Thanks to a reader Dennis for pointing out this title.
David S. Horsley supervises a miniature sequence of a baggage car deliberately uncoupled and rolling down a mountain track to be de-railed by a wedge chained to the track. The scene is very effectively modeled on a large scale and expertly photographed.
There are also a small number of matte paintings used in the film.
The killer bee movie that signaled the end the disaster movie cycle of the 1970's has a miniature train sequence that is noteworthy for being quite poorly done.
There are two crashing model helicopter shots that are not bad as they each fly down and crash in one continuous shot without giving away (at least initially) that they are miniatures. There is also a miniature interior of a nuclear power plant used as a background for live action as well as an exterior that explodes.
You would have expected L.B. Abbott who would have been dragged out of retirement to supervise the visual effects to have more of an idea of how to stage a miniature train wreck. Unfortunately the whole sequence suffers from too small a scale of the train miniatures and a too obvious full size landscape with normal sized bushes that don't scale with the miniatures. It looks like the miniature track was laid on a dugout section of a natural hill and valley.
The other problem with part of the sequence is it was shot from a high angle looking down on the models as they tumble down the hill. The underside of the carriages as they roll over show a lack of scale detail.
The end sequence employs the studio tank representing out at sea where the swarn is lured with floating loudspeakers. A flammable liquid is ignited thus destroying the swarm in a fiery inferno. Some shots of the miniature fire in the studio tank is composited behind the actors.
The train crash sequence in particular is an amusing example of what not to do.
