Twister - The Storm Chasers

The 1996 classic Twister tells the tale of a rag-tag bunch of storm chasers on their quest to unlock the secrets behind one of nature's most violent phenomena: the tornado. To achieve this, the group must feed a twister 'Dorothy': a tornado-profiling instrument housing hundreds of sensors that can measure the entire vortex simultaneously. Along the way, the group is met with various tornadoes, each more violent than the last; a growing number of failures as the Dorothys fail one by one to enter the tornado; and insurmountable destruction when one tornado strays too close to home. To make matters worse, the chasers' old rivals, the corporate-backed and money hungry team of Dr. Jonas Miller, have risen to the public eye with their own, near identical copy of Dorothy. The race is now not only about collecting data, but proving that Dorothy is superior to her emulator.

The film follows Bill Harding, known to his colleagues as "The Extreme" and the designer of Dorothy; Melissa Reeves, Bill's fiancée who tries to cope with his wild former profession; Jo Harding, Bill's ex-wife and obsessed tornado hunter, following the death of her father at the hands of a monster twister. Navigator Rabbit and his driver Sanders; meteorology junkies Beltzer and Haynes; Preacher, the grandeur-spouting photographer of the group; forecasters Laurence and Joey (the former being afraid of the very tornadoes he chases), and Dusty, the eccentric and fun-loving telecommunications expert.

The set includes ten chasers (Bill, Jo, Rabbit, Sanders, Beltzer, Haynes, Preacher, Laurence, Joey, and Dusty); Dorothys II, III, and IV; and the six respective vehicles each chaser drives:

- Bill's iconic red pickup, which can be loaded with up with two Dorothys at a time

- Rabbit and Sanders' truck with its bed camper

- Beltzer and Haynes' doppler radar-equipped van

- Preacher's station wagon

- Laurence and Joey's heavy-duty pickup with its camper shell

- Dusty's Barn Burner

The vehicles are built in a four stud wide scale, primarily as this is a bit more proportionate to a minifigures height. The lengths of the vehicles, as well, are correctly scaled to be proportionate. A four wide scale also allows this to be a fairly inexpensive set considering the number of vehicles and number of figures. I'm also a sucker for classic town, which these vehicles (as well as all my other builds) compliment quite well.

It wouldn't be right if I weren't to dedicate this project (and hopefully set in the future) to both Bill Paxton (Bill) and Philip Seymour Hoffman (Dusty), who passed from us far too soon, as well as all real life storm spotters and in-field researchers who have given their lives in the pursuit of keeping us safe. Please consider supporting the project, and help do this film a great deed by giving it its very own set!