This should be fun- Help me build Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

Local school is doing a theatrical version of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and I am building the car.

Of course, it's gonna have to be low budget, but it is not "real". It's a stage set piece, so I can do anything silly I want to get the look right without spending much money.

For those of you that don't know the show, this is the car:

Lots more images and variations

So, here are the goals:

• I want it to drive, but of course it won't have to go very fast at all. A small electric motor should do the trick.

• I also want it to fly. More on that later (after some of you throw out your own crazy ideas on how to do it)

• The look is a big deal, and every detail we can add (cheaply) will help it.

• The budget is a big deal.

• Lots of stuff that "works" (wings, propellers, lights, exhaust, engine sound, etc.)

• The build MUST be very kid-friendly. This is not a fabrication exercise, it is a chance to get kids involved. I will opt for plywood floors instead of welding, and simple instead of complicated.

• Borrowed parts are acceptable. Maybe some of you have some great pieces you'd be willing to loan or donate. Got a wrecked cedar strip boat? Non-working cool gauges? Spoked wheels that are not road worthy?

Here's all I've got at this point- I think I will build it on the chassis of a Lotus Elite. Partly because I have one that rolls and steers, partly because it was originally a 4 seater, partly because there is no pan or frame to limit things, and partly because it is a bit small, and should enable me to build a great looking prop that is about 5/8 scale- a bit more backstage friendly. I need to look at the dimensions a little bit more.

As bad as I am at it, I will make the promise to post pictures here and a build thread.

first off.. base it on a golf cart.. they are cheap.

Second, be prepared to build 2.. one for driving and one for flying

Third.. if you have not painted for theatre before, find somebody who has. Things need to be exaggerated a certain amount for it to work

In reply to mad_machine:

Thanks.

I've been building theatrical and film scenery and props for nearly 40 years. It's actually what my degree is in, so I know how to paint well.

Golf cart- Hmmm... You're right, they are cheap. But they are not cheaper than free (since I already own the chassis and am willing to loan it)

Definitely not going to build 2. I've done it before for movies, etc, but there are dreadfully few theatres that have sufficient backstage space for 1, no less 2. Duplicate props is a movie trick, not theatre.

ok.. then how about making it easily removable from the chassis? The idea is the less weight you need to fly, the better.

Ceiling fans and used carriage lights from local Habitat Restore or garage sales.
Wing structure could be fabbed from a small TV antenna tower.
Canvas bits would be easy to sew, just add a 1/2" wooden dowel in a pocket sewn at each colour change seam.Finding the canvas might be an issue, depending on budget.
I have no idea how to make the canvas wings roll/fold up when the wings retract though.
Most of the car could be thin plywood and painted to look right.

Interesting project you have to play with ,Paul. Keep us posted.

School kids being suspended off the ground in something that you built = Bad Idea.

mad_machine wrote: ok.. then how about making it easily removable from the chassis? The idea is the less weight you need to fly, the better.

I get where you are coming from. I think you are thinking a bit too literally.

There are a lot of ways to make something "fly" in theatre. The easiest is to have everyone look offstage and say, "Oh look! It's flying!"... (Yuck).

You can do it with lighting (ie: the car drives offstage, and then images of it airborne are projected on a screen).

You can actually cable it and fly it all over the place like Peter Pan.

And you can do various methods of suggesting it.

Cables with the thing flying all over the place probably doesn't work very well. That is where your "lightness" idea would matter the most.

The show is whimsical. The car is referred to as a "Fantasmagorical machine". Suggestion works better, but I actually do want to get the physical car off the ground.

In reply to DeadSkunk:

Good ideas.

DeadSkunk wrote: Wing structure could be fabbed from a small TV antenna tower.

Can you explain a bit better? Maybe a picture of what you are thinking?

SVreX wrote: In reply to DeadSkunk: Good ideas.

DeadSkunk wrote: Wing structure could be fabbed from a small TV antenna tower.

Disassemble a couple of umbrellas.

The wings might work if you could find cellular blinds of the right width and shorten them to the desired length. Anchor the top to the car and the bottom to a swing arm. They would sag, but I'll ponder on that some more.

Woody wrote: School kids being suspended off the ground in something that you built = Bad Idea.

I've done it before. Several times.

You'd be surprised how many times something flys in theatre.

Peter Pan, Cats, Jesus Christ Superstar, Aladdin, The Wiz, etc.

for the suggestion of flying could you not build a ramp system obscured by "clouds" ideally with a smoke machine to enhance the effect and "fly" it up on to the ramps into the clouds?

Retractable wings, scrounge for old roll up projector screens, use those as the basis for the wings.

you dont need the power of a golf cart for stage use, a mobility scooter or old power wheels should do it if you keep it light.

DeadSkunk wrote: I have no idea how to make the canvas wings roll/fold up when the wings retract though.

Good point. The retraction is a little tricky.

Maybe they aren't canvas. Maybe they are more solid panels that fold back into a pocket in the floorboards designed to hold them.

In the picture you put up the arms pivot out from the leading end of the car's rocker panels. That structure reminded me of the galvanized, triangulated TV tower my parents had years ago. Find a couple of sections and hang them under the car on a pivot. If you put a cellular blind between that swing arm and the rocker panel it will splay out like a fan when the arm swings out.How to swing it is a detail to be worked out. Could the actors be called upon to activate stuff with their feet, out of sight of the audience?

I don't have anything specific, but if there is something that needs to be 3d printed, let me know. I'll donate my time and (limited) abilities, and materials unless you need tons of stuff printed. Think brackets or trinkets. My build envelope is 10" cubed, but you can also design things that are printed in pieces and glued together. Shoot me an e-mail if you want.

JThw8 wrote: for the suggestion of flying could you not build a ramp system obscured by "clouds" ideally with a smoke machine to enhance the effect and "fly" it up on to the ramps into the clouds? Retractable wings, scrounge for old roll up projector screens, use those as the basis for the wings. you dont need the power of a golf cart for stage use, a mobility scooter or old power wheels should do it if you keep it light.

Good ideas. This is probably the right track.

The ramp idea is the right look, but the actual ramp is probably too big to store offstage.

The projector screen idea needs some more thought, too.It might be as easy as getting the right shape cut in the screen and anchor one end of the housing to the rocker panel pivot point.

For those who don't know the story, the name of the car (Chitty Chitty Bang Bang) is onomatopoeia. If you repeat it over and over again (which is very hard), it's the sound the car supposedly makes. Like a steam engine.

And it is supposed to be a little "magical". The car chooses to fly, and the builder didn't even know it could. The wings are a surprise. It has a personality, a mind of it's own. Kind of like Herbie (The Love Bug).

Any swing arm for the wings will need to be rigid enough to support some inverted ceiling fans at the end, if you want the details as shown in your photo.

In reply to DeadSkunk:

Yes, actors can always be utilized for mechanical substitutes.

DeadSkunk wrote: Any swing arm for the wings will need to be rigid enough to support some inverted ceiling fans at the end, if you want the details as shown in your photo.

Yeah, the fans are a little difficult. In order for the wings to tuck under the car, the fans also have to fold in a complicated way.

But they are wonderfully whimsical. Completely ridiculous from an engineering standpoint.

Undecided on fans.

One more thing I didn't tell you...

I probably have plenty of time to build this. It's a Fall production.

Does the car have to be two sided, or can it be one side and use the space behind it without concern for how "wide" the mechanisms become. As long as the audience can't see the other side, of course.

Smaller model "flying" upstage on wires?

SVreX wrote: One more thing I didn't tell you... I probably have plenty of time to build this. It's a Fall production.

Ha ! That's like I'm 4% done on my Challenge build and there's lots and lots of time left.