 |
| |
MI6 got to talk to the people behind the Johnny Lighting
range of Bond vehicle and diorama's which are available
in the US...
| |
Interview - Johnny Lightning
27th November 2003
MI6 got to talk to the people behind the Johnny Lighting range
of Bond vehicle and diorama's which are available in the US...
Bond On Wheels...
How do you decide which Bond cars to model for each of the
releases?
At first, we wanted to hit some of the basics and the best-known
vehicles. The Astons were a shoe-in. From there, we look to see
what cars not only made sense in the James Bond range, but would
also transfer to the regular Johnny Lightning range. There's not
much you can do with a gyrocopter elsewhere in the range, but
a Mercury Cougar convertible is something that has a little more
scope to it.
Above: One of the Johnny Lightning James
Bond Dioramas |
|
Who is typically involved in the development process?
We deal closely with the licensor, otherwise it's all handled
in-house.
Do you try to find one of the real vehicles from the
film on which to base the models?
Not particularly, although in the case of the Hispano-Suiza,
we did manage to find the actual car's current owner here
in the States, and they were kind enough to provide photos.
Are the markings and colours authentic per model?
As much as possible... we know that Bond fans demand nothing
less! Putting James Bond in a green Aston might be lovely
to look at but would be incorrect.
|
What is the process for actually producing the models? And
how much work is done by hand?
This could fill a book...JL cars are produced with more hand care
than you'd imagine. For instance, a chassis, an interior shell
and a body will all come down an assembly line at once, but it
still takes someone to put the three pieces together and another
to operate the machine that crimps the post to the chassis. Again,
the cars are sprayed by hand, not through some computer. I'm not
authorized to give up too much information but I will say that
I was shocked at how much hand work goes into the making of a
JL car.
|
What scope is there for modifying the models in the
future to make further improvements?
Modifying existing castings only happens if a licensor disapproves
of something. If they're OK with it, we are too. If they
change their minds, as has happened in the past, we have
a couple of options: alter the current tool (possible but
difficult), make an all-new tool (expensive, and we have
to weigh the benefits against the cost) or just stop making
the model altogether (which we've done more than once).
|
|
Above: Variety of cars from one of the
Bond sets. |
The Johnny Lightning cars come with special collectors cards
for each model. Who decides which bonus cards are packaged with
the cars?
Usually someone higher up in the marketing department will decide
that. Recently it's been movie posters but previously there were
some trading cards.
|
Above: The "Live And Let Die"
diorama from the Louisiana boat chase.
|
|
Did you produce any "White Lightning"s for
the Bond series?
We certainly did, and these are among the most sought-after
collector items on the Net. Sanchez's Jeep, in the 40th
Anniversary series, certainly seemed to catch a lot of people
off guard. We painted our Jeep entirely white, and lots
of people scrambled to get their hands on what they thought
was a White Lightning. Well, it's not, the White Lightning
actually says White Lightning on the tires. But if people
are content in thinking that they have a WL, who are we
to burst their bubble.
|
Many thanks to Johnny Lighting.
Images courtesy Playing Mantis.
