One of the coolest
movie props in U.S. cinema history, the trimaran from the 1995 movie "Waterworld"
captured the thrill of sailing in a post-apocalyptic world. The trimaran used in
the movie was a replica of the Pierre 1er racing sail boat built in the late
80's. For the film 2 replicas were built by Lagoon of France, one version was
the sailing version and the other was the trawling version. The trawling version
was
also the version used in the transformation scene's when the trimaran converted
from trawling mode to sailing mode.
Today the sailing version of the trimaran sits at Universal Studios While the
trawling version was sold to a private buyer in San Diego CA.
This is the toy
produced by Kenner which I modeled to look like the movie trimaran. First I had
to lengthen the starboard and port hulls as well as the bow by 5 inch's using
alumilite super plastic. This is my first attempt at alumilite and I must say I
love this stuff! After watching the movie over and over to gauge the color of
the boat
I settled on a base color of light earth with camo green and flat brown spots
then weathered with dark tan. The netting was spray painted light interior tan
and suspended on the bow using kit string. As part of the ocean scavenger look I
used extra parts or excess pieces used in the construction by which most were
painted silver and scattered about the boat.
Click on
images below to see larger images
The mast and boom
are both made of wood, painted silver then weathered with camo green. Parts of
the original toy mast and egg beater blades were used in the construction of the
new mast and mast supports. The mast supports are 3 1/2 inch
nails soldered together at the ends then painted silver for an even match. The
original egg beater blades were cut in halve and lengthened using 3 layers of
3X5 index cards then painted silver and weathered along with the mast. The
blades can be manually spun and are fully collapsible when in sailing mode. The
jib and mainsail can also be removed to convert the model back into trawling
mode.
The sail used on the
movie trimaran was a composite of different colored sail sewn together. For the
model I used canvas spray painted ruddy brown primer and hunter green for the
base. Then using stencils I spray painted over the base using interior light
tan again for a weathered look.
To sum up this was a
enjoyable build which involved watching the movie over and over again for ideas
and a lot of trial and error, especially with colors! Any questions feel free to
e-mail me.
Enjoy!
Lester Fink
Click on
images below to see larger images
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