Re: THE NOSTROMO - 1:18 Scaled Interiors -4/11 - Sleep Chamber build
With all the walls, floors, corridors, control panels etc. that I am building to create a 1:18 diorama of the Nostromo interior, one room that I've been particularly looking forward to building has been the Hypersleep Room.
Before I build the flower-like apparatus for the six crew members, I need to build a single hypersleep pod. Once complete I can replicate the pod 6 times and build the apparatus that will bring them together to form the flower-like form.
This is a project that is currently a work in progress.
First I began by building the base of the sleeping pod, using my "Lucky Star" Ripley sculpt (WIP) as a model to determine length. Used sheet styrene for this step.
Next I used Monster Clay to capture the shape of main body of the pod.
Once the shape is roughly refined, time to hollow out the cavity where the crew member will sleep.
Tested the cavity to make sure a standard figure will fit inside.
After refining the sculpt to the best of my ability, I make a mold and cast the form in plastic to continue the refinement. Here is a shot of the first casting next to the - no mangled - monster clay sculpt. The original sculpt is no longer needed but will hold on to it till the pod if finalized.
...and yes, that is a 1:18 scale Kane (chestburster version) and the galley chairs - two casts from original sculpt.
Refined and replicated again, this time making two copies - one to sculpt the bedding inside the pod and the other to begin making the form that will be used to vacuum form the canopy.
Below are images of the completed bedding inside the refined pod....sculpted using Aves FIXIT sculpt.
and test shots of the pod with the vacuum formed canopy placed on top.
and another test with the figure inside.....
Now - I will be sculpting non-articulated figurines to fit within each pod. The "Lucky Star" figure looks a bit awkward inside the pod but the final figure will appear comfortably asleep.
An adjustment I will need to make to the canopy form - currently in profile view you can see the canopy is more rounded than flat. The comparison shows how the final canopy will appear. I plan to make those adjustments over the weekend.
A thin styrene frame will be made for the canopy though the canopy itself will not be permanently attached to the pod but be held in place by an apparatus behind the pod.
So this is where I am currently with the pod - I hope to have the pod finalized this weekend and can begin replicating the 6 pods to begin working on the rest of the Nostromo Sleep Chamber as well as the pod(s) found on the Narcissus shuttle.
Here are some more shots of corridor projects I am working on....
...and another....
...and another...
and yet another.....
as well as a little Alien: Isolation work....
So I am SUPER BUSY with this crazy hobby!!!! LOL! - Fortunately I'm having fun with all these crazy parts around. Hopefully soon things will begin coming together into "sectional" dioramas. That's the plan anyway.
Hope you guys enjoy and thanks once again for the help, comments and suggestions!
