Models

Anybody with even a passing interest in 2001: A Space Odyssey is accustomed to hearing and reading endless praise for almost every aspect of the film. From the well-crafted screenplay, to the understated acting, to thegroundbreaking direction and editing, all the groundbreaking elements of a true classic are in place and masterfully executed. However, in the world of coffee-shop cinema buffs and intellectual film critics, the same individuals who wax poetic about the filmmaker's craft are sometimes reserved about showing their enthusiasm for 2001's amazing miniature work.

Special effects movies must often overcome the stigma of being viewed as escapist nonsense. Consequently, discussions of 2001's model work are all too rare, often being relegated to the "less serious" medium of Science Fiction magazines. This is a shame and a minor injustice, because the models that gave solidity to 2001's concepts can legitimately be described as works of art. Production designer Tony Masters had assembled a team of effects artists who demonstrated remarkable talent and attention to detail as they translated two-dimensional spaceship illustrations into beautifully rendered three-dimensional objects. The resulting models sometimes weighed only a few pounds and were often just a few feet long, but on camera they were totally believable as the multiton vehicles and orbiting habitats that comprised 2001's milieu.

The convincing nature of these models can be attributed to the fact that Masters filled key leadership roles with two designers at the forefront of aeronautics and space exploration, Harry Lange and Frederick Ordway. Both of these men were seasoned NASA veterans who'd worked with legendary German rocketry expert Werner Von Braun.

In addition to featuring actual hardware used in the making of both 2001 and its sequel, 2010: The Year We Make Contact, this section of the site also presents the handiwork of fans who've built replicas of these models. For some 2001 devotees, building and painting these models is one way of feeling connected to the film in a tangible way. When a hobbyist spends weeks or months trimming, sanding, gluing, and painting a model, the end result is uniquely theirs, even when it appears to be an impossibly faithful duplicate of a 2001 design.

The achievements of kit-building fans sometimes rival those of the miniature artists whose work is being emulated. Over the years, affordable, mass-produced 2001 model kits have been few and far between, forcing the most dedicated modelers to "reverse engineer" their favorite pieces of hardware, creating completely scratch-built reproductions of Lange and Ordway's designs. Such scratch building has led to a cottage industry of "garage kits," high quality, limited-production models created by and for the fans, sometimes without the benefit of a licensing agreement, and often with correspondingly high price tags.

The following pages celebrate all of the above-mentioned categories. Whether we're talking about mass-produced plastic models, scratch-built replicas, garage kits, or actual special effects miniatures, it is the hope of this site's creators that the viewer will experience the same optimistic sense of awe that both inspired -- and is perpetuated by -- these wonderful models.

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