Friday, April 9, 2010

Tom Scherman's " Nautilus Two " model




Only few people in the world have seen what you will see in this article.

Thanks to Rowland Scherman, the brother of Tom Scherman, you will discover the "Nautilus Two" model designed a long time ago by Harper Goff, creator of the legendary 20,000 Leagues under the sea Nautilus.

Tom Scherman and Harper Goff were close friends, and when Harper told Tom about his "Nautilus Two" design, Tom Scherman could not wait to build a huge 3D model out of Harper Goff's plans and renderings. Tom did the model in the early 1990's and this is the one you will see today.

It was called "Nautilus Two" but it doesn't mean that Captain Nemo was supposed to own a second Nautilus. No, in the mind of Harper Goff, this Nautilus Two was designed as a submarine which the look, although always "19th century", could fit better with modern and nuclear times.











The man looking at the Nautilus Two on this last shot is William Babington, huge Nautilus fan who produced the 7 foot model Nautilus in the late 1990's, and several smaller ones.

The design of the Nautilus Two is incredible, and I think that someone should let Walt Disney Studios know about it. Why? Well, a 20,000 Leagues prequel was in production in 2009, and although it's on hold for now. If they decide finally to do the prequel, they may need a new Nautilus design for it. The prequel was supposed to tell how Nemo "became" Nemo, the man revolted by the "System", so we could expect a movie with more "muscles".

And the Nautilus Two - which looks more "agressive" than the first one but also has a 19th century look - should fit perfectly for this new movie if it is ever produced. People who will be asked to work on a submarine design will find they already have another Harper Goff great Nautilus design...which they've probably never heard about!

Pictures: copyright Tom Scherman, courtesy of Rowland Scherman.

1 comment:

  1. As far as I know, this is the only Nautilus 2. I know Tom didn't make another.

    ReplyDelete