How cheaply can I make miniatures?

A

Aspiring Mogul

I'm on a Space: 1999 kick now, so I have done some digging on Youtube. Brian Johnson, the sfx legend who did the effects for the series (and The Empire Strikes Back), said that a miniature can be 3,500 British pounds, which would be about $25,000.00 today.

If I am smart about it, I should be able to create a 44-inch spaceship for, say, a few thousand dollars, and, if I do several, the cost per spaceship should go down. There's also the issue of the space base, as in Moonbase Alpha on the moon. Again, without knowing anything, I should be able to do that for less than $10,000.00. How much to do something like this video?
 
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The miniatures that cost 3.5k all those years ago were so expensive as they were made from costly materials to make the ships very durable. This was because they would be used over many episodes. I think you could make miniatures of your own quite cheaply using, as they did, cheap kits to harvest interesting parts to add detail.
 
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I used to have the airfix kit of the Hawk craft from this series. If memory serves it was approx 1-2 feet long. You can still get it on ebay from time to time.

I much prefer the use of miniatures over cgi. A more recent film to use them is the Duncan Jones film` Moon` The harvesters on the moon were miniatures.
Good luck with your project!
 
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I did a lot of warhamer 40K conversion work and I think jou can make a good minature with some kits, green stuf and plasticcard. It can cost a $10,000.00....but it should not necesary cost that much. I can recoment to usse Citadel paint....its the best.

It also depends on joure building skils how good jou be.....Took me 3 jears to become a good painter and converter. Skils I, now can usse for other projects as well....
 
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I was wondering why it would cost so much, but big companies like Pinewood would tend to pay more.

Yeah, I think a good model should cost no more than $5,000.00. What about the launching pad which would lift an Eagle from the underground shelter to the surface? Another few thousand?
 
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Aspiring Mogul said:
I was wondering why it would cost so much
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Something to take into consideration;

Materials are the least costly aspect of the process. Skilled
model makers are where the costs are. If you pay nothing
for labor or very little, then a good model should cost less
than five large.

And, of course, that depends on what the miniature is. One,
simple, space ship like the Eagle might cost less. A model like
the Falcon or the Nostromo would cost more. And if you pay
for labor that adds to the cost.

When you say, "I should be able to create a 44-inch spaceship"
do you mean you will buy the materials and sit in your garage
building? Or as a producer do you mean you will hire skilled
model makers to build one.

Clearly the cost will be different.
 
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The owner of the local make-up company did offer to help me for free with a fan film a few years ago, as you know, but I don't know if the offer is still valid, and I definitely don't know if she will help me if I want to do a non-fan film for sale. Volunteers from the local sci-fi scene have also offered to help, but, again, this was for a fan film, and, with projects that require free labor, they tend to drift away.

How about I get a mix of volunteers and skilled labor, and, hopefully, the skilled labor will offer a discount for an aspiring mogul. Worst comes to worst, I can start my own company, hire people part-time, and, together, learn the craft of making models for film. Everyone seems to use CGI these days, so this could be reviving a lost art.
 
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Yep, I think 3D printing would be the way to go - you can get something like a makerbot (http://www.makerbot.com/) for between $1-2,000 and do a lot of the printing yourself. There will still be a lot of manual prep work as well - painting, assembly, etc, but 3D printing will save you a lot of the initial labor of making the parts.
 
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You might have a hobby shop in your town, with a lot of enthusiastic amatuer model builders.

The one near me has a corkboard on it, covered in flyers from people looking for models & dioramas to be custom built, to builders looking for the challenge and publishing their rates. Most of it's WWI & WWII, but still... you could find someone fed up with painting the same Panzer over & over, and who is looking for an original project.

Before having a custom model built, though, consider building an off-the-shelf model yourself (or having someone do it) and do some practice shots with it first. You'll want to get that experience in early, before risking damage to your one-of-a-kind original.
 
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I'm finally getting it.

With this video, by IndieMogul, I presume I can make a good-quality spacesuit, and, with his other videos, I can figure out how to do a space helmet. Are his suggestions good? He's a Mogul, so we must be related. LOL. And I think I can get help to figure out how to do this as well as build miniature spacecraft and a miniature space-station or moonbase - probably both.

Now, I have to find a script-writer and a good SF author to help me develop my story.
 
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