Uploaded July 2020 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Have you heard the new Peter Gabriel song all about a crane? It's called 'Sledgehammer (Head)'...
Anyway, here's a small video showing off my model of Big Mickey the crane, which if you've been following me on Twitter lately, you'll know has been a pet project of mine for a few days. The Big Mickey prop is a personal favourite of mine, due to its' sheer size, scope and backstory - being one of the few TUGS props on Thomas to not only have been rebuilt for the series but make it into CGI too. I was very fortunate to see it in person last August at Butterley as well as its' prototype faces.
My model isn't exactly accurate to the prop used on either TUGS or Thomas, it's been my own freelance interpretation of the character which borrows elements from the prop on both shows. He's probably closer to his Thomas state than his TUGS state due to the fact that there is more reference photography for his time on Thomas - but the wheelhouse, face and base (i'm a poet and i didn't know it :P) are all TUGS. I know the face was never used for the character in the end, but I consider it the 'definitive' face for the character, unlike the CGI face which befits his TUGS voice more than his Thomas one, let's be fair haha.
Out of all of the models I've made, BM is a favourite - I'm very proud of it, and it's not even finished yet, it still needs a grey coat of paint - but it's super fun to pose and play around with. Tricky to film though, as I discovered a few days ago it'd be too big for my sets!
You can see the full model here: twitter.com/davis_selby/status/1279524818438819841
SFX by GW Shunter
Simon Nash shouting "Oi" from 'TUGS: Munitions'
Have you heard the new Peter Gabriel song all about a crane? It's called 'Sledgehammer (Head)'...
Anyway, here's a small video showing off my model of Big Mickey the crane, which if you've been following me on Twitter lately, you'll know has been a pet project of mine for a few days. The Big Mickey prop is a personal favourite of mine, due to its' sheer size, scope and backstory - being one of the few TUGS props on Thomas to not only have been rebuilt for the series but make it into CGI too. I was very fortunate to see it in person last August at Butterley as well as its' prototype faces.
My model isn't exactly accurate to the prop used on either TUGS or Thomas, it's been my own freelance interpretation of the character which borrows elements from the prop on both shows. He's probably closer to his Thomas state than his TUGS state due to the fact that there is more reference photography for his time on Thomas - but the wheelhouse, face and base (i'm a poet and i didn't know it :P) are all TUGS. I know the face was never used for the character in the end, but I consider it the 'definitive' face for the character, unlike the CGI face which befits his TUGS voice more than his Thomas one, let's be fair haha.
Out of all of the models I've made, BM is a favourite - I'm very proud of it, and it's not even finished yet, it still needs a grey coat of paint - but it's super fun to pose and play around with. Tricky to film though, as I discovered a few days ago it'd be too big for my sets!
You can see the full model here: twitter.com/davis_selby/status/1279524818438819841
SFX by GW Shunter
Simon Nash shouting "Oi" from 'TUGS: Munitions'
