Yangtse Incident 1957

 For the most part the HMS Amethyst  of the story is represented by the full size vessel herself and by a sister ship HMS Magpie for all the sailing and shots of the guns firing. There is also a large amount of full size and impressive pyrotechnics going on around and onboard the fullsize ships.

For a couple of scenes however the Amethyst is represented by a model supervised by George Blackwell.

One scene is of the ship passing a floating boom gate surrounded by partly sunk ships, the other depicting the approach of the searchlight encrusted gun batteries at the mouth of the river.

There is also a brief shot of a merchant vessel with festoon lights on fire in silhouette which for most of the scene is a full size vessel but one passing shot appears to me to be a model.

Battle of the Sea of Japan 1969

Nihonkai Daikaisen Japanese title.

The miniature effects were supervised by Eiji Tsubaraya and in my view they represent the best Japanese model ship effects ever put to screen. There is an abundance of models, scenic art, pyrotechnics and miniature water tank action throughout the film. In addition there is a sprinkling of matte paintings and split screen shots where foreground actors are optically combined with miniature backgrounds.

 

Illustration of the studio tank setup.

According to Wikipedia 170 ship miniatures were built and photographed for the film using 60 technicians.

 

 

 

It was also Eiji Tsubaraya's final film.

Eiji Tsubaraya on the right.

 

 

Some of the models remained out on the backlot in the weather for many years. The ravages of time have revealed some of the construction methods. 

 

Thanks to McTodd for suggesting this title and furnishing the lions share of the visual material, quite a few years ago. My apologies for taking so long to make use of it.