In 1988, I assisted Niels Nielsen in building a prototype helicopter model created for presentation to the United States military as a potential future design. Not only did we fabricate the helicopter from scratch, but we also incorporated motorized rotors and lighting. Unfortunately, we worked in a small room with poor ventilation and used materials such as Bondo, urethanes, and glues that emitted toxic fumes. To make matters worse, I managed to cut my finger in half with an X-Acto blade, an accident that required a trip to the emergency room! That project served as a stark reminder of the occupational hazards involved in professional model-making. Our model was ultimately filmed by cinematographer Mehran Salamati, who used a motion control system against a blue screen to composite it against a sky background. I never saw the completed film.

Sylvester Stallone's Rambo movies were very popular in the 1980s, and I was fortunate enough to work on some great scenes for 1988's Rambo III. Introvision International provided the visual effects for the film, and one of the key sequences involved the spectacular death of the badass Russian soldier Kourov. In that scene, Rambo fights Kourov near the entrance of a subterranean cave. After a failed attempt to choke him with a rope, Rambo pulls the grenade pins attached to Kourov's vest and knocks him down a hole into the cave, ultimately hanging and exploding him simultaneously. That unique death scene was actually filmed using miniatures by Introvision, the company that hired me as a sculptor for the project.

My first assignment was to pre-visualize the cave as an accurate miniature replica of the filming site, known as the Bell Caves in Israel. The cave miniature needed to be quite large, about 12 feet high, so to assist in its construction, I sculpted a smaller 2-foot reference model out of green foam. Once the reference model was approved, the actual set piece for filming was fabricated by Richard Kilroy under the supervision of Tim Donahue and Gene Rizzardi. It consisted of a rebar frame covered with chicken wire, sprayed with gunite cement, and sculpted with plaster for the final detailing. The result was a robust, fireproof miniature set that could withstand any pyrotechnics used during filming.

The most enjoyable part of the gig was the sculpting of a miniature Kourov. Relying on photos of the actor in costume, I used Roma clay to create a 12-inch replica. Once the molds were made, the character was cast in urethane foam. Art director Anton Tremblay handled the paint job and all of the clothing, which was made from paper towels. The main objective was to use lightweight materials that would explode easily and safely. After the camera crew had filmed the shot, which, of course, utterly destroyed the Kourov model, a crew member arrived at the model shop to announce that the director wanted another take. Since no one had told us multiple takes were possible, we weren't prepared with extra models. Anton and I immediately scrambled to create more Kourov miniatures, each requiring many additional hours to recreate..

The exploding Kourov looked amazing in the movie, but I was personally disappointed that the viewer could not see the carefully crafted Kourov model before it blew up. Originally, I thought that the editors had cut the shot right at the blast, but I recently examined the movie frame-by-frame and noticed there were about two visible frames of the Kourov model before the destruction. I felt let down because so much hard work and attention to detail went into that unique model, yet it was never truly visible in the final cut. Oh well, that is the motion picture business!

In 1990, Introvision International hoped to handle the special effects for an upcoming blockbuster titled Isobar, starring Sylvester Stallone. Most of the action in the script was set to take place on a futuristic train, and I was hired as part of a small crew to fabricate the train in miniature for a proof-of-concept test film. Anton Tremblay created the blueprints for the train and supervised the project. My primary role was to construct the locomotive. The main form was sculpted from foam, which served as a pattern for vacuum-forming sheet styrene into shape. This method resulted in a clean, hollow basic structure, which I then detailed with various styrene plastic parts. The model featured working lights and had to roll on specially designed rails; consequently, we could not use any commercially available model railroad parts. The train was filmed and composited over footage of downtown Los Angeles using the "Introvision Process." Alas, Isobar never went into full production. This photo is a rare remnant of a movie that never truly happened!

The 1990 ABC television special Ralph S. Mouse required a "sports car" for the ending sequence. Although hired as a stop-motion animator, I jumped at the chance to also create the Laser XL7 Roadracer for the film. As a hot rod and show car enthusiast, I wanted to deliver more than just a mere sports car. I used kit-bashing techniques to construct the vehicle; by chopping and combining at least three different 1/12 scale car kits, I was able to create a unique hot rod for the main character, Ralph S. Mouse. The hot rod featured functional steering, spring suspension, and working lights. Ralph cruised in style!

In 1995, a company called Interfilm was producing "interactive movies," a new concept that never truly took off. Their third film was Bombmeister, a title that essentially tells its own story. Anton Tremblay, the production designer, hired me to create a replica of a vintage slot machine. The script required a slot machine to be blown up, an action that could not be achieved using a real one made of cast iron and wood weighing a ton. Materials for the replica were chosen to be as lightweight as possible. The flat surfaces were easy to duplicate as they were made of foamcore. The complex shapes were sculpted from foam and covered with thin styrene plastic sheets via a vacuform machine to achieve a smooth finish. Anton designed the cool graphics, including skulls that were not in the original. I was very pleased with how well the fabrication compared to the real thing. Once again, however, my handiwork was blasted to smithereens. (This result reminded me of a favorite childhood activity where I would build model kits and then destroy them with firecrackers once I grew tired of them!) Unfortunately, Interfilm failed as a viable company and Bombmeister was never released, although the movie was likely completed.

1995 marked the end of my model and prop-making career because I was hired by Walt Disney Feature Animation as a computer character animator. After that, I stayed in the digital animation realm and never looked back until...

After many years away from the business, my old friend Anton Tremblay briefly lured me out of model-making "retirement" to help him with a print advertisement for a pharmaceutical company in 2007. The ad illustrated an outdoor scene featuring fireflies which, on closer inspection, were actually immunoglobulin molecules. My contribution was to fabricate the Y-shaped molecules based on the agency artwork. To create the ovoid shapes, I used a cobbled-together lathe made from a slow-moving electric drill. Using a template for accuracy, this allowed me to slowly build up a nice symmetric oval out of Bondo. The kidney-shaped pieces had to be modeled freehand. Silicone molds were made in order to create multiple copies out of two-part urethane casting resin. The bottom pieces were cast in clear resin so they could be lit up for the firefly effect. Anton completed the final paint job and installed the working lights. Our model could have been rendered via computer, but the agency, to their credit, wanted the look of an actual photographed prop for their ad. This project held extra significance for me as I had previously been stricken with a MRSA superbug in 2001. Near death despite massive doses of antibiotics and surgery, I was revived and ultimately recovered after the doctors initiated a dosage of intravenous immunoglobulin. It was a meaningful coincidence for me to create that model!