Operation Orca

The Jaws blog that attracts even the shortest trolls. Learn everything and more about an old boat named ORCA and a very big scary shark that didn't swim very well.

Thursday, December 05, 2013

Bigger boats and littler boats



Having sold many many miniature ORCA's to giddy customers over the years, we thought it was a good time to showcase some of our work and at the same time discuss a little bit abbot what makes this boat so special. 

Besides being an iconic piece of movie history this boat has meant many things to fans of the film. Namely perseverance and determination. Sure Quint went a little over the top with the perseverance but the boat never failed him. It was Quint who failed the boat. Sometimes a horse can only be pushed so far before it loses its stability. 

Having said that, this only helps define the strength and symbolism of this boat and besides having a really cool shape from every angle its practical use as a fishing boat was the mainstay for Nova Scotian's going way back. It's no wonder Joe Alves was able to spot that unique value when scouting for THE boat.

Its also no wonder so many fans of the boat (like us) have wanted to see this boat in miniature on their desk or shelf. I mean how many folks have a wharf to park their boat? Having said that what better time to showcase the many ORCA miniatures we've built to fill that retro demand. And in order to do so we thought it best to work backwards...

So our first boat up is our most recent sale which was a boat sold to a creative gentleman by the name of Erik Hollander. Some of you might know of him from his work on "The Shark is Still Working", or from his hilarious outing in "All that Jaws", but we also happen to know him as one serious Jaws prop collector, and a-fish-ianado.

So it was no surprise when earlier this year Erik contacted us seeking to purchase the best ORCA reproduction he could find. Being a creative and quite a graphic artisan in his own right Mr. Hollander wanted something of an additional challenge and decided to purchase what we call one of our starter boats, and then add his own personal touches. In doing so Erik was able to add finishing details to his boat just the way he wanted it. 



Some customers ask us to do the detailing, and some pay for more or less accuracy, however much of what is done to a boat we sell depends on the level requested and how much a customer is willing to spend versus how many hours we can invest. 

After purchasing a boat from us Mr. Hollander has been enjoying the tinkering process and has in our opinion done some marvelous finishing work utilizing the more raw boat we sold him. While still not an exact reproduction, only perfectionists and those who know the boat as well as we do could tell what sets it apart from the real boat. This is due in part to it being based on one our study boats we had been using to determine structural differentials between photographs and data accumulated. We now however know how to build a better boat and newer customers will likely enjoy that additional research.



That aside, this is still one of the better representations out there due in part to Mr. Hollanders fine paint and detailing modifications, and clearly illustrates what a customer like Mr. Hollander who has the talent and interest in finishing one of our boats at a more refined level can do. 




For more about Operation Orca and our work visit us on Facebook:

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

<< Home