AND Studio

In the summer of 1994 I was called to the Arizona desert to work on TANK GIRL. It was hot and dusty and rainy and muddy and nothing but fun with a great crew. Here are the tanks that we spent at least a couple of weeks adding crazy items to (especially the top one). Yes, we weld at Studio-Props.
We did a lot of tech looking wiring and plumbing on the tank interiors.
The bulk of the show was filmed at an open pit copper mine that had shut down a few years earlier. Here's the pit. It acted like a giant oven during the heat increasing the temperature by 10 degrees or more. When you are starting with 115+ in the shade, that makes a big difference. This pit is tremendously large maybe a mile or two across.
After adding tons of crazy stuff, this old relic started turning some heads. Built to cruise.
A couple of the great set dressers trying out the system we engineered for temporarily attaching the table. It had to be secure and safe while the tank did 25 mph through the desert, but be easily and quickly removed for camera and other items. It also worked for the recliner that we built.

This is the semi truck involved in a chase scene. We upholstered the interior as well as added a bunch of tech looking stuff to attempt to make it look more futuristic. It is actually a late 50s model I think. It also appeared in "DUEL" Spielberg's first show. The platform on the side is for a camera mount and stunts.
No, this is not a picture vehicle, it was my own truck Believe it or not it is red and black. By the time I finished this film, I had forgotten what color it was. The only thing that got washed were the windows and the lights.
Here I'm parked next to a 100 ton dump truck. They were running 250s while we were there. Scarry sharing the road with one.
A row of Water and Power rigs...and me.
Got stuck trying to drive in to the building that was used for the 'Photo Shoot" scene.
This is the large tee pee shaped surgical tent that we created from scratch. We were at the abandoned mine facility between Nogales and Tucson, so sourcing supplies and equipment was tricky.
Here is where the surgical tent was made. I could watch the electrical storms roll across the desert as I worked.
Watching the electrical storms almost every afternoon was a fantastic treat. I burned through some Polaroid film trying to catch this one. Try it, it's tough!
The Liquid Silver set was actually an entire shopping mall in Scottsdale Arizona that we converted. Every one of the storefronts was shrouded in asymmetrically draped scrim to allow for the silhouettes of the dancers.
More views of the scrim shrouded store fronts.
Here are a couple of shots we snapped while they were filming showing the stripper pole and more importantly the fur doors in the back ground. We copied something from a Salvador Dali artwork to make them.
Shortly before the camera was ready to roll, the decision was made that most of the real lingerie hanging on the clothing racks in this scene were too normal looking, so we created about 75 mock up items of clothing out of clear and silver vinyls and other bits and pieces that we could scavenge at the last second, and did it in less than two hours. These had the right crazy look for the set.
Here are some views of a giant banner that we put together. It is over 30' tall and has the design painted on by hand.

On the back wall you can see the lighting fixture that we created out of an aluminum missile fin assembly.

At White Sands we built the exterior of Rebecca's Farm House Here I am sitting on a boat out front.
The exterior entrance to Liquid Silver.

The Liquid Silver exterior had a few really bizarre vehicles. What made them so odd was we didn't build them, they belonged to some of the crafty locals in New Mexico.
My rental car looked a little out of place.
Here is a series of Poloroids taken of the area at White Sands New Mexico where the scene where Rebecca does a tease of who she thought was her boyfriend, but turns out to be a W&P soldier was filmed. We took an old wooden boat and tore it apart and partially buried it. These photos were taken in case we needed to copy it elsewhere for reshoots or insert shots.

Here is a photo of the crazy bedroom set from the interior of Rebecca's farmhouse. We made some of the furniture, some of the fixtures, and some of the bedding.
Here is the bedding that we made for the inside of Tank Girls tank. The love scene that took place there didn't make the final cut of the film.

The thinking cap. A gift from the crew...I was always telling them that they better be wearing theirs.