ALIENS THE OFFICIAL MOVIE THREAD

[dekadentdave]

Reposting again for Mike:

 

[dekadentdave]

And for Mike, here is my Hud helm as painted by Figuremaster Les:

 

[JediMike71]

Thanks again SO much for all of the pictures Dekadentdave! I've saved them all to my PC for painting reference. Thanks too for those pics of your helmet as painted by Les. I will paint mine the same way. I wonder why Les painted it on the helmet, instead of the helmet cover like Hudson had in the movie? I guess it is easier painting it on the helmet instead of the cover? I am not sure if I should try to paint it on the helmet cover, or just write it on with a permanent "Sharpie" marker. The marker may work easier than a paint brush on the helmet cover.

Can you make out what that square block/grid thing is on Hudson's helmet on the left front side? I can't tell what it is. Let me know if you can read it.

Could you share with me how you do your DVD screengrabs? I'm interested in trying it myself. If you want to PM me about it, that's cool. Thanks again for all of the great pictures!

 

[dekadentdave]

Personally I think the helmet cover sucks. The camo pattern is the wrong colorshade. Looks much better without. The grid appears to be some kind of calender with the days crossed out in boxes with "Short Timer" written above and "Game Over" written below probably in reference to Hudson's line "I was getting short... four more weeks and out."

Incidentally the "Brain Dead" is the name of a horror movie Bill Paxton was later in AFTER Aliens in 1990. Premonition? Scary!

 

[JediMike71]

Okay I see. Don't like the helmet cover huh? That's cool. I don't know if I'll still paint or write Hudson's stuff on the cover or the helmet itself. Yeah, it's kinda weird, but cool how the ALIENS cast keeps having reunions in movies they did after ALIENS.

Let's see, so Bill Paxton made a movie called "Brain Dead" after ALIENS, and put that on his helmet. Yeah, that's a strage premonition for sure!

Bill Paxton, Lance Henricksen, and Jeanette Goldstein starred in a small horror movie called "Near Dark" after ALIENS where they played a trio of vampires.

Of course, Bill Paxton later starred in Predator 2, and has the rare distinction of being in both an ALIEN and Predator movie, and being killed by both monsters.

Mark Rolston and Jeanette Goldstein had small parts in Lethal Weapon 2. Mark was driving the car at the beginning of the movie running away from Riggs and Murtaugh. Jeanette was a fellow cop of Riggs's that was killed off when a bomb went off under her diving board as she jumed into a swimming pool.

Bill Paxton and Michael Biehn co-starred in Navy SEALS with Charlie Sheen as fellow SEAL team members.

Wow...I love this stuff. It's so cool how these great actors I've come to know and love over the years keep popping up in movies together!

 

[Mudshark]

It's always fun to see Wild Bill Paxton, Michael Biehn, and other Aliens/Predator cast members in other flicks. Too bad "Navy SEALS" was such a disappointment. Typical Hollywood action movie fare with very little in the way of authenticity, but having BP and MB saved it from being a complete letdown... for me, at least.

Here's a peek at the Drake resculpt I've been working on for the past couple of months. I'm almost satisfied with the look I was trying to achieve, thanks to Dek's screengrabs. He's still a work in progress at the moment and these pics aren't the best I can do, but I think it's an imrovement on the original HT head sculpt. Any suggestions or comments are most definitely welcome.

 

[dekadentdave]

Looks good Mudshark but, uh, why? The HT sculpt is just fine the way it is with a decent repaint:

Other than the lower lip sneer it looks pretty much the same.

 

[customizerwannabe]

A fine improvement.

 

[Stendec]

JediMike, Id still use the helmet cover if I were you because it doesn't take alot of work to get it looking more accurate.

I mixed some brown and green paint together and after thinning it down a little I applied it to the helmet cover. The colour will become darker but If you have thinnned down the paint enough, the camo pattern should still come through.

To draw the calander, I first covered the front left area of the cover (while its on the helmet) with clear sticky tape then practiced applying the grid with a permanent marker. If it doensn't look right, rip off the tape, apply some fresh tape and try again

When you are happy with it you can use this as a guide for drawing onto the camo cover. If you're using a marker, make sure its fine point and dont apply much pressure whilst drawing. This will give a thinnner line and the ink wont bleed so much.

Heres a pic of how mine turned out (sorry its so blurry). Sadly I popped the seem on my cover right where the calander goes so it ruined the look alittle. Still I have a spare cover so I'l probably give it another go.




Nic ejob on the Drake sculpt Mudshark. Is it a rework of the HT head or sculpted form scratch?

 

[customizerwannabe]

Yeah, use the helmet cover. Doesn't look right repainting the helmet instead of the cover. DA did a fine job on Hudson's helmet cover repaint.

 

[pjam]

Reporting for duty...

 

[Mudshark]

Looks good Mudshark but, uh, why? The HT sculpt is just fine the way it is with a decent repaint:

Other than the lower lip sneer it looks pretty much the same.

I know it does, and I was gonna just repaint him and leave it at that. Then after I saw the screengrabs you posted a while back (the one above mainly) I started thinking it might be fun to add the sneer and see if I could make it look just a little more like Drake in the pics. It's basically just a refinement of details that were pretty much already there, not major surgery! I guess it won't really show until he's repainted, and it won't be a huge difference in any case, but it has given me something to look forward to when I get home after another exhausting day of work, for the most part. It really helped!

I mainly wanted to try out some new materials. I used a liquid putty directly on the original vinyl Drake sculpt and I wanted to see how well it worked. I'm pretty satisfied with the stuff and I know it'll work on vinyl as well as resin now.

 

[dekadentdave]

Yeah, use the helmet cover. Doesn't look right repainting the helmet instead of the cover. DA did a fine job on Hudson's helmet cover repaint.

To each his own. I think the helm cover looks sewn together very tacky.

 

[Mudshark]

To each his own. I think the helm cover looks sewn together very tacky.

For what it's worth, the real helmet covers only had one seam, running front to back, not two like the HT cover. I also think the helmet looks good with all the grafitti painted directly on the plastic. Guess it's just a matter of personal taste.

 

[JediMike71]

Well, I'll give it a try painting or writing Hudson's designs on his helmet and the helmet cover. That way I can have it on both of them. If I feel like taking off the cover, I can, and the designs will be there on the helmet too.

Sweet! I got in my Frank Black X-Files/Milennium Sideshow 12" figure today in the mail. I'll repaint his hair black like Bishop had in the movie. I've got a dark blue jumpsuit and white sneakes on the way for my custom Bishop. Here's the eBay link for the Frank Black I won on eBay:

https://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.d...MEWN:IT&viewitem=&item=160114750874&rd=1&rd=1

"Not bad...for a human." --- Bishop from ALIENS

 

[thundergod]

I received the Medicom jumpsuit today for my Bishop and it's pretty close in style and colour, BUT it's about 2cm short in the legs! I had been warned it might be a little small but I thought I could work something out . Unfortunately , my only option is to swap the head onto a smaller body , which I fear will accentuate the SST "melon-head" . Doh! ( I was cheered up though when I dropped on a H.T Ancient Predator "Special Version" in a store while on a family shopping trip ). Whoo-Hoo!

 

[JediMike71]

Hey thundergod. Someone on this board recommended using the shorter, Dragon "Pietr" body for a custom Bishop. I think is was pjam who used that body for his custom Bishop. I am using a different flight suit, it's not a perfect match to Bishop's but close enough for me. I won in this eBay auction here at this link:

https://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.d...MEWN:IT&viewitem=&item=320089512661&rd=1&rd=1

It's made by Dragon, so I'm hoping it will fit the Sideshow Frank Black body. I really don't want to have to buy another body for him. I was just planning on using his Sideshow body. I have already painted Frank Black's hair black now, and put white on the eyes, because Sideshow did a weird job of painting the eyes looking down and to the right. I didn't like the way it looked.

I also got these white sneakers from the same seller I got the flight suit from. I'll take off the patch of course, and put on one of the nice USCM patches I'm getting from Chris at EVA Models. Here's the link to the white sneakers:

https://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.d...MEWN:IT&viewitem=&item=320103470377&rd=1&rd=1

I hope to paint the sneakers just like Bishop's in the movie. I have one picture of pjam's Bishop with his painted sneakers. Very cool! I still would love to see more pictures of your Bishop when you get it back pjam! Especially his shoes and the paintjob you did on them. Thanks!

I hope you're able to get your Bishop together thundergod. Mine is about to come together really soon. I'm getting a full-bladed molded Gerber knife for Bishop to hold from Chris at EVA. I also hope to get a laptop for Bishop to carry like he did in the movie for a little while.

Good luck!

 

[JediMike71]

What Medicom jumpsuit are you using for your custom Bishop thundergod? I am using a Hot Toys GIGN Operator 1/6; Navy Blue Suit BDU Uniform. It is a dark navy blue...almost looks black. There are some snaps near Bishop's neck along the front left side I may take off of it. The sleeves have velcro fasteners at the wrists, so I push the sleeves almost up to Bishop's elbows. Yeah, the jumpsuit is not totally 100% accurate to his from the movie, but it'll do for me. According to Harry Harris's website Bishop's jumpsuit was apparently custom made for ALIENS using a material almost similar to blue jeans denim! Here's some pictures of my Bishop so far. I still have to paint his shoes as close as I can get to the custom made Reebok sneakers he wore in the movie. I may try to get some white high tops on eBay, and see if they work better for my Bishop. I've noticed using the Sideshow Frank Black body, that my jumpsuit is about 1/2" short of the top of the shoes. If I get some high-top shoes the jumpsuit should almost reach the top of the shoes I guess. Anyways, here's some pictures of my custom Bishop:

A special shout out to Chris at EVA Models for the great USCM patch my Bishop has on his right shoulder just like in the movie, and the full-bladed Gerber knife he uses for the "knife trick" on Hudson. Thanks so much Chris!

 

[dekadentdave]

Looks pretty good there Mike. Just have to do something about those pants. Looks like he's waiting for a flood.

 

[JediMike71]

Yeah, dave, I'm going to try to find some high-top shoes that should reach the bottom of the pants legs...I hope! I have pulled the suit down on him as far as it can go.