Building an Aliens Motion Tracker - need some help

Jonesythecat

I contacted Kango and they told me that those models (327 and 426) have not been in production for 20 years, there are no spare parts left and no possibility of doing a "re-run".

Sorry guys, keep buying them from ebay or cast them if possible

ItalianNinja86

does anyone offer cast of the kango cause if so then i might be interested

going that route instead of taking apart and degreaseing a new drill

TridCloudwalker

I'll trade you my resin Kango casting if you can find me a real drill. I don't mind the work.

Jonesythecat

If you explain me how to do the casting I might give it a try! I need a step-by-step tutorial

Birdie

I really wouldn't recommend this one as a first moulding/casting project. Aside from the size and complexity of the Kango, you would need to rotocast it to get a hollow piece. Otherwise you end up with a big, heavy solid lump of resin.

Jonesythecat

True, I was indeed thinking how to make it hollow
Oh well, it will be up to somebody else then... if there is someone willing to try

dropshipbob

Couldn't you cast half of the drill body, stick in a block of styrofoam and then pour the rest? Wouldn't that cut down on the weight, or would the resin melt the foam?

almar bouwman

If you use the right kind of foam it won't melt.

Jonesythecat

Not a bad idea, but I'm worried about certain parts, for example the front of the drill where you have to insert the grid... that is a complicated part to reproduce, at least for me, with no experience whatsoever on casting.

This is another idea
1) create a cast of the inside of the drill, filling it with that casting stuff... whatever is used, I don't know
2) create a normal cast (split in two halves)
3) accomodate the "inside cast" inside the cast of the drill

What's left to do is filling the gap, a sort of lost wax method...
It's not the easiest way but it might work? Let's the expert speak now

Birdie

Not sure I'm understanding these ideas...?

Are you talking about trying to suspend some sort of solid object inside the mould so that when you pour the resin into the mould it just forms a thin wall round the object...?

If so, how are you gonna suspend the 'filling' in the centre of a silicone mould, so it isn't touching any of the sides?

mandalore697

Man this is a tough job! I'm glad I gave up trying to make one myself!
Lol!

propalooza

i'd suggest making a mold of the inside and vacuforming the bodies out of styrene.

propologist

That was my thoughts as well. Much lighter too.

Jonesythecat

Yes, that's what I meant. I would suspend the solid object inside with "bridges" on unimportant parts like the point of the drill and the bottom of the handle (where the cable comes out of)... or something like that.

Just a thought, I would like to hear your ideas.

As for the vacuum forming... I have no idea, I would need a vacuum table etc... that to me sounds even more complicated. But if some of you with a drill already have the tools, it would be good if they tried

Birdie

An old UK garage kit company (Terran Traders?) used to offer a one-piece hollow cast resin tracker. IIRC, it was cast from the tracker used in the Tech Manual.

It came with a couple of sheets of Styrene from which you were merant to scratch-build the Hama

I built a few of these up back in the day (I actually Id'ed the correct viewer and bought about 12 of them for members here back in 2000, when Hama UK were operational and still stocking them).

Anyway, the actual cast wasn't bad and was a realistic weight. It can be done.

Another guy recast the TT kit and used to sell them on Ebay with a cast of the wrong viewer...

Birdie

I don't think vac-forming would satisfy most prop collectors. Probably okay for a costume piece, but not very satisfactory if you've shelled out on all the expensive doodads that go on the tracker...which would be tricky to attach secureley on vac-formed styrene shhet.

You would need to vacform both sides of the tracker, and fix 'em together, which is a hell of a job to do satifactorily.

If you've no experience with making moulds, my advice would be practice on something smaller and simpler. I'm guessing that drill has some nasty undercuts.

You could try slush casting it if you could get a decent mould together, but I'm guessing that if even LeMarchand is balking at moulding that thing, it's gotta be a bad-boy...

almar bouwman

Just a few on-topic progress pics:





Getting this baby ready for the Brown Bess paint.

If anyone has a Matchbox transformer (cast) left, let me know .

ItalianNinja86

very nice almar

patrick

dat ziet er goed uit.
that's looking good.keep up the good work and progress pics.

almar bouwman

Some more WIP pics.

TridCloudwalker

Looking really beautiful!

propologist

looks great , are you going to weather it or leave it " showroom nice"

dropshipbob

Nice work!
And where did you get a copy of the pump

almar bouwman

I want to weather this one. I have no idea how so any advise would be helpfull.
About the pump, I got this from a RPF member.

almar bouwman

Alright, here's a question about the rotary switch.
I just watched Aliens again and this is what I noticed, no rotary switch at all !
I'll describe the scene, so if someone can make screencaps please do so.
The dropship has just left the Sulaco. Hudson stands up and begins bragging about himself and 'his' squat. The MT is hanging from his left shoulder. Now you can clearly see there's no rotary switch, well, at least not the one we use on this prop. Anyone familiar with this?