What Ifs For The Big Screen Or Even The Small Scre

[famvburg]

   We're all familiar with the SNJs, AT-6s & Harvards & BT-13/BT-15s converted to Japanese Zeros, Kates & Vals for the 1971 movie "Tora, Tora, Tora" I suppose & some other stand ins, such as F-84Fs painted as MiGs in a couple of Korean War movies or the Puma Hinds in "Red Dawn". I was thinking of some others that I've not seen before & the effect would be more visual than anything. Obviously, this was before CGI & we had to do things the hard (& expensive) way. Let's say you needed an FW 200. One thought is a C-47/DC-3. Look at it, basically a scaled down, 2 engined Condor. Do some cosmetics along with the paint. Just got to have 4 engines? What about a DC-4, albeit a bit fat? Lat's say you need an Emily, & you DON'T want to look ridiculous & use a C-130, a they did it "Midway". What about a Grumman Albatross? Again, kind of a scaled down 2 engined Emily. In addition to being Japanese stand ins, I've seen AT-6s painted in German markings, like FW 190s. My dad & I used to fly a friend's painted as such, tho many would argue it was a Stuka due to the greenhouse, but it wasn't. Say you needed some Me 110s, cheat a little & use either Lockheed 10 Electras or Beech 18/C-45, or better, use some modified to use turbo props & at least you don't have radials. There used to be an old BT-13/BT-15 hulk (a real one) about 60 miles from me in a pasture. I always thought it would be neat to take it, put amphib floats on it, a bigger engine & 3 blade prop, modify the cowl & rudder & paint it like an Arado Ar 196! I'm still gonna model it one day!    

[Mossie]

Theres a lot of scope for this.  First one that comes to mind is substitute a B-1B for a Blackjack, very similar apart from the size, you'd be hard pressed to tell on screen if painted up right.

Coming back to DC-3's, get the props boys to works some wonders on the nose & you could have yourself a He-111.

P-51D's as Yak-3's maybe?

B-24's for Lancasters, some are afraid this kind of thing might just happen with the new version of The Dambusters!

Now the F-14's gone, Tornadoes instead, even the MiG-23/27 is around in more than enough numbers!

[famvburg]

Theres a lot of scope for this.  First one that comes to mind is substitute a B-1B for a Blackjack, very similar apart from the size, you'd be hard pressed to tell on screen if painted up right.

Coming back to DC-3's, get the props boys to works some wonders on the nose & you could have yourself a He-111.

P-51D's as Yak-3's maybe?

B-24's for Lancasters, some are afraid this kind of thing might just happen with the new version of The Dambusters!

Now the F-14's gone, Tornadoes instead, even the MiG-23/27 is around in more than enough numbers!

    There was a Czech movie back in the early '70s that required a Westland Wellington & the basically built a fuselage shell for the fuselage on an Li-2. There was a pic in a period Air International, IIRC. I understand it didn't fly, but at least taxied.

[Mossie]

Yeah, that kind of thing tends to happen a lot for armour as well (easier than for aircraft as you don't have to worry about aerodynamics & such), the special effects guys weld a bit of steel into the right places to make their machine look as near as damnit to their subject.

All too many times the director dosen't worry about accuracy in the slightest & you get stuff like the F-16 as a Tornado in Independence Day (they could have at least used F-111's!).  This really opens it up, pass a F-5 off for a Viggen (or even a MiG-28 )!

[Sisko]

What about the US army tanks that stood in for King Tigers in the movie battle of the Bulge.

If I remember a T-34 was heavily modified to look like a Tiger I for Saving Private Ryan.

 

[Shasper]

I think the F-16 in ID4 was suppost to be a Eurofighter, I think

Shas B)

[Maverick]

For myself, some of the earlier 'attempts' at producing enemy armour has been somewhat woeful.  "Battle of the Bulge" whilst an awesome movie (Panzerlied has to be my favourite scene) featured M47 Pattons as King Tigers as mentioned, but I'm afraid from an armour buff's POV, it just didn't work.  Even something foreign would have been more believable for me.

One interesting sideline to this is a memory from watching 6 Million Dollar Man as a youngster.  I remember seeing a scene where our hero, Steve Austin, goes for a flight from one US airbase to another.  Now whilst I can't remember the exact sequence of events, it went along the lines of a takeoff in an F-104, flight in an F-4, cockpit shots of an F-4 and finally landing in something else entirely!  Another point in this series was the title sequence where he crashes in the lifting body, in reality, the pilot suffered some bruising and a broken leg!

At the end of the day, thank God for CGI!  Enemy at the Gates and the Stuka attack just was awesome!

Mav

[fallenphoenix]

didnt the real "Steve Austin" loose an eye as well?

anyway, how about the Bruntingthorp Lightnings as Mig 21's or Su-9/11's?

Craig    

[Maverick]

It actually baffles me as to why the Panzerleid has been edited for recent screenings of the movie.  I have the full lyrics in both German and English, and I'm still wondering how the song can be offensive?  No doubt if it was a movie about the Vietnam War from a North Vietnamese perspective, anti-US slogans and songs would be acceptable?  It's quite like the whole Hakenkreuz (or Swastika if you prefer) issue in the EU.  I mean the symbol was being used way before Adolf and the boys decided on it as their 'thing', and now they won't produce a plastic kit with appropriate decals for fear of what?

Mav

[Shasper]

Completely understandible Mav, as me and Shas sr. both have tried to get ahold of a single of the Panzerleid, but everything we've found also has a bunch of SS BS on there as well.


Shas B)

[Archangel]

Yeah, that kind of thing tends to happen a lot for armour as well (easier than for aircraft as you don't have to worry about aerodynamics & such), the special effects guys weld a bit of steel into the right places to make their machine look as near as damnit to their subject.

All too many times the director dosen't worry about accuracy in the slightest & you get stuff like the F-16 as a Tornado in Independence Day (they could have at least used F-111's!).  This really opens it up, pass a F-5 off for a Viggen (or even a MiG-28 )!

They actually used T-34's as Tiger tanks in the movie "Kellys Heros".  They really looked good untill you find out what they are.

[gooberliberation]

I think the F-16 in ID4 was suppost to be a Eurofighter, I think

Shas B)

Nah, the art director was a whiffer who just wanted to see what F-16s in RAF markings would look like

[elmayerle]

didnt the real "Steve Austin" loose an eye as well?

Yep, from an infection he got in the hospital after that accident.  He went from being a test pilot with Northrop to being a lead engineer in cockpit design; I had the pleasure of working with him on the B-2, a real gentleman to deal with.

[elmayerle]

Well, let's see, on the armor side, you've got T-34s done up as Tigers for "Kelly's Heroes".  On the aircraft side, ISTR that there were some T-6s done as either Fokker D-21s or P-47s for a Dutch movie, "Soldier of Orange".

[Maverick]

A couple more used the Puma/Hind namely Rambo 3 & Red Scorpion.  

An interesting note using the F-5 as a "MG-28" in "Top Gun" was the failure of the producers or their technical advisers to realise that Soviet fighters are given odd number designators for fighters, so in reality the MiG-28 if it existed would be a strike type aircraft.  But that's just me being a JMN movie wise.

Mav