Sky Movies Train

For Sky Movies’ Christmas Campaign, we had to recondition and dress a real 1/8th scale steam train to look like the LNER 1937 locomotive, the ‘Bittern’.

The production company were filming with the real train and needed scale models for a variety of moving and dynamic shots.  A large number of small detailed parts were 3d printed or model-made to add onto the bodywork of the steam train model to match to the real thing. In order to have it working on set, we built a rig to motorise the driving wheels.

We also fabricated from scratch an 1/8th scale and three 1/43rd scale carriages, referencing the originals that would have been used back in the golden age of the railways. These were initially drawn out on computer, and then through a mixture of CNC and 3D printing, we produced the parts which were assembled and artworked. LED lighting was fitted to the smaller carriages, shining onto the billboard surfaces that would have various movie posters composited on.

Asylum also provided a Yeti costume which was made many years ago for a Cheltenham and Gloucester advert, back in 1995. You never know when something like that could be useful!