ALIEN and ALIENS Thread...

[Mudshark]

So happy to see a dedicated area for all of us! I don't get to post here too often, but I just wanted to ask a quick question.

I finally got my hands on Hicks from a seller in Hong Kong. I was not handling the helmet roughly, but using steady pressure to try and get it to fit on Hicks' head (which it barely does . . . kid has a big noggin) Seriously, with what these go for on ebay I was as careful as humanly possible! Did anyone else have this issue with Hicks? It seems like the plastic on the helmet was sort of brittle or something.

Hot Toys' stuff tends to be pretty delicate and it doesn't take much to break off small parts no matter how careful you are, but you really need to handle everything with extra care, especially pieces of equipment with small parts attached to them. If you haven't done so already, just removing the liner (black plastic band) inside the helmet helps, but if you're using the Hicks head sculpt that came with the figure, then you are not going to get a good fit in any case. His hair is too bulky. Go with the original head that came with Hudson instead, or the Stoner SEAL. Btw, you can reinforce some broken parts by insterting brass pins between the two parts. I've repaired all sorts of things that way and they're actually much stronger than before, but simply regluing them with super glue works, too. Hope this helped.

 

[gdb]

I get distracted for a weekend and THIS happens?!? 100,000 views and a new forum?!?

Great pics guys! WOW!









With the new forum, all that's left is for Dave to retire this thread to the rafters as we forge ahead in new and varied threads.

 

[GGPiKE]

Hot Toys' stuff tends to be pretty delicate and it doesn't take much to break off small parts no matter how careful you are, but you really need to handle everything with extra care, especially pieces of equipment with small parts attached to them. If you haven't done so already, just removing the liner (black plastic band) inside the helmet helps, but if you're using the Hicks head sculpt that came with the figure, then you are not going to get a good fit in any case. His hair is too bulky. Go with the original head that came with Hudson instead, or the Stoner SEAL. Btw, you can reinforce some broken parts by insterting brass pins between the two parts. I've repaired all sorts of things that way and they're actually much stronger than before, but simply regluing them with super glue works, too. Hope this helped.

THANK you. Yea, his head is pretty huge. I'll try removing the black banding inside and see if that does the trick, maybe even take a dremel to the inside of the helmet to give a little bit more room towards the back. Brass pin idea is great. Unfortunately what happened on the ear piece is that the little tabs that the pin goes through broke . . . seemed that the hole running through the tab was drilled off center causing the plastic to be extremely thin, and in turn break with ease.

 

[pjam]

First of all my apologies that my crappy 3.5 megapixel camera doesn't take the best pictures to do Les' immaculate work justice but I blew my wad on this stuff and it was worth every penny spent.

Congrats Dave! Looking GREAT dude. Worth every penny! Now get Vas/ the rest of them done.

 

[JediMike71]

Holy crap dekadentdave! That's just what I want my custom Marines to look like! Les did an incredible job on them to say the least! I'm still painting my custom Hicks and Hudson heads now, and I'm getting in the Sideshow Frank Black Milennium figure to make the custom Bishop. I got the two iron-ons for Drake's and Frost's t-shirts in the mail today from Dboz. Awesome. I'm ordering the USCM patch set from Chris C. at EVA this week. So my marines are coming together....slowly but surely.

By the way...where did you get the leather jacket for your Ripley? I want to get one for my Ripley. Let me know. Thanks again.

 

[MaulFan]

Hey Mudshark, have you received my PMs? Just wondering if maybe they weren't going through cuz your box was full or something, take care.

 

[Mudshark]

Hey Mudshark, have you received my PMs? Just wondering if maybe they weren't going through cuz your box was full or something, take care.

Sorry about that. The box is nearly full but I did get your last PM. I'll dump some stuff and get back to you soon!

 

[figuremasterles]

I'm really happy seeing that Drake all geared up.
This is the first image I have seen that totally shows why I paint his eyes looking in the direction they do. I am glad it works. I've not had a figure handy to see if it worked or not. Thanks!

 

[Qrest Fourstar]

But Drake still needs his Flame thrower.

 

[Bardoon]

Glad to hear you found a Hick,George!

I had some of Hicks bust on me too...the little metal button that held the strap in his cup (crotchguard,whatever you want to call it) broke off so I just glued the strap to the inside of the cup itself.I also made the mistake of following the instructions' advice to put the head on last (which I've found to be a mistake) and as I struggled to get the head on, it slipped and smeared some paint off his chin and onto his front armor.It's not to noticeable until you look up close. Now after that episode and reading some comment from other people here about how they put their Marines together, I put the head on after all the clothes but not before the armor.I'd rather fiddle with all those little buckles than scratching the paint up again.

 

[bwayne]

Since Hicks is so rare right now, how different is the HT Hicks vs the HT Hudson other than the heads and armor paint? I am looking to maybe make a custom one if I cannot find the real deal.

 

[Bardoon]

Since Hicks is so rare right now, how different is the HT Hicks vs the HT Hudson other than the heads and armor paint? I am looking to maybe make a custom one if I cannot find the real deal.

HT Hicks also comes with the shotgun and holster and that is the biggest difference you left out. Hicks also has his knife sheath and grenades strapped on the opposite side that Hudson does.

Hudson also has a cloth helmet cover that Hicks doesn't have (nor did he have one in the movie, except for a strap that ran around the top of the helmet.

It shouldn't be too hard to make a custom Hicks out of a Hudson.

*Ack...one more big difference in terms of parts is that Hudson comes with fingerless glove hands and Hicks does not.

 

[FACEBOX]

You forgot to mention that Hicks has the little lock on his armor, comes with a personnel locator thingy, doesn't have the bag that Hudson comes with, and has different boots too.

Also, a nifty screwdriver.

 

[pjam]

While we're close to this topic, can anyone confirm that Hicks and Hud's knife sheaths and straps in the film were actually black, not HT green?

 

[FACEBOX]

While we're close to this topic, can anyone confirm that Hicks and Hud's knife sheaths and straps in the film were actually black, not HT green?

Yes. Yes someone can.
I am really sorry to disappoint you, but that someone isn't me.

I am Lame.

 

[GGPiKE]

Glad to hear you found a Hick,George!

I had some of Hicks bust on me too...the little metal button that held the strap in his cup (crotchguard,whatever you want to call it) broke off so I just glued the strap to the inside of the cup itself.I also made the mistake of following the instructions' advice to put the head on last (which I've found to be a mistake) and as I struggled to get the head on, it slipped and smeared some paint off his chin and onto his front armor.It's not to noticeable until you look up close. Now after that episode and reading some comment from other people here about how they put their Marines together, I put the head on after all the clothes but not before the armor.I'd rather fiddle with all those little buckles than scratching the paint up again.

Thanks man. Good to know that you had issues with Hicks too. I'm glad I was able to pick him up, but disappointed with the stuff breaking. Hopefully redoing him with a parted out Hudson will help a little . . . at least getting the gloved hands, new boot style, and a new helmet right. I clipped out a section of the helmet band, and it fits a little better, but his head is still big when compared to Hudson. He definitely needs new boots!

 

[Mudshark]

While we're close to this topic, can anyone confirm that Hicks and Hud's knife sheaths and straps in the film were actually black, not HT green?

While it's pretty hard to get a good clear look at Hicks' sheath, I'd bet my Pred collection that it's black. Same with Hudson. You can get a glimpse of it on his belt when he enters the mess hall, before the knife game with Bishop. He also had a length of black paracord and chain looped around his neck in almost every clear shot that was more than likely fixed to the bottom of the sheath. You can see that quite clearly in the mess hall scene too. They both wore their knives taped in place upside down on the LEFT side of their grenade harnesses, not the right, like HT has them. Hope this helps ya!

 

[Mudshark]

Thanks man. Good to know that you had issues with Hicks too. I'm glad I was able to pick him up, but disappointed with the stuff breaking. Hopefully redoing him with a parted out Hudson will help a little . . . at least getting the gloved hands, new boot style, and a new helmet right. I clipped out a section of the helmet band, and it fits a little better, but his head is still big when compared to Hudson. He definitely needs new boots!

If I were you I'd lose the helmet band (the inside one) altogether if you're using the original head. The head that comes with Hicks is basically a reissue of the "Michael Biehn" head sculpt that came on Reese from Terminator 1, HT's first Movie Masterpiece figure. That's what I did. The earphone still won't fold down over his ear, but if you (gently) fiddle with it you should be able to get the helmet fit to look okay. But do yourself a favor and use the head that came with Hudson! The paint is wrong for Hicks, but the sculpt underneath looks more like Michael Biehn as Hicks than the original, at least that's the general consensus. With a little repaint you'll be much happier with him!

P.S. Hang on to the helmet band... you may need to use it again later!

 

[GGPiKE]

Well I only cut out a small section of the band, so not all is lost. As far as the Hudson head goes, that should work out pretty well if I pick up another Hudson body. Now I've seen beautiful repaints of some of the heads by certain people on the board. I'm not too familiar with who does what, but I would probably consider getting someone who has experience to do a repaint of Hudson's head for me. Any suggestions as to who would take on this work?

 

[JediMike71]

Yeah, I've thought about "kit bashing" a Hicks from parts from an existing Hudson HT too. Chris at EVA models has a set of Hicks chest armor stuff like the padlock and metal clip to go over the painted heart on Hicks's chest. He also has a nice molded shotgun inside the "leather sheath", but he's told me that the shotgun cannot be removed from the sheath. It is a one-piece mold. I've seen some sellers on eBay breaking apart the marines, especially the 2nd series of Ripley, Drake and Hudson, and selling their parts on eBay. I'm getting parts from the seller: blackopstoys on eBay now. He's got a lot of the stuff we're looking for for making custom marines. I hope to get a set of BDU fatigues from a Hudson, and the armor and helmet for a custom Hicks, and a custom Frost.

I like how the 2nd series did NOT come with the tiny little screwdriver! I had the hardest time screwing together Sgt. Apone chestpiece while trying to hold the arms in place! That sucked. Hopefully the tiny screws and screwdriver are gone for good from future assortments. I hope so.