PROP

The 26' long miniature was constructed from metal, wood, plastic, 850 Japanese model kits of German tanks, and thousands of custom resin-cast parts. Construction took over eight months and involved over thirty people. The superstructure and fuel pods was inspired by the 1970 Osaka World's Fair Expo Tower. 2 ½" steel pipe was bolted together for the ship's basic armature. It was constructed in three sections on a rolling platform, that became too unwieldy and delicate to move. The two foot blow-molded acrylic domes were hand drilled and laced with three layers of copper wire (at sixty hours per dome).

Parts were attached to the model using a new glue that unfortunately aged and delimitated over a short time. Numerous parts fell off during shooting. The model took six months to build and was disassembled, after shooting, in about an hour and a half.

The model was photographed using a Scotchlite front-screen backdrop. The starfields, ships, and saturn was projected on the backdrop during filming, saving compositing time and $$. A number of photography tricks were used to compensate for the model's focal depth of field.

Most of the model fell apart over the years and very little is left of it today. Bill George was gifted one of the geodesic fuel pods by Greg Jein.

Do you know of any other parts of the Valley Forge have survived over the years? Email me if you have any information to add on this subject.

*The Valley Forge appeared (thanks to stock footage) as an "agro-ship" in the short-lived Battlestar Galactica. John Dykstra worked on both projects.

Photos:

Model Construction Images courtesy of Chuck Barbee (www.BarbeeFilm.com)

Images courtesy of American Cinematographer