'The Invaders' flying saucer FX
Does anyone know of or have access to "behind-the-scenes" photos showing the FX department working with the flying saucer? The "miniature" used in the TV-series was a 4-foot mockup. (However, Alan Armer, one of the series' producers, stated during the DVD commentary that the original size of the saucer was to be between 12-15 feet, but they later reduced its size to 4 feet.) That information, as well as other tidbits and pictures about the 4-foot mockup (and the plastic model available for purchase), is listed in a web site at <http://home.earthlink.net~peredhil/_PAGE2/Page2.html>; .
Furthermore, that same web site stated that no legs existed for the studio model. Instead there were lines drawn on the bottom of the craft, where the legs would be, to make it look as though they were retracted. The scenes of the landed saucer in the series were always a combination of the saucer model, the real full size legs (with ladders), and the bottom base (with entrance hatch). Also, the real leg base had a periscope type device that came out of the bottom. Volmer Jensen may have been the modelmaker for The Invaders saucer, along with Mel Keys and possibly Vern Sion.
The TV-series identified Ira Anderson and the Darrell A. Anderson Company as the ones who did the special effects. The series was filmed at the Samuel Goldwyn Studio.
I believe they probably used a "green screen" effect as the saucer itself was a blue color. They probably used wires in an aerial brace to "fly" the saucer, and/or used the camera to get up close shots and long distance shots for indicating saucer approaches and departures (i.e., "go-motion"). (In the episode "The Peacemaker" , a wire can be seen in front of the saucer in flight.) In all probability the FX department used mattes of the 4-foot mockup to overlay the full-size landing legs "props". Scenes of crashed saucers were probably glass paintings and their vaporization by the aliens' ray guns was probably animation. Any photos or web sites showing the FX would be greatly appreciated.
An Internet article titled "The Invaders: The Nightmare Has Already Begun" , by Stephen Bowie (at <http://classictvhistory.com/EpisodeGuides/invaders.html>;), page 13 relates that John Elizalde built the flying saucer mock-up miniature. Furthermore, John Elizalde referenced that "...Only the pentagonal base of the spaceship, with its triangular legs, was a live prop; the saucer part of the vessel was matted in later under the supervision of visual effects man Darrell A. Anderson".
One thing that especially worked extremely well was the way the FX showed the saucers' speed, zipping up and down, and hovering! Beautiful effect!