# Time Tunnel in 1/48 Scale



## starseeker (Feb 1, 2006)

Despite it all, managing to get a little (very little) modelling done this summer. Before I start in painting and decalling and lighting all my current projects, there are a couple others I wanted to get roughed up. Most of my efforts have been on a 1/48 scale Time Tunnel:
http://s1004.photobucket.com/albums/af170/jkirkphotos/48 scale Time Tunnel/


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## JGG1701 (Nov 9, 2004)

*Very nice!!!*
-Jim


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## Carson Dyle (May 7, 2003)

Very cool project. You don't see many of these. Keep up the good work, and please keep us posted.


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## Hunch (Apr 6, 2003)

That _is_ cool! And pretty big as well. I'll keep an eye on this one, good job.


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## scotpens (Sep 6, 2003)

Looks like it’s coming along nicely. Although, from some angles, that first ring looks like the Time Toilet! :tongue:


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## JGG1701 (Nov 9, 2004)

Any updates!
-Jim


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## falcondesigns (Oct 30, 2002)

That rocks.....


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## armymedic80 (Aug 11, 2010)

Nice looking kit. It doesn't look like anybody will produce another version of this kit. The Time Tunnel TV show was a great sci-fi adventure show that I used to watch on ABC on Fridays back in 1966. It was too bad it only ran for 1 season just like the Green Hornet.


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## JGG1701 (Nov 9, 2004)

Great series!
Have them both on DVD.
http://www.deepdiscount.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/search.results?Ntk=dvdsadt&Ntt=time+tunnel&N=1003
-Jim


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## bccanfield (Nov 17, 2002)

That was a good show. Are you going to do any lighting effects like the mini-explosions they sometimes had in the tunnel ? ...or rear-project some historical image at the back of the tunnel using some frosted glass and a 35mm color slide? What would really be cool would be to canabolize an old cell phone (or something that has a small screen), place it at the back of the tunnel, and then run a short 10 second video clip in a continuous loop.


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## SJF (Dec 3, 1999)

Very cool idea for a dio! 

Sean


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## bccanfield (Nov 17, 2002)

You could also scrounge an old laptop PC that can run a video program like media player or Quicktime. Then build a rectangular base for the model big enough to hide the laptop. You could redirect the laptop screen image using a tilted mirror at the back of the tunnel. Smoked glass or a partially silvered mirror would give a more transluscent etherial effect. I have seen this technique used in a miniature town built by sculpture Michael Garmin (here in Colorado Springs). Check out minute markers 1:19 and 3:45 of this video http://www.michaelgarman.com/video.html


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## NemVia (Jan 6, 2007)

That looks awesome! Can't wait to see this one finished! Nice job.
Mark


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## starduster (Feb 12, 2006)

Great looking model, what is the material your using and routing ? with lighting this will be one awesome model. Karl


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## JGG1701 (Nov 9, 2004)

JGG1701 said:


> Any updates!
> -Jim


*???*
-Jim


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## Xenodyssey (Aug 27, 2008)

Even better he could use one of those digital picture frames that play back videos. They automatically replay. Good idea!



bccanfield said:


> You could also scrounge an old laptop PC that can run a video program like media player or Quicktime. Then build a rectangular base for the model big enough to hide the laptop. You could redirect the laptop screen image using a tilted mirror at the back of the tunnel. Smoked glass or a partially silvered mirror would give a more transluscent etherial effect. I have seen this technique used in a miniature town built by sculpture Michael Garmin (here in Colorado Springs). http://www.michaelgarman.com/shop/video.html


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## bccanfield (Nov 17, 2002)

yes those picture frames would work just as well... and not as much hardware to hide in the base.


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## Chrisisall (May 12, 2011)

What a cool & freakin' unique project!!! KUDOS!!!!:thumbsup:


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## starseeker (Feb 1, 2006)

Getting close, I hope, to finishing some of the Tunnel decals. Still have dozens of the small consoles that I'm working on, basically everything from Alpha Control and Fantastic Voyage. This, of course, is the most famous of all, possibly the most famous bank of computers in the world. I built the image as a collage of many, many photographs of the props and from screen grabs. I still want to clear up the images of the many tall narrow simplex maintenance panels in the center section. A larger version, updated as I go, will be found here:
http://s1004.photobucket.com/albums...nel/?action=view&current=IBMComputerSmall.jpg


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## NemVia (Jan 6, 2007)

:thumbsup:
What you have done so far is looking very nice. Keep up the awesome work!
Mark


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## cheekyzombie (Jan 15, 2010)

That looks great. It's nice that you've done the whole thing and not just the tunnel. Excellent.
x


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## starseeker (Feb 1, 2006)

Thanks!
The other part of the Tunnel instruments is all the consoles arranged all around. The first thing I do when I'm making decals and/or etch masters is to find all the photos and screen grabs that I can, make them reasonably square, and close to the right size. Which is what I've done here. The number and arrangement of the consoles varies between the matte paintings and the set and between episode to episode. On my Tunnel, there are eight or nine triple consoles arranged around the perimeter, plus the three main consoles. These are all the consoles I could get decent views of in Alpha Control and from Fantastic Voyage. There are a couple panels that had duplicates. These should be more than enough. Next up will be to clean them up, remove arms and other things that are in the way, and completely re-draw each. At 1/48 scale, I'm not sure how much detail will show up other than a few lights and the larger knobs. Wonder if I should do a Tunnel mouth and the main panels in 1/24?...
The panels that still exist at the Hollywood rental shop have been re-arranged over the years so that they don't match the Tunnel configuration any more, and some panels are just plain MIA. 
This part is takes so much longer than all the cutting plastic put together...


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## starseeker (Feb 1, 2006)

I can't tell you how many dozens of hours it's taken to get from that (my last attachment above) to this, (the attachment below) (mostly Alpha Control panels). I'm half blind and not even one third of the way there yet. And all for decals for panels that will be 3/8" across in 1/48 scale. In 1/24, they'd be 3/4" and maybe some detail would be visible, but at 3/8"... At least I'll know where to put some of the larger knobs and lights. Three of the panel screen grabs didn't give me enough even to fake so I deleted them. I got another couple panels from Rendezvous, two out of three on an console that is a little taller than the one next to it, more of the angle for the stand-alone scanner on LIS. I wondered if I'd made a mistake on the LIS unit till I noticed at the very end of Rendezvous, the consoles are of two different heights. (More than anyone needs or wants to know, I'm sure.) (All of Fox's other computers and props are really well documented. Where the heck did these scores of panels and dozens of enclosures come from and where are they now? Were they all made for Fantastic Voyage?)
Another week of this and I should have the other third of the misc panels done. Then I can start on the three main units.


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## NemVia (Jan 6, 2007)

:thumbsup:
Your efforts are panning out wonderfully.! Looking ofrward to more updates,
Mark.


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## starseeker (Feb 1, 2006)

Thanks! Sometimes in a project like this (or most any of mine, it sometimes seems) where suddenly you seem bogged down in endless details and that there's no light at the end of the tunnel (pun not intended), it's only a place like Hobbytalk and the inspiration of some of the amazing projects and craftspeople here and a word of encouragement that keeps one going.


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## CodeRedLion (Nov 1, 2011)

Truly awesome work! You may get me inspired on working on my Time Tunnel model again.
My TTT model in progress
A small movie (1.4mb), a single frame, and the same movie bigger (6mb)
http://gallery.me.com/anim8rfsk#100083
I love your work on the big SAGE computers, be great to trade reference materials!


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## starseeker (Feb 1, 2006)

CodeRedLion, that is simply amazing! I can't begin to imagine the amount of work that's gone into that. 
Meanwhile, I'm struggling along a couple hours a day with just trying to draw the control panels we never saw. They are close now, all the panels I've been able to get captures or pictures of except one that I really don't like. Soon I'll finally get to start the three main consoles. Hardly remember what it's like to cut plastic.


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## CodeRedLion (Nov 1, 2011)

Hah, I love the thumbnail of all the little control panel faces. 

Do any of your blueprint references show the "Infinity Section" as anything more than an outline of a skewed cone? I have an endless debate going with other Tunnel modelers as to exactly how that was built ...


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## starseeker (Feb 1, 2006)

Well, thanks to CodeRedLion, I got me cutting plastic again, finally. Sixteen new rings for the "infinity segment" (the back end of the Tunnel that rolled into place behind the main Tunnel rings which were fixed on the stage floor). I've left the inside of all the Tunnel rings somewhat oversized, so next up is to sand the inside of the Tunnel into a smooth cone and then add the inside surfaces.


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## teslabe (Oct 20, 2007)

Talk about detail my friend........:thumbsup: You are just amazing with the amount of work you put into all of your projects. I can't wait for the next installment........:wave:


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## starseeker (Feb 1, 2006)

Gave up on drawing for a while and started assembling the rings. Here they are properly spaced and cemented into place. Now to sand the inside edges and line them with styrene. I feel that if I can just get any meaningful step done on this, it'll make it easier to go back to the seemingly endless artwork work.


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## CodeRedLion (Nov 1, 2011)

I like it!


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## Fozzie (May 25, 2009)

Man, that is cool! :thumbsup:


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

Man, I'd think you'd have tunnel vision by now! 
Great work so far! Really oustanding!


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## starseeker (Feb 1, 2006)

Indeed I do!!
Once the ribs were spaced properly and cemented into position, I fitted a cone of plastic sheet inside, trimming until it fit from front to back, and cemented it into place. Starting at the front, I've been cutting the ribs free through the spacers and the cone, separating them into individual pieces. Then I've trimmed the front and back sides of the cone on each piece, and now the Tunnel is gaining an inner surface. 
With the white inner surface and white fronts, the Tunnel had suddenly become disappointingly flat and two dimensional. When I'd finished for the day and turned out the lights, I looked back and noticed that indirect low light transformed it. The whole Tunnel effect depends on lighting and paint contrast. 
Still very rough but this is what it looks like right now in that accidental light. Still the last two ribs and the Infinity section to add. Then lots of filling and sanding. And of course the walkway.


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## CodeRedLion (Nov 1, 2011)

Looks excellent! Yes, lighting is key.

If only we knew how the infinity section was created ...


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## starseeker (Feb 1, 2006)

Nothing is very centered and there's a lot of filling left to, and a couple of rings to adjust, but it's starting to look like it should. I guess next up it's back to Photoshop for a while.


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## NemVia (Jan 6, 2007)

:thumbsup:
That is soooo deep! (Pardon the pun) It's looking very Irwin Alleny now... Looking forward to more updates! Keep it coming!
Mark


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## SJF (Dec 3, 1999)

That's looking very cool. 

Sean


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## starseeker (Feb 1, 2006)

Little bits of plastic finally taking vaguely recognizable shapes. If I wasn't so lazy I would have made a master of the consoles and just cast copies. But I've been careful and it's just a matter of cutting a couple of jigs and lots of identical pieces and cementing them together. The artwork even seems to fit.
I love the Seaview and the Jupiter 2 and for many years the Tunnel has just sort of been there in the back of my mind. But now that I'm building it, I'm finding it's not only incredibly evocative of kidhood but it's an terrific design, right up there with the others. It dwarfs the 1/48 Jupiter 2. And that is the big problem for kit designers. All the detail we know and love is in the banks of computers and the three center consoles. But the mouth of the Tunnel is so big that either you make a smaller scale kit of the whole thing and lose the detail in order to gain the massiveness, or you do something like a 1/24 scale diorama of the mouth and the first couple rings and a smaller section of the floor and computers with some detail. In 1/48 this thing about 30" x 18" x 24", not including power towers. 
That could be an interesting debate to take over to the Moebius wish list, 
http://www.hobbytalk.com/bbs1/showthread.php?t=296007
since Moebius still has the Irwin Allen license for a couple of years yet: if you had your choice of Tunnel model, what parts would you include and what scale? A larger scale diorama of the center of the set? A smaller scale model of an extended Tunnel on its pillar? No idea if they have any plans in this direction at all but it never hurts to make your dreams known. Who ever thought we'd get big Seaviews and Flying Subs and Jupiter 2s?


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## CodeRedLion (Nov 1, 2011)

I'd want a kit of the Krell complex inspired matte painting much as you're building.

I love your new photo but I'm confused.

You seem to have computer consoles and barriers all the way around the main area.

What of the main entrance door opposite the tunnel mouth?

I see you went with my preferred barrier configuration between the back of the computers and the power towers, continuing the circle. The 'random barriers so we can hide behind them and shoot at each other' set up always annoyed me!


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## JGG1701 (Nov 9, 2004)

Loving the effort that you are putting into this! 
Looking GREAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :thumbsup:
-Jim


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## Buc (Jan 20, 1999)

Impressive work!! 

-Buc


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## starseeker (Feb 1, 2006)

The show messed up it's own continuity in the first episode. When Doug and the Senator walk out into the Tunnel, the matte painting shows that it happens from the side. An early sketch seems to show that the pillar was free standing. But the set ended up being built with a stage wall and the entrance and window opposite the Tunnel mouth. There could have been a second wall but would it have been as wide as the cavern and block the view seen in the matte painting or part of another tower? I debated which way I wanted to go with it and decided that I liked the idea of the Tunnel on a free standing pillar like the early matte painting best, with the power towers continuing to run in both directions beside it. Which means I won't have the desk or the sign in log over there either. But I do want to try to build a 1/48 Fantastic Voyage golf cart at the entrance, as one (I'm assuming, since Allen seems to have re-used everything from Fantastic Voyage here) was shown crossing one of the bridges during their emergencies. The second episode completely threw out any remaining continuity (even tho' they still used the matte painting), as the bad guy gets to hop the barrier behind the computers and run around the power towers. Sigh.


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## CodeRedLion (Nov 1, 2011)

Interesting. You inspired me to take a top shot of my model (strange the things you never think of). I sent you three different versions privately, but let me see if I can figure out how to include a shot here ...







Hmm. Looks promising. We'll see if it works when I click *send*


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## CodeRedLion (Nov 1, 2011)

Cool! It worked!

Another peculiarity is that the walkway going off to the left doesn't go straight; it angles back rather sharply. You can see this not only in the matte painting shot if you look carefully, but in one of the episodes where there's a rare shot from the power tower point of view. I built mine that way (hard to see for the lack of lighting) but I still haven't reconciled how to fit it into the matte painting of the complex, shy of putting the whole tunnel at an angle the way the painting itself does ...


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## CodeRedLion (Nov 1, 2011)

Here, I blasted it with light so you could see my solution to that walkway. 

There are of course multiple configurations for the arrangement of those barriers, not only to the right between the computers and the power towers, but on both sides of the tunnel itself.







I made the doorway freestanding with no wall on either side (on the set there is obviously the stage wall but it's black) so that you could still have that matte shot without the wall blocking it; who needs a wall when there's a bottomless pit handy?


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## starseeker (Feb 1, 2006)

CodeRedLion, I wish there was a symbol for the sound of a jaw hitting a desktop. That is AMAZING!
There's a floor plan attached to post #5 on this thread:
http://www.hobbytalk.com/bbs1/showthread.php?t=255704
Your model has 19 barricades around the perimeter. If you reduce that to 17, with another 3 missing for the walkway, then the side walkway comes out at a right angle. And it looks like from the floorplan (even tho' it's incomplete [is there more where this came from??]) that 17 could be an appropriate number (18 degrees each). 
Oh, man, I love your work! That is so freaking beautiful! And I do like the wall or column facing the Tunnel. Remembered that another reason that I didn't do that was because if I put this into a case with two or three sides open, at least one of the sides that has to be open is the one that looks into the mouth of the Tunnel. So it's not only aesthetics, it's necessity. Inside the back of the ribbed outer tunnel that will surround the inner Tunnel tunnel, I'd like to insert a piece of mirror plexi, to give the illusion of even more depth. So I have to have that front on view unobstructed.
Edit: just realized what those little shapes were: security with their white helmets!! That is too cool!


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## CodeRedLion (Nov 1, 2011)

Aw, shucks (blush)

Here's the shot again as an ortho view with a grey background for legibility. You can see I just slugged in that hunk of the 800 story complex and a bit of corridor outside the main entrance for my walkthrough animation.









That's ... a really interesting blueprint. Another one that I want to see larger, as well as a larger area of.

I think that must be a redress of the set for some alien installation? There seems to be a black scrim hiding the tunnel (otherwise I'd think it was the communist tunnel).

I've often wondered if those modular barriers were a found object or something they built. Either way you'd expect them to show up on the Seaview or the Jupiter 2 or the Spindrift.


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## starseeker (Feb 1, 2006)

An infinite collection of 1960s office equipment.
Started roughing up the computer units. I'm doing anything to put off starting the ASR331 Teletypes. Does anyone make 1/48 scale typewriters?
Another anomaly: the dividers at the center left of the picture were removed for the end of Rendezvous and the consoles there were pushed back into what should have been empty space, giving the cameras and actors more room to move around. Like all of Irwin Allen's confections, if you try to make sense of it, it'll drive you mad.


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## CodeRedLion (Nov 1, 2011)

Yeah, sometimes the barriers are there, sometimes they aren't, sometimes they're farther away, sometimes they extend straight back into shadow along the tunnel, sometimes they turn right at the stage wall and go back touch ring 10. I'm not sure if they ever angle to match the slope of the tunnel or not. That angled side walk is back in a later episode ... I *think* it's Merlin. I'm not sure if we ever see anything specific to the later episode or if it's unused footage from Rendezvous. I really need to find that collage I put together ...

Ah, got it. It is from Merlin, and an angle you don't usually see:







And it DOES have Merlin in it, so the barriers came back at least once. 
Also, I think this may be the set up that your blueprint is for, with the mystery machine in the middle of the floor and the Tunnel itself hidden from view:








I have several more of these pans I pieced together from multiple screen grabs, I'll put them up on my iDisk if people want.


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## starseeker (Feb 1, 2006)

That is a great Merlin shot, an episode I've never looked at. Again, they've just moved the barriers next to the Tunnel out of the way and set up panels at random. That's the first time I've ever seen two of those B220 consoles at once before. So I think you could choose any arrangement of Tunnel floor plan and it would match something seen on screen, as long as it fit inside a rectangular scale studio. And out the back doors of course. Sigh. And what is the foreground shape standing on??
Yes, that definitely looks like it matches the bp! Good eye!


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## CodeRedLion (Nov 1, 2011)

That's Merlin; he's standing on one of the power towers (they show him jumping to the ground in another shot).


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## starseeker (Feb 1, 2006)

Added about 100 pieces of thin styrene strip for the side and top rims of the consoles and to the computer towers. Everything is slowly becoming recognizable. Still have to add the slightly proud side panels to the consoles and trim to the back of the computers. Then there will be no avoiding the Teletype units. Unless I want to start making 28 1/48 scale office chairs first...


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## JGG1701 (Nov 9, 2004)

Will these help?

http://www.oakridgehobbies.com/inde...le-furniture-o-1-48-office-equipment-set.html
-Jim


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## Paulbo (Sep 16, 2004)

Too bad their picture is busted.

I may be wrong, but isn't dollhouse furnature 1/4" to the foot (i.e. 1/48) scale? There must be office furnature for dollhouses.


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## CodeRedLion (Nov 1, 2011)

Here you go:

http://www.plastruct.com/picat/INTERIOR_ARCH_PARTS_9.pdf

They even have 1:48 rotary telephones and typewriters. 

Download the full catalog here:

http://www.plastruct.com/Pages/Catalog.html


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## starseeker (Feb 1, 2006)

Thanks! That would be brilliant. On a recount, I need 24 of them. But they're $5 apiece, plus shipping:
http://www.plastruct.com/pages/OnlineProductDetail.lasso?-op='eq'&CCode=OLC-30
and so far the Tunnel has cost me $20 for a 4'x8' sheet of 040 and two bottles of Ambroid. $10 for a 2' x 4' piece of 1/4 plexi and $5 for the 1/8" black plexi base.
Paints and LEDs will drive it up some but I kind of hate to pay twice as much as the whole rest of the model just for the chairs. Besides, how long would it take me to make 24 1/48 chairs? So I hope everyone has a great Christmas and a Happy New Year!...


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## flyingfrets (Oct 19, 2001)

I might look into scratchbuilding one & casting the required number of copies...if for no other reason than to keep them consistent...and to keep your sanity!

BTW: I have no idea what the cost might be, but from what I've seen, you're *NUTS* if you don't look into kitting this!!! Even if you did it as a limited run. What you've done is so instantly, iconically recognizable...there's GOT to be enough TT fans to make it a profitable venture for you.

On the other hand, there *is* something to be said for being the proud owner (and builder) of a truly "one-of-a-kind" piece.

My hat's off to you, your effort and the detail! :thumbsup:


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## Gerry-Lynn (Mar 20, 2002)

I'd buy a kit of it. I had planned on building one myself; but just so many projects... little time to do them. 

I think you have done a wonderful job on this - Maybe a kit company would be intereste3d in this.

Gerry-Lynn


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## starseeker (Feb 1, 2006)

The image viewer - the "electrodes" - just taped into place behind the second rib. For the making of, see:
http://s1004.photobucket.com/albums/af170/jkirkphotos/48 scale Time Tunnel/
Each electrode is about 70 pieces of plastic. Did the lights on the inside edges of these things ever light up on screen? I just can't remember. And if so, does that mean I'm going to have to wire these?


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## CodeRedLion (Nov 1, 2011)

Oh, yeah, they definitely light up! 

Again from MERLIN:







Watch the ep here:
http://sharetv.org/watch/118072


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## JGG1701 (Nov 9, 2004)

starseeker said:


> Did the lights on the inside edges of these things ever light up on screen?


Looks like they glowed a bit.








-Jim


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## starseeker (Feb 1, 2006)

Thanks! Yes, I just saw that they flashed for a few seconds before they imaged the Titanic, too. Don't know if such a brief effect would be worth the work. So far then it looks like only about 20 LEDs would be needed, plus some colors in the Tunnel itself. Can't imagine making lights that small flash, and no place to run fibers, so maybe all just steady?


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## Ductapeforever (Mar 6, 2008)

I just thought of an optical effect you might try,...using clear transparencys for over head projectors and an ink jet printer, print any historical image on the transparency, cut to an oval shape the size of the electrodes, light from the sides with the tunnel blue glow in the background. Just a thought ! The image would be see through and glowing from the side lighting.


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## CodeRedLion (Nov 1, 2011)

These are the kind of tiny details I'd settle for painting with glowing paint, especially the kind that glows after exposure to light; it will pick up the light from the tunnel and glow as the tunnel dims.


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## starseeker (Feb 1, 2006)

Ductapeforever said:


> I just thought of an optical effect you might try,...using clear transparencys for over head projectors and an ink jet printer, print any historical image on the transparency, cut to an oval shape the size of the electrodes, light from the sides with the tunnel blue glow in the background. Just a thought ! The image would be see through and glowing from the side lighting.


An excellent thought! I'm going to try that! Thanks!
If there was anything but empty space visible below the tunnel part, I'd like to have tried a piece of very lightly ground or mirrored glass (or something) at a 45 degree angle, reflecting some kind of video image from beneath, as I've seen in some very cool dioramas, like the one linked to on page 1 of this thread:
http://www.michaelgarman.com/video.html


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## CodeRedLion (Nov 1, 2011)

Edmund Scientific used to sell them (try 'beamsplitters') but I haven't shopped for them in decades. 

When I built my physical tunnel model as a kid, I used my glow paint which looked gray/tan under white light and glowed blue in the dark on the even numbered rings, and had grain of wheat bulbs lighting the tunnel. When the lights were on, the odd numbered rings would be bright white and the even rings a bit darker, and when the lights dimmed the even numbered rings would be darker and the odd numbered rings bright blue. 

http://www.scientificsonline.com/mirror-type-beamsplitter.html


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## starseeker (Feb 1, 2006)

Added two tiny Teletype machines and waste paper buckets. Nothing left but to start the chairs. 
The Tunnel is such an absolutely great subject! Why don't I see anyone bugging about it on the Moebius wish list? Is there really no interest?


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## CodeRedLion (Nov 1, 2011)

starseeker said:


> Added two tiny Teletype machines and waste paper buckets. Nothing left but to start the chairs.
> The Tunnel is such an absolutely great subject! Why don't I see anyone bugging about it on the Moebius wish list? Is there really no interest?


I didn't even know there WAS a Moebius wish list.

How about Professor Fate's submarine? (Yes, I have it all plotted, inside and out)


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## Buc (Jan 20, 1999)

love the TTY machine! many happy memories using them! 

Great job overall as well. Big TT fan and love watching the progress!


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## starseeker (Feb 1, 2006)

The Moebius wish list. They still have the Irwin Allen license for a couple more years.
http://www.hobbytalk.com/bbs1/showthread.php?t=296007


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## flyingfrets (Oct 19, 2001)

starseeker said:


> The Tunnel is such an absolutely great subject! Why don't I see anyone bugging about it on the Moebius wish list? Is there really no interest?


Sure there's interest...but we thought *YOU* were doing the kit!  Looks like a winner to me!


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## Fernando Mureb (Nov 12, 2006)

Projection of images without a screen! How advanced, even to this day!! 
Thank you I.A.


JGG1701 said:


> Looks like they glowed a bit.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


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## CodeRedLion (Nov 1, 2011)

Ah, but remember, as Woody said to the Senator, it's NOT an image of the Titanic ... it IS the Titanic!

Speaking of which ... what the heck is that they're looking at? It seems to be Doug standing in the foreground, but why would Doug be looking at anything but the Titanic?


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## starseeker (Feb 1, 2006)

Chairs, chairs, chairs... how many of these things are there???
Like wood, plastic is strongest when joined on larger surface areas, not just butt joined. I wanted to make the seat bottoms strong so like the real chairs, I'm using a plate underneath the seats. 
Many thanks to CodeRedLion who shared some of his vast gallery of screen grabs, saving me many, many hours of searching. One grab shows a chair that has been knocked over and a squarish bottom plate. Another shows an almost edge-on view of a chair that I used as my plan. 
Drilled 25 holes in 3/16" wide 020 strip and then cut them into 3/16" squares. I didn't have a drill bit that was an exact match for the styrene rod stem of the chair so I went slightly smaller and opened them with a couple more strokes of a needle file. 
Evergreen and Plastruct pieces are not exact or uniform so I turned each piece along an uncut length of rod to finish sizing the holes. 
I was puzzling how to make sure that the support pieces were the same height but more importantly as close to parallel to the floor as I could make them when I thought of a router/saw bit/blade height gauge. Placed it over the plate, turned the chair beneath it until all four corners stayed in contact with the gauge and touched the plate with a bit of cement. All the heights match and the plates (and the seats they support) are (will be) parallel to the floor, despite any sloppiness in my building the legs and casters. These blade gauges (and digital calipers) can be dirt cheap and are invaluable for any modelling project, even if you're not scratch-building.
Trimmed the tops of the stems with a sprue cutter just a little long so the tips can fit into holes in the eventual seat bottoms. Again more contact area for a stronger join.
The chair legs are surprisingly strong for how tiny the are. All that man-handling and I only broke off two legs and two wheels.
Whether you do a round perimeter or break it up with a wall facing the Tunnel, there are consoles and chairs everywhere. At this point, this is really starting to remind me of one of those great old '60s Revell launch pad kits. And is as much fun as one of those great old kits.


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## CodeRedLion (Nov 1, 2011)

Okay, that shot with all the little chair bases gathered together just makes me smile.


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## Fozzie (May 25, 2009)

CodeRedLion said:


> Okay, that shot with all the little chair bases gathered together just makes me smile.


It just made me go, "Oh my God...!" How long did that take you? To duplicate something that complicated so many times with such uniformity is just incredible.


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## Chrisisall (May 12, 2011)

This really is awesome work.


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## Rotwang (May 25, 2011)

I'm sure that your chairs far exceed the quality you could get from any architectural model supplier. Granted, it took you some time, but like the Fonz said, "Heeeey".


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## Fernando Mureb (Nov 12, 2006)

Starseeker

:thumbsup:..........:thumbsup:


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## srspicer (Oct 14, 2007)

Great job so far! 

Looking forward to the finish!

Scott


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## teslabe (Oct 20, 2007)

When you're done can I be the first thought the tunnel, I lost my car keys and need to find them....... Seriously though, Simply fantastic........:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:


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## SJF (Dec 3, 1999)

Oh, this is looking so very cool! :thumbsup:

The excess time you put into the little details on this project is really paying off nicely. 

Sean


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## NTRPRZ (Feb 23, 1999)

That is some gorgeous work!
But a question, and I'm not trying to nit pick. Wasn't the entrance to the Tunnel complex directly behind the three consoles? Or is this the arrangement I recall from the pilot film where they showed an overall view of the complex (I haven't looked at it lately and cannot vouch for my memory)?


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## CodeRedLion (Nov 1, 2011)

NTRPRZ, read back to my question on post #44. I asked the exact same thing. 
And it was answered on post #46, with pictures!

Enjoy!


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## starseeker (Feb 1, 2006)

On another thread, I think it was X15A2 who said that TT was filmed on the same stage that they filmed Fantastic Voyage on. The wall with the control room that faced the Tunnel may have been the wall between the two halves to the FVoyage control room set stages. There was a wall that faced the Tunnel that Jiggs and his men stood at, on the filming stage. But as Tony runs into the Tunnel for the first time in the first episode, the upper level control room that he's spotted from is seen from inside the Tunnel as being to the side of the Tunnel, not opposite it. So I have no idea where those other rooms were.
I'm ignoring it all and going for the look of one of the early concept paintings.
This is what the Senator would have seen as he walked across the walkway:


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## CodeRedLion (Nov 1, 2011)

I've seen sound stages that have windows on the wall like that, sometimes flush, sometimes part of a built in room hanging on the wall, sometimes accessible from stairs on the inside of the wall, sometimes from the other side of the wall (which may or may not be outside).

I'm having trouble finding a picture but here's a small one of the stage the 20,000 Leagues skwid fight was shot on.

I've always assumed that that's what those windows were, just something that's really on the soundstage wall and they took advantage of them.


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## starseeker (Feb 1, 2006)

CodeRedLion, can you do a similar angle to the one I posted just above? It truly would knock everyone's socks off!


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## starseeker (Feb 1, 2006)

teslabe said:


> When you're done can I be the first through the tunnel, I lost my car keys and need to find them....... Seriously though, Simply fantastic........:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:


You can be second. I have to go first, see if I can re-visit my youth. 
Wait a minute... I works!!


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## CodeRedLion (Nov 1, 2011)

Something like this?


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## starseeker (Feb 1, 2006)

Okay... I think I have to think about giving up modelling now. Obviously a new level of knocking everyone's socks off that I had not known existed before. That's nuts! That's... alive. Wow! Sigh...


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## BOXIE (Apr 5, 2011)

nice work.brings back old memories.


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## CodeRedLion (Nov 1, 2011)

starseeker said:


> Okay... I think I have to think about giving up modelling now. Obviously a new level of knocking everyone's socks off that I had not known existed before. That's nuts! That's... alive. Wow! Sigh...


Hey! I'm *loving* your model! You've got me back working on mine again! You put a coat of paint and a hundred tiny lights on your model and watch it come to life!! Our socks are endangered every time you post!


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## Seaview (Feb 18, 2004)

:thumbsup: Absolutly beautiful piece of work! But, take your time (har har)... :wave:


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## CodeRedLion (Nov 1, 2011)

"Mighty Moebius Modelling Society!"

As a charter member of the original MMMS (there's still some of their wonderful goodies in a closet at Mom's) I just have to say, that's funny right there.


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## Seaview (Feb 18, 2004)

"We belong, WE belong, we belong to..." :hat:


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## Rotwang (May 25, 2011)

I'm sure Whit Bissell would approve.


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## jbond (Aug 29, 2002)

That is fricckin' amazing!


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## ajmadison (Oct 18, 1999)

"I am not worthy, I am not worthy!" What can I say, some techniques I've used, some I didn't know about, but more importantly, amazing ability to build the same object consistently. I use every trick I can think of to make things the same, but there is always a tiny bit of variation. So on one project I made a couple of detail parts, picked the best one, and cast several copies, so they'd all be the same on the model. Excellent work.


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## starseeker (Feb 1, 2006)

ajmadison said:


> So on one project I made a couple of detail parts, picked the best one, and cast several copies, so they'd all be the same on the model.


That would have been ideal for something like the control consoles but the chairs are actually too small and fine to resin cast. They would have to have been white metal cast and a) I didn't think it would be warm enough here for me to work in the garage at this time of year and b) this time I was definitely too lazy to make the molds and set up the centrifuge and melt the metal. 

Twenty-five chairs. They're just balancing on the base stems, waiting to get cleaned up and then set to proper heights. More office equipment needed: another desk, a couple garbage cans, two telephones and two telecommunications boxes that I haven't identified yet, a pen desk set and a couple paper trays, some Tic Toc binders. Since when did science fiction modelling involve so much stationary supply? I'm also working on the Jupiter 2 cabins' desks and pen sets. Where are all the ray guns???


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## Chrisisall (May 12, 2011)

This project is almost as awesome as Lee Meriwether's catsuit in Batman!!!:thumbsup:
Fantastic work!!!


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## CodeRedLion (Nov 1, 2011)

Then you need to make the main computers open so you can put Robert DuVall's atomic bomb inside ...


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## starseeker (Feb 1, 2006)

Been too busy modelling 1/24 scale furniture to spend much time on the Tunnel. But I did get a swack of 1/48 architectural people. As you can tell by the cat in the green pants, they're even in '60s clothes. Too bad most of them will be converted to lab coats and coveralls. But they do populate the place.
CodeRedLion, I'll definitely be opening the front and back of a few of the computers.


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## Chrisisall (May 12, 2011)

I'm curious, do you plan to light this puppy? Or have sound FX?


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## CodeRedLion (Nov 1, 2011)

The "Fantasy Worlds Of Irwin Allen" CD set bonus disc has a ton of sound FX from and/or used in THE TIME TUNNEL.

I've got them all if you need 'em.


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## teslabe (Oct 20, 2007)

CodeRedLion said:


> Something like this?
> View attachment 143756


Please, please, don't take this the wrong way, but is this a physical build or a CG rendering?


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## teslabe (Oct 20, 2007)

starseeker said:


> Been too busy modelling 1/24 scale furniture to spend much time on the Tunnel. But I did get a swack of 1/48 architectural people. As you can tell by the cat in the green pants, they're even in '60s clothes. Too bad most of them will be converted to lab coats and coveralls. But they do populate the place.
> CodeRedLion, I'll definitely be opening the front and back of a few of the computers.


You just never stop impressing the daylight out of me, can't wait for the next update.....:thumbsup:


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## Chrisisall (May 12, 2011)

teslabe said:


> Please, please, don't take this the wrong way, but is this a physical build or a CG rendering?


I'd bet CG, if it's physical, the picture isn't taken by a great camera, just an okay one.


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## CodeRedLion (Nov 1, 2011)

teslabe said:


> Please, please, don't take this the wrong way, but is this a physical build or a CG rendering?


Starseeker is building a physical model; mine is CGI. The shot you linked to is CGI.

There's no way to take that the wrong way; your asking is as high a compliment as can be offered.


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## Chrisisall (May 12, 2011)

CodeRedLion said:


> your asking is as high a compliment as can be offered.


Yes, the fact that we couldn't be sure means you did a stellar job.:thumbsup:


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## teslabe (Oct 20, 2007)

CodeRedLion said:


> Starseeker is building a physical model; mine is CGI. The shot you linked to is CGI.
> 
> There's no way to take that the wrong way; your asking is as high a compliment as can be offered.


Please beleave me when I say, Very Nice Work.......:thumbsup:


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## roadskare63 (Apr 14, 2010)

great work on the cgi and the physical guys!!!!! i am impressed as heck with both.


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## Fozzie (May 25, 2009)

This is one of my favorite threads. A great build of a unique subject! Congrats.

Where did you get the people, btw? They look great.


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## starseeker (Feb 1, 2006)

Here's an ancient thread being dusted off. It's come time to start painting various projects and the only place I've had to store the Tunnel has been in my paint booth. So I thought that while I was getting it out of there, I might as well start work on the last major component, the outer cylinder that surrounds the Tunnel. The floor of the Tunnel is sitting quite high in this picture, as the inner ribs and floor haven't been notched and properly fitted yet. The line across the cylinder that looks like a seam or a dent is actually a reflection from the flash on the glass work surface. 
The only other work I've done on the Tunnel in the last... year?? has been on the decal art. What progress there is is still at:
http://s1004.photobucket.com/user/jkirkphotos/library/48 scale Time Tunnel?sort=6&page=1
I hope to get the raw components roughly assembled soon, so that the whole thing becomes free-standing and I can put it somewhere safe while I switch into painting mode. But where? This thing is three feet long now.


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## GKvfx (May 30, 2008)

I've only seen - maybe - one episode of this (but know of its popularity), and didn't realize this thread was so old. But, wow, I'm glad I clicked on this thread. This is an ambitious project (and well done). I will be following this one....

Gene


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## CodeRedLion (Nov 1, 2011)

When you get all your decals done, I'll be happy to swipe 'em* and get back to work on my model. 

*with your kind permission of course!

There's a new guy on nautilussubmarine.com who actually *worked on* THE TIME TUNNEL as a teenager, mostly on the 800 story complex stuff as I recall!


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## Buc (Jan 20, 1999)

Seeing the whole base view is impressive!! Can't wait for the painting step! Great work!


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## Fernando Mureb (Nov 12, 2006)

That wonderful work allows us to realize how magnificent was the project Irwin Allen and Fox to this series, a simple TV series, without the resources of CGI. What would be the probability of something like this come to light today, if the set had to be constructed?


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## starseeker (Feb 1, 2006)

I can't imagine the resources they used on Tunnel or LIS ever being used again. Lost in Space used an entire sound stage, and the props were outstanding, but the entire upper or lower deck stage of the Jupiter 2 could fit comfortably into the big circular floor space of Tunnel control. And the Tunnel itself - that must have been amazing to see in person. The thing was simply huge, as big across as the Jupiter 2. 
I wonder what Moebius will do when they get around to the Tunnel. Something like this in 1/100 scale would still be 16" long, or a 1/32 scale Tunnel front and main controls and computer panels would end up about 18" square, be big enough for some detail, and keep Paragrafix and the lighting specialists in business for decades. Moebius's utter silence on the subject speaks volumes, I hope. 
Tho' some of the details are questionable, this is a fun article:


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## Fernando Mureb (Nov 12, 2006)

WOW!! I had never seen this picture. Tkanks for posting.

Even though Fox has saved money with his its huge stock of footage, it is understandable that the series has been canceled, although for the sadness of fans. One trip way in time means a constant need for stories set in the past or in the future. I think it would be very difficult to keep it for a long time, even with all the stock footage of the galaxy!

Moreover, the waste of screen time without this wonderful machine! I clearly remember getting too happy when scenes were set in the control area of the Tunnel. I confess that at one point I am not too enthused with the adventures of Tony and Doug.


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## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

There actually was a plastic Time Tunnel kit at one time. Probably Marusan. Not that it was particularly good. But there was one...


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