TOY PROTOTYPES DESIGNED BY MIKE FULMER
DREADNOUGHT SHIP
This prototype looks like it is made of tin, but in reality it is styrene and brass. Mike produced five styrene prototypes to show to possible tin toy manufacturers. This is the only one remaining, flying the German flag. Complete drawings, mechanical plans and promotional materials for this ship and for the series of Dreadnoughts reside with the family.
The late Mike Fulmer wanted to produce (5) five tinplate DREADNOUGHTS with his 1990'S business venture, AMERICAN TINPLATE. The five different paint schemes gave the illusion that Mike designed and built five different model ships, yet they are all the same model! A truly beautiful result! This was due to his four decades of prototype model making experience. He worked in the motion picture visual FX production business, the LIONEL TOY TRAIN business, stick & tissue model airplane business and museum model airplane display business. His attention to detail was like no other prototype model maker I know of! I was lucky to work alongside Mike Fulmer in the model shop of George Lucas' INDUSTRIAL LIGHT & MAGIC effects house during the Golden Era block busters of the 1980's and early 1990's.
Mike and his crew built five prototype appearance tinplate DREADNOUGHT models. The prototypes were built in high-impact styrene and brass to show what the five final tinplate ships would look like to potential investors of this estimated $500,000 project. This prototype production technique was used widely in the motion picture visual FX business.
It is during this prototype process step that changes could be made rather inexpensively before committing to expensive production. The expense for those changes would be far, far less if made during the design process rather than changing the hugely expensive final steel patterns. He used a variety of materials and techniques to accomplish this prototype task.
The hull form was created by sculpting two hull pattern halves from bass wood. Those pattern halves were used for vacuum forming the finished high-impact styrene parts over the hull pattern halves. Mike used the vacuum forming process to simulate what the final tinplate toy DREADNOUGHT would look like.
I was lucky enough to see the five finished prototypes in person - SPECTACULAR to witness!!! The billionaire, Warren Buffet, had ordered the five variations without seeing the real finished products - he just went by the AMERICAN TINPLATE brochure that Mike Fulmer had put together. Sadly, the gorgeous and unique tinplate DREADNOUGHT works of art were never produced.
Best regards,
Steve Gawley
1990 Academy Award Nominee for Best Visual FX
ILM Model Supervisor 1975-2007- Ret.
MILLER 91 INDY CAR
This classic car was manufactured by Gilbow UK and is now out of production. Featured below is Mike’s prototype.
THE MIDSHIPMEN
This sculpture is another example of Mike’s attention to playful detail. When filled with water and plugged in, the swan and boat circle under the bridge. This piece with original drawings and mechanical plans resides with the family.
DRAWING FOR POTENTIAL TIN TOY PROTOTYPE
