Sir Topham Hatt's Car (T&F)/Behind the Scenes

Thomas & Friends
In 1984, the car was introduced in the first series of Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends.

Gauge 1 models
The car's model was built to run on Styrofoam road and painted in glossy car body paint, the model was made out of plastic. In production of the fifth series, a new model of the car was built to replace the original from first series. This car was also motorized and was controlled by radio control. For the eleventh series episode Thomas and the Runaway Car a new model would be built, this was because the original model was over 9 years old at this point and tight filming schedules meant little room for emergency repairs, the original model would be used however for the crash scene in the episode as a stunt double.

The roof of the models was removable, making it accessible for human figurines to be placed inside. For the Series 5 and Series 11 models, a built in structure was made with the top half of figures attached, the heads would be removeable and could be swapped out for different characters.

Close-up model
Close-up shots of the car was required for scenes where it had to interact with close-up scale figures. In filming of first series only the interior was built. The model wasn't fully finished until Series 5 where the model would be refuirbished by Chris Lloyd.

CGI model
In 2009, the series introduced Computer-Generated Imagery (CGI) as a replacement for the show's long-standing live-action models. The car was recreated from scratch in CGI by Nitrogen Studios. Its model was "hand-sculpted" in Maya, a 3D animation and modelling software.

Photographs of the car's Gauge 1 model were used for referencing. According to Greg Tiernan, every detail of the original Thomas & Friends models for each character is carefully reproduced in the CGI model. The models are subjected to many rounds of review before they are submitted to HiT Entertainment for final input and approval.

The car has had modifications throughout the CGI series. These include:


 * Hero of the Rails:
 * The front doors were open in correctly for real-life vehicles, unlike to the live action close-up model were open as rear-hinged sides.