Original subtitles

[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]