Flash Gordon 1980

There is one model aircraft in this film used solely for a couple of crashing shots near the beginning of the movie. The aircraft model was a 30 inch long ( 760mm)  deHavilland Dove DH.104 which was a British short-haul airliner introduced in 1946. The model is seen crashing into a miniature landscape and Dr Hans Zarkov's Lab. The model was flown using a Lydecker rig with two wires, one through each wing (see model aircraft control).

Bill Pearson working on the Zarkov's Lab miniature set.

As well as the aircraft crash sequence there are a number of other miniature sequences in the movie which were all supervised by Richard Conway. The models were built by Martin Bower and Bill Pearson. The non -aircraft  models made for the film include a fleet of spacrecraft, namely Zarkov's rocket, the Ajax War Rocket, Kala's Beaked Rocket, Klytus' cruiser, Ming's lander, and Aura's shuttle all in a very 1930's Art Deco style. The large spacecraft models were about 7 foot long (2.13m).

Zarkov's rocket.

Martin Bower and Bill Pearson working on the Ajax.

Ajax War Rocket being filmed.

Aura's Shuttle

A tiny Aura's shuttle for distant shots.

 
There was also a compliment of miniature buildings and environments. Another very important contribution to the look of the film is the spectacular, very colorful  and beautifully photographed cloud tank skies.
I experimented with a tiny fish tank after seeing this film to figure out the technique. Essentially water based paint is injected into the tank between a layer of very salty water and a layer of fresh water that is carefully poured in on top. The salt water is denser than the fresh water and the paint settles on top of that dense layer. I made up a floating plastic sheet that allowed me to slowly add the fresh water so that very little mixing occurs as it is added. The fresh water gently flows over the sheet at the edges which rises as it is filled. You want as clean a transition between the two layers as is possible. That allows the paint to spread out nicely with good definition.

A spaceship graveyard, an interesting concept, ultimately not used in the film.

There a lot of Blue screen optical composites in the film that mostly work well except for the multi layered Hawkmen shots where the background layers just seem to be black silhouettes. In one shot the Hawkmen element is missing for the first frame. In some of the Zarkov rocket shots you can clearly see a background density change with the rectangular garbage matte around the miniature popping from position to position as the model travels across the frame. There is also a strange composite with the Ajax War rocket with a cloud of smoke around it that is being cut off by a rectangular matte, looking very odd against the reddish background clouds.

 

This is the first frame in the shot and there is something missing...

...Here's the second frame and the hawkmen appear.

Note rectangular matte cutting off the blue-green smoke around the rocket.

Source: Starlog Magazine March 1981