ALIEN Warrior head refurbishing project.....

[SwampDonkey]

Hey guys! As some of you are aware, I own a very fine example of an Alien Warrior head from the 1986 film ALIENS. Its my pride and joy because of both its rarity and its quality. Here's a shot of it below:

As nice as it is, the time has come to fix the few issues it has. They will be detailed as we progress, but first things first- OFF WITH THE PAINT!.

Believe it or not, but it took over 2 weeks, 2 gallons of acetone, and 500 Q tips to get to this stage of clean-up.
Up next, we will isolate an repair the lower jaw.

 

[SwampDonkey]

From every bit of reference Ive found, the lower jaw is supposed to be fairly symetrical. On mine, the left side appeared to be somewhat shriveled and collapsed and had a much different texture than the other "healthy" side. Im not sure if this was a moulding defect or was damage onthe original, but it had to be repaired.

"Healthy" side

"Sick" side

Other than the damage on the side of the jaw, the teeth showed some wear and tear. Im confident that their size and shape were original but they showed deep scratches and tool marks from its initial preperation many yrs ago. They just looked rough and not smooth and shiny like they should be.
A thin layer of hard epoxy was brushed onto the teeth, just enough to fill in the scratches and give them a smooth surface that can achieve the look of polished seel as in the film. The early repair sculpt is also seen here.

 

[Jedi2016]

My initial reaction was shock that you would undo the original work done on the thing, but I see that you know what you're doing. And, well, Hollywood does that kind of thing all the time.

I shall be watching. My favorite movie creature, that is.

 

[SwampDonkey]

My initial reaction was shock that you would undo the original work done on the thing, but I see that you know what you're doing. And, well, Hollywood does that kind of thing all the time.

I shall be watching. My favorite movie creature, that is.

Well, the initial work was OK, but far from professional believe it or not. The quality of the sculpt underneith carried it well. This head was cast from an original and then painted up by the individual who cast it. from what I can tell, it was spraypainted black, then brushed with enamel paints, then covered in acrylic clearcoat. Tons of details were buried under all this.
But please do follow along. I'll go through the rest of the repairs, the moulding, casting, and finally the proper airbrushed paintjob to finish it off.
Its my favorite creature too

 

[zorg]

there certainly was a lot of detail hidden under all that paint.

what colours are you going to paint it?

i don't think that brown was accurate.............was it?



-z

 

[SwampDonkey]

there certainly was a lot of detail hidden under all that paint.

what colours are you going to paint it?

i don't think that brown was accurate.............was it?



-z

It was actually somewhat accurate. The filmed versions had a lighter bone / yellowish brown contrasting with the jet black background. Im fairly handy with an airbrush so im going to do my best to match it exactly.

 

[Nwerke]

God. I've done some pretty extensive resto work but even I'd hesitate to strip a studio paint job.

You're brave!

Edit: just caught the 'cast from original' line. So this is a replica then. Whew.

The brown-on-black was originally an attempt to emulate the post-filming look of the Big Chap suit from A L I E N. It's a serendipitous thing; originally the BC was all black and dark shades, but a lot of paint wore off during filming and wasn't touched up, revealing brown latex underneath.

Hence, an airbrush is your friend, but drybrushing can be handy too.

 

[zorg]

It was actually somewhat accurate. The filmed versions had a lighter bone / yellowish brown contrasting with the jet black background. Im fairly handy with an airbrush so im going to do my best to match it exactly.

i see the sideshow bust had a lot of blue in it, seem this wasn't very accurate after all.

 

[Jedi2016]

Edit: just caught the 'cast from original' line. So this is a replica then. Whew.

Yeah, I missed that, too. By all means, carry on!

I could have sworn I saw one in blue somewhere. No, wait.. that's the QUEEN I'm thinking off.. SHE was blue, the drones were brown.

 

[SwampDonkey]

Now, to mould the lower jaw.....any suggestions? lol
I have a few ideas but would love some input from you guys

 

[SonOfPumpkinhead]

two piece silicone with fiberglass jacket split along the jaw line.

 

[MooCriket]

This is gonna be good!

 

[SwampDonkey]

Im going with a 2 peice silicone mould with fiberglass shell, but due to the details and hundreds of tiny "fins" on the corrugated tubing intergrated into the sides of the jaw, the seam line will pose the least amount of risk if its here:

 

[SonOfPumpkinhead]

yes but continue the wall down over the jaw and around the bottom of the jaw line.

 

[Stormy320]

Yea - I missed that. I thought you had stripped down an original.

Carry on!

 

[Art Andrews]

Don't know if this is helpful for the colors or not, but for whatever it is worth, here you go.
View attachment 41727

 

[toothboy]

Looking great!!!

 

[SwampDonkey]

Don't know if this is helpful for the colors or not, but for whatever it is worth, here you go.
View attachment 41727

Neat pic! Looks like its been punched in the face by Hellboy. Thanks Art, everything helps.

 

[SonOfPumpkinhead]

Oh cool, thats a picture from Bob's. You can see the queen head in the background out of focus.

 

[Art Andrews]

Indeed it is!