Chitty Chitty Bang Bang was the first show in London’s West End to display the technical capabilities of our 3-dimensional automation plotting software, Pathway. In subsequent years, Pathway evolved into the double-award-winning Visual Creator software.
Creating the effect of a one-tonne, magical, flying car was a unique challenge, with the car mechanism alone taking three months of development and testing in Delstar Engineering’s workshop. The functionality of the Pathway software was extended to allow for additional pitch, yaw and rotate elements, enabling the car to perform 360-degree turns, whilst tilting and panning. Creative lighting hid the mechanical arm from sight to produce a polished and impressive illusion of an intelligent, flying car.
Following the show’s successful three-year run at the London Palladium, the production took to the road in December 2005, embarking on a national tour, meaning that the original design and control system needed to be tailored to the needs of the touring production. Significant design modifications were incorporated to create a transportable set that also adhered to restrictions on the removal of stage flooring in the receiving venues.
Equipment changes according to venue, below are details of that used in the last tour:
