ALIEN (1979) motion tracker questions

Hey Gang,

In my quest to obtain the "less popular" props, I recenty acquired a Panasonic Ranger 505 portable TV (base of the '79 motion tracker). I was wondering if anyone here knew anything else about replicating this prop. Any ideas about any other greeblies or what mods were made to the TV itself? Here's a link to the completed Ebay auction for those who aren't familiar with the piece http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...AMEWN%3AIT&rd=1.

I know there are one or two people here trying to replicate this piece as well. Let's try and pool all of our info into one big fact finding thread.

Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated (this has also been posted over at the Aliens Legacy board).

Thanks,
Fred

 

I'll start...

 

cool prop. Never followed the research threads on this one, but the blocks with the wiring/ribbed wiring sticking out seems to be an icecube thingie.

Marc

 

Wow. Nice catch there..

Looking forward to seeing it built up..

 

Thanks, me too :lol

AA, thanks for those pics; they should be of some help .

Marc, I believe that the ice cube tray is the one identified piece on the tracker. The two round things underneath those wires look like a split film reel (like from a eumig servomatic (Luke's macros)). The wires are most likely 1/4" and 1/2" wire loom. The thing sticking out the front looks like a funnel, but I've never seen one with such a wide neck.

Everything else, well, that's anyone's guess.

Any other pics or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Fred

 

The round thing on the side is a gully cover.There was another thread about this part and I have found it (or as near as) at a local store.

-Paul.

 

I was watching that one, Fred - would have bid on it but then I saw you posted yours. Shows you what good just watching does.

But I'm not upset, becuase here are mine:





Before anybody accuses me of hoarding, I'd like it known that I never snipe anyone's auction if I recognize them as RPFers, and I've actually resold two to members who needed them for a conversion. I won't be parting with any more since I need these to serve as testbeds for the replica greeblies I plan on designing in CAD when my time allows. Simon (Birdie)'s awesome scratch-built tracker replica was my inspiration to get into this prop, and as soon as time and funds allow, I plan on having each and every greeblie reproduced in metal, wood, or resin. So at the end, I'll only be keeping one and selling the others as part of a kit or buildup.

Until then, if anybody wants to take a crack at this prop and would like a mess of screen-used photos I've graciously been given by Birdie, Philippes, and other members, please e-mail me at proprunner@aol.com and I'll gladly zip them up for you.

- Gabe

 

HOARDER........ :lol

 

Maybe you should sleep a little less... that way you could win more US auctions and have time to FINISH UP your * GRISTLE GUN already. :lol

- Gabe

 

http://www.rpf.invisionzone.com/index.php?...=motion+tracker

I've yet to see any photographic evidence to support the gully theory.

Here's the scratchbuild I did a few years ago:











Not very accurate, I admit, but given the lack of found parts & reference, it turned out pretty good

I'd love to see some of the other parts ID'ed, as I want to put a more accurate one together.

 

:lol

Didn't you hear??? The gristlegun was finished 6 months ago and a run of 20 was done, i no longer make them and the buyers signed an agreement they would never sell their copy. I am so sorry you missed out on the run, especially since i sold them for $9.99 build and painted :lol

Marc

 

Nice score.

I don't think the two round things are a split film reel. Even 8mm film reels are bigger than that (look at Bob's hand for scale).

 

I'm pretty sure the parts I've (poorly) ringed in red are sliders from a sound mixer or similar:

 

OK Birdie,

I'm going to buy the gully cover just out of curiosity to see if it is the same.Look * close to me and I have used these before.I will post a pic when I get it.

 

Cool. Look foward to seeing what you come up with. I've seen some gullies with a similar pattern, but not anything really close.

Whatever it is, it came in all shapes and sizes. The Nostromo toolbox, from Bob Burns' collection:

 

I VILL GET YOU FIR THIS, MERCHAND...............



Simon - awesome to see your buildup, as usual. I never knew about the Nostromo toolbox - or that the grills came in different sizes - you been holding out on me, mate?

- Gabe

 

Any opportunity,Gabe, any opportunity :lol

Actually, I only spotted that little detail the other day, as it's on the original Aliens DVD boxset photo gallery, but not the all-singing, all dancing Alien Quadrilogy boxset.

Crafty buggers, those 20th Century Fox wallers. :love

 

The round part, could it be an airvent for a computer? Or perhaps one of those old style aentenas(sp) you would sit on your tv to get better signals?

 

I wonder if the ice cube tray served as the tracker's cooling unit?

................runs away.............. :lol

Actually, the flashlight looking part appears to be made of galvanized steel, so I'd probably look at cookers, washing machines, dryers, ventilation equipment, gardening supplies, plumbing, etc.

- Gabe

 

* guys, this thread exploded .. I figured it would just fade away into oblivion.

Gabe, that's a hell of a collection (and I appreciate you letting me win this auction :thumbsup ). As a funny side note, I was keeping an eye on a particular piece on ebay and I saw you bid and decided to let off. I hope you get the piece because I know it will benefit of all of us if you do .

That round part does look like an air vent cover now that I see it on the tool box.

Birdie, that is freaking sweet. Care to share an tips on the buildup :love ?

Let's keep going guys...

-Fred

 

Bob shows this off on both the Alien Legacy 5th disk and the Movie FX DVD issue that showcased his basement.

 

Anything for a brutha. Are you saying you DUCKED the auction or that you found it a little FISHY? Come on, COP to it.

- Gabe

 

I'm really glad that people have picked up on this piece. It's such a tough conversion just by the sheer number or parts. I identified the Ranger the week that the Alien Quadrilogy DVD's came out. I happened to watch the Bob Burns documentary the day before I noticed the TV at the flea market and it caught my eye right away.

Someone sent me some really good ref pics after the ID was made. I'm trying to remember who it was. They had done some work for Fox and had some priveliged ref pics, but I can't remember if I was supposed to keep them for myself. Maybe they can send me a PM either way if they see this. Some of the pre-production pics show the piece painted white like the toolbox prop. It looks like they painted everything over after that to be closer to the original green color of the TV.

Adam

 

Gabe, to my eye, that entire auction looked fishy :lol

Godzilla, if you get the permission, I'd love to see those pics.

AA, what's the Alien Legacy 5th disk? Is it part of that quadrology?

Thanks again,
Fred

 

Well, you guys have really come up with something (if I may quote another old film of some reknown ) .... well all I have to contribute is my little cache of grabs ... but first, tell me what you think of this "discovery" :



It looks to me like the little screen on the tracker might be from the Commlock prop used on Space: 1999.
















- k

 

Phase, those are outstanding pics; where are they from?

-Fred

 

Man. I'd love to see a kit made for this.

Been on my wish list for quite a while.

Nick

 

http://www.alienscollection.com/019.jpg

http://www.alienscollection.com/020.jpg

http://www.alienscollection.com/081.jpg

http://www.alienscollection.com/083.jpg

http://www.alienscollection.com/084.jpg

http://www.alienscollection.com/085.jpg

http://www.alienscollection.com/086.jpg

 

AA, where are those incredible pics from?

-Fred

 

Those are the pics I was talking about... feast your eyes on the bazillion greeblies.

 

Great pix, Alienscollection. B)

As for my pix, those were grabbed off of "Aliens Quadrilogy"... some from the film itself, others from the "continuity polaroids" and what not on the extras disc.

- k

 

The 5th disc was the one you had to send in for from the Legacy set.

 

Aw man, that stuff was on the LEGACY disc? No fair. How come it isn't on the "Quadrilogy"? :confused

- k

 

Believe it or not the only reason it wasn't on the disc was lack of space. Because of compression issues, they simply couldn't fit all the material they had gathered... Bummer too, there was some jaw-dropping material.

 

Is there a way to still get a copy of this legacy disk or is it far gone?

I can't believe how much junk they stuck on top of a TV. And all for a prop with a few minutes of screen time.

Though I am very glad to see that there are more than a few people interested in this prop.

Keep it comin' gang.

-Fred

 

there are at least two different MT`s in Alien, I guess one prop with light effects for the actors (stunt?) and a second with an working oscilloscope/TV as screen for close-ups (hero?).

One has the "loop/circle" on the "air vent cover" leading upwards, one downwards.

One "flashlight" has a hole at the tip, one not.

what is stunt and what is hero ?

 

Can anyone here extrapolate the dimensions of the ice cube tray? Being that there isn't much to them, a decent replacement can probably be easily found.

-Fred

 

I picked one of these up to convert it over and decided I liked it way too much as is to rip out the guts. It still works great, and I think it looks like a movie prop all on it's own.

Njc----------------------------

 

The tube sticking out the front is most probably the shiedling that goes around the CRT of an oscilloscope.

Showed the photo to an engineer at work, and that was his appriasal.

Be * near impossible to find the correct oscilloscope, as photos of used oscilloscopes are usually in one piece.

 

A bump looking for ice tray dimensions

-Fred

 

Huh. I hadn't seen this thread until now and I'm glad I finally did. I recently picked up a TV and have spent a little bit of time comparing it to caps, etc. After checking this thread I realized why it seemed to me that the TV was heavily modified. Because I have the wrong TV. :lol Oh, well. $3.50 U.S. down the drain. I guess I'll just have to use it as a TV now.

I may have the correct ice trays. I'll check tonight. If they are where I think they are, I'll be able to post my findings later.

 

This looks pretty close:

http://www.homedepot.com/prel80/HDUS/EN_US...t.jsp?pn=203450

Most of the trays online are either novelty shapes, or have 14 cups instead of 12. The other problem getting an exact match is that images always show the top.

 

The ice trays I believe I still have are from the late 70's or early 80's. I know I recognized the design when I first saw Bob Burns showing off this part on the original prop. If I can find mine, they should be similar if not exact. Of course, I'm only interested in exact.

BTW - my other observations are that the various knobs I believe were or are generic replacement knobs. I know I've seen them as replacements before and they should still be available, either new or used. In pics showing the sensing tube unpainted, these parts look like galvanized steel roof vent parts. If this is the case, even if the exact shapes and sizes are no longer available, they would be easy to make.

 

I think this tray might be very close, but without dimensions of the prop one, I can't tell:

http://www.dyersonline.com/pc-70-268-mini-...cube-trays.aspx

-Fred

 

I think that tray has too many cups, though it's hard to tell with that tiny pic.

 

Nope, 12 cups per the description .

-Fred

 

This should be of help in the search for the drain cover:



Good luck, UK people.

- Gabe

 

Radar part is almost abosultely found.

I was playing through ebay this morning and came across this UK auction




Now this is a 6" version. I've been working with Proprunner and Birdie on this since this morning. Birdie has identified the manufacturer ( :thumbsup ) and he is contacting them about the correct size

Hopefully, we will all soon be able to have at least one correctly identified piece

Thanks to WC for hosting.

-Fred

 

Thanks to Wook UK for his help in IDing the piece, btw