Building an Aliens Motion Tracker - need some help

ItalianNinja86

All I need to start my tracker is a Kango and have had no luck

( lucky for me I'm not a stickler for screen accuracy )

so I've been able to find a few close enough look alike drills that should do nicely

Jonesythecat

Does anyone know what screen was actually used for the working tracker in the film? I know that the CTR was too long at the time so they could only do close-up/frontal shots of it, but has it ever been identified?
(I guess it might be some camera viewfinder?)

TridCloudwalker

I'm guessing it was a monitor from a steadycam, but that's just a logical guess.

alienscollection.com

If it helps. Some of the info may be old and/or outdated:

http://alienscollection.com/motiontracker2.html

patrick

hi
we have this brand (in holland) HILTI they look like the Kango
http://images.google.nl/images?clien...-8&sa=N&tab=wi
maybe this will help

patrick

hi
we have this brand (in holland) HILTI they look like the cango
http://images.google.nl/images?clien...-8&sa=N&tab=wi

almar bouwman

Just bought this Kango 327. I think it's almost identical to the 426. The only difference, from what I can tell, is the on/off button.
So to all you guys who are looking for a 426, you can now look for the 327 as well.

Here are some pictures of the 327

Oh, and about the Hilti drills, I have one at home (I work in construction), but they're too expensive for this prop, and they look different of course.

propologist

your the man...

Jonesythecat

Very neat!

Yeah there is no difference between the two models. The on off button seems to change a lot, I've seen that kind also on 426 models.

almar bouwman

Did some checking on the paint. It seems Brown Bess (Humbrol 170) is very hard to find so here are some other colors VERY similar to Brown Bess.
-RAL 7013
-Revell 046 Nato Olive Matt

propologist

If you are in Canada and have 175.00 you can get this one:

http://annapolis.kijiji.ca/c-buy-and...AdIdZ171122423

almar bouwman

Bought mine for only 60 euro's .

LeMarchand

picked mine up for 30 euro

almar bouwman

Well, just went to the paint shop to check out these colors. First of all, Revell Nato Olive looks NOTHING like Brown Bess. It's a totally different color. BUT, it looks so much cooler than Brown Bess! It just breaths Aliens.

So now I kinda have a little problem. Shall I go for the screen accurate look, which is Brown Bess (is it realy screen accurate?), or go for the way cooler color Nato Olive?

You tell me..........

Jonesythecat

I bought Tamiya XF-51 which is very close to Brown Bess, a member on the alien legacy board found out that, if mixed with a small percentage of red, it is an extremely close match to the infamous Humbrol 170.
You may read more on that forum http://forum.alienslegacy.com/viewtopic.php?t=2896

almar bouwman

This color thing really had me bugging so I did some research. Guess what? The RAL number of Humbrol 170 (Brown Bess) is 7013. The RAL number of Revell 046 (Nato Olive) is..........7013. So basically it's the same color .

This is a helpfull link:
http://www.fortunecity.com/meltingpo...ce/humbrol.htm

Jonesythecat

Oh well, you're sorted then!

SSgt Burton

Yes Brown Bess is screen accurate. Everything that looked like olive drab on screen from the pulse rifle shrouds, to the welders, the motion trackers, and even the big APC and Dropship were actually Brown bess.

Not too sure if I get you- how can "shout out" "Aliens" if it isn't screen accurate?

Anyway this is an old (and I mean o-l-d) and sometimes hotly discussed topic among Aliens fans- do you go with screen accurate (Brown Bess) or what has been interpreted as what was seen on screen (shades of olive drab).

In other words one school of thought is: these guys are the military and in the military things are olive drab. So olive drab would "look right".

But the real colour is Brown Bess.

Personally I used to be the same way that I thought it was supposed to be olive drab. However upon knowing the correct colour now, I only see Brown Bess when I watch the film. And prefer Brown Bess on my USCM items.

Kevin

Jonesythecat

I'm colour blind so whatever they say it was used for the film will look accurate to me

T2SF

The button is the same I believe. Only difference is that there is a rubber membrane over the button that breaks apart after use. Common to see them torn or missing.

The Kango company is still in business I believe, maybe we could order a bulk supply of the plastic bodies

Jonesythecat

If you know how to contact them feel free to try!

To my knowledge, Kango was absorbed by Hilti or some other company like that. I can't remember where I read their story.

SD Studios

I have handled some of the original props and actually...

If you want to get technical, the Brown Bess would need to be over-sprayed with a light mist of black.

All of the props that I saw had that light misting of matt black over the Brown Bess. It doesn't show up in most pics that I have seen, but if you know it is there and THEN look at a close-up, you will say....

"OOOH...NOW I see it!"

It just looks like "dirt smudges" in most images, but it is definitely a deliberate overspray of black. No idea WHY they did that, but I know it is there. We didn't do it on the MR replicas, because people would have whined and complained about it.

I mean, MORE than usual.

There ya go.

Jonesythecat

lol, I remember reading it. I would definitely not like that kind of painting. Could they have given this "feature" to make it look "used" and dirty? Or is the black evenly sprayed over the surface?

Surely you have a picture of it! (?)

dropshipbob

almar, when you take the drill apart, beware, there is a ton of grease inside. Be sure to have plenty of de-greaser on hand.

And circle clip pliers.

almar bouwman

I took the drill apart last weekend. It was a dirty job , but most of the grease is gone.