Fon Davis in his workshop, flanked by a case of miniatures and a Gen 1 MORAV.

For the second installment in our new series, Make: Believe, we visited model maker Fon Davis who has had his fingers in the tiny landscapes that have become our favorite big screen worlds. Want a good drool? Look him up on IMDB to see the full list of his credits which include work for Disney and Industrial Light & Magic, and titles like The Matrix, Jurassic Park, Star Wars, Starship Troopers, and scads more. Fon still takes studio gigs, increasingly rare in an industry smitten with  computer effects, but nowadays turns much of his time and energy toward developing new work of his own.

We took our cameras to Fonco Creative, Davis’ effects shop and sound stage, to talk about his inspirations, current projects, the glory days of physical effects, and their future. Here’s a brief taste of the movie geek eye candy we saw during our interviews. Check out the segment on YouTube:

On the MORAV sound stage, the cockpit of a Gen 1 MORAV.

A small collection of treasures lives behind glass in Fon Davis’ office.

A miniature and set dressing skulls from the Terminator films.

Armatured miniatures for The Potters, a stop motion feature being directed by Jennifer Clary and starring Brittany Snow.