[Ask Weta] Questions for David Tremont

[FrodoEyes]

Happy birthday to Richard!!
Nice sculpting!

[trampledamage]

Don't know how I managed to skip reading these Q&A threads until now... I think I must have thought 'I'll save that until I have more time'... *sigh* Still, it's been a lot of fun reading all 36 pages over the last week or two!

I just want to say a big thank you for your work on the ray guns, Dave - I love them and so does my son (who's three). Any time he sees a picture of one on the computer, he won't let me scroll away he keeps wanting to see "the machine".

Haven't let him even see my Victorious Mongoose mini - I'd never get it back! After all, it is his size.

Originally Posted by Dave Tremont

There are a few train fans here, Richard being one but he has big, sit on, working steam trains... fantastic fun to drive.

Young master trampledamage and I are also big steam train fans, any chance of some photos? Pretty please?


Thanks for taking the time to respond to everyone's questions, it's great reading about everything you do.

[Cirdan]

Originally Posted by Dave Tremont

Cirdan

Cold with flurries is the usual forecast for Wellington .... today, though, looks to be a good one.

Those kits look amazing but nothing that a model maker couldn’t do with a bit of scratch building and kit bashing.

I have no kits to bash, so definitely a scratch build.

Richard Taylor is quite the talented sculptor. His son looks like a miniature version of him. So why didn't Richard sculpt a piece for the Lord of the Rings line? I'm thinking he should definitely sculpt something should a Hobbit line of collectibles be released.

[Elendil]

I would definitely be in line for that! It is certainly to bad that he was unable to do any sculpting for LOTR. Too busy overseeing the whole operation, from what I remember in the EE DVD's.

[LOTR Fan]

So where is our Richard Taylor as Corsair statue?

[Figurefreaks]

Originally Posted by LOTR Fan

So where is our Richard Taylor as Corsair statue?

Tom.

[FrodoEyes]

They're being very quiet. Must be busy planning something or setting something up......or preparing for some sort of announcement....

[JacKo]

I've noticed Weta always make their announcements on a Friday

[Quatermass]

Been laid out with a cold for a few weeks so not much progress on my steampunk action figure. Did manage to sculpt the base. Since the collar for the helmet has to fit over his clothes need to get him dressed in his outfit and so needed to figure out the pose which led to roughing out the base. It's a plant stand from the thrift store with the planet surface being sculpted in Aves Apoxie (great stuff, hard as a rock).

Since Greg is working Venus and the Moon, this maybe Mars, Mercury, Pluto or the hidden places inside this hollow earth! Still have to make up my story.

The 5 minute 2 part epoxy glue I'm using crazed the glass on the vacuum tube and shattered when I picked it up. May have to switch to plastic or come up with a different method.

[Steve]

Mr TreeMonster! (Hi Dave )
I was wondering this morning. (it happens sometimes) How much of your work deals with servos and the like? Or in other words: how involved have you got into the world of animatronics.

It's gotta be a pretty specialised area. Especially when you are dealing with animal and beasties with skin (as opposed to insects etc).

[Dave Tremont]

Greetings all….. it has been a while but things do tend to get away and sometimes it is a little hard to get my brain into doing this even though I do enjoy the writing. I have to go back and look at what has been posted and remember where I was…. must get a shot of a sculptor’s tool box…. haven’t forgotten…. yet…. will let you know when I have forgotten….

Richard was chuffed about the Birthday wishes.

trampledamage #632



I don’t have many pictures of the trains but found these on my back up hard drive. This is on a big two kilometre track... it is a big day of many trains and hauling many people.

Cirdan #633

Richard would love to have the time to do sculpts for collectibles but gets very little time so doing something with no deadlines must be so much more appealing for him and he can just relax into it with no other concerns.

FrodoEyes – JacKo

An announcement.... did you say and announcement... oh boy, I love an announcement....

Steve

Tree Monster..... I haven’t gone by that name in a long time.

I have done lots of jobs with mechanisms but my knowledge of this stuff is limited and so keep it simple. Big jobs, I would always get in specialists as there is no room for error. There are several engineering specialists, at Weta, that blow me away with what they can do with mechanical things so I would never consider doing that stuff. It is a very complex thing to do to get a creature to move realistically and so, yes, is a very specialist area.

[Leonard]

Welcome back!

For a few days there... the Pillocks.... I thought...

Great trains! Was Richard's built in the workshop? Well, I assume it was custom built, or would you pop down to the local hobby shop & pick one up? Imagine that in its little cardboard & cellophane box!

Are your current projects hush-hush or can you divulge what has crossed your desk recently?

[Steve]

Tree Monster..... I haven’t gone by that name in a long time.

I have done lots of jobs with mechanisms but my knowledge of this stuff is limited and so keep it simple. Big jobs, I would always get in specialists as there is no room for error. There are several engineering specialists, at Weta, that blow me away with what they can do with mechanical things so I would never consider doing that stuff. It is a very complex thing to do to get a creature to move realistically and so, yes, is a very specialist area.

Thanks Dave. I kind of like the TreeMonster handle.
I'd love to see what those guys can do. I'm beginning to be fascinated with what can be done with actuators/controllers and hydraulics as well.

That first photo with Mr RT is a great shot.

I hope Wellington is nice and sunny today.
Auckland is dull and grey. No XT problems though.

[theguru1]

Originally Posted by Dave Tremont

I don’t have many pictures of the trains but found these on my back up hard drive. This is on a big two kilometre track... it is a big day of many trains and hauling many people.

So, basically a modern day Walt Disney then....

[Quatermass]

Very nice trains but I hate to mention the scale is a bit off.
When I was a lad, used to ride the train in Stanley Park, Vancouver but I don't think it's there anymore.

[Dave Tremont]

Hello all....

Lovely day here in Wellington, very sunny.

Just a quick post.... have a lot to get through today and I don’t want to be here all day.

The trains are built by engineers from around the country. A couple of electric ones were built here and other bits and pieces.

Occasionally I get to do a few things for myself.... I know, I know.... how selfish of me..... Anyway, what should take a couple of days ends up taking a couple of weeks as I only get to do a little bit a day. These are conversions with our Cyber heads and from Attack of the Cybermen. The main conversion is the Controller – all external detail was cut off and a piece of MDF cut and fitted to the top. It was shaped and filled, detailed with strips of styrene and pins. The next was the Lieutenant – cut his handle bars off and replace them with standard versions. Other changes are removal of the rivets on the back of the head and basic paint changes. The Scout is interesting as it is the only black Cyberman and looks cool.

All for now.

[Quatermass]

Ah, Cybermen! Cool, nice conversions. Haven't watched Dr. Who in a long time but am old enough to have seen the first run of the original series episodes on CBC TV in Canada 1963/4. Too bad there's no way to make an affordable set of it on DVD, it would cost thousands for 40 some years of episodes.

I also liked the Cybernauts from The Avengers - - time to watch those again.

What's your favorite Grordbort ray gun and which one do you most want to build next

[Leonard]

Those look great Dave I love the updated base names too. They all look so sad though. They need some puppies

Afflicted with the same days-to-weeks conundrum, below is a link to a small update on my Bison conversion. I can almost smell the finish line now - my goal is to have it done before the stands get released
http://www.wetacollectors.com/forum/...ad.php?t=34593 post #18 Any c&c's greatly appreciated.

Have a great day