I originally posted this earlier today on Captain Cardboard's Atomic City forum. Has anyone else noticed this?

:

I was looking through dcharletta's excellent BluRay DVD captures on Flickr (http://www.flickr.com/photos/charletta/sets/) and noticed a spacecraft I have never seen before. In the two links below to Space Station 5 shots, look in the Hilton Hotel office. You can see a model of the Orion Spaceplane on the desk, but what is the larger delta-winged white vehicle in the background? Anyone have other photos of this?

In the second photo you can also see three astronaut figurines on a higher shelf.

I love the new high definifion DVD format!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/charletta/2559158047/sizes/o/in/set-72157605485666894/ (http://www.flickr.com/photos/charletta/2559158047/sizes/o/in/set-72157605485666894/)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/charletta/2561236073/sizes/o/in/set-72157605485666894/ (http://www.flickr.com/photos/charletta/2561236073/sizes/o/in/set-72157605485666894/)

- Mike

And why would a Hilton office be cluttered with models of space planes? Nice catch.

And they must've used "Future" floor polish to avoid scuff marks on that blindingly white floor!

And they must've used "Future" floor polish to avoid scuff marks on that blindingly white floor!

Well, that goes without saying....... ;)

Good catch.

The Orion almost looks like it is the same size as the Aurora kit. And the larger plane resembles a modified SST design. Likely Fred Ordway contacted one of the manufacturers who was working on some advanced aerospace designs and borrowed it.

As for the Space Station set - yep, the floors were blindingly white. Virtually ALL of the lighting for those scenes came in through the translucent ceiling panels. The light would come in and bounce off the floor and walls and provide enough fill light to get a decent exposure. (Normally, they would set up a bunch of lights all around the set to get the balance of lighting they wanted.) This method, though realistic, made the set a virtual oven. The Kubrick Archives book from Taaschen has a shot of the outside of the set with all the lights.

Gene

I'm pretty sure I read somewhere it was a artist concept of the then-futuristic SST/Concord.

Wow Gene, great minds think alike and post at the same time!

I'd noticed the spaceplane models before, but not the astronaut figures.

Thanks for posting.

Well I'll be...... Have a look at this :eek:

http://www.starshipmodeler.net/talk/viewtopic.php?t=66164


GKvfx mentioned this post so I went a-looking, and

I see that he has posted here too...:)

Freaky. Just as I opened this thread, I got a phone call from my 2001 guru Dave Larson. According to him, the Titov seen in the office was built as a filming miniature for a sequence of shots that were to show the Titov arriving at the same time as Floyd was arriving. (Floyd was going to look out the window and see it approaching from the other side). In fact, it was to tie in with the conversation that Floyd has with the Russians. (The Titov was docking in order to take the Russains "down" to Earth.) Some footage was shot of the Russians noticing Floyd in the Vidphone, and Floyd acknowledging them before he comes over and sits down with them. That little bit didn't make it past the first cut (too long).

The FX shots of the Titov didn't even make it that far. The sequence of shots was dropped before they filmed the live action, so the unfinished Titov model was relegated to set dressing along with a study model of the Orion, some astronaut figures, and some "moon" rocks encased in lucite. The shot was boarded, but Dave hasn't come across any shot cards (that indicate elements were shot and needed to be composited) for it. Also, most of the Orion shots were done with large format photo enlargements. Those were never taken of the Titov and the model was never finished. Dave thinks he may have a photo of someone holding it, but it's going to take a while to dig it up.

I'm going to pass along photos of Ian's model and see if that can remind Dave to find that photo.......

Gene

Interesting stuff. Thanks for posting.

Fantastic.... PM sent.:)

and here are some pictures if anyone is interested in seeing what we are on about...
http://www.planet3earth.co.uk/Titov%20V/

It fits in well with the Orion. The same but different.

I saved a photo of it yesterday, then today wondered why I had saved a 'hilton model'. Why do I want a pic of her?!