1941 Scale Model Special Effects

[@chaucer44]

I'm an editor and I have to tell you thisfootage is AMAZING and would cut very well. Almost every shot has some golden moments. I am highly impressed with what these guys did with scale planes and wire rigs.

[@flyingdutchman44]

love those props starting and stopping as well as the sudden 'backwards' flight and bouncing fuselages..great stuff -star wars eat your heart out....

[@rotorshawn]

What's great is that they had the foresight to keep the camera moving all the time, rather than the typical static camera... in reality, if this were real footage it would have been shot from a moving plane and I appreciate that they took that into consideration. great foreground smoke and matte painting use...

[@will4ward]

As a VFX artist who worked with miniatures in films in the 90's.This is fantastic! The back drop must have been huge! the models back then were typically 2-3ft long. couldnt see the wires even. Getting depth of field on the models was difficult and required much light. I'm trying to imagine the rig holding all those models up AND moving them around. If you want to see this kind of work closer to our time look at Skotak Bros(Aliens,Terminator2) and "The Right Stuff -CGI today is no fun.

[@nibornodrog]

Amazing for that era and is better than some modern stuff with all the high tech! Appreciated very much thanks.

[@eljefekief]

Brilliant. Effects today need to make a lot more use of models and miniatures!

[@will4ward]

You are correct. Judging by the scale of the models(20-30in) the background was probably a long oil/airbrush painting about 100ft by 30ft and the clouds up front were CO2 fog and oil smoke. simply cool.

[@swinglamp]

Utterly amazing! The added score was perfect.

[@kullunkh1]

Hi, these sequences were done for 'Reach for the Sky.' The give aways are the Me 109's and the squadron codes and type of the Spit model in the last shot.

[@rolko52]

These are amazing images contrasting the beauty of flight against the backdrop of war.

[@WildBillCox13]

Nice stuff. Toho films would make great use of these effects for years to come.

[@Northside777]

Beautifully done. The planes swinging backwards then forwards, hanging still then moving and planes with props not yet starting, then suddenly starting to spin are all pre-edits that were meant to be "cut on action." So these are the rushes. This may have been for training purposes or for a British film studio. The WWII Hollywood movie "A Yank in the RAF" though not using these specific scenes has model effects in a very similar style. Well done.

[@rollosnook]

Carefully edited these scenes become indistinguishable from reality. I used to teach video and for one exercise I marionated the Apollo landing using an Airfix kit and some building materials. After careful editing, I played it to a group of students. One stood up and pulled the DV cassette out of the camera, checked the cables, scratched his head and then asked "where did you get this footage?". It was a really powerful lesson, that you can fool an audience with a budget of £10.

[@philsmodelmaking2260]

wow! i was going to ask what this footage was originally from, but that questions been answered in the comments, i would love to see a behind the scenes documentary about how some of these effects were achieved, especially the aircraft that does a full roll, that was unbelievable!

[@rotorshawn]

Terrific footage.... Well done.....

[@MadDogDucati]

wonderful stuff brilliantly done, some very convincing!

[@oisiaa]

I love it, keep up the FANTASTIC work!

[@openfold]

That Spit looks like a MkXVI, which was only introduced in '44. The squadron codes are for a glider-towing squadron, though, which may mean a bit of wartime disinformation.... It does resemble 'Reach For The Sky' (1956) but I don't have the whole film to find exact matches.

[@carmium]

I love those planes turning in a 20-foot radius! 8-)

[@georgitushev]

Very touching , makes me cry little bit!

[@discoman2358]

Still make you cry 12 years later?

[@georgitushev]

@@discoman2358 wow, still does 🎬

[@horizonflyer9]

very realistic wow

[@studiojulio5929]

very impressive. tnx for the upload

[@FPilotBierce]

REACH FOR THE SKY was just on Th¡s Network a little while ago. Yes, they used quite a bit of this exact footage, but they got away with it by using little snippets at a time, combining them with actors in mockup cockpits, intercutting with archive footage, and other tricks.

[@derptank3308]

This is actually pretty damn convincing

[@thudar9]

I believe the 1941 Special effect footage is actually a Motion Picture test reel. As simple as these effects are a test would be required to prove to the effects can be done convincingly. Many films of that era had effects like this. In the movie Casablanca the aircraft at the end is flown on a wire.

[@fjbutch]

so much work....well done.

[@IveeDeeVee]

Dude! this is da Bomb!

[@SAL73VFX]

I´m still wondering if the filmed the models againts in real sky or if it was a huge canvas. Amazing work!

[@dave41184]

Could be something for 'Reach for the Sky' maybe?

[@1616Wildcat]

Nice stuff but assuredly not the first. Monogram (US), Republic (US), Universal (US) ... all US studios in fact -- used wire-hung models in many movies long before this -- mostly cheap serials. Republic's technicians were the masters of the bunch with everything from flying wings to rocketships to the Rocket Man/Commando Cody, Captain Marvel and on and on. One of the issues with all wire-hung flying models is that they turn at too flat an angle -- they sort of circle rather than lower a wing and turn pretty tightly. Not a pilot so I don't know precise terms, but these things mostly turned on a single plane, which was a giveaway if there ever was one.

[@WildBillCox13]

It's "Banking". Bank left to turn left. Bank right to turn right.

[@JohnyG29]

Idiotic comment.

[@sinisterisrandom8537]

Still really cool.

[@Bomberguy]

Max Bruch's Violin Concerto 3rd movement

[@leondelevita2928]

Love your video's! do you maybe have a site or some contact information? Keep up.

[@B70Valkyrie]

WAY cool!!!

[@RepublicCommando29videos]

must have been tough to control those planes

[@LeSPauldude45]

lol looked espacially good for 41"

[@smurfswacker]

This stuff is brilliant. It's awesome how something so simple...swinging models on a wire...can yield such convincing results. By "simple" I don't mean "easy"...as others have pointed out, doing this stuff right was quite difficult. Can someone tell me how they made the plane bank and slip off-screen? I can't figure that one out.

[@northside7776]

With careful editing and 'cutting-on-action,' these sequences would be quite effective. Some of it looks like the model combat scenes in the film "A Yank in the RAF" though I'm not saying it's exactly the same footage.

[@FPilotBierce]

@smurfswacker Like around 1:30 and subsequent? I figure the model is rigged to a hinged "plate" so the "puppeteer" can use a rod to dip the inside wing down for the bank.

[@matrox]

Thats 1941 CGI computer graphics.

[@Bruno47602]

Is a Death Dance...

[@metalrod23]

At 4:08 the He-111s threw it in reverse.

[@gingerbeer3]

vrooooom!!!!!!!

[@Threetails]

Airfix's contribution to the war effort?

[@reticulan5]

beats CGI shit anyday

[@dougie275]

its from reach for the sky. angles one five (great film) used real Hurrie's not models

[@LostCloudx4]

lol funny and cool! Least u don't have to muck about painting the models ;)

[@deggis4]

CGI - epic fail.

[@CptSchmidt]

Max Bruch's Violin Concerto 3rd movement