STT consider themselves to be extremely lucky to have secured 18 of the original character prop models, including all
of Sea Rogue's known faces as well as most of those belonging Top Hat and Grampus'. However we would love to see the
rest of the characters united in the same place at some point.
The above picture was created partly
in good fun during Spring 2014 when the Star Tugs Exhibition was first opening. This is because Top Hat, Grampus and co may
no longer be with us. After filming ended on many series in the past the props were seen as useless and thrown away and until
there is definitely proof to the contrary this has to be assumed to be the case. That being said there is no harm in holding
out some hope that the characters have been saved, be it in someone's private collection. They could be members of the production
company, private model collectors or they could be part of the studio's archive collection. It has been said by a source at
Shepperton Studios that a spare of every model was made just incase the worst were to happen to one of the models. These spares
may never have had the iconic faces, megaphones or names painted on them to reveal their true identity. In theory they
could be converted to be their intended fairly easily. However as no one has come forward with these models as of yet all
we can do is assume the worst while secretly hoping that an owner would come forward with them if they were willing to work
as part of a display team at future exhibitions
It would be nice to have a working network made up
of the owners of the props from Tugs who can collaborate we can collaborate with for future events under the TBPG banner.
Missing
Characters with Faces
- Top Hat; Star Tug No 4.
- Grampus the Midget Submarine
- Coastguard
- Coastguard
Messenger/Speedboat
- Lord Stinker; The Garbage Barge
- Frank & Eddie; the Railway Barges
- Pearl; the
Barge
- Sally Seaplane
- Jack the Grappler
- Boomer's Faces (Boomer & Old Man shared the same model)
- Bluenose's
Faces and Wheelhouse (Bluenose and Sea Rogue shared the same model)
- Any character's already in the possession of STT
that aren't owned by them.
Characters without Faces
- Puffa
- Big Mickey
- Mighty
Moe
- Little Ditcher
- Captain Star
- Captain Zero
- Any characters or models omitted from either
list.
If you know where the remaining character models are from the production of Tugs it is requested that
you make contact with Bigg City Port either through this site or the Facebook page
www.facebook.com/biggcityport. It is stressed that if you own any of the former assets of Clearwater Features that were used as props for the TV Series
Tugs, you are under no pressure to sell or donate anything. Many people have come forward with information in the past
which has turned out to be false so please only come forwards if you can say with absolute certainty that you have a genuine
lead. It is well known that some of the models were reused and recycled for use in Thomas & Friends. Bigg City Port has
had some communication with the model team at Shepperton Studios and it is confirmed that the models are no longer in storage
there.
