jet uses the F-104 as a base

Wonderful story. You simply can't replicate the level of care, detail and authenticity in these classic models with modern CGI. Thank you for posting.

@Matteline

9 ай бұрын

Thanks for commenting. There is certainly a unique appeal to this type of work done well. Like hand drawn Animation compared to CG. Incidentally I saw a test shot, done recently, that reproduced in CG a shot of the Millennium Falcon from the asteroid sequence in 'the Empire Strikes Back'. It was supervised by Dennis Muren, so there is that.... but it looked exactly the same as the original shot that was done originally for the film with models and opticals

Jeez, and I thought I was a geek... Respect!!! 🏆 Best wishes from a movie-armour maker who has accidentally become a miniature specialist (Eating life-size Weetabix whilst watching this!). Subscribed 👍⚒️🇬🇧

Thanks very much for showing how imagination and reimagination create very effective effects. I loved Thunderbirds back when I was about 8-11, maybe 12 yrs old (many reruns!)

@Matteline

8 ай бұрын

Thank you for watching and commenting. Yeh, the work the team put into these shows was incredible.

The technical term I recall is "Greeblies". (ref: Adam Savage- Tested). Knowing the size of these greeblies certainly gives a very clear idea of the large scale of the models. They're huge!

@Matteline

9 ай бұрын

Yes Indeed. I created a graphic which shows the kit pat most commonly used by the Meddings team. It is from the Airfix Girder Bridge kit and shows up on so many models in the Anderson shows and for me I think it is the ORIGINAL Greeblie! . The graphic is available via 'redbubble'. www.redbubble.com/i/apron/Original-Greeblie-by-matteline/146664799.6ZXWR Also Check out my 'Girder birdge' video for more info. kzread.info/dash/bejne/kZNtkrWmYMrMibA.html

@3Dsfinfo

8 ай бұрын

Depends on your definition of "technical". :) The word "greebly" appears to originate with George Lucas and the Star Wars team. The models in this video predate that film by a decade!

@TryptychUK

8 ай бұрын

@@3Dsfinfo I agree. The Brits called them "Widgets". "Greebly" is an American term.

Cant imagine ho much fun it would be to work on Thunderbirds, making sci fi models them blowing them up!

As a child of the 50's and 60's I really appreciate this, the amount of work you put in and the work GA's team put in is mind boggling! THanks.

"Which model kits can i interest you in, sir?" "Yes." Sorry, couldn't resist. Wonderful video!

The SRN T piece also appears on the feet of the moonbus from 2001 a space odyssey

I loved the actual human hands on the close ups of the controls.

@Matteline

8 ай бұрын

in the earlier shows - Fireball XL5 - the human hands had what what looked like smooth surgical gloves, so they looked more plastic-y - like the real puppet hands.

@moxnix1026

8 ай бұрын

@@Matteline Cool. I didn't know that.

Thanks for doing all the necessary research to make this fascinating video! As an aside, I hope that Airfix will reissue their SR-N1 Hovercraft as a Vintage Classic! I missed getting one back in the day . . . .

@Matteline

9 ай бұрын

Thand for the feedback. I have a feeling the SRN1 is pretty high on a lot of people's wishlist for some 'vintage classic' love. Fingers crossed. I'd love to see do this as 1/24th scale kit. It would make for a realy cool kit and it is a piece of history!

Great video Matt . Its very interesting learning how they kitbashed buildings and vehicles from model kits on Thunderbirds , fascinating . 👍

I had most of these as Original Models that I built back in the 60s. 👍👍 10⭐ Do kids even still build anything more than Legos anymore?

@Matteline

9 ай бұрын

I am glad I grew up at the time I did. There are more model kits made today than ever before. And they are arguably better nowadays. But are not aimed at kids. As a kid if a model was too complex I would leave those bits off..or not paint paint the canopy framing. Nowadays they make ssome implified versions for kids or beginners. Maybe this si apealing to kids. I don't know. To me it seems like it is missing the point, the fun was making your own details, or taking on bigger kits with more parts. or doing that same kit again, but better this time.

@OdeeOz

9 ай бұрын

Wish I could go back to those days @@Matteline Heck, just send my mind back tot he body, and I'd be happy as ever.

Not Airfix but in Fireball XL5 the radar antenna atop the strangely rotating headquarters building/control tower is the antenna from the Corgi Karrier Mobile Decca Radar van. They also made a small ground radar "cab" with the same antenna, which is an excellent replica of the real Decca 424 radar antenna. The part is still available from replica parts suppliers.

Still , we now see no need for 3d printers eh ? lol. I know they are amazing but the way the modeling team made do and scratch built is epic...

This brought back memories of building and kitbashing models in the 1960s. Those accessory packs in particular were very useful. Occasionally when I didn’t have money to buy a kit I would cobble something together from leftover parts and those accessory kits, usually fanciful spaceships inspired by science fiction magazine covers of the day. One of the accessory packs was a chrome turbine engine kit which was first installed in a dune buggy (replacing the VW engine) then later swapped out for the twin V8 from a Studebaker kit, finally I built a spacecraft around it. I know I’ve seen that turbine in several Thunderbirds episodes but since I grew up in the US, I don’t get to see the show until later. I would have been extra thrilled to recognize all those bits and pieces at the time. Thanks for this.

It would be interesting to know what the Airfix executives at the time thought the sudden increase in sales and then finding out they were used in Thunderbirds.

@Matteline

9 ай бұрын

I knwo. I counted at lesst 50 ider bridge kist in the rocket hanger model from the live-action movie 'Doppleganger'!! I did write to Airfix asking if there were any records of this. bulk/direct orders in the Slough area in the mid 1960s. but of course I have yet to get any sort of response. I find it hard to believ that Derek and the gang would all pile down to Woolworths and buy dozens of these things at a time. But maybe they did. What a story that would be.

Absolutely stunning. It's rare for me to watch a KZread video all the way through but with this one I couldn't look away. I grew up watching XL5, Stingray and Thunderbirds and this is a wonderful insight into the making of. I'm a 3d modeler, I did do the Thunderbirds years ago. Interestingly I make my own "kitbash" parts which I re-use on lots of models. It's surprising how similar they are to the kit parts you have shown here. Thanks for making this wonderful video.

@Matteline

8 ай бұрын

Thank You. I tried to keep it brisk and to the point. too many YouTibe video meander along. I try to keep my videos engaging. Its good to know that the work put in is appreciated.

@jeffhowe2892

8 ай бұрын

I grew up with Four Feather Falls, Supercar, XL5, Stingray and then Thunderbirds. I still love them now. You really opened my eyes, Thanks Again :0) @@Matteline

Excellent video on kitbashing! I first heard about this method when the original BSG came out. I got the board game (yes, there was one, and I bought it! LOL) and it had a detailed pic of the Galactica....while gawking at it, I noticed a German WW2 panzer barrel, and then a tank's bogie wheel! The entire six-foot long ship was "decorated" with such things! It was a ton of fun trying to identify as much as I could, since I was also into WW2 stuff. I bet you had a lot of enjoyment on this too! (I laughed when you pointed out the AMT "sign"...that's the ultimate in kit bashing, using part of the cardboard box on a set!)

@Matteline

9 ай бұрын

Thanks for the feedback. There's a shot in one of the epsiodes - I can't recall which one - and there is a row of shops with HAWK, REVELL and AMT signage. Ha The Galactica, the Millennium Falcon and the Cylon ships were graet to pore over. I think the Cylon Base Stars model has parts from the Airfix SRN1 hovercarft kit.

I started out in model railways in my mid teens (Early 1990s). It was about the same time as re-runs of Thunderbirds and Captain Scarlet were being aired on TV and I would watch those to draw a lot of modelling inspiration from them. I never knew that model railway kits were used in these shows until now. This has been quite an eye-opener!

@Matteline

8 ай бұрын

Its a peak behind the curtain. Even when you know that a lot of the models are adorned with parts from model kits, it almost makes it even more magical. the stuff just looks so good. It is art. What they did. The model featured on the thumbnail of the giant reactor looks fantastic. Not fantastic for the time it was made. Not great for a TV show. It is simply fantastic!

I grew up with the Thunderbirds and love the behind the scenes videos.😊

Another great history video, thank you. Keep them coming !

Fantastic episode. I have been able to identify so many parts that had previously puzzled me. Thanks so much for this revealing episode.

The level of problem solving and creativity back before custom modeling and CGI... These guys were bloody geniuses.

@Matteline

3 ай бұрын

Derek Meddings and his team on the Anderson shows were way ahead of the curve. Pioneers and very talented.clearly passionate about what they were doing.

When I was a kid we used to make our own Thunderbird models by sticking a firework into a toy rocket. Until my Mum put the kibosh on it.

The best parts of this show for me have always been the models, structures and special effects. Thank your for sharing this fascinating information.

These models were brilliant!

Wonderful video. Appreciate all the work on highlighting the parts and showing exactly where they are! Enjoying these very much

My background started in visual effects with models and stop motion and I try to explain kit bashing and younger guys don't quite understand the level of sophisticated artistry involved. By contrast, the cheap space movie Stella Starcrash is a great example of kitbashing failure against which Meddings et al genius can be compared for appreciation. I'm sharing this great video you made with friends and will watch and share the others. This is great and the animated illustration parts are extremely well done and excellent for clarification. Thank you and I hope you make more. Fascinating, fascinating stuff. Really great.

@Matteline

9 ай бұрын

Thanks for commenting. The genius of what Meddings and the team did was that it all just looks right. It all blends togetehr. And everything had a level of credibility to it. Really amazing work. And they could put more design and modelling hours into the hero models. That original Thunderbird 2 is absolutely beautifiul. Yeh, 'Star Crash' is a hilarious example of what not to do. I saw an interview with one of the guys who worked on the VFX for that movie and he said that it was his first job and nobody on the crew had any vfx or film model-making experience and they really didn't know what they were doing. And they had no money! Fortunaetly the film is campy and the amateurish models and garish lighting actually work OK. Maybe better actually than if they had been more skillfully done. Anoher laughable bit of kit-bashing is in the made for TV movie 'The Amazing Captain Nemo' which featured a futuristic submarine made almost solely from what looks like (and is) a 1970s Mattel Eagle Trasnporter. And this was a Hollywood production.. with VFX supervised by L.B. Abbott!

@davidrosler5413

9 ай бұрын

@@Matteline my pleasure. Yeah, the the first time I saw Starcrash ship photos, i was astonished to see that they didn't just use kit parts too large and wrongly applied to the miniature ships, but the runners that hold the kit parts together in the box! Request: I assume you mean a space 1999 eagle. Do you have a photo of the nemo ship? Im very curious to see such an outrageous, in our faces use if a commercial model kit in its entirety. Maybe the producers of nemo figured licensing the rights to use the model kit was cheaper than a good team of model makers i've seen worse business decisions.

I noticed a long time ago the microphone the puppets are holding are DIN plugs.

Love the Posidrive screws doubling as buttons on Brains' jacket. Cool vid, subbed.

Really good video, fascinating level of detail and research. Ive been lucky to work with some people who made models for some of the later gerry Anderson stuff. My dad was lucky enough to meet him as a child (my grandfather worked at the studio at the time) and he recounted how he had some models from on of his shows on the back seat of his car.

@Matteline

9 ай бұрын

wow - do you recall what the models were. One of h few surviving models from Thunderbirds is the blue 'hover bus' seen in The Mighty Atom. I think a couple of the planes from Captain Scarlet exist and a vehicle or two from UFo... but not much.

More Videos of this. Great Informationen thanks

Fantastic information...

As a six year old in 1965 I was captivated by Fireball xl5, Stingray... and then Thunderbirds came along and virtually changed my life from then on, becoming more and more interested in the space race, machines and actually taking my toys apart (especially my prized Thunderbird 5) to see how they worked. This is a fascinating video as I have always been a modelmaker as well so this really peaked my interest. Thanks for sharing it.

@colinmcginn977

8 ай бұрын

Me too. I remember running in from playing in the street when my mum shouted out "Thunderbirds is starting", All the other kids did likewise.

Aircraft models include lots of bits of F-104 Starfighters, Saab Drakens, a little flying car thing featured in this video had an F-4 Phantom tail on it.

@aj-2savage896

8 ай бұрын

Also saw F-101 Voodoo stuff. The Hawk 1/32 HH-43 Husky was prominent elsewhere.

@Matteline

8 ай бұрын

The next video will feature the secondary aircraft :)

Great video, thanks for the memories

I think it is in 'End of the road' there is one scene that has a clock with a surround made from a plastic saucer from a picnic set. (my mum had) They also used XLR connector housings as microphones and all the controls knobs for 'high tech equipment' were just from old stoves & radios.

@Matteline

9 ай бұрын

We have the same wooden gazelle that Warren Grafton has in his office... (The Duchess Assignment). He is missing part of his horn though.

@smorris12

9 ай бұрын

To be utterly pedantic, the microphones were DIN connector housings!

Excellent work! I remember my brother and I watching Thunderbirds and Captain Scarlet to spot all the bits of kits we had built ourselves! It was as much fun as watching the story of each episode. Virtually all those bridge, gantry and hovercraft bits, we had also built, plus many others. The crane and numerous aircraft that I built. It got me into creating my own kit bashed scratch built aircraft as a youngster. I would often collect old kits from jumble sales and stuff thrown out by my friends, and use parts to create all sorts of helicopters and aircraft. A hobby in itself and so good for the imagination and development skills, rather than mery following a set of instructions to produce the kit from the box, (which I also absolutely loved BTW!). Thanks for sharing your clever detective work!

Great video. I might have to try kitbashing some vehicles together.

Fascinating, thank you!

Beside the puppets This show looked real as a kid and it still does

I turned o guage soldiers in to a cricket team for a model railway. The bloke chucking a grenade made a fantastic bowler. 👍

@Matteline

8 ай бұрын

That sounds ecellent!!

This is great, thanks! I was absolutely fascinated with this show as a kid and always wondered how all their sets and models got made.

@Matteline

8 ай бұрын

Its incredible how much work they put into the shows. Stuff that you would never see on a TV broadcast in the 1960s. Incredible.

Fascinating documentary with lots of research carried out.

Love the juicer and 2 flip up 240v sockets at 0.57

I found this fascinating !

@Matteline

9 ай бұрын

Thank You. Please check out the Matteline1967 channel for more in thei vein.

Please keep going with these. So interesting, thank you.

@Matteline

8 ай бұрын

Thank You for watching and taking the time to comment :)

An incredibly intricate video, and extremely inspiring! fantastic work!

@Matteline

9 ай бұрын

Thank you so much. If you havent already, please take a look at other videos on the channel.

I grew up with Thunderbirds.. fun video, thank you!

Fascinating! I spotted a modified Topper Johnny Seven in one episode. It’s painted silver and Gordon operates it. I have a photo somewhere. Also several tracked vehicles use the tank wheels off a big tank toy I had back in the day (1960’s) It had a remote control like a field radio. Had a silver metal barrel which looked odd and fired shells. It was a big but very slow toy! It could go up our stairs. ❤

@Matteline

9 ай бұрын

Thanks for watching. Check out my video on 'caterpillar tracks'

@percyprune7548

9 ай бұрын

Tiger Joe tank from America, and also recognised the Johnny 7 in the Thunderbirds film "Thunderbirds are Go".

@hafstrat

9 ай бұрын

@@percyprune7548 pity about the lemon squeezer in Thunderbirds ones launch bay. 🫣🥲

@crabby7668

9 ай бұрын

@@percyprune7548 ah, Johnny 7 the toy I always coveted from the adverts and never got. I always considered myself a deprived child from that point onwards😊

As a boy, I found the aesthetic of the Thunderbirds universe fascinating - a 1960s look at what they thought the 2060s would be like. This is a fascinating look into the way it was all put together.

@Matteline

8 ай бұрын

its a really credible world. with enough familiar scenery and vehicles, but clearly with some advanced tech. You could believe it was happening in a real puppet world.

What a great video! I used to do a bunch of kitbashing as a kid, and always loved these shows. Kitbashing remains a thriving art to this day, even in modern productions.

This fell into my recommended at an interesting time - as a kid I built some Star Wars stuff from scratch so it looked like some of the SW ships (Tie and Falcon for example, the Tie used an egg for the bod, lids from ice cream cartons, lengths of spru and pen caps for example. Once sprayed grey looked acceptable), and was thinking I might like to try and build something from scratch again - maybe a ship similar to one of the classic sci-fi books of my youth for example, so seeing this video has made me want to look more into what you've done/discovered etc so I can learn some tips etc. Thanks for these videos :o).

@Matteline

8 ай бұрын

Thanks for watching. So glad to hear you are inspired to scratch build / kit bash some new models.

Even with all the CGI available today, they cannot reproduce the excitement and originality of the models that Gerry Anderson's team produced in those days.

@Matteline

8 ай бұрын

The stuff just had such a great 'look'.

Absolutely fascinating, so glad to discover your channel!

@Matteline

8 ай бұрын

Thank You for the kind words

Another nice look at the models of Thunderbirds!

@Matteline

9 ай бұрын

This show never ceases to amaze and inspire me.

Sooooo much research, a noble effort. Delighted to see it!

My brother and I used that girder bridge on our first HO layout. Now 50+ years later I see another use for it.

@Matteline

8 ай бұрын

Thanks for watching and commenting. I have never actually seen it built up and used as intended as a railway bridge. Ha

The Fireflash is one of my most favourite designs of sci-fi aircraft

@Matteline

8 ай бұрын

It's a Ln absolutely beautiful aircraft. Concorde is clearly the inspiration and is one of the most beautiful aircraft ever designed. You can imagine them thinkingnamd discussing - how do we make something that is more sci-fi and even more beautiful? Well, Mission accomplished!!

I love this stuff. I was always amazed at the work they put into these shows. Even as a kid, I could see stuff that went bad, but stuff that looked very real as well!

Absolutely fantastic, thank you! I am a huge fan of kitbashing and Thunderbirds so this was brilliant.

@Matteline

8 ай бұрын

Thank You for watching and commenting. Glad you like it. I am sure you have already, but pleade check out the other videos on the channel.

@RailwayManiaNet

8 ай бұрын

@@Matteline Absolutely. You probably already know this but the trolley that Thunderbird 3's crew ride in to get to the rocket itself is an Airfix/Dapol LOWMAC wagon kit :)

Thanks for a fascinating video. So cool to see the amazing use of lots on these models.

Incredibly creative. And some of those models were huge!

@Matteline

8 ай бұрын

In terms of visual effecst work, a lot of these models are actually a bit smaller than average. The model V1s used for a lot of the shots in 'Operation Crossbow' were about 4 feet long I think. Thunderbird 1 models varied fromabout 15 inches to about 30 for teh largest ones. Of course back them everything was shot in camera, all at once. So all of the models had to be built to the same scale, the vehicles and the landscapes. That automated car park set is just incredible. All the cars are 1/24th so it must have been a huge set. it certainly looks enormous. Thanks for watching.

@jeniferallan6693

8 ай бұрын

@Matteline your research is incredible. As a child, I loved watching Thunderbirds. Now, I appreciate the efforts, skills and incredible imagination of the design team.

Absolutely fascinating. I was a big fan of thunderbirds when I was a kid Being familiar with some of these kits from also being an air fix fan, Andersons models must have been huge! When you look at how tiny some of the parts look on the models, and even if I don't recollect totally correctly the size of the parts, the models must have.been big. I always assumed that they were small, just like many airfix kits or matchbox cars were.

@Matteline

9 ай бұрын

In terms of VFX models, they models are pretty small. The primary Thunderbird 2 model was approx 3 feet long. The Thunderbird 1 model that is seen in the launch sequence is just over a foot tall. The Crablogger was probably about 8 feet long and 2 - 3 feet high. By comparison the Seaview from 'Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea' was 8 feet long and the USS Enterprise was 11 feet long.

@crabby7668

8 ай бұрын

@@Matteline thanks for the reply. That figure for thunderbird one is more what I had considered for closeups years ago, not knowing anything about actually filmsets. Fascinating stuff. The crablogger was one of the first episodes I ever saw and I was hooked! One interesting factoid is that years ago you could get thunderbirds iirc in French with English subtitles on the South Coast TV and I used to use it to improve my French when I worked on the channel tunnel.

Some great anorak information there. It must have taken hours of attentive viewing to locate all of those pieces! One tiny correction, at 5' 00" that's a Mercury capsule not a Gemini.

@Matteline

9 ай бұрын

The now defunct 'Eagle Transporter ' website was a great resource with like minded model.makers and enthusiasts offering information and posting questions. Some.people.on there had built.studio scale replicas and had hunted down every kit part. There was a superb Elevator Car and a Gray & Houseman explosive tractor and the yellow Helijet. I don't remember all the names - someone known as Captain Apollo was very knowledabgle.

this has given me some inspiration into my own modelmaking and kitbashing to make new things.

@Matteline

8 ай бұрын

That's great. I am working on a mode right now, and I am finding myself skewing towards the Thunderbirds aesthetic which I love, but is not right for what I am trying to do. ha ha.

1980's, was offered daft money for my Tiger Joe toy tank from an Anderson fan as many larger tracked models used this American toy for the tracks, from Thunderbirds to UFO ( the moon tank defences ). Never sold it.

The Airfix Travelling Crane and SR.N1 hovercraft kits were also widely used in 2001: a Space Odyssey, incidentally. Most notably the full-sized EVA pod.

@Matteline

8 ай бұрын

Cool.

My fave has always been the juice squeezer on the wall behind T1. :-)

wondeerful video-I had the SRN-1 kit back in the day.

The most obvious use in Thunderbirds of the SR-N1 kit, is the launch pad for the Zombite fighters.

@Matteline

7 ай бұрын

The first time I noticed it was on the movie version of Thunderbird 2s hangar. hanger.

Wow! amazing, it makes perfect sense, why would they NOT use all that good ready made stuff? Amazing how much research tyhere is, wonder if there will be a burst of really accurate T-Birds dioramas at Telford in the next couple of years?