Aliens M56 Smartgun

Ultimate Badass said:

I need to look at screen caps of Vasquez...I really hope hers wasn't the same, because taping the connecting mechanism to the steadicam vest pad looks like crap I think. Perhaps this has been investigated on here already, but as always, I haven't checked.

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It seems to move around in different scenes but it's definitely not taped like Drake's is. I hope these help.

(On an unrelated note, i've definitely seen this movie way too many times. I keep the audio muted when i'm looking for screencaps because the frame-by-frame button messes up the audio, and I could literally narrate every line in the film.)

You, my friend, are my HERO.

OK, so I got another...










This is my third and final Cinema Products model III vest. I acquired it from a seller in Italy and couldn't pass it up because it's in terrific shape. I now have enough vests to comfortably do two M56's in the long run and also to have a spare, which pleases me. I will flip the connector for the steadicam arm to the correct side once I have a chance to actually unpack the vest and mess with it (these photos are from the seller before he shipped it to me). I've heard plenty of stories about people having issues shipping into and out of Italy, so I was relieved when the box showed up yesterday.


More updates to come when I start building the headset and gun (when the weather improves).

Madness.

Beautiful madness.

You never cease to impress with your finds! You'll be able to have an awesome USCM arms room with two full smart gun setups with a spare in the corner :lol.

How do you keep finding this stuff?!

I look in the right places!

The real trick is to never stop looking! :lol

Super-Awesome project by the way!

Epic on my cool metercool!! Looking forward to seeing that bad baby in action!

I know it's been a while, but I have a big update coming for those of you who love the smartgun as much as I do. I am 99.99% certain I have ID'd the rear grip of the smartgun. I even had my buddy TJ (who is just as focused on detail as I am) look it over and he agrees. Once I have it and the clutch lever in hand and fully confirm it all I will post the information. I can tell you all that it is NOT from a Kawasaki.

Dun dun DUN!

Ultimate Badass said:

I know it's been a while, but I have a big update coming for those of you who love the smartgun as much as I do.

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If you don't me intruding, this thread has made me finally get going on building a smart gun of my own- one of the last couple of firearms I need to complete my Aliens collection. This will be a budget build for me (as far as is possible with this weapon, haha): airsoft mg42 (arrived yesterday), china-made steadicam (CAM TV 2.5-20kg variant of which I found one very cheap locally) complemented by a few 3d printed parts (headsets and such nuless I can source real ones) and authentic items (already acquired the foot peg mounts and bike controls)

Here's the steadicam I'll be using:

I'll be doing some modding to bring it a little closer to the CPIII. A lot of the vest will be hidden by the armor, wiring and other details and I will add some parts to the arm to accurize it a bit. I'm usually a stickler for detail accuracy but in this case I couldn't justify the extreme cost of a proper CPIII so while I'll never claim anything close to screen accuracy, (something I feel folks do much too often around here these days) I hope to make it close enough that most people will not register the inaccuracies.

Questions for UB:
How are you planning on mounting the MG42 to the steadicam arm? I've been flipping through the film but getting good views of the underside is a bit difficult. I'm guessing some kind of ball-point camera mount would work. (I've got one for my DLSR that might be adaptable.)

Are you going to machine the muzzle adapter? (I'm probably going to model and 3d print mine.)

Grey said:

It seems to move around in different scenes but it's definitely not taped like Drake's is. I hope these help.

(On an unrelated note, i've definitely seen this movie way too many times. I keep the audio muted when i'm looking for screencaps because the frame-by-frame button messes up the audio, and I could literally narrate every line in the film.)

View attachment 425568 View attachment 425569 View attachment 425570 View attachment 425571

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Oh good I'm not the only one.:lol

joatrash said:

Questions for UB:
How are you planning on mounting the MG42 to the steadicam arm? I've been flipping through the film but getting good views of the underside is a bit difficult. I'm guessing some kind of ball-point camera mount would work. (I've got one for my DLSR that might be adaptable.)

Are you going to machine the muzzle adapter? (I'm probably going to model and 3d print mine.)

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I am going to have a piece machined based off of the reference of the mounting piece I have...I have some photos of Vasquez's steadicam arm from filming that will help me. Have the actual steadicam arm will help me get it made. Once I have that all figured out I will certainly post what is happening and how etc. You will not be able to have exactly what I have though, as I'm sure your steadicam arm has a different mounting end and therefore will require something in a different size.

Also, I will have the muzzle flash hider at the end of the barrel machined in aluminum. I have someone lined up to make all of the custom pieces for me in aluminum. Details of that will follow too! Things should start to pick up once the weather here in Pennsylvania starts to not suck.

OK guys, I was hoping to wait for everything to be here to update at one time, but I just can't stand waiting any longer...I'm too excited about it. Over the past 6 months or more I've been focusing all of my attention on identifying the rear handle/lever of the smartgun. It has been an ABSOLUTE NIGHTMARE, BUT I'VE DONE IT!

First off, let me show the photo I've been using to help figure this out:



It's amazing how many details one can pull from this photo...the ONLY photo of the assembly I've ever seen anywhere. Now, I first will say that finding photos of the smartgun that the Propstore had a few years ago would do you no good - they replaced the rear handle and lever, and now it is a totally different assembly. You may wonder how I know this...well, trust me, I've done my homework - it's definitely not the original rear handle anymore.

So over these past 6 months I've been looking at thousands...and I mean THOUSANDS of motorcycle parts. In fact, I know I've looked through at least 25,000 different photographs (I'm not kidding). Kawasaki, Honda, Suzuki, Yamaha...you name it, I've seen every single one of them from 1975-1985 models. Despite hours and hours of exhaustion and blurry vision, I couldn't identify the rear handle. I was very discouraged and frustrated. I had been using the mounting screws of the 'perch' exclusively at first to narrow my results, and this got me nowhere. I soon realized that I overlooking so many other more-useful details. Allow me to elaborate...



That photo is labeled by me the best I could do during my searching...as I learned more, I labeled more 'landmarks' as I call them. You can see the part labeled the 'clutch perch'...well, I'll get to that in a bit, but you can see the screws on each side of it (the mounting screws as I refer to them as). Only a fraction of motorcycle/ATV perches have the mounting screws in this configuration. Unfortunately, as I said, the mounting screws were not enough to help.

I then realized that what was going to help me more than anything were 'screw #1' and 'screw #2' as labeled in that photo. Well, these were the clincher. There is not a single Kawasaki, Honda, Suzuki, or Yamaha perch with both of these screws in the correct locations. Still, with this now helping me, I COULD NOT FIGURE OUT WHAT THE REAR HANDLE WAS. I started talking to fellow smartgunner and we vowed to work together to figure this out...a few weeks went by and neither one of us could figure it out. I was so honed in on Kawasaki parts because we know they were used for the rest of the gun, but deep down I was realizing that it definitely wasn't going to be from a Kawasaki.

One night last week (after a long day at work), I came home, went on Ebay, typed in "clutch lever" and went for it. Anyone with any sense realizes that this is such a general search criteria...there were tens of thousands of auctions. Well, I sat there and looked and looked and looked...and looked and looked and looked. After hours of hopelessness, I HAD WHAT I THOUGHT WAS A MATCH...







SCREW #1, SCREW #2 and the mounting screws all matched! OH MY GOD...I then really looked even closer and knew I had it. I made a few diagrams for a friend of mine who is just as OCD as I am when it comes to detail (he will argue against anything if there is even the most miniscule of a doubt), and he could not refute the match...he agreed, I HAD FOUND IT. Take a look...



Everything matched up!!!!! YESSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!


Oh...you're still wondering what it is?!?!?!

1976 HUSQVARNA ('HUSKY') MAGURA 360 !!!!!


How about the lever that matches the make & model of the perch? Well, take a look...



And, as far as the comparison...



Through my efforts, I can confirm that you need the BRAKE lever...NOT the clutch lever...again, they look exactly the same, but the hole for the wire attachment as shown in the photos confirm that it was the brake lever...BRAKE BRAKE BRAKE, NOT CLUTCH, lever. Obviously mine will be painted black.

I SURE HOPE YOU ARE ALL CONVINCED. I also hope you maybe can get a feel for how much work it was...this was ridiculous. This is, in my mind, a solid match, and I am STOKED to be using it on my hero M56 build.

I am sorry to type it as a story and lead you on...I wanted it to be a fun read. I sure as hell had fun writing it!

Again, it's from a 1976 HUSQVARNA ('HUSKY') MAGURA 360.

Some of the other year Husky perches are very similar too, but they do not all use the correct-looking levers. The parts are quite a bitch to find too, but I may have a source. If I confirm this, I will let you all know where you can go to fill your needs!

Ultimate Badass said:

OK guys, I was hoping to wait for everything to be here to update at one time, but I just can't stand waiting any longer...I'm too excited about it. Over the past 6 months or more I've been focusing all of my attention on identifying the rear handle/lever of the smartgun. It has been an ABSOLUTE NIGHTMARE, BUT I'VE DONE IT!

Click to expand...

Nice detective work there. I could probably ave helped, since I actually live in The Land of Husqvarna. (Sweden) We've all got old Husqvarna junk piles in our back yards! (OK, not really... but almost.) Swedish military uses the motocross cycles. I've got a Husqvarna sewing machine...

AWESOME FIND...thanks so much for your detective work!

I´ve been in the same boat when I did my M56. Searched the web for hours, weeks, months w/o finding anything accurate and finally settled with a "close enough" clutch handle.

Keen on seeing you identifying the "sight", that is attached to the MG42 barrel-jacket

Markus

Dude! You are blazing a new trail for this prop! As a lover of sci-fi guns, I personally thank you.

I can't wait to accurize my own smartgun.

Nice - I used the same behind the scenes pic to figure out mine and I ended up with a random lever that was "close enough". My foam grip isn't quite right either...

Jon,

Nothing wrong with using something close...nothing wrong at all! I'm trying to nail it to be 100% screen accurate, and so the quest continues to learn even more about this gun. I want to hold exactly what Vasquez and Drake held...down to every single detail that only like 3 people may know. At the end of the day, any decent smartgun is badass and will get a lot of heads turning. I want to take it just a step further and elicit head-turning and pants-sh*tting.