Alien Nostromo Flashlights

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Not just ceiling mount! But here it looks very fake. Might just be the light/paint though...
 
Now that I look closer, I think that the front part is actually the rear part of a car headlight mounting system. The part behind the grille. The tabs visible on that front part look to me like the adjustable part of a headlight system.

Spot on. I plan to do some hunting on the rear segment this weekend. I think it's too industrial looking to be a coffee pot.
 
I hit a wall...

So, I reached out to a couple folks at Creative Assembly who worked on the 3D Nostromo models for Alien Isolation. I've heard that they got access to some great stuff from the studio. I'm hoping they have better reference material than we do, which might help.

Still waiting on a response. We'll see what they come back with.
 
I have just finished reading Cinema Alchemist, Roger Christian's book about how he detailed sets and created props on Star Wars and A L I E N...
He mentions these lamps... as lamps he found in a shop. They were denominated as "red heads", so I suppose they were already that color.
It's obvious though that the handle was added later...
Contec's theory is very tempting, it brings fresh air to the research on that prop...

I've for myself always been inclined to think that the middle part of the handle (the one where one is supposed to put his hand) came from a real tool and was incorporated into some kind of quick sculpt (the rest/basis of the handle). The design of that (huge) part looks so weird and smooth that I can't relate it to anything built industrially...
Later that part (real handle from tool + sculpted weird basis) would have been casted in order to replicate the numerous lamps seen in the film. (there's at least 6 on the bridge iirc)

My 2 cents...
 
I have just finished reading Cinema Alchemist, Roger Christian's book about how he detailed sets and created props on Star Wars and A L I E N...
He mentions these lamps... as lamps he found in a shop. They were denominated as "red heads", so I suppose they were already that color.
It's obvious though that the handle was added later...
Contec's theory is very tempting, it brings fresh air to the research on that prop...

Red Heads are a type of movie lights. http://www.mediacollege.com/lighting/types/redhead.html
 
Red heads are open face tungsten fixtures. Old school. Ive worked with them in the past.

The inner housing / lamp might be from one of these, but the outer shell looks different than most red heads I've seen. I'm guessing there's just a lot built up around the fixture. Or, the red heads from the 70s look much different than more recent models
 
Red Head could be simply his term for the type of bulb they were using. In film back then, the brightness of the flashlight, and a fixture they could count on, would have been paramount.
 
I should add to this discussion that I know a filmmaker with a massive collection of old movie lighting equipment from the company that made Red Heads. I asked them to look through their inventory to see if anything looks at ALL like either of those red flashlights. They found nothing. I still think it was a product but after probably 20 hours of scouring images, I've never found it. I have slowly been working with a talented artist on some 3d drawings with the aim to get some 3d prints going. When they're completed I'll absolutely put them up on printables etc.
I'm slow with some of these back-burner jobs but I truly want us all to have those flashlights!
 
Ok I just went to my folder of images of the red flashlight (all stuff from rpf and some screenshots) and this shot always tantalizes me: One of these HAS to be out there somewhere.
I can imagine they were all painted. But that handle looks like a manufactured thing. Also i should mention it occurs to me that the "red head" could refer solely to the lighting element installed into the unit...not the housing.
Orangespotlightss.jpg
 
Funny, I was just talking to Bob Burns this week and these came up. He has 2 from what he tells me. The short one as seen in the picture above and the longer one by the sleep chamber. Now I have never seen them they were never brought out when I went and visited him. One day I will see if he can get a picture or two of them.
Time will tell.
Thanks
 
Funny, I was just talking to Bob Burns this week and these came up. He has 2 from what he tells me. The short one as seen in the picture above and the longer one by the sleep chamber. Now I have never seen them they were never brought out when I went and visited him. One day I will see if he can get a picture or two of them.
Time will tell.
Thanks
How IS Bob, by the way?
 
Hi guys,

Here are some photos, (I think they come from propsummit)



emergency_helmet_1.jpg




emergency_helmet_and_torch.jpg


I think the back of the lantern is a rain drain.... and that leads me to think that perhaps the front of the lantern is part of that rain drain kit

black_abs_drain_primary_1200.jpg


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Hi guys,

Here are some photos, (I think they come from propsummit)



View attachment 1851760



View attachment 1851761

I think the back of the lantern is a rain drain.... and that leads me to think that perhaps the front of the lantern is part of that rain drain kit

View attachment 1851762

View attachment 1851763


I took the photos in the mid-nineties at Disney.
I wasn’t able to take anymore photos as we were queuing for an attraction and just got moved along - sadly!
 
Funny, I was just talking to Bob Burns this week and these came up. He has 2 from what he tells me. The short one as seen in the picture above and the longer one by the sleep chamber. Now I have never seen them they were never brought out when I went and visited him. One day I will see if he can get a picture or two of them.
Time will tell.
Thanks
It would be fantastic if he did, as I've never noticed them in the corner of any of the shots of his basement.
 
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