I guess this project fell into the same lava filled crater that the Chris memorial figure did, huh?
While it's obvious that both of these projects are all but forgotten, I don't think the Chris figure project and this one have much in common besides that.
Your original idea for a collaboration of board members here to honor Chris by making a figure of him and presenting it to his wife was a good one, and of the best intentions. If it had come together in a timely way it very well could have achieved its purpose. As you mentioned in the project's thread a while back, the window of opportunity had likely already passed some time ago, since Chris's wife has undoubtedly moved on and it may no longer be appropriate to remind her of the loss by presenting her with the figure, even if it was completed. It was a noble idea that just wasn't meant to be it seems. A shame really, but there it is.
If anything has fallen into a "lava filled crater", as far as
this project is concerned, it’s me! The sentry gun project had different beginnings, in fact Chris himself was initially involved when it was first proposed so many years ago. Paul (pjam), Angie, and several others including myself have/had put much more of our time and effort into it, only to have it come to a standstill. Most of that is on me, since I ended up holding the bag for completing the mechanical drawings Angie needed to begin sculpting the prototype model, but a couple of key people bailed early on for no apparent reason, including Chris, which didn't help matters. Anyway, I set out intending to blueprint the most screen accurate, detailed model I possibly could, and that's part of what caused the project to stall. The rest was personal stuff that's of no real concern to anyone but me.
That said, I haven't been in contact with either pjam or Angie in years, but I want to believe that they'd be willing to pick up where things left off when the time comes. DBoz was to do the graphics for the decals and markings on the guns. I contacted him a while back on the Aliens Legacy Forum and he said he was still interested in the project. I continue to research and look for more detailed information and reference materials to help fill in the blanks that are holding things up. Progress is slow, but since having met some of the well informed people on the AL Forum I've gotten much closer to finding what I need.
If you compare the quality of the figures Hot Toys made 5 years ago to what they are turning out today, there’s something to be said for taking the time to make needed improvements and to get things right. The HT Colonial Marines figure thread is still going strong after all these years, so I don’t think interest in an accurate 1:6 scale sentry gun model is dead. Even if some people have given up on it there will surely be others who will be interested later on. And who knows, Hot Toys may decide to revisit the Aliens license and make improved models of the Colonial Marines at some point.
People can think what they want, make jokes, whatever, it doesn't affect my thoughts or intentions at all. I don't believe this is a lost cause, in fact I believe the additional time this has taken has been a necessary part of the process, even though it wasn't expected.
