filozirka home

Stop-motion, stop-animation, classic special effects, puppets, masks, costumes, props, models, sets, matts, production illustrations, production design...

The Paddy Wagon



	The Paddy Wagon small model probably was almost the last vehicle that I produced for this film. Ironically, it's among the most important vehicles in the film, next only to Santa's Sled and postal Plane. But it is certainly single most important wheeled vehicle of them all: After all - freakin' Santa's been driven in it !



I've made the big-sized Paddy Wagon rear end early-on, and pretty much have decided upon it's overall design. I've been inspired with an old Morris van, but changed it to fit what I needed: it's rear door, frame and insides had to conceal what it actually is, I didn't want it to be too obvious inside of a vehicle...




















	The rear end of the Paddy Wagon small model had to be the exact copy of the big-sized one, for a simple reason that they appear in the same shot. And they do so in a way that the small model takes on to play the big one. So, everything had to mach between the two - the shape, proportions, color, etc. Also, both models had to accomodate their own Santa's. To be exact, both models were shaped around their own puppets. For the big model, I had to produce completely new body for that Santa, because the old red costume was destroyed after the Courtroom scene. And for the small model I've used small Santa, the one that I made to ride the Sled. And while it's maybe been initially created to ride the Sled, I had to use it first for the Paddy Wagon shot(s)