Lofty/Behind the Scenes

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Behind the Scenes

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This is a behind the scenes subpage for Lofty. This subpage contains all behind the scenes material relating to said article.

Background Information

Lofty is a fictional blue mobile crane created by Keith Chapman and Diane Redmond. He was the fourth machine to join Bob's team, as shown in When Bob Became A Builder.

In 1998, Lofty made his debut in the Series 1 episode, Scoop Saves the Day, and had appeared in every series since.

Lofty appears to be based on a Liebherr LTM 1200-5.1 mobile crane.

Behind the Scenes

Stop-Motion model

Lofty's original stop-motion model was scratch-built for the original series by Mackinnon and Saunders. The model was constructed from plastic, fibreglass and diecast and was painted in a glossy finish. His crane winch was compatible with various tools, including a grabber, a hook, a magnet, a demolition ball etc.

Concept art by Curtis Jobling (October 13, 1997)

Basis

Lofty with his grabber.

Lofty with his magnet.

The model's first appearance in "Scoop Saves the Day".

The model in the second series.

Four different mouth-plates were sculpted for Lofty and used on-screen between the original series and Project: Build it. They would also be seen upside-down to resemble different expressions.

Lofty's happy mouth that appeared throughout the entire stop-motion era... (1998-2008)

...and was also seen upside-down to resemble a dissapointed mouth.

Lofty's smiling mouth that appeared throughout the entire stop-motion era… (1998-2008)

...and was also seen upside-down to resemble a sad mouth.

Lofty's horrified mouth that appeared throughout the entire stop-motion era... (1998-2008)

...and was also seen upside-down for the same purpose.

Lofty's neutral/content mouth that appeared throughout the entire stop-motion era... (1998-2008)

...and was also seen upside-down to resemble a concerned mouth.

In Race to the Finish, one of Lofty's models was given red stripes to resemble one of the Unknown Machines. He was also given one of Muck's mouths.

One of Lofty's models is in series creator Keith Chapman's possession. It is unknown whatever happened to Lofty's other models after production of Project: Build It completed, although it is likely that the models are currently in storage in HiT Entertainment's archives.

CGI model

In 2010, the series was relaunched as Bob the Builder: Ready, Steady, Build!. It introduced Computer Generated Imagery (CGI) as a replacement for the show's long-standing stop-motion animation. Lofty was recreated from scratch in CGI by SD Entertainment. Photographs of his stop-motion model were used for referencing.

Final render

Lofty's horrified mouth recreated in CGI

Voice Actors

• Neil Morrissey (UK; Series 1-Ready, Steady, Build!)
• Sonya Leite (US; Series 1-9)
• Emma Tate (US; Series 10-16)
• Lizzie Waterworth (US; Ready, Steady, Build!)
• Claes Månsson (Sweden; Series 1-11)
• Nick Atkinson (Sweden; Series 12-14 and Ready, Steady, Build!)
• Mathias Henning (Sweden; Series 15 and The Legend of the Golden Hammer)
• Antti Pääkkönen (Finland - 1998-2012)
• Francisco Colmenero (Latin America - 2001-2013)
• Toshitaka Hirano (Japan - 2000-2010)
• Uroš Smolej (Slovenia - 1998-2011)
• Mirosław Jękot (Poland - 2000-2010)
• Jarosław Domin (Poland - 2011)
• Dan Shatzberg (Israel)