I recently joined a group on Facebook that specialises in the discussion of miniatures from films – e.g., things like effects shots, etc.
There’s a helluva crowd on there – people who worked on The Abyss, Titanic, Alien, and many more – along with enthusiasts such as myself.
One of them is a chap called Greg Morgan, who worked on the Steven Spielberg war film Empire of the Sun back in the mid-1980s.
He helped with the various radio-controlled models that were used for some of the flying sequences towards the end of the film. He has, very kindly, allowed me to post these photos on here for others to enjoy.
(The last two shots are of the real things – replica A6M-5 Zero and P-51D Mustang, the latter being flown by Ray Hanna himself.)
By: Meddle - 21st August 2018 at 12:47
Any idea where the B29 model (etc) went?
By: oldschool1984 - 21st August 2018 at 07:29
Small youtube video on the models from the film.
By: DazDaMan - 21st August 2018 at 01:13
I believe someone posted a photo of the B-29 recently, so will see if I can find it.
For those that didn’t know, the model was actually only powered by TWO engines, not four! The two outboard engines were actually just free-wheeling propellers, but it gave the impression of four engines being fitted.
By: Black Knight - 20th August 2018 at 22:21
I remember collecting the mail from a company in Sandown Road, Watford. They had the B-29 hanging from the ceiling & P-51’s stcked to 1 side. told me they were for an upcoming Spielberg film but couldn’t tell me the title. I later found out what it was & went back but they’d moved on.
By: John Aeroclub - 20th August 2018 at 15:56
A number of the R/C models including a massive B.29 and a Mustang, found there way to a restaurant-cum-flying model museum near to Bestwood Country Park, here in Nottingham-shire, over 20 odd years ago. There was also an adjacent model flying field. The whole lot sadly folded when the owner tragically died. I had loaned a Piper Cub model to the museum and that disappeared with the rest of the stuff.
John
By: DazDaMan - 17th August 2018 at 23:44
It’s called Miniatures in Movies.
There’s the occasional aviation post in there (Memphis Belle, Battle of Britain etc), but it’s worth a look for a lot of rare and personal photos of movie stuff you might never get to see.
By: hampden98 - 17th August 2018 at 19:48
What’s the facebook group called? Sounds interesting.
By: scotavia - 17th August 2018 at 17:28
He’s behind you….
for those who might not have seen the sequnce being filmed in the stills above…..https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNTQSbvlutg
and the writers background on the book and filming…https://www.theguardian.com/books/2006/mar/04/fiction.film
By: Trolly Aux - 17th August 2018 at 14:21
cracking
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August 17, 2018 at 12:11 pm