This article is part 3 about the plan to completely recreate the Police Spinner’s transformation from running form to flying form.
Confronted with the reality, retractable lights do not retract?
Previously, I have completed to integrate the gimmicks of retraction of the front wheels and moving the tire covers into the Police Spinner 3D model.
This time I will try to make a gimmick of retracting the front lights.
In fact, I had assumed that the front lights were retractable lights that retracted into the wheel covers in flight form. However, in the film, you can’t see the Police Spinner with the front lights retracted.
So why was I under the misapprehension that the front lights would be retracted in flight form?
The cause of my misunderstanding was Syd Mead’s production sketch.
As you can see, the spinner drawn by Syd Mead does not have front lights. I guess I had assumed from this image that the lights would be stored in the tire covers when in flight form.
A new consideration, do retractable lights retract?
But here’s a thought that may be of interest. It’s an article in “The Great Spinner Study!” in “Blade Runner Ultimate Reader” published in Japan in 2017.
It says here, “Laser-type spinner exists in miniature with this light in a retracted position”.
The “laser type” spinner is a different type of spinner than the police spinner that Deckard and Gaff ride, and is based as closely as possible on Syd Mead’s production sketch.
You can see the laser spinner only in one scene in the film when Deckard visits the Tyrell Pyramid.
As you can see from the photo, the lights are retracted into the tire covers.
In other words, the front light is a retractable light.
New problem, retractable lights can’t be retracted?
Finally, I figured out that the front light was a retractable type, so I started to make the gimmick of retracting the light.
However, I came across a new problem. I figured out that the light interfered with the fender and could not be retracted in the running form of the Police Spinner.
However, I found out that there is enough space to retract the light in the tire covers in flight form.
Also, you can see the flight formed spinner not to retract the light in the film. So, I decided that the front lights are retracted into the wheel covers after the spinner transitions to flight form in White Dragon Cut 5.
Gears? Or jacks?
Now, finally, let’s think about how to retract the retractable light.
I thought of two methods, one using gears and the other using a jack.
The jack method is more interesting as a gimmick because it has more complicated movements, but I couldn’t find the space to install a jack.
In the case of gears, the gears themselves can be installed inside the light with very little space required.
This is why I decided to use gears to slide the light into the tire cover.
After all, you can’t see anything.
I have integrated the gimmick of retracting the light into the 3D model of the Police Spinner based on the above setup.
I’m very happy with the result, but the system for retracting the lights is embedded in the tire cover, so you can’t see it at all.
Sometimes I wonder, “What the hell am I doing?” but I’ll move on to the next step, enjoying the masochistic pleasure of not being able to see the result.
The next step is to transform the rear bumper and the jet.