Time machine

[Zé Reis]

Time travel ... for some it would be something fabulous, for others it would be something catastrophic. I believe that we all have thought about it, maybe not with the depth it deserves.

In 1895 a novel was published by H. G. Wells that was titled "The Time Machine."
It is considered the first work of sci-fi that introduced the theme of time travel and giving the traveler, referred simply as "The Time Traveler" the possibility to select the target year. He chooses the year 802,701 and hence will find the races Elois and Morlocks involved in what seems to be the primary purpose of the human race ... war!

Of course, from here several film adaptations followed. One in1960 and another in 2002.

For the 1960 adaptation the time machine that was created was designed by George Pal, the film's director, and by William Ferrari the artistic director.





Pal incorporated the look of a horse-drawn sleigh, inspired from the winter sleigh rides of his youth. The seat is built from old fashioned barber's chair renovated by artists from MGM. The chair was remodeled by the MGM artists to add feet and remove the pedal.





After filming, the Time Machine remained in storage at the studio for many years. In the early 1970s, MGM held a huge public auction of their historic props and memorabilia where the Time Machine was included.

One person who attended the auction was film historian, collector and performer Bob Burns. He had one goal at the auction, which was to acquire the Time Machine - his personal Holy Grail of movie memorabilia. Bob and his wife Kathy had scraped together a thousand dollars, hoping it would be enough to take home the science fiction icon. But when the bidding went past $4000, Bob dejectedly left. The Time Machine was ultimately sold for between eight and ten thousand dollars to the owner of a traveling show.

Bob called George Pal, who was an old friend of his, to tell him what had happened. With great confidence, Pal told Bob that he was certain Bob would eventually own the Time Machine.

Five years later, Tom Scherman, an effects artist and friend of Bob's, got a phone call from another friend who had just visited a thrift shop in Orange, California. "I think I found the machine that your friend Bob's been looking for," he said.
Bob and Tom arrived there two hours later. They casually made their way through the store, trying to hide their excitement. Sure enough, in the back of the shop was the Time Machine. It was in bad shape. The chair was gone, and the pods were broken -- but the large disk was fine. After some haggling, Bob left with his Holy Grail, paying exactly what his budget was the first time he tried to buy it: one thousand dollars.





George Pal had previously given Bob the blueprints to the Machine, which Bob used to restore it. He assembled a crew of friends who donated their time to rebuild the classic prop. In about four weeks, the crew restored the Time Machine to pristine condition.

George Pal at the commands of the machine after the restoration work was done.





The machine is in Bob’s museum and a few years ago a wax figure of the artist who represented the "time traveler", Rod Taylor, was made and placed at the controls of the machine. One of the goals of this figure was to prevent visitors from sitting on the machine.





For the 2002 movie a completely different machine was created.

It’s the machine seen in the photos, from 1960 movie that I'll try to build.


The model

This model is a criation of uhu02 paper modeler. The files are somewhere in net provided by its creator.
I print the six sheets on 160gr paper and then applied two coats of matt varnish.

Now it’s time to cut and paste!

[Yale]

Very interesting history of the first movie's time machine, and it's certainly worth building as a model. But did you know that it also appeared briefly in the 1984 movie, "Gremlins?" In the context of the film, the protagonist's father was an inventor, attending an out-of-town convention. When he phoned home, the supposed inventions visible in the background included Robbie the Robot (Forbidden Planet) and the time machine. The time machine was in the far background, with a man on the seat and a few other people nearby. The scene cut to the wife at home. When the scene retuned to the father, the time machine was gone! Nobody in the film paid any attention, it was just a sight gag.

You're correct, too, that time travel has become a common idea for science fiction. I'll even recommend a recent book -- 1632, by Eric Flint. A 20th-century West Virginia town full of rednecks, guns, and pickup trucks suddenly gets dropped into the middle of Germany during the 30 Years War. If it lacks much real science, it compensates with lots of military history and sheer fun.

Congratulations again on a great choice for a new model. Hope to see some pictures soon.

[Zé Reis]

I'll start with the concave disk which is at rear.
There are two parts to the front and two to behind. They came with glue tabs but I removed.


The parts to the front





Glue phase.





And the front of the disk ready. It has 139mm diameter.

[Vermin_King]

The color is stunning. What type of printer did you use?

[Vortex_4200]

I look forward to your progress on this model, I am a few weeks from finishing the Blade Liger model I am working on, and was thinking about building this next.

[65Cycl0ne]

Watching closely... Thank you!!

[duditz72]

This is a very cool model it will be neat to see it finished. This exact machine shows up in an american TV show called the Big Bang Theory, although some one who knows more on the subject if I am correct. It's neat to see these old sci-fi thing have not lost there appeal

[Zé Reis]

Yale, yes I know. It appeared in more movies and series. I read when I was documenting
to know the model…

“The original Time Machine has made appearances in other productions, including Carl Sagan's "Cosmos" (1981), "Gremlins" (1984), Mike Jittlov's short "Time Tripper" (1978, and used within his feature film "The Wizard of Speed and Time" in 1989) and the documentary on the making of "The Time Machine" called "The Journey Back" (1993).”

But don’t know the “Gremlins” scene, and I see the movie!
Many thanks by your contributions to all off us have more info about Time machine.

My favorite book of science fiction is “The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy” by Douglas Adams. Well in fact are a five book serie: “The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy”, “The Restaurant at the End of the Universe”, “Life, the Universe and Everything”, “So Long, and Thanks For All the Fish” and, the last, “Mostly Harmless”.

Vermin King, When I need print some model I go to a Copy Center, they have printers mutch beeter! This sheets are printed in , laser printer whit semimatte paper.

Vortex, Thanks by forward the thread

65 CyclOne, Thank you too.

Duditz, maybe what you see was one refered above.

[SCEtoAUX]

Nice start to a fine looking model.
I think the Gremlins scene is when the father is talking on the telephone at a convention and in the background you see the Time Machine disappear.

[opalmox]

Ze'

As with the House from UP, I will watch this with extreme excitement and curiosity.

Please keep us posted.