My first step was to do the research. Starting in 1996, I contacted Mr. Bob Burns in California. Bob is the current owner of the original Time Machine prop from the 1960 film. Bob was very helpful in offering me encouragement to tackle this project, which at first seemed like it would be an easy endeavor. But as I would soon discover, this project turned out to be quite the challenge.
One of the first things I did, was to contact the then owner of Lunar Models. At one time several years earlier, Lunar Models had put out a nice model kit of theTime Machine, but they had discontinued making the kit. After several discussions with the owner of the company, I and quite a few others, convinced him to re-issue the kit. From what I understand, the kit he then re-issued was an extremely more accurate version of the original machine, replicated from the Bob Burns machine restoration. I promptly bought the kit, assembled it (customizing mine with a working dish and lights) and used it as a basis to start looking for the materials I would need for the project. This kit is still available today from Lunar Models.
First, I needed blueprints to work from. These came from a very close friend of mine who passed away in 2001, Mr. Mike Leonard of Bristol, New Hampshire. One of Mike's hobbies was collecting science fiction memorabilia, and it was largely due to the many discussions that Mike and I had about our favorite Sci-fi film, "The Time Machine",that this project came about. Mike and I had discussed building a replica of the Time Machine as a small model similar to the one shown in the beginning of the film. I jokingly said to Mike," wouldn't it be cool to have a full size replica sitting in the living room" and Mike replied "Well Yes..." and that is how it started. Well, anyway, Mike had some old STARLOG magazines and one of which had a feature on the making of THETIME MACHINE. Included in the article were some very small photos of the actual blueprints designed by MGM Art director Bill Ferrari. That is all I needed. I painstakingly blew these photos up on my Mac, printed them out...re-drew them much larger and after several phone discussion with Bob Burns, I figured out the exact dimensional scales. Step one accomplished.
Step two was to start looking for a dish...which is the main focal point of the prop...the spinning dish behind the time traveler. On the original prop, this is a huge five foot in diameter shallow fiberglass dish. Since I was on a limited budget for building this project, I was hesitant to contact metal fabricators or fiberglass fabricators. But I did anyhow...to get an idea as to what it would cost me to have one fabricated. Needless to say, I was looking at several thousand dollars just to make one spun aluminum 5 foot dish, and about the same for a fiberglass version. I decided to start looking elsewhere...for something similar i.e aluminum "flying saucer"snowsleds, or satellite dishes. Little did I know that this search would take me close to two years to accomplish.
For two years, everywhere I traveled, I looked very closely at everything round, metal or plastic, including satellite dishes, gas station and convenience store signs, toys, kiddie swimming pools...you name it. But everything dish like that I looked at was either too small, sectioned (which would not work) or the depth of the dish was not exactly right. Well..word got out among friends and relatives, and finally I got word from my brother Marty, that another friend of mine, Alan Redstone, had an old spun aluminum satellite dish behind his father's house which he would give to my brother Marty in repayment for money that he owed Marty for a pack of cigarettes...(don't ask). I contacted Alan and I asked him about the condition of the dish. Alan said it was fine, except for the part that the tree fell on. Well, my heart sank a bit, but I went over to his dad's house, took one look at the 6 foot diameter dish, and although the diameter was too large and the depth of the dish was slightly off from the original blueprints, I decided that it could work with a littleTLC. I took it home and got to work. The first thing I had todo was to learn about auto body repair as I went to work to fix the dent. Then I learned a bit about geometrics and metal cutting.Then I learned auto painting from my cousin Dave Murphy who actually ended up painting the overall base color of the dish for me. All these things had to be learned and experimented with as I progressed through each step of the dish construction...and this was only the dish construction! Detail painting was another matter. Thanks to DonColeman...another Time Machine builder,historian, hollywood prop maker and web master. (he is author of THE formost webpage regarding THE TIME MACHINE) His suggestions for line painting and pin striping the "fleur de les" designs on the dish saved me from pulling out the rest of my hair. (see photos below)
Almost simultaneously with the dish work, I also focused on the wooden base of the machine. The most intricate part of this was the scroll work legs and partially concealed rubber casters inside. I simply glued up layers of pine and very carefully used a bandsaw (generously donated for the duration of my project by my cousin Dave Piermarini) to saw out the basic shape of thelegs. Then with careful router and Dremel work I carved out the details. The wooden platform was built up from various layers of plywood and pine, and the edges were routed the exact shape. (which turned out to be another lengthy process of multiple router passes)The base was then finished with stain and about nine coats of urethane.
The one part of the project that I dreaded and had really no idea as to how I was going to accomplish it was the brass rails surrounding the machine. I briefly toyed with the idea of using real brass rail but soon found the errors of my ways when I started pricing how much it would cost me to have brass rails fashioned into the complicated bends of this machine. I also knew brass would be very delicate and would dent very easily. I thought about using PVC or some other type of plastic, but a chance encounter with an electrician friend of mine proved very beneficial when upon hearing of my needs, he promised me that with a little trial and error, we could use his industrial sized conduit bender to bend the proper dimensional electrical conduit to the right shapes I needed. I created full sized drawings of the rails so that I could use them as a template as we bent the conduit. My son Adam and I did all the bending in two days. We ended up with a lot of scrap from bends that didn't go just right, but we eventually succeeded in getting all of the main rails formed. I then inserted some wiring which will be used to control the machine, and I created pine rail ends for either side of the control console.
And next came the chair. Not just any chair, but apart from the dish, the second most important focal point of the machine. This chair not only had to be Victorian...it had to represent the entire Victorian era when this machine was supposedly built. I spent months looking at chairs in auction houses, antique stores, online and at furniture makers...but none seemed close to what I needed, which was based on a Victorian era barber chair . I even tried to commission several different chair makers to build one for me...but they either did not want to attempt it, or they were outrageously expensive. I finally gave up and decided to do what I found always worked for me...build it myself. I took the very slow and methodical approach. I drew up full size blueprints from the chair on the Lunar Models version, found sources for the proper wood stock and turnings...and started in. It took me a good 4 months of spare time work. Lots of router work, woodcarving, turning and finishing... but I was very happy with the outcome. Now I had to find the proper material, both in color and texture, to upholster the chair with...and on top of that...I had to learn exactly how to upholster chairs. After a little research online and at thelibrary, and with a little assistance from my mother-in-law who's had some experience upholstering chairs, I have exactly the lookI was after.
The engine / power pods located behind thechair are the most technical and mechanical assemblies of the wholeproject. One mistake here and nothing will go together properly and the machine will not function. Also, this section houses the electric motor which will turn the dish, several lighting fixtures and cooling fans, and eventually an amplifier and small computerized sound sampler / player to give the machine the right"sound". The dish is mounted on an axle which takes a 90 degree turn down through the engine housing and bolts through the bottom of the housing and into the base itself. Because the heavy 40 lb dish sits at the end of this axle, a heavy duty hardware support system must run right up through the center of this engine assembly to fasten the dish / axle to the machine. After consulting again with Don Coleman, I started the engine house by fashioning a 3/4 inch plywood base. I then applied bender board to surround the housing. In the back, I have left an opening for an access door so that I can insert and maintain the spin motor for the dish. I then added filler to curve some of the edges, sanded, primed and painted the assembly. Hint: The rivets where actually made by cutting the tops off of brass paper clips and gluing them in place. The simulated large nuts and bolts were cast from urethane resin. (I haven't painted them yet in the photo below.)If I toldyou where I got the lamp base assembly, I would have to kill you.
Another very important, highly visible and critical component came next...the control console. My idea was to have this console control all lights and motors on the entire machine. In addition, it had to have a working display showing movement of Day, Month and Year...and lets not forget those indicator lights on the top... a very complex component. Where to start...finding about a two foot long piece of clear acrylic tubing 9" indiameter. (It had to be clear so that I could back light the DMYdisplay. After a lengthy internet search, I found a source and purchased a piece cut to my exact dimensions. Here it is below with the roughed out indicator light base ontop.
Next I had to work on the design and scroll work of the DMY display that serves as the instrument panel of the console. Here it is with the unfinished end caps which will glow once the console is completed.
Next will be the mechanics of the control lever which will be attached to a rheostat and fashioned into the controlpanel. Below is a nice closeup of the turned solid brass lever with a polished faceted crystal sphere attached. All in all, this control lever piece has been the single most expensive part of my whole machine to date...(about $ 200.00)
The end caps of the console had to be masked and painted so that the milky glass, or in this case...plastic...could glow as the console did in the film. This necessitated careful and meticulous cutting, masking (or matting), painting and then removal of the mattes revealing unpainted white areas which light can shine through. The engine housing cones where done the same way...but much more painstakingly detailed.
Simultaneously, I completed work on some of the details of the brass rail assembly. Shown below is the rail end made from electrical conduit and painted with a brass finish.
THE MECHANISM
As I have been progressing along...always in the back of my mind is the complicated mechanism that will allow the dish to rotate behind the machine. A major part of that mechanism is the dish support and axle assembly which will attach to thedish and let it spin. The axle (in my design) attaches to the main support post with 2 separate bearing assemblies to support the heavy 40 lb dish. Below is a photo of that bearing assembly.
THE CONSOLE Continued
The inside of the console proved to bea very difficult piece of engineering. Somehow I had to squeeze in a huge rheostat for the control lever, the flashing circuits for the lights on top, which also needed a huge AC to DC transformer, and ...the date mechanism which had to be back lit with a cool fluorescent bulb to avoid heat buildup. Somehow I managed to squeeze them all in and wire them so that the switches and levers on the console did the correct job. This also had to be engineered so that it could be easily disassembled for moving the machine. Well I did it, but it kept me awake many nights thinking of how exactly to do it. The date display is directly connected to the control lever mechanism, as the lever is pushed up, various dates can be seen moving past the lighted windows. Simple but effective.The design on the front of the console was hand painted by myself. I just hate the look of decals.
THE ROSETTES
In all there are 8 rosettes decorating the machine, (and hiding nuts and bolts used to hold things together).Six of these decorative carved florals were provided to me by a friend who had cast them from a mold from the original machine.The two on either side of the control panel were carved by myself and cast in urethane since I had to have them a little larger than the rest to provide a "cover" for my end caps.Below is a photo of one of the Rosettes on the rail junctions.
THE ENGINE HOUSING Continued
As alluded to briefly above, the lighted engine / power pods located on either side of the engine housing were made from recycled plastic office lamp shades. Although they did not exactly match the dimensions of the original, they were damn close, so I altered the dimensions of the engine housing slightly to suit the pods. At the very ends of the pods are two more plastic dome lamp shades. These were all painted candy apple red on the inside to give an eerie red glow when lit. The outsides were masked with masking tape ( a negative mask) and painted black in several stages to get the proper design and to allow the white plastic to shine through when not lit from inside.
Inside the housing are two cooling fans to keep the air cool from the 100 watt light bulbs. Also, the shaft which holds the dish assembly mounts on the bottom of the assembly and comes right through the middle and out the top. Thereis wiring inside this shaft to light the red "beacon"light sitting on top of the lamp assembly. Also inside this engine housing is an electric motor with an extended shaft that will stick out the rear of the engine housing and with the help of a rubber roller, will "direct drive" the outer edgeof my dish. (This is not how the original machine's dish operated...this method was my own option) This motor is mounted on a spring loaded movable mount to allow for perfect contact at all times with the edge ofthe dish. Unfortunately, I had to upgrade my motor a bit because the first one I had in there did not quite do the job properly.
All of the machine's wiring is junctioned into this engine housing for easy connecting and or disconnecting.The decorative insulators were cast from the original machine and again provided by a friend. The spring type wires where made from # 14wire. I could not fit my sound system (which provides actual sounds of the machine running) into the engine housing. I fit the sound system under the chair and wired it from beneath the base.
THE FOOT PILLOW
One of the last things done was to upholster a foot pillow onto the front of the base of the machine. This matches the chair material and style and is a nice finishing Victorian touch to the machine.
THE FINAL ASSEMBLY
Once all of these various component parts were completed and painted, I started the final assembly.First the upright rails are bolted to the base. The surrounding rail is fastened to the upright rails. Then the Front Console wiring is connected to the wiring inside the rails and then the consoleis bolted to the upright rails. The decorative "brasswork"(in this case wood work) is fastened underneath theconsole. Attention now goes to the rear of the machine. The enginehousing is put in place and the upright drive shaft bolted into the base. The engine housing pods are put in place between the rails and the wiring from the rails is thread through them and into the housing.The pods are then connected by a threaded rod going through the rails pods and engine housing and bolted into place. All of the wiring in the engine housing is now connected.The lamp assembly, insulators, decorative wires and wire cage are attached and the wiring is now tested. The dish is now put in place and bolted tothe drive shaft. Finally, the chair is put in place and the sound system is attached beneath the chair.That's it, you're ready to time travel.
IN RETROSPECT
If someone would have told me that I would spend 5 years completing this project, I may have never attempted it. But I am very glad that I did. The main reason is twofold. First I have proven to myself that I can accomplish anything, and I do mean anything... that I set my mind to, no matter how difficult or foreign to my understanding and skills. Secondly,I have met many very talented, dedicated artists, prop makers, historians, archivists and sci-fi fans with whom I would have never gotten a chance to converse with or meet.
Many thanks to the following:
Mike (Scranic) Leonard
Alan Young
Bob Burns
Don Coleman
Fred Barton
Gary Francis
Dave Pal
Harvey Mayo
Chris Perrotta
George Fardy
Alan Redstone
Dave Murphy
Marty Piermarini
Members of the D4 Club
Dave Piermarini
Adam Piermarini
Gina Piermarini
and the woman who now lives with this machine in her recreation room - Christine "Tina"Piermarini.
Don't forget to watch the quicktime movie "All the Time in the World" (A cute look at my machine in action) linked above.
Also don't be afraid to drop me a line and let me know what you think.
What's my next project...maybe a Tantalus box for the miniature. After that...hmmm...does anyone know where I can get a Delorean...cheap.
Carl Piermarini
