TWINE Z8 retractable rocket launcher questions
juggle5
Posts: 22MI6 Agent
Hi
I am thinking about making the Z8 retractable rocket launcher from TWINE
and have a few questions that some folks might be able to help me out with:
- in the movie when the rocket launcher is operated they only show a small
amount of the car. I was wondering if anyone knows if there was just the fender
modified for the shot or if the whole car was involved. I have seen photos
of the movie car on display with the rocket launcher open, but not sure if it
is functional or is just attached to the car?
- does anyone have clean photos of the launcher from diff angles, aside from
screen shots from the movie.
- do you know how the retractable rocket fins worked.
Any info would be appreciated
Thanks Ken
I am thinking about making the Z8 retractable rocket launcher from TWINE
and have a few questions that some folks might be able to help me out with:
- in the movie when the rocket launcher is operated they only show a small
amount of the car. I was wondering if anyone knows if there was just the fender
modified for the shot or if the whole car was involved. I have seen photos
of the movie car on display with the rocket launcher open, but not sure if it
is functional or is just attached to the car?
- does anyone have clean photos of the launcher from diff angles, aside from
screen shots from the movie.
- do you know how the retractable rocket fins worked.
Any info would be appreciated
Thanks Ken
Comments
1. It appears to be a stock fender and the whole assy folds out of the stock vent hole (with a little bit of trimming on the edges to remove the support brackets). The screen used rocket assembly was for sale by itself at some point so the display car may be a modern static replica.
2. Put in your copy of TWINE on DVD and there's a shot in the behind-the-scenes material that shows the entire assembly sitting on a table with all of the pneumatic hose connections. I don't remember which clip it was, but you can see how all of the linkages move very easily.
3. The fins are spring loaded. A U-shaped catch moves out of the way that was holding them in the folded position, and the fins snap into place with elastic that pulls each fin taut. Easy to make if you have a laser cutter available and enough patience to put on what seems like hundreds of stickers on each rocket.
If you get past the planning stages and want some good reference material I have 16 megapixel scans of that scene from a 35mm print of the trailer, you'll need to mail me a USB drive or set up some sort of massive multi-gigabyte transfer to get the files though as each frame is about 50MB.
The simplest I could work out how to do the rockets would be about a dozen CNC punched sheet metal pieces for a total cost of at least $500 per side, which is pretty high so I never had enough interest to get a run together.
Kevin (Q-Branch) designed a neat take on the TWINE rocket launcher design with some firing rockets that bolted to the vents on the same spot on a Z3, you should take a look around for those as well.
Good luck
--Brian
The car wasn't real by the way, it was a replica made by the SFX boys.
I've got full plans of the rocket launcher, I researched it a while ago so I worked out everything needed to make it.
I never made it though as
1) how do you display it? A section of z8 wing would be pretty huge to show off in the living room
2) cost is quite high, but $500 a side? No, there's more accurate and cheap ways of doing it than that, still it's still not gonna be a few quid.
3) the whole mech is too big to fit to a car, so what's the point in making all that?
Maybe someday ill make it, but until I can find a decent reason why it'll just sit on the drawing board.
MG -{
Vive le droit à la libre expression! Je suis Charlie!
www.helpforheroes.org.uk
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These should help...
Doing one myself as well.. like all projects, they take awhile...
Photos from beaulieu motor museum, where the actual stunt car is on display. Full bonnet and wings one piece fibre glass.
P.
My preference would be for something in aluminum or steel sheet metal that could actually survive showing with a full size car for quite a few shows, but if anyone is going cheap with an acrylic/styrene version that may work as well if the price is low enough to warrant how much shorter the prop would last.
--Brian