BEGG AND THE BATTLEHAWK

Continuing on the subject of Gerry Anderson's and Christopher Burr's, Terrahawks I was watching an interview on the DVD set with special effects director Steven Begg, who, of course has gone on to much bigger and better things, although being the decent chap he is, is quite happy to wax lyrical about Terrahawks, although, these days  he does find it fairly unwatchable.

 One point of interest to me in the interview was Steven mentioning his original design of the Battlehawk which was  much rounder and curvy than the final model. The design was redrawn by the art director, Gary Tompkins as a much more angular aircraft.

The final model had quite a few flat surfaces which annoyed Harry Oakes, the highly experienced visual effects and model unit cameraman, who complained that the surfaces reflected the harsh studio lights creating camera flash .( Sadly, Harry, a veteran of many Gerry Anderson productions died last year aged 91).

Another point that Steven raised was that the tungsten wires that suspended the models during flying sequences were always breaking sending the models crashing to the floor, as well as that, there were occasions when models were inadvertently caught on the receiving end of explosions. The model builders would immediately get to work patching them up. The final results, according to Steven made the models look even more realistic.

These photos, taken at RAF Cosford last year, of one of the original Battlehawks used in the show does show a small amount of battle fatigue, but I don't suppose the lucky person who owns it minds.