| Author | Subject: Re: Brass Parts |
| Francois Beaulieu | Posted At 21:30:31 11/18/2002
Are you sure you did not intentionally add the wobble on the dish to make it look more like the real prop ??? ;-))) As for the brass parts, it is a very good question. If you want to be REALLY true to the way the prop was made, then you'll have to paint those brass parts with gold paint because the actual prop was painted metal, not polished brass !!! But then, you have to consider what you are really trying to do: To reproduce the actual prop or the way it LOOKED in the context of the movie ? The great difference between a movie prop and a model is that you never have access to the prop. It is designed primarily to appear well on film. On the other hand, a model is meant to be viewed close up and, to achieve the same effect, sometimes one has to go a step further to give the model a realistic look. One thing is for sure: the framework of the real prop was made to APPEAR like brass to the spectator. So, if you can make your framework out of real brass, you are that much closer to what it "really" was suppose to be made of. A polished brass framework can look spectacular, but is not quite the way it appears in the movie. Brass does tarnish with the contact of air, especially in an area of the house where there is a lot of air circulation (such as near a window or door). What I suggest is to let the framework tarnish for a few weeks until it looks just right and then, if it gets darker than what you like, just lightly polish it with a flannel cloth (without Brasso or any other polishing compound) to keep just the right effect you want. From that point on, you can polish it that way every few weeks and maintain that effect. |