All language subtitles for How.Tech.Works.S01E12.WEBRip.x264-ION10

[narrator] On this episode
of How Tech Works...

We’ll go behind the scenes
of a special effects shop,

as they film
an exciting docudrama

about the sinking of the titanic

and discover
what really happened

to the doomed ship.

[show intro]

Hi there, I’m Dr. Basil Singer

and you are watching
How Tech Works.

We are jam-packed

with stories
about cool gear and gadgets.

Today,
we’ll discover why blimps,

yup, those big ballooned
flying machines,

may well be
the airship of the future.

But first...

What do you get
when you team up

a former 747 pilot,
a former military guy

and a pyrotechnics expert?
The answer?

A team of amateur rocketeers

who have a blast
doing what they do.

[electronic music]

[narrator]
Meet the Dutch Rocket Boys.

The Dutch Rocket Boys
is just a group of friends

who really are into rockets.

[narrator] They do a lot
of work here at Rebel Space.

Rebel Space is a company
started by me

just so that hobby rocketeers

could buy kits
and parts in Europe.

And we’re also getting into
the professional market slowly.

[rocket launching]

[narrator] Big or small...
They build it all.

[man] From 30 centimeters
up to 6.5 meters.

This rocket's got
a Scottish altitude record,

that’s still holding.

It was about 17,000 feet.

This is a miss riley.

It’s from the film
The Rocket Boys.

And that was a group
of rocket boys just like us,

but they started
out in the 50’s.

[narrator] They build
‘fun rockets’ like Excalibur.

[man] We’re aiming for that
to have a lot of fire

coming out of this cluster
of seven motors,

[narrator] And more serious
ones like the Dust Devil...

[man]
The goal with the Dust Devil

is to film the curvature
of the earth,

set a personal
high-altitude record

and also try to get
European high altitude record

back in our group.
[chuckling]

Because that was broken
by a group here

in the Netherlands
by some students

and, uh, we want
to have that record back.

[rocket launching]

[narrator]
That record is over 60 miles.

But what goes up,
must come down.

So today they’re testing
the nose cone separation.

[man] The importance
of the test today

is to be sure that
the system is able

to deploy the parachute
so it lands safely.

I’m installing the igniter.

This is the CO2 device.

And there’s
a little charge in there

and when I ignite the charge,

then the pin will go
into the cartridge

and will release the CO2.

And then hopefully
the nose cone will come off

and deploy the chute.

[narrator] This isn’t NASA...
but it is rocket science.

[man]
It needs a little bit force.

You have to be a metal worker,
electrician,

know stuff
about how motors work,

pyrotechnic devices you use.

So it takes a lot of skills
to, uh, build a good rocket.

It's hard to play
a song by yourself

so it's better to team up.

[man] Everything has
to come together in a flight

of only a few minutes,
or only a minute.

And if one thing doesn’t work,
it’s over.

[narrator]
It doesn’t happen often.

But it happened recently.

Yeah, Frank killed his rocket
in Germany

a couple of weeks ago.

The nose cone didn’t come off.

[man] It landed in the lake.

And the lake
is harder than normal soil...

This is ready to go
into the dumpster. [chuckles]

But that’s one of the risks
of building rockets.

But everything
has to work right...

otherwise... it’s over.

[upbeat music]

[narrator] That’s why
today’s test is so important.

Okay, we’re now all set to do
the parachute deployment test.

[narrator]
Just a few more connections...

And...

[man]
What happened there, Peter?

-I don’t know!
[man chuckles]

[Peter]
I was checking the continuity

and then it already went off.

So we have to check the system
and then we good to do it again.

[narrator]
Like any good scientists,

these guys aren’t fazed
by the misfire.

Back in the workshop they
calmly, and efficiently,

refill the igniter
and re-pack the chute.

Then it’s outside
for round two.

They secure the rocket
on the platform. And stand back.

[man] Three, two, one...

[narrator]
This time... success?

[man] This was a good test

because we had total separation
of the nose cone and the body.

And in real flight,

the nose cone will drop
further on in the air of course,

and pull the whole chute out

after which
the chute will deploy

and brake the rocket
for a safe landing.

[narrator] With that assured,

there’s just a few minor details
to take care of.

[man] Next step will be

developing
the rest of the rocket

and that’s still some,
some work to do.

[narrator]
This isn’t just a hobby.

Well, when you start spending
a month’s salary on a rocket

you know it’s a passion.

[all laughing]

[narrator] It’s also history
in the making.

[man] We had a space race
last century.

And now we’re in the phase
like aviation was

about 100 years ago.

And more and more
small companies

and amateur, uh, rocket builders

are getting up
to the space border.

That’s something that we like
and want to participate in.

[rocket launching]

As a movie fan,

I always love learning
about ‘how they did it',

whether it’s stunts,
or special effects

or computer graphics.

And that’s why
I’m really excited

about this next story:

'cause we’ve got
an exclusive look

behind the scenes

at a special effects lab
in Montreal, Canada,

as they're working
on a docudrama

called Inside the Titanic.

Take a look at some
eye-popping special effects.

[anticipatory music]

-Call the bridge!
[bell ringing]

Bridge, look out,
iceberg right ahead,

[bell ringing]
-I repeat, iceberg right ahead.

Our approach was
to try and reconstruct

the water as the killer.

[action scene from docudrama]

It’s a monster movie
with water as the monster.

Get out. Everybody out.

[Richard] This thing was
a city block on its side,

a skyscraper!

And the way it failed
must have been very complicated

and not what you’d think.

[narrator] That’s the mystery
and motivation

behind Richard Dale’s
latest docudrama.

You’re talking about a ship

that was
thought to be unsinkable

in the middle
of the Atlantic Ocean

and nature kills it.

[narrator]
This epic reconstruction

hinges on a unique angle.

What we’ve tried to stick to

is to try and interpret
the eye-witness accounts.

So we tried to take people who
were spread around the ship

in different locations

and using
what they said happened;

try an re-construct
what was happening to the water.

[narrator] With water
splashing all over the place,

wetsuits are a fixture on set.

It’s a tricky thing to film
with a lot of water

and film gear,

but we had part of our sets
that we could submerge

in a swimming pool, if you like,

in the middle of the studio

so we could start
filling the sets with water

and start flooding them
from above.

[woman] Action!

[water splashing]
[people screaming]

Some places it flooded
upper decks before lower decks,

so people would be dry
in lower cabins,

but water would be
coming down the stairs

toward them.

[water splashing]

Those things
we found tremendously exciting

from a filmmakers point of view

because it must
have been terrifying.

[narrator] Turning this
terrifying experience

into reality
requires more than good acting.

You’ll have to wait
for the next one,

But that is my little girl.
Elizabeth!

[narrator]
Richard’s re-creation

pulls viewers ‘inside’

this virtual layout
of the ship.

[Richard] And I liked this idea

of an x-ray
of the ship’s body

being looked through
as if it’s a living creature

that is being invaded
by a parasite.

[narrator]
Montreal’s ‘Mokko studio’

brought the idea to life
under the watchful eye

of art director
Arnauld Brisebois.

[Arnauld] The first and most
important thing we had to do

is be scientifically accurate
and to do that,

we had to follow very precise

and very highly detailed
blueprints of the ship.

So we had to be able to see
through certain areas

and travel through
really quickly say,

from the boiler room

to the captain’s cabin
or whatever,

and that’s why we came up
with some kind of a...

Ghost, you know,
transparency x-ray look

for the, for the full ship.

[narrator]
Along with the ghost ship,

Mokko layered effects
to create a very real

and detailed Titanic
on the icy Atlantic.

[Arnauld] Fully textured model,

breaking waves
at the nose of the ship,

sky back there,

put some ice
on the water surface,

water reflection,

of water turbulence here
that's added,

smoke effects,

full CG effects,

the final shot.

I think one of the things

that makes computer graphics
very convincing

is detail.
And you can’t fake it.

When CG gets really good

is when the designers
have put detail in it

beyond the level
at which you really see.

[man] The water
that’s in the fifth compartment

will overflow into the sixth,

and the sixth into the seventh,

whole areas will become cut off.

[water splashing]
[people screaming]

Once this chain of events
has been set in motion,

it’s a mathematical certainty.

[narrator] While it’s certain
what happened...

this film questions
how the Titanic sank.

[Richard] It doesn’t,

as it happens
in some of the big movies,

stand on its end
for a huge amount of time.

It probably sinks level
for quite a long way.

The doors!
The watertight doors!

[man] The watertight doors!

[Richard] In fact, that's what
the captain was trying to do,

he had all the watertight doors,
watertight compartments

unsealed

so that water
would start to spread evenly.

[narrator] It’s a story that
continues to reveal questions,

a century later.

[Richard] A hundred years on
it’s still a news story...

there aren’t many stories
like that.

And, so, I’m interested
in trying to give us, now,

a different way
of looking at that story.

Both in terms
of what really happened,

factually and historically,

but also in terms of what it
must really have felt like

to be there.

[man] April 15th, 1912...

from Titanic...

goodbye, all.

Stick around!

There’s more
cool gadgets and gear

coming up after the break.

[show intro]

[show intro]

Welcome back
to How Tech Works.

Now, when you think of blimps,

I’ll wager

you’re likely to think

of a big antiquated,

slow-moving, balloon

that often meets with disaster,
like the Hindenburg.

But, one company in California

thinks they’re
onto a winner here

with this new balloon
from the future.

[electronic music]

[narrator] Imagine a future
where entire military units

are deployed
from a single vehicle.

Where enormous payloads
are transported efficiently

and effortlessly...

Where an aircraft,
the size of a football field,

can take off and land

without a ground crew
or a runway.

Then, imagine all that happening
in just three years.

That’s the timeline
engineers here

at Aeros headquarters

have set for their
newest airship.

The sixty ton vehicle will be
basically 500 feet long

and about a 160 feet wide.

[narrator]
It’s called Aeroscraft.

The hope is that it will
revitalize the blimp business.

Each vehicle

is unlike any conventional
or hybrid airship

that exists right now.

It can land
on any unprepared surface area

and unlike a helicopter,

it can go up to higher range
and carry more cargo.

[narrator]
Today, the first of the fleet

is starting to take shape.

There's an internal structure

which is essentially built
out of carbon fiber

and aluminum structure.

And here's one
of the actual trusses

and you can see here

the actual one truss
weighs about 14 pounds.

So, it’s fairly light, I mean,

I could pick it up
with one finger.

[narrator] Their approach
is methodical and precise.

It's assembled piece by piece.

Alignment is everything.

[man]
We started off using lasers

and we went to that way
measuring distances

and using lasers
but we found out that

over such a long distance

the laser accuracy at so far
is, is hard to come by.

So we went to the old trued
and tried method of...

string and wire and plumb bobs.

[narrator] The crew?

Small but mighty.

Their collective brain power

produced what might well be
a game-changing vessel.

[man]
We have already established

that all the technologies
are functioning.

And now,
we are putting these together

so we are very confident

that we are able
to make this thing work.

[narrator] Historically,

airships have had
three problem areas:

fabric skins
make the envelope vulnerable,

they require flat runways
and a skilled ground crew,

they also need ballasting,

a way to stabilize
vehicle weight.

Aeros engineers are confident

that this airship will be free
of those shortcomings.

[man]
The maximum cruising speed

is a 120 miles per hour

with maximum altitude
of 12,000 feet

and a maximum range
of 3,300 miles.

[narrator]
Aeros’s key innovation

is the ability
to adjust buoyancy.

[man]
The buoyancy management system

adjusts and controls
the amount of helium

into the envelope.

This system will make
the vehicle light or heavy.

That's how we are
basically creating the lift

and it is used in exchange
of the ballast system

that the conventional
or hybrid airship requires.

[narrator] That makes
the Aeroscraft cargo ship

maneuverable and versatile.

[man]
The static lift is generated

by the amount
of helium in the envelope.

And in case of any type
of engine failure

this vehicle
can just become a blimp

and can basically land safely

by adjusting
the amount of helium in it.

[narrator] Also significant,

is the aircraft’s
rigid structure.

After we install this second
structure to the outside

to get the shape of the vehicle,

then we have to come back
and cover it

with the actual shell
of the skin.

It's a composite,
multi-layered structure.

It's got helium barriers
'cause it does hold helium.

It's semi-rigid
so it's not a cloth,

it's not completely solid
like a steel piece.

[narrator] Not much will change
for Aeroscraft pilots.

[man] The cockpit
is basically sitting

at the center of the vehicle

and it is equipped
with similar type of avionics

that any airplane
or helicopter has

and it will be operating
pretty much in a similar manner.

Back here we have one
of the vertical stabilizers.

We just did some final testing

and, uh,
we're applying the skin to that.

Um, that's finalized
and ready to install

within
the next couple of weeks.

They're very, very large
compared to a normal airship.

They are about four
times the size.

Back here in the hanger
we have one of the engines,

one of three that we have
been doing some testing on

just to get it ready

for integration
to the structure.

Now, I can't show you too much,

but I will give you
a little peek on the engine.

Ready?

That's about all you are going
to get to see on that one

'til the vehicle
is ready for flight.

[narrator] Designed to carry
payloads of 60 tons,

the plan is to make Aeroscraft

the workhorse
of large cargo carriers.

And finally...

while we’re on the topic
of high-tech vehicles...

If you're looking

for the ultimate car
of the future,

you don't need to look
any further than this.

Forget about SUV’s,
what about an ETV?

Also known
as an extra-terrestrial vehicle.

[upbeat music]

[narrator] It’s the kind of car
that makes you look twice.

I knew that I could
stop people in their tracks

with this
really complicated windshield,

[narrator] Sometimes drawing
more attention than desired...

Something unique,
something awesome...

[narrator] A car of the future
for standout personalities.

I get calls from race car
drivers to car collectors,

to a museum,
uh, football players,

people who really
like the attention

of a unique vehicle.

[narrator] It’s the “ETV”

and it is out of this world.

I love the ETV,

this is my favorite car
that I’ve ever built by far.

[narrator]
Like many kit car lovers,

Mike Vetter first fueled
his passion with a Lamborghini.

I built that Lamborghini
working nights,

and going to school
during the day.

Working evenings on it.
And, uh, it was a lot of fun.

I, I learned every step
of the process

throughout the build.

When I finished the car,

I drove it and enjoyed it a lot
in Daytona Beach,

and sold it and made good money.

[narrator] That first pay check
put Mike in the driver’s seat.

And allowed him to build
all kinds of dream cars,

until Ferrari found
out about it.

[Mike] I tried a Ferrari 355.

I got on the cover
of a magazine.

And got a letter from Ferrari
saying cease and desist.

So, that’s when I decided
I need to build my own car.

[narrator] The ETV was born.

I wanted to build something

that nobody else
could duplicate.

[narrator] The body starts
as mold from foam.

Then gets crafted
from fiberglass.

It’s all mixing chemicals

and knowing how thick
to build all the parts.

There’s no real trick to it,
I’ve been doing it 35 years.

This car,
without the side scoops,

looks a lot like a bullet,

or the nose
of a velocity airplane,

and that’s really
what started me.

And then I added things
like those vents

just to give it a little style

and sometimes
I make my own headlights.

[narrator]
Looks can be deceiving.

Underneath
this modern work of art

is almost any engine of choice.

[Mike] The first one of these
that I built

I actually put it
on a Chevy Aveo

‘cause it was a good running car

and needs nothing
and has cold air conditioning,

another important feature
in Florida.

So I literally skinned
the body off of that Aveo,

and I decided what wheel base
I needed it to be.

I did have to stretch the Aveo
six inches

and I dropped this body shell
over that Aveo,

and I drove that car
for a year and a half.

[narrator] He can build them
on top of virtually

any small to mid-sized car.

[Mike] Because of the fact
that I’m using a donor car

that really helps me get away
from having to be inspected

as far as building a car
from complete scratch.

I'm not designing suspension,
brakes or a chassis' myself.

Underneath this car
is a Porsche Boxster.

[narrator]
Today, we’re at Mike’s shop,

a former airplane hangar.

Inside, a collection of parts,
tools engines and tires.

So today, we’re going to inspect

our new windshield’s
that we’ve just gotten.

[narrator] Imported from Peru,

this is a defining feature
of the car.

Alright, you’ve got that?

It turns out this is
one of the hardest windshields

actually in the world to make.

And they really don’t like me
for designing it the way I did.

One of the reasons this glass
is so hard to duplicate

is because it curves
in two ways.

It’s got,
what would you call that,

concave curves
in both directions.

Most windshields on a car
just curve one way.

[narrator] It’s quite big...

[Mike] All right...

[narrator]
...three times the size

of a regular windshield,

and it costs a lot too.

Three thousand dollars’ worth
of Peruvian glass there,

ten times the cost
of a regular windshield.

And now we’re going to clean off
all of the stickers and glue

and we’re going to flip it over
and wash in the inside of it

with, uh, ammonia-based
glass cleaner about five times.

And that prevents some of that
stuff you'd see on new glass,

all that haziness
that’s really hard to clean.

[narrator]
Fitting this windshield

needs to be precise
and seamless.

All right. Because of the cost
of these windshields

we always have two of us
on it every time.

[narrator]
Looks like the frame's

gonna need some grinding.

Seems a little crazy,

but it's, it's,
for some reason it’s fun to me.

[grinding]

[narrator] Okay, second try...

looks good,
a few adjustments,

but the job isn’t complete
without trim.

[Mike] This makes it
look like a factory car.

[spraying]

[narrator] Windshield in...

Another ETV on the road...

But Mike’s got new ideas
already taking shape.

I’m working towards building

unique, super,
futuristic-looking cars

that nobody else
can get their hands on,

and I want
to have it where it will

smoke the tires off the rims

and turn heads
and just be the next big thing.

[narrator]
He’s calling it the Moonraker,

and it’s already moving
from paper to model,

thanks to multi-media artist
Drew Birdsall.

The whole car is done
in high density foam.

We cut it, shape it,

areas we skin coat with Bondo,
if necessary.

Then, once the plug is done,

then again, we pull
fiberglass mold off of it.

[narrator] The Moonraker
is still a few months away

but it's going to be
a complete custom

with no donor car.

So I know that I can build
that car in there

at a million dollar price point
or right around there,

and have a rocket ship that
looks like a factory built car,

that is a unique
one-off vehicle.

[narrator] Just like the ETV,

which is driving customers
to Florida’s space coast,

where rockets don’t just fly.

I’m so sorry,

that is all
we’ve got time for today.

I’m Basil Singer,

thank you very much
for watching How Tech Works.

See you next time.

[ending music]