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I remember that the Millennium Falcon's cockpit was inspired by the old B-29s. Does replicating things from the movies prove difficult due to most references being stretched for the widescreen aspect ratio?
Correction to your explanation, Likely given the time the plans were reproduced. The draftsman would have drafted the image directly on clear acetate sheets or more likely, due to fogging around the image, a velum sheet. The process was not printed but drawn. The copy would probably been made but lining up a yellow photo sensitive paper behind the drawing sheet, exposing the unlinked areas to light, the passed by a vapor bath of strong 33% ammonia to set the blue. Blue prints are primarily blue with white lines. These are blueline images.
You are so correct! Adam needs a history lesson on the process of 'Blue Printing.' Gosh, it's been over 50 years for me, but I can still smell the ammonia.
@@waredog6966 when you couldnt get the correct bottle and had to transfer 5 gallons to your old bottle in the car park- the advantage you never got a blocked nose.
Ha! You've beaten me to it! A good print should really be as close to black as possible. I remember getting a good print was something of an art, too slow through the light and you bleached out the print losing detail, too quick through the emonia and it didn't fix properly and vice versa! It was done that way to ensure dimensional accuracy. People tend to think of 'blue prints' as the originals but actually they are just copies, somewhere the original hand drawn R2 technical drawings might still exist, they would be even more amazing to find!
I remember running blueprints for the women architects in the firm who were pregnant, to keep them safe from the fumes. The worse were those sepia mylar prints with that other brown liquid gunk.
I'm also wondering if it is out of scale if this is actually a photocopy rather than a print? Being an optical process rather than a direct print photocopies where/are notoriously inaccurate.
It’s amazing to me that there are seemingly upwards of 80 of these blue prints showing different angles and references but seemingly only 4 exist that are known to the public.
Many drawings of R2-D2 were made by the production, but the number refers to the drawing number for the whole movie. So that includes stuff like sets, props, and so on. R2-D2 was a complicated prop, so there were quite a few drawings showing the droid. Plus there were two rounds - the first round was replaced in early 1976 by the set shown in the auction. For more details, as noted in another post of mine that seems invisible, I can't post a link. So do a search for 3Dsf and look for part I of the Astro-Droid pages, and search for "blueprint". :)
As far as I know, the first StarWars had three different R2D2's and each one had it's number of blueprints. One fully remote control by three guys and transitions from two legs to 3 legs and drives. One costume (Kenny Baker) two legs and walks. And One lighted with Sound to essentially sit in background but also could fall forward or backwards.
@@Zeaiclies : there were more than 3 R2-D2 robots built for Star Wars, actually. And they didn't create separate blueprints for each one. There was only one RC R2, as you say, that was motorized and could do the 2 to 3 leg transition. There were two main Kenny ones for Kenny Baker to go into. And there were lightweight droids in both aluminium and fibreglass. The precise number is not known at this time. For more info, search for the 3Dsf Astro-Droid Pages. :)
Since Mythbusters was canceled on TV. I always wondered what happened to the crew. I was not expecting for Adam to have a channel. It's amazing. One phrase stayed in my with me. And it was the episode with the police car trying to rip the rear end out. From a movie scene. And I quote "I reject your reality. And substitute my own." I have bin using it since.
10:33 this is an amazing point. Things manufactured to be “collectables” just are boring because well, theres nothing unique about them when they are mass produced. Like funko for ex. Its the genuinely unique objects nit meant to be treasured have value. That is a foundation of archaeology
the printing process around that time used an ultra violet light to remove the 'yellow' background from the printing paper which left the lines from the original film or tracing paper image, this was then developed by exposure to ammonia. I used to be a draughtsman around the 1980's and this was the process we used for printing.
My first career as an Engineer (in 2007) involved making print copies for the production floor. All of our prints were on Vellum and we made blueprints on the yellow paper. The entire room smelled of Ammonium 🤣
Oh man, this brings back memories. Saw "Star Wars" in the theater in 1977, and the blueprint takes me back to freshman year of high school in '72 and basic mechanical drawing class where I did blueprints as class assignments.
Adam is slightly mistaken about the blueprinting process. The “blue” from blueprinting isn’t blue ink. Blueprints are closer to a photographic process than an actual printing process, in that the images are projected into a photosensitive paper with a blue background. Draftsman or Draftswomen would draft the drawing on a translucent paper that allows light to pass through when developing a blueprinted copy. The blueprinted copy is developed from the original draft. The draft is placed against the blueprint paper with a strong exposing light behind, and where light passed through the image or drafted drawing the blue is exposed and changes to a light whitish blue or even a light tan/ brown. The darker under exposed blue color remains where the image doesn’t allow light through. Then the blueprinted images is “washed” in ammonia to lock in the process. We used the process in high school drafting class and I can remember our teacher only allowed printing on Friday, so the strong ammonia smell had time to dissipate over the weekend before class started again on Monday. It’s an old copying process for creation of multiple blueprints from a single drafted image.
Blueprints were drawn on tracing paper, then placed over another paper which had photo sensitive chemicals and left in the sun. The chemicals turned the paper blue everywhere except where the drawing blocked the sun. That's why they're called blueprints.
Just keep in mind stuff in these videos is predominantly higher-end. Far cheaper (yet still very cool) pieces can be had with sufficient patience, flexibility, and research. Not to say the high-end isn't wish-worthy, but if you'd like to collect, there's more low-end opportunity than many realize.
I like that second piece a lot, but I don't love that it has the photo in there with it. Without the photo it looks like a really cool piece of art. Most people wouldn't know what it was until you told them... which would be the fun part of owning that piece, in my opinion. "What you're looking at is an original design drawing of the Millennium Falcon cockpit done by Harry Lang." Either way I'd love to have it on my wall. I wonder what those two pieces will go for.
Blueprint process is paper treated with an iron based solution then dried. A drawing is made on semi transparent velum paper which acts as the original. The rest of the process is like photography with ammonia gas as the developing agent. No ink involved.
My dad had an ammonia blueprint printer when I was a kid. This is how I remember it: The printer's special paper was exposed to light (UV maybe?) with the draftsman's drawing lying on top. The paper (without the drawing attached) was then passed through the ammonia fumes, which turned it blue, except for where the lines of the drawing had blocked the light. In this way, the entire page was blue - a negative image of the original drawing. I only got to see it run once as a small child, so I'm not sure of any details, or of how they made the negative image into a positive one.
My dad was a architectural draftsman in the 60’s & 70’s and did everything by hand including all the written descriptions that looked like it had come out of a computer (long before that was available!)
They are pretty easy and simple to make screen-accurate even! But amazing design!! I have one, from Robert Bukowski aka Sledge Riprock, who even worked on the Netflix seasons!
You are not. My first thought was "How much for Tom? I really want that!" MST3K for life! Funny thing, I actually had the candy dispenser that's used for Tom's head. Blew my mind when I first saw him.
I have to join in with those responding to Adam on "blueprints". We use the word "blueprint" for any sort of diagram plan now even though the actual "blueprint" process isn't widely used anymore. - Blueprint, as others pointed out, is a photographic process where light is shined through a paper with a drawing on it so that the dark part (where someone drew) stays white while the light part is darkened on the target surface into a blue color. That's where "blueprint" comes from, not ink. These are what the cartoon ones we grew up with, as well as the artificial ones used for Mythbusters intros, were based on. With the advent of Whiteprint, this also began to be called "whiteline" to distinguish it as white lines on blue photographic print. - Whiteprint, what Adam is partially referring to, replaced that starting in the 1940s. And that's what I wanted to add that I didn't see others comment. To use all the words, it's "diazo blueline whiteprint", and it's a contact printing method where a diazonium salt solution is exposed to UV light through the original to effectively make the chemical easy to wash away. A chemical bath later, you're left with dark blue (or other dark colors, depending on the chemical) wherever was protected from the UV light by the original drawing. Over time, UV light still damages them, though, and they can fade out in months in sunlight. - Large format printing, what Adam also called it, is a broad term that gets applied every time a technology is used to print something larger than what people are used to, but I think the context here refers to Xerographic large format printing. This is the same as "photocopying" where an electronic photosensor is passed over the source drawing, the result is scaled up to the appropriate format, and a powder is electrostatically bonded to large format paper. This was what was common during the period when Star Wars was made (as well as when Adam was working in the film industry), and I see the tell-tale artifacts of xerography in the R2D2 blueprint here. These are technically "black" ink, not blue, but "black" ink is often just a concentration of a dark blue and starts looking blue in lower concentration. I'm 99% sure Adam just misspoke here, he's shown familiarity with everything I just mentioned so I think it was just an accident while he was excited. But I felt it was worth having all the info out there to help fewer people latch onto this false etymology. When you give an origin story to something, it makes the story appealing and it's easy to accidentally create new myths that people spread around credulously.
Very nice explanation. So many people have no idea how stuff gets designed and built. Former piping designer 40 years in the engineering world. Done a ton of drawings and spent a ton of hours running “blue lines”. Appreciate reading something from a comrade in arms. Cheers!
@@alschroeder1724 I have to admit I didn't make it all the way. I started out studying petroleum engineering, but I ended up switching majors and going into IT. I have no end to my respect for you who stuck with it, though. Especially hearing you're a piping designer. I hadn't gotten that far in my PetE course but I was always amazed at the pipework in the industry, knowing even what little I did at that point of the complex pressures that emerge out of fluid dynamics.
Wait what...a Professional Paper Conserviter? Adam, you need to look more into that. Would be very interesting to see how they work, and the prosess they do!
There is a line that separates great movies from the rest. Great movies make a "promise" and never stop delivering; only building onto it. You leave the theatre mesmerized and satisfied. Then a STAR WARS Xmas special spontaneously shows up and like a T800, breaches your chest cavity and yanks your heart out. Those were the days!!!
3 things that pop into my head watching this: 1. It’s mad to think the guy (or girl) that did the blueprints, to them R2 was some random robot that they had never seen themselves before, maybe just shown some concept sketches. I mean today if you asked a graphic design engineer to produce some technical drawings of R2-D2 they would know exactly what you were taking about and already have a preconceived idea about what to draw. This blueprint was likely drawn by someone completely ignorant about what they were creating. 2. I’m always amazed with OT Star Wars stuff that so much is hand drawn or painted. Yet it looks so so real on screen. Probably still looks better than most detailed, precise CGI that they use today. A distant blurry hand drawn/painted image can easily deceive the human eye and brain. 3. Going back to the R2 blueprint, the original R2 was created just down the road from me near a town called Witney (UK). A small place called Crawley and I believe the business was called something like ‘Crawley Creatures’.
In some early pre-production sketches Artoo is leaning forward, not backwards. So the dotted leg position may be indicative of that. From a dual drive point of view, it's a better way to make the robot lean. But from a filming point of view, He's always looking down. Artoo couldn't t interact with the other actors if he wasn't looking at them. Why is it 10% larger? Is the Kenny suit bigger? It's amazing to me that the little boys who saw a summer move a lifetime ago still hold exactly the same childlike wonder and excitement for it all these years later.
It's funny, but I'm 57 years old (I was 10 years old when A New Hope came out) and I still get a huge smile on my face when I see actual R2 or C-3PO stuff being displayed. In the novelization for Star Wars it is said that R2 moves on CLAWS but I'm sure for simplicity's sake they changed it to wheels. However, in reality, tiny wheels would be the absolute worst way to get around in a desert! R2 can walk as is evidenced in a handful of scenes, but overall, large wheels or claws/feet would be a much better way to get around in non-solid environments. But truthfully, for this kind of movie I generally leave my objective thinking at the door and just accept what's being presented to me. Makes the movie more enjoyable!
Quick PSA: There are now 25 separate threads on blueprint etymology stemming from Adam’s momentary flub of the colloquial term’s origin. Not to discount their validity or discourage continued discussion in those threads, but I expect Adam’s gotten the gist.
In about 1953, I made a space ship control panel on a large piece of posterboard. I spent a long time flying around in the resultant ship. Wish I still had it. It would be interesting to see what I thought would be involved in controlling a long-haul spacecraft.
Colm Meaney was concerned when he got the script. He asked who the O'Brian guy is running the transporter. Response was like don't worry, we gave your character a name.
Is the drawing 10% oversized fore-and-aft as well, or only vertically? Even if it's only one dimension the most likely explanation is a change from blueprint to final product, a thing that happens all the time in all kinds of manufacturing, but it still makes me wonder if it's something else. The "Kenny" droid costumes - the ones that Kenny Baker was inside of - had telescoping legs. The R2 Builder's Club has had a couple of people overly concerned with "screen accuracy" get all twitchy about different reported heights that ultimately come back to "did you measure it with or without a person inside compressing the legs?" and so I wonder if the drawing is showing the legs at full extension?
That's RIGHT folks! HAND DRAWN. Actually, the blue is from a chemical impregnated into the sheet, similar to the chemicals used today for carbonless copy, or NCR sheets. Drawings made on semi-translucent vellum would be fed into a device which bathes the original and copy paper in UV light. The light, passing through the vellum would turn the blue chemical white wherever the was no drawn lines to block the light. Years before, blueprints were actually totally blue, with WHITE lines and print, because they used a different chemical process.
The word blueprint originated in the mid-nineteenth century when engineering drawings were printed on blue paper with white lines. These documents obtained their trademark blue in 1842 when John Herschel discovered the blueprint process.
Remember that the original plan for R2-D2 is that he would walk like a person on crutches. I suspect the forward-sweep on the leg is a legacy from that.
I just look at all that was done to make Star Wars (a new hope); in set designs, costumes, sets & locations, music, and special effects, etc., and still just get blown away all the time for the time when it came out. As a kid of 10, back in '77, and getting to see this movie when released for the first time, I can't imagine today a better movie experience I've had since. No other movie, let alone another SW movie since the original Trilogy has given me more imagination and inspiration since. Sadly, I cannot say the same for I, II, or III, and anything after VI... nothing in the scale that went into IV has me so impressed. My only other fav movie since Star Wars, just after that time was Blade Runner. But in my mind and my feelings, Star Wars IV is truly unrivaled for design and story, as movies go for a Gen-X kid. The only thing I could compare Star Wars to in 'modern' time; say, the 90's, and for another 10-year-old kid to see, would be Jurassic Park for the first time, when it first came out... that was perhaps the 90's best movie for special effects. But for my experience, I'm still in awe of Star Wars IV.
I too will never get to build the Millennium Falcon interior, but I'm building a mini interactive starship cockpit for my grandson - progress is all on my channel.
Not to be that guy but The word blueprint originated when drawings were printed on blue paper with white lines. It’s become like a Band-Aid in terminology. I used to make original ones for background decoration on films back in the day and it was only one guy in LA that I knew of that made them.
That should most definitely be kept under archival lighting conditions, UV light will eventually bleach the print, I hope whoever purchases it is made aware!
As an old old ME 70+ yrs. I can tell you what you referred to as a blue print would be a blue line print a blue print would be white lines on blue background. This was due to a chemical reaction with an ammonia solution and the paper!
A blueprint is actually yellow paper to start with some chemical making up the yellow color. You lay the drawing over the top of the yellow paper. Then run it thru a machine that has a uv light inside. The light eleminates all the yellow color. The lines drawn on the original block the light and leaves the yellow behind. Then it goes thru an ammonia vapor and it turns what's left of the yellow into the blue lines you see left over. Originally blueprints were the opposite of that. The final result was blue paper with white lines left over. Basically a negative of white paper with the blue lines. I used to run a blueprint machine in the early/mid 90's.
That’s completely wrong. “Blueprints” were not printed with blue ink, it was a diazo process with coated paper being exposed to ammonia vapors. Later on xerography replaced the diazo process. Originals had to be on vellum originally to allow light to pass through the drawing.
That is a print of r2s schematics. "BLUEPRINTS" are made using a very special machine that creates a blue BACKGROUND and white lines. A "blueprint machine" is a specialized printing device used to create copies of architectural and engineering drawings, commonly known as blueprints, by exposing light-sensitive paper to a design on a transparent sheet, resulting in a blue-line print with the design appearing as white lines against a blue background; today, the term often refers to a large-format plotter printer used to produce digital prints of blueprints, though the traditional "diazo" process is still sometimes used.
BACK TO THE FUTURE (1985) Lot #16 - Marty McFly's (Michael J. Fox) Screen-Matched Erlewine Hondo Chiquita Guitar Estimate: $100,000 - $200,000 Starting: $50,000
R2D2's legs move forward, which was necessary in Empire Strikes Back. R2 is on Dagobah looking in Yoda's hovel during rain. He was on tippy-toes and leaning forward to look through a window.
The Lucasfilm Archives have essentially indicated that while they follow the market, they don't make a practice of pursuing material that they might have once had claim to five decades ago. This generally will only happen in the rare instance that an item was documented as blatantly stolen from set.
And some may very well end up in museums; many collectors loan, some eventually donate, and a museum itself or a generous benefactor could bid (even high-end film memorabilia is a drop in the bucket compared to the fine art world). But it’s also a double-edged sword; sales like this one are almost entirely responsible for prompting museums, studio archives, and - very gradually - the general public to finally see enduring value in original props and costumes. If it wasn't for collectors creating a visible market over the past few decades, much of what resides today in museums would have either been tossed or remained boxed up in warehouses / closets / attics.
Having made technical drawings in my very early career, and had to work from them in my later career, drawings don't necessarily have to be one to one. That's why all critical measurements and detailing are specifically called out on the drawing.
The 'blueprint' wasn't ink, it was a (eye-watering) chemical process of exposoing trace paper to diazo paper and ammonia gas under UV light. It was the student architect's job until the late 90s
@pikkabird: An "elevation" in a technical or architectural drawing is the side of something, such as a building, drawn face-on. It differs from a drawing seen from above (a "plan") or sliced through (a "section"). In this particular case, drawing 67 actually consisted of four separate drawings on four sheets. One showed the front face-on, and was the front elevation. One was the rear elevation - the back. One showed the left side, and that's the port elevation as seen in this video (drawing 67/3). And one was the starboard elevation, and showed the right side. At least 19-20 technical drawings are known to have been made of R2-D2 for the first Star Wars movie.
Just keep in mind stuff in these videos is predominantly higher-end. Far cheaper (yet still very cool) pieces can be had with sufficient patience, flexibility, and research. Not to say the high-end isn't wish-worthy, but if you'd like to collect, there's more low-end opportunity than many realize.
I had heard many many years ago that the original TNG and TOS bridge chairs all were lost to pilfering set guys and others,,, what was that TNG captains chair doing there
Would not look good in a frame on the wall that gets any UV exposure, as these types of blue prints are susceptable to degreadation. Any length of time and you'll have a white piece of paper. In fact if you left it outside in the sun it could fade in days. It's why you keep them rolled up in a black tube.
I like how the auction guys pretend to be interested in Adams rambling about tiny details, when they just want a free advert and wish he'd stop touching it
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Propstore's Entertainment Memorabilia Live Auction: Los Angeles 2024 propstoreauction.com/auctions/info/id/386
I remember that the Millennium Falcon's cockpit was inspired by the old B-29s. Does replicating things from the movies prove difficult due to most references being stretched for the widescreen aspect ratio?
That blueprint "ink" was developed with ammonia if memory (and my nose) serves me well...not nearly as fun to run as the carousel wheel pen plotters.
Puts on hands: "what is this?"
"An original blueprint": removes hands
Moreover hands in pockets , prison for the touchy
I laughed when I saw that
I missed this and had to rewatch the intro, it actually made me Laugh Out Loud.
good times!
Correction to your explanation, Likely given the time the plans were reproduced. The draftsman would have drafted the image directly on clear acetate sheets or more likely, due to fogging around the image, a velum sheet.
The process was not printed but drawn.
The copy would probably been made but lining up a yellow photo sensitive paper behind the drawing sheet, exposing the unlinked areas to light, the passed by a vapor bath of strong 33% ammonia to set the blue.
Blue prints are primarily blue with white lines. These are blueline images.
You are so correct! Adam needs a history lesson on the process of 'Blue Printing.' Gosh, it's been over 50 years for me, but I can still smell the ammonia.
@@waredog6966 when you couldnt get the correct bottle and had to transfer 5 gallons to your old bottle in the car park- the advantage you never got a blocked nose.
Ha! You've beaten me to it! A good print should really be as close to black as possible. I remember getting a good print was something of an art, too slow through the light and you bleached out the print losing detail, too quick through the emonia and it didn't fix properly and vice versa! It was done that way to ensure dimensional accuracy. People tend to think of 'blue prints' as the originals but actually they are just copies, somewhere the original hand drawn R2 technical drawings might still exist, they would be even more amazing to find!
I remember running blueprints for the women architects in the firm who were pregnant, to keep them safe from the fumes. The worse were those sepia mylar prints with that other brown liquid gunk.
I'm also wondering if it is out of scale if this is actually a photocopy rather than a print? Being an optical process rather than a direct print photocopies where/are notoriously inaccurate.
It’s amazing to me that there are seemingly upwards of 80 of these blue prints showing different angles and references but seemingly only 4 exist that are known to the public.
Probably a lot of detail sheets showing individual parts with dimensions, etc.
As far as I can tell, Brandon was only referring to what they have in their upcoming inventory; not necessarily a reflection of what's known to exist.
Many drawings of R2-D2 were made by the production, but the number refers to the drawing number for the whole movie. So that includes stuff like sets, props, and so on.
R2-D2 was a complicated prop, so there were quite a few drawings showing the droid. Plus there were two rounds - the first round was replaced in early 1976 by the set shown in the auction.
For more details, as noted in another post of mine that seems invisible, I can't post a link. So do a search for 3Dsf and look for part I of the Astro-Droid pages, and search for "blueprint". :)
As far as I know, the first StarWars had three different R2D2's and each one had it's number of blueprints.
One fully remote control by three guys and transitions from two legs to 3 legs and drives.
One costume (Kenny Baker) two legs and walks.
And One lighted with Sound to essentially sit in background but also could fall forward or backwards.
@@Zeaiclies : there were more than 3 R2-D2 robots built for Star Wars, actually. And they didn't create separate blueprints for each one.
There was only one RC R2, as you say, that was motorized and could do the 2 to 3 leg transition. There were two main Kenny ones for Kenny Baker to go into. And there were lightweight droids in both aluminium and fibreglass. The precise number is not known at this time.
For more info, search for the 3Dsf Astro-Droid Pages. :)
Since Mythbusters was canceled on TV. I always wondered what happened to the crew. I was not expecting for Adam to have a channel. It's amazing. One phrase stayed in my with me. And it was the episode with the police car trying to rip the rear end out. From a movie scene. And I quote "I reject your reality. And substitute my own." I have bin using it since.
i love that Adam Savage just knows R2's Dimensions off the top of his head
10:33 this is an amazing point. Things manufactured to be “collectables” just are boring because well, theres nothing unique about them when they are mass produced. Like funko for ex. Its the genuinely unique objects nit meant to be treasured have value. That is a foundation of archaeology
the printing process around that time used an ultra violet light to remove the 'yellow' background from the printing paper which left the lines from the original film or tracing paper image, this was then developed by exposure to ammonia. I used to be a draughtsman around the 1980's and this was the process we used for printing.
Yeah, this is a blueline, not a blueprint. Originals were on drafting vellum. The prints reek of ammonia for several days after.
My first career as an Engineer (in 2007) involved making print copies for the production floor. All of our prints were on Vellum and we made blueprints on the yellow paper. The entire room smelled of Ammonium 🤣
and it made your hands really soft, too.
Oh man, this brings back memories. Saw "Star Wars" in the theater in 1977, and the blueprint takes me back to freshman year of high school in '72 and basic mechanical drawing class where I did blueprints as class assignments.
Adam is slightly mistaken about the blueprinting process. The “blue” from blueprinting isn’t blue ink. Blueprints are closer to a photographic process than an actual printing process, in that the images are projected into a photosensitive paper with a blue background.
Draftsman or Draftswomen would draft the drawing on a translucent paper that allows light to pass through when developing a blueprinted copy. The blueprinted copy is developed from the original draft. The draft is placed against the blueprint paper with a strong exposing light behind, and where light passed through the image or drafted drawing the blue is exposed and changes to a light whitish blue or even a light tan/ brown. The darker under exposed blue color remains where the image doesn’t allow light through. Then the blueprinted images is “washed” in ammonia to lock in the process. We used the process in high school drafting class and I can remember our teacher only allowed printing on Friday, so the strong ammonia smell had time to dissipate over the weekend before class started again on Monday. It’s an old copying process for creation of multiple blueprints from a single drafted image.
I would add - what Adam is talking about are Diazo blueline whiteprints. A different chemical process used from the 40s to the 2000s.
Blueprints were drawn on tracing paper, then placed over another paper which had photo sensitive chemicals and left in the sun. The chemicals turned the paper blue everywhere except where the drawing blocked the sun. That's why they're called blueprints.
"80 more drawings to get" - Adam
"Perhaps the archives are incomplete" - Obi
That is RAD. I would love to be able to afford to have something like this!
Just keep in mind stuff in these videos is predominantly higher-end. Far cheaper (yet still very cool) pieces can be had with sufficient patience, flexibility, and research. Not to say the high-end isn't wish-worthy, but if you'd like to collect, there's more low-end opportunity than many realize.
Can either make your own or have an artist make it.
I like that second piece a lot, but I don't love that it has the photo in there with it. Without the photo it looks like a really cool piece of art. Most people wouldn't know what it was until you told them... which would be the fun part of owning that piece, in my opinion. "What you're looking at is an original design drawing of the Millennium Falcon cockpit done by Harry Lang." Either way I'd love to have it on my wall. I wonder what those two pieces will go for.
Blueprint process is paper treated with an iron based solution then dried. A drawing is made on semi transparent velum paper which acts as the original. The rest of the process is like photography with ammonia gas as the developing agent. No ink involved.
There are about 5 answers to this now here, and each different 😂
My dad had an ammonia blueprint printer when I was a kid. This is how I remember it: The printer's special paper was exposed to light (UV maybe?) with the draftsman's drawing lying on top. The paper (without the drawing attached) was then passed through the ammonia fumes, which turned it blue, except for where the lines of the drawing had blocked the light. In this way, the entire page was blue - a negative image of the original drawing. I only got to see it run once as a small child, so I'm not sure of any details, or of how they made the negative image into a positive one.
My dad was a architectural draftsman in the 60’s & 70’s and did everything by hand including all the written descriptions that looked like it had come out of a computer (long before that was available!)
Kroy.
Another set of examples showing us what a quantum leap of movie making occurred with the Star Wars franchise.
I love that the outline of the leg movement makes me think of the Vitruvian Man.
Great T-shirt idea
0:24 Adam heard "original 1976 blueprint" and immediately remembered he shouldn't be resting his hands on it. lol
Loving all these Star Wars props, but am I the only one who wants to hear about Tom Servo in that case in the background?
MST3K friggin rules😂🤣😅😉👍
They are pretty easy and simple to make screen-accurate even! But amazing design!! I have one, from Robert Bukowski aka Sledge Riprock, who even worked on the Netflix seasons!
You are not. My first thought was "How much for Tom? I really want that!" MST3K for life! Funny thing, I actually had the candy dispenser that's used for Tom's head. Blew my mind when I first saw him.
I have to join in with those responding to Adam on "blueprints". We use the word "blueprint" for any sort of diagram plan now even though the actual "blueprint" process isn't widely used anymore.
- Blueprint, as others pointed out, is a photographic process where light is shined through a paper with a drawing on it so that the dark part (where someone drew) stays white while the light part is darkened on the target surface into a blue color. That's where "blueprint" comes from, not ink. These are what the cartoon ones we grew up with, as well as the artificial ones used for Mythbusters intros, were based on. With the advent of Whiteprint, this also began to be called "whiteline" to distinguish it as white lines on blue photographic print.
- Whiteprint, what Adam is partially referring to, replaced that starting in the 1940s. And that's what I wanted to add that I didn't see others comment. To use all the words, it's "diazo blueline whiteprint", and it's a contact printing method where a diazonium salt solution is exposed to UV light through the original to effectively make the chemical easy to wash away. A chemical bath later, you're left with dark blue (or other dark colors, depending on the chemical) wherever was protected from the UV light by the original drawing. Over time, UV light still damages them, though, and they can fade out in months in sunlight.
- Large format printing, what Adam also called it, is a broad term that gets applied every time a technology is used to print something larger than what people are used to, but I think the context here refers to Xerographic large format printing. This is the same as "photocopying" where an electronic photosensor is passed over the source drawing, the result is scaled up to the appropriate format, and a powder is electrostatically bonded to large format paper. This was what was common during the period when Star Wars was made (as well as when Adam was working in the film industry), and I see the tell-tale artifacts of xerography in the R2D2 blueprint here. These are technically "black" ink, not blue, but "black" ink is often just a concentration of a dark blue and starts looking blue in lower concentration.
I'm 99% sure Adam just misspoke here, he's shown familiarity with everything I just mentioned so I think it was just an accident while he was excited. But I felt it was worth having all the info out there to help fewer people latch onto this false etymology. When you give an origin story to something, it makes the story appealing and it's easy to accidentally create new myths that people spread around credulously.
Very nice explanation. So many people have no idea how stuff gets designed and built. Former piping designer 40 years in the engineering world. Done a ton of drawings and spent a ton of hours running “blue lines”. Appreciate reading something from a comrade in arms. Cheers!
@@alschroeder1724 I have to admit I didn't make it all the way. I started out studying petroleum engineering, but I ended up switching majors and going into IT. I have no end to my respect for you who stuck with it, though. Especially hearing you're a piping designer. I hadn't gotten that far in my PetE course but I was always amazed at the pipework in the industry, knowing even what little I did at that point of the complex pressures that emerge out of fluid dynamics.
@@alschroeder1724Yep 1975 thru 1988 on a board, ran our own prints for checking. The masters went to the Engineering Vault!
Wait what...a Professional Paper Conserviter? Adam, you need to look more into that. Would be very interesting to see how they work, and the prosess they do!
There is a line that separates great movies from the rest. Great movies make a "promise" and never stop delivering; only building onto it. You leave the theatre mesmerized and satisfied. Then a STAR WARS Xmas special spontaneously shows up and like a T800, breaches your chest cavity and yanks your heart out. Those were the days!!!
Yep!!! Those are terrific plans. The art of mechanical drawing.
3 things that pop into my head watching this: 1. It’s mad to think the guy (or girl) that did the blueprints, to them R2 was some random robot that they had never seen themselves before, maybe just shown some concept sketches. I mean today if you asked a graphic design engineer to produce some technical drawings of R2-D2 they would know exactly what you were taking about and already have a preconceived idea about what to draw. This blueprint was likely drawn by someone completely ignorant about what they were creating. 2. I’m always amazed with OT Star Wars stuff that so much is hand drawn or painted. Yet it looks so so real on screen. Probably still looks better than most detailed, precise CGI that they use today. A distant blurry hand drawn/painted image can easily deceive the human eye and brain. 3. Going back to the R2 blueprint, the original R2 was created just down the road from me near a town called Witney (UK). A small place called Crawley and I believe the business was called something like ‘Crawley Creatures’.
In some early pre-production sketches Artoo is leaning forward, not backwards. So the dotted leg position may be indicative of that. From a dual drive point of view, it's a better way to make the robot lean. But from a filming point of view, He's always looking down. Artoo couldn't t interact with the other actors if he wasn't looking at them. Why is it 10% larger? Is the Kenny suit bigger?
It's amazing to me that the little boys who saw a summer move a lifetime ago still hold exactly the same childlike wonder and excitement for it all these years later.
It's funny, but I'm 57 years old (I was 10 years old when A New Hope came out) and I still get a huge smile on my face when I see actual R2 or C-3PO stuff being displayed. In the novelization for Star Wars it is said that R2 moves on CLAWS but I'm sure for simplicity's sake they changed it to wheels. However, in reality, tiny wheels would be the absolute worst way to get around in a desert! R2 can walk as is evidenced in a handful of scenes, but overall, large wheels or claws/feet would be a much better way to get around in non-solid environments. But truthfully, for this kind of movie I generally leave my objective thinking at the door and just accept what's being presented to me. Makes the movie more enjoyable!
i like how he says its an original 1976 original blue print and Adam's hands immediately lifted off the paper lol
Quick PSA: There are now 25 separate threads on blueprint etymology stemming from Adam’s momentary flub of the colloquial term’s origin. Not to discount their validity or discourage continued discussion in those threads, but I expect Adam’s gotten the gist.
In about 1953, I made a space ship control panel on a large piece of posterboard. I spent a long time flying around in the resultant ship. Wish I still had it. It would be interesting to see what I thought would be involved in controlling a long-haul spacecraft.
Colm Meaney was concerned when he got the script. He asked who the O'Brian guy is running the transporter. Response was like don't worry, we gave your character a name.
I love blueprints :) always have, especially when it comes to things like this
Is the drawing 10% oversized fore-and-aft as well, or only vertically? Even if it's only one dimension the most likely explanation is a change from blueprint to final product, a thing that happens all the time in all kinds of manufacturing, but it still makes me wonder if it's something else. The "Kenny" droid costumes - the ones that Kenny Baker was inside of - had telescoping legs. The R2 Builder's Club has had a couple of people overly concerned with "screen accuracy" get all twitchy about different reported heights that ultimately come back to "did you measure it with or without a person inside compressing the legs?" and so I wonder if the drawing is showing the legs at full extension?
There's some parallax errors on the panel indents... but I don't blame them it's not easy to trace a circular object flat with dents in it.
this is the droid you're looking for
The giant, Ace comb from Spaceballs, please!
I love that second you heard that it was an original You lifted your hand off and put them in your pocket. Lol.
That's RIGHT folks! HAND DRAWN. Actually, the blue is from a chemical impregnated into the sheet, similar to the chemicals used today for carbonless copy, or NCR sheets. Drawings made on semi-translucent vellum would be fed into a device which bathes the original and copy paper in UV light. The light, passing through the vellum would turn the blue chemical white wherever the was no drawn lines to block the light. Years before, blueprints were actually totally blue, with WHITE lines and print, because they used a different chemical process.
0:24 "this is an original.."
**Adam puts hands in pockets **
There was no missing Marty's Erlewine in the back there.
(ooooo. AND Tom Servo!)
That Harry Lang piece is just incredible. I had no idea he had even worked on Star Wars!
The word blueprint originated in the mid-nineteenth century when engineering drawings were printed on blue paper with white lines. These documents obtained their trademark blue in 1842 when John Herschel discovered the blueprint process.
As the saying goes “I would give my eye teeth” to have Artoos blueprint framed and hanging on my office wall
Remember that the original plan for R2-D2 is that he would walk like a person on crutches. I suspect the forward-sweep on the leg is a legacy from that.
I just look at all that was done to make Star Wars (a new hope); in set designs, costumes, sets & locations, music, and special effects, etc., and still just get blown away all the time for the time when it came out. As a kid of 10, back in '77, and getting to see this movie when released for the first time, I can't imagine today a better movie experience I've had since. No other movie, let alone another SW movie since the original Trilogy has given me more imagination and inspiration since. Sadly, I cannot say the same for I, II, or III, and anything after VI... nothing in the scale that went into IV has me so impressed. My only other fav movie since Star Wars, just after that time was Blade Runner. But in my mind and my feelings, Star Wars IV is truly unrivaled for design and story, as movies go for a Gen-X kid. The only thing I could compare Star Wars to in 'modern' time; say, the 90's, and for another 10-year-old kid to see, would be Jurassic Park for the first time, when it first came out... that was perhaps the 90's best movie for special effects. But for my experience, I'm still in awe of Star Wars IV.
I too will never get to build the Millennium Falcon interior, but I'm building a mini interactive starship cockpit for my grandson - progress is all on my channel.
Not to be that guy but The word blueprint originated when drawings were printed on blue paper with white lines. It’s become like a Band-Aid in terminology. I used to make original ones for background decoration on films back in the day and it was only one guy in LA that I knew of that made them.
That should most definitely be kept under archival lighting conditions, UV light will eventually bleach the print, I hope whoever purchases it is made aware!
As an old old ME 70+ yrs. I can tell you what you referred to as a blue print would be a blue line print a blue print would be white lines on blue background. This was due to a chemical reaction with an ammonia solution and the paper!
A blueprint is actually yellow paper to start with some chemical making up the yellow color. You lay the drawing over the top of the yellow paper. Then run it thru a machine that has a uv light inside. The light eleminates all the yellow color. The lines drawn on the original block the light and leaves the yellow behind. Then it goes thru an ammonia vapor and it turns what's left of the yellow into the blue lines you see left over. Originally blueprints were the opposite of that. The final result was blue paper with white lines left over. Basically a negative of white paper with the blue lines.
I used to run a blueprint machine in the early/mid 90's.
I can’t unhear Tom Servo screaming to be let out in the background.
Love that outro even more than main video 😁
Great job guys. Thank you 😊
That’s completely wrong. “Blueprints” were not printed with blue ink, it was a diazo process with coated paper being exposed to ammonia vapors. Later on xerography replaced the diazo process. Originals had to be on vellum originally to allow light to pass through the drawing.
“It really is a holy grail”
Come on Adam, you should know that is the wrong Harrison Ford movie.
God bless you Adam , we love you!❤🙌🏼
I would very much like to have a high quality copy of these!
whoa love marty's guitar in the background do a video on that
That is a print of r2s schematics. "BLUEPRINTS" are made using a very special machine that creates a blue BACKGROUND and white lines. A "blueprint machine" is a specialized printing device used to create copies of architectural and engineering drawings, commonly known as blueprints, by exposing light-sensitive paper to a design on a transparent sheet, resulting in a blue-line print with the design appearing as white lines against a blue background; today, the term often refers to a large-format plotter printer used to produce digital prints of blueprints, though the traditional "diazo" process is still sometimes used.
Oh, Wow! Not the subject of this video, but you can see at 6:40 they have a Tom Servo from Mystery Science Theater 3000! That's what I want!!
Tell us more about the star trek stuff like Picard’s chair
As a guy with a CAD degree and a R2 builder, this is so cool!
Ooh for a copy of those!
There's a book, Star Wars: The Blueprints by J. W. Rinzler
Was that the back to the future guitar that used to be at universal studios in california ???😮😮😮 in the background...the little yellow guitar.
What is that yellow little guitar in the case behind you? Is that a Van Halen guitar?
Is that Marty McFly's guitar?
BACK TO THE FUTURE (1985)
Lot #16 - Marty McFly's (Michael J. Fox) Screen-Matched Erlewine Hondo Chiquita Guitar
Estimate: $100,000 - $200,000
Starting: $50,000
And in between 2001 and Star Wars was Space 1999 - all had the same pin-line panel aesthetic.
R2D2's legs move forward, which was necessary in Empire Strikes Back. R2 is on Dagobah looking in Yoda's hovel during rain. He was on tippy-toes and leaning forward to look through a window.
I'm really surprised that ILM hasn't sent a C&D demanding the return of these materials.
The Lucasfilm Archives have essentially indicated that while they follow the market, they don't make a practice of pursuing material that they might have once had claim to five decades ago. This generally will only happen in the rare instance that an item was documented as blatantly stolen from set.
It is actually sad having all these amazing historical items getting spread all over the world. They deserve a place in a museum imho!
And some may very well end up in museums; many collectors loan, some eventually donate, and a museum itself or a generous benefactor could bid (even high-end film memorabilia is a drop in the bucket compared to the fine art world). But it’s also a double-edged sword; sales like this one are almost entirely responsible for prompting museums, studio archives, and - very gradually - the general public to finally see enduring value in original props and costumes. If it wasn't for collectors creating a visible market over the past few decades, much of what resides today in museums would have either been tossed or remained boxed up in warehouses / closets / attics.
That is beautiful drafting.
Star Wars: Early Droid Screen Tests. (1976) ruclips.net/user/shortsN0H_K2DsFws
I just felt a great disturbance in the force, as though a million R2 and Falcon scratch builders all screamed and dived to get screengrabs at once! :p
0:23 Hands off, you detty boy!
oopsy oopsy its probably worth more now anyway
Harry Lange also did MOONRAKER!!!
Are the Deathstar plans in there?
Think they got fried on Skarif.
Having made technical drawings in my very early career, and had to work from them in my later career, drawings don't necessarily have to be one to one. That's why all critical measurements and detailing are specifically called out on the drawing.
Would love an HD scan of the blueprints
Great video sir
Are reproductions of these available?
The 'blueprint' wasn't ink, it was a (eye-watering) chemical process of exposoing trace paper to diazo paper and ammonia gas under UV light. It was the student architect's job until the late 90s
Really cool 👍
🤔What's with the little guitar?
Don't forget about Tom Servo!
where is Crow?
@@cwatson6816 Lol, yeah! Maybe it's just me, but I'm more interested in the Tom puppet then I am of the blue prints.
Like this so much ‼️
I had a R2-D2 model as kit, never got it completed it was to complicated for me then :(
Lol those outtakes are wonderful. Lol
I wonder what "Port Elevation Robot" is supposed to mean. Any suggestions?
@pikkabird: An "elevation" in a technical or architectural drawing is the side of something, such as a building, drawn face-on. It differs from a drawing seen from above (a "plan") or sliced through (a "section").
In this particular case, drawing 67 actually consisted of four separate drawings on four sheets. One showed the front face-on, and was the front elevation. One was the rear elevation - the back. One showed the left side, and that's the port elevation as seen in this video (drawing 67/3). And one was the starboard elevation, and showed the right side.
At least 19-20 technical drawings are known to have been made of R2-D2 for the first Star Wars movie.
a - ma - zing!!! where can I get a copy!?!?!
Adam gets too close to the stuff. He touches these precious treasures throughout each video.
Jeez wish I had some small fortunes on hand lol awesome
Just keep in mind stuff in these videos is predominantly higher-end. Far cheaper (yet still very cool) pieces can be had with sufficient patience, flexibility, and research. Not to say the high-end isn't wish-worthy, but if you'd like to collect, there's more low-end opportunity than many realize.
I don't know, a bit of tea stain on an original might have been a cool thing.
I had heard many many years ago that the original TNG and TOS bridge chairs all were lost to pilfering set guys and others,,, what was that TNG captains chair doing there
Would not look good in a frame on the wall that gets any UV exposure, as these types of blue prints are susceptable to degreadation. Any length of time and you'll have a white piece of paper. In fact if you left it outside in the sun it could fade in days. It's why you keep them rolled up in a black tube.
more out takes on the ends please
I need that on an A2 or A3 size poster!!!!!! 🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩
Thank you Adam for having the same passions as the rest of us 50 something ten year olds
It was the dash Adam it's not your fault.😂😂😂 also R2freakingD2!!!!!🙀💓 👌
I like how the auction guys pretend to be interested in Adams rambling about tiny details, when they just want a free advert and wish he'd stop touching it