Saturday, July 1, 2017

Incredible original 1970s filming miniatures from Battlestar Galactica and Buck Rogers

There was a very fancy Hollywood memorabilia auction in the United States this week, and an auction house called Profiles in History sold off a collection of 23 original filming miniatures from two 1970s science fiction television series, "Battlestar Galactica" (1978) and "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century" (1979).  These scratchbuilt models are from the golden age of making models for movies and television, before CGI took over.  


I've always been in awe of the guys who built these original filming models. Star Wars, Star Trek, Battlestar and Buck Rogers were my favourite sci-fi treats growing up in the 1970s and 80s, and the spacecraft in them were just as integral as the heroes and villains.

I won't talk much about the collection and how it was collected over the years by one person. I will say that is collection of 23 filming miniatures sold for US$1.8million. US$1.8million!!! Wow.

I'll let the photos do the talking. Be inspired by the builds, by the modelling techniques involved. Imagine being given the concept sketches and told to make that happen using metal, wood, little lights and styrene. What a gig, what a challenge.

I usually like to try to spot pieces of commercially available model kits on spaceship detailing. Did you know that there are 1/35 Tamiya Tiger tank engine grills on the original Millennium Falcon from Star Wars?  Cool, huh? With these filming miniatures, I really struggled. There might be a tank drive wheel hull housing in one shot, maybe a Tirpitz funnel in another, that's about it. Impressive.

So enjoy. Tell me if you spot any recognisable model kit pieces!

All photos are from Profiles in History, I don't own copyright to any of these babies. If you want to read more about the collection and the original builders, I recommend you visit this site:
Profiles in History - The Gary Cannavo Collection of Battlestar Galactica and Buck Rogers Filming Miniatures.


Original Battlestar Galactica filming miniature model

Original Battlestar Galactica filming miniature model
Look at the size of that thing.

Original Battlestar Galactica filming miniature model

Original Battlestar Galactica filming miniature model
Look at that detail!

Original Battlestar Galactica filming miniature model

Original Battlestar Galactica filming miniature model
I think that modern commercial kits of the Viper actually are better than the original filming miniatures!

Original Battlestar Galactica filming miniature model
These Cylon Raiders scared the pants off of me in 1979...

Original Battlestar Galactica filming miniature model

Original Battlestar Galactica filming miniature model

Original Battlestar Galactica filming miniature model

Original Battlestar Galactica filming miniature model

Original Battlestar Galactica filming miniature model
This would be where I would expect to recognise commercial model kit pieces. I think in the foreground right there might be two American tank pieces, where drive wheels mount to the hull? 


Original Battlestar Galactica filming miniature model

Original Battlestar Galactica filming miniature model
Again, I'd expect to recognise some of the greebles here, but nope. Maybe there are two pieces from a Tirpitz or Bismark battleship, the tops of the funnels, one on either side of the detailed mechanical area??? What do you think?


Original Battlestar Galactica filming miniature model
Good to see that 1920s Art Deco style fonts are still popular in the future...

Original Battlestar Galactica filming miniature model
Great weathering for the Ragtag Fleet vehicles.

Original Battlestar Galactica filming miniature model

Original Buck Rogers filming miniature model
I loved this spaceship as a kid. As an adult, meh, it doesn't do much for me.

Original Buck Rogers filming miniature model
Weathering has come a long, long way since 1979.

Original Buck Rogers filming miniature model
Funky, Seventies style.

Original Buck Rogers filming miniature model
That's a pretty cool spaceship right there. And maybe those are missile launchers from a Soviet Hind helicopter?

Original Buck Rogers filming miniature model

Original Buck Rogers filming miniature model
This is proof that not every spaceship design from the 1970s was cool.
This is just very, very silly.

I hope you enjoyed these.

Cheers,

Dave



20 comments:

  1. Dave, thank you for posting these wonderful studio model photos! It's so good to see these original Battlestar Galactica models, Cylon, and Viper models, again. The last time I saw the studio Galactica model, it was on display in the window of the main store at Universal Studios, Florida, in 1983, or so. I always loved the designs from the original 1978-1979 TV series, better than the ones from the remake 2004 TV series. These seem more real to me, and futuristic. Thanks, again. Greg Chin (2D/3D Animator)

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  2. Hi Greg, they're pretty cool, aren't they? There's a solid clunkiness to these that I really like - they're not too slick, too streamlined, like the later remake ships. Thanks mate, Dave

    P.S. Anywhere I can check out your animation?

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  3. I remember reading about this auction back when it was first announced... went back and checked and apparently this lot sold for $1.8m! Not a bad take!

    That Scorpion is a cool looking ship.. seeing lots of kitbash in that one. The nose / cockpit / turret looks to be from an early model AH-1 Cobra attack helicopter. The fuselage sides / wings appear to be from the F-14 without the additional intake pieces added on the bottom. I built one of the original Revellogram releases when I was a kid in the 80s and I'm getting flashback vibes. I'm sure you're correct on the rocket pods coming from some Soviet era kit... and the white missiles above it are likely AIM-9 and AIM-54 from the same F-14 kit that supplied the fuselage parts. The horizontal tail parts might be the vertical stabs from the F-14 reversed and used horizontally. It's a real cool hogdgepodge kitbash.

    I also agree that the Hawk ship, along with everything else from Buck Rogers Season Two, was corny as *bleep*. Don't get me wrong, the first season was corny as well but corny in a good way and not in the cringey way.

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    1. I think you're spot on with your guesses on what kits donated parts to these!

      Heh heh, I want to try to use the term "corny as *bleep*" from now on!

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  4. I have to disagree with you about Hawk's fighter - if it was any more cool it would have a layer of ie on it!

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    1. Heh heh, I love it! I still think it's very silly, but maybe I will admit there is some coolness involved Rog... ;)

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  5. No images of the Draconian Marauder or the Draconia?

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  6. Very nice filming miniatures. They are beautiful, thank you

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  7. Thank you for posting. Brought back some amazing memories...

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  8. When I was at USC in the late 1970s, I went to a party at a student’s apartment. Over the kitchen table, he had this huge gray model of a spaceship. He said, “look at this,” and plugged in a cord hanging from it. It all lit up. I noticed the gun turrets looked like they had been taken off those little plastic toy tanks we had when we were kids. He told me it was the Battlestar Galactica. I remarked that he must have really liked that show to build this model. He assured me that no, it WAS the Battlestar Gallactica. He said that he had been working the previous summer for a company at Wilshire Boulevard. He went down into a store room, that they shared with a special effects company. He found this model sitting dusty in a corner. He asked if he could have it, and they told him sure, as long as he gave it back if the series was ever resurrected. This was before the reboot of the series.

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  9. When I was at USC in the 1970s, I went to a party at a student’s apartment. Over the dining room table he had this huge model of a spaceship hanging from the ceiling by fishing line. I remarked that it looked cool, and he said, look at this, and plugged in an extension cord hanging from it. It all lit up with lights around the edges. I noticed that the gun turrets looked like they had been cut off the top of those toy plastic tanks we had when we were kids. He told me it was the Battlestar Galactica. I said he must have really liked the show to make such a model. He told me that no, it WAS The Battlestar Galactica. He said that he had been working the previous summer for a company on Wilshire Boulevard that shared a store storage room with a special effects company. He went down one day and saw this model sitting in the corner. He asked if he could have it, and they told him sure, as long as he returned it if the series was ever resurrected. (This was before the series was rebooted). I always wondered what happened to that model.

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    1. Wow, it would be worth a fortune now!

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    2. Hard to believe they would just give away a model they spent hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars to make.

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    3. Agreed, it seems insane now, doesn't it?

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  10. Not at all a surprise that they just gave it away. After all, what they'd typically do is just throw them away.

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    1. Yeah, you're probably right. Who knows what gems were just tossed into a rubbish bin?

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  11. Dave Gladwin (Australia)July 9, 2023 at 9:14 PM

    This is awesome and thank for you sharing. I came across your page because I was looking for a reference to Battlestar Galactica models that came to Australia and did a roadshow of shopping Malls between 1979-1981. Being a massive Battlestar addict as a child I will never forget the model exhibit in our shopping Mall, hence landing here! The exhibit was in Canberra ACT (Australia's capital city) and in the Belconnen Shopping Mall but I can't find any reference to models going on the road! Thanks again, brought back a few memories!!! Dave Gladwin

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    1. Hi Dave, that would have been so cool! I was a kid in Australia then too, but I have no memory of this travelling exhibition sadly. It sounds like it was pretty formative. I hope you can find some info out there - good luck.

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