Aliens M56 Smartgun

[Ultimate Badass]

Hey everyone,

It's been a real busy time at work so I apologize for not having much to post to keep you all updated...I'm entering the 'oh crap, Dragon Con is 2 and a half months away' phase of the project...things need to start picking up!

Well, things now can...



My Vasquez arm is finally in my hands. I was very, very stressed when it was in shipment because I don't really trust FedEx. Funny enough, the day that I knew it was meant to be delivered, I contacted FedEx and asked them to hold it at the local shipping center so that I could pick it up rather than let them screw up and deliver it to the wrong address (it's happened to me before). Mind you, I was not home at the time and instead was seeing patients in the cancer/surgical unit of my hospital. They said that was no problem and that I should call back later that day to find out when I could pick it up. So, I called back...and found out that it had been delivered to my front door.

Needless to say, I FREAKED OUT...a package containing something that expensive sitting on the front porch?!? I was running out to my car to speed home immediately to get it (I had just finished seeing patients) and thought I'd call my dad (the arm was delivered to his house). He answered the phone and said he had received the package...PHEW! What a relief...it is so beautiful. I LOVE IT! The arm will be used to pull some measurements to make an accurate attachment mechanism for the gun.

A colonial marine buddy, being the swell gentleman that he is, sent me this photo as well:



My BDU's and some other goodies are on the way! So excited! This is starting to come to fruition!

 

[Ultimate Badass]

I just wanted to stop by and post something that was delivered to me today...



This game is the reason I got into Aliens when I was 9 years old! It works and it's in great shape and I have been reminded recently as to why I never beat the game as a kid...it's actually pretty freaking hard.

 

[joberg]

That arm is a beauty! This costume of yours is going to rock big time:cool

 

[3oin]

Just caught up on this amazing thread, your attention to detail is really admirable.

Can't wait to see it finished/assembled

Keep up the good work Sir

 

[Ultimate Badass]

Well my friends, it was about time to start testing it out...

It works...NEEDS MORE GUN:

I am so anxious for this project to be finished but there's a long way to go in these short 6 weeks!

 

[Mike J.]

What happens in 6 weeks?

Halloween's 111 days away...


-MJ

 

[Ultimate Badass]

Dragon Con!

 

[Ultimate Badass]

Well everyone,

It turns out that my smartgun will not be ready for Dragon Con (next week). I simply just cannot rush a project of this magnitude. While I am heartbroken to some extent, the payoff of having the ultimate smartgun replica will be well worth it. In preparing for the convention, I did tap into the skills of my super-talented buddy Jack, who can essentially build any prop probably faster and better than anyone else. With his help, the smartcam headset came to fruition!







All real sourced / screen accurate parts were used...

Beyerdynamic HM560 headset
Pentax 110 lens
Vivitar 2500 flash unit blue discs
Olympus T28 Macro twin flash housing
1st gen Megatron scope parts
Neutrik LNE connector

And yes, I spent a lot of time confirming the amount of coils in the cord from various shots of the prop. A coiled guitar cord was used and cut to appropriate length. Anyone who claims they have sourced the accurate cord is pretty much talking out of their buttocks, because it is impossible (I tried...and if anyone would have been able to, I'm 99.99% confident it would have been me given the time I've put in on this project).

The eye piece does swivel and move very nicely, though I can understand now why the characters used them very little during the film (they are a pain to keep in proper orientation not to mention it's not fun to obstruct your vision when you're carrying a massive gun).

Gun updates coming soon!

 

[skillsthebarber]

amazing as always. and its better to do it right the first time then rush it for something and have to redo it later. i love seeing your updates

 

[Ultimate Badass]

Sorry for the lack of smartgun updates guys...so much has been happening the past few months that the project is on hold for a little. That being said, progress is still being made...



I now have all of the parts to make a full hero shoulder lamp!

Oh, and this will warrant its own thread once a bit more progress is made, but...









Armor made by the man himself, TERRY ENGLISH!

 

[Duncanator]

Whoa! They're metal???!! I always thought for a movie they'd be vacuformed plastic. Wow!
Those could not have been cheap.

They look like aluminum. Does he stamp them or are they hand hammered?

- - - Updated - - -

...Or should I have spelled it "aluminium"?

 

[Ultimate Badass]

They are aluminum and they are made by hand by him. James Cameron initially had the armor made with fiberglass but the armor shattered in testing. Terry English was approached to make the armor better on a very tight schedule and he pulled it off.

 

[spoudastis]

Crazy. alway love seeing your progress!

 

[joberg]

Crazy update as usualcool. This is going to be the ultimate costume with the ultimate props!!

 

[justice league]

Great costume

 

[ChiZ]

I just powered through this thread. Simply incredible. Any updates on these things?! Also, that arcade is incredible! Great buy!!!!

 

[veektohr]

Thank you for letting us all live vicariously through this amazing build


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Ultimate Badass]

This project is not dead...I just simply have focused so heavily on the Ecto-1 build. It's only a matter of time...

 

[Ultimate Badass]

Hey guys! I have something to show you all...check this out:



This will look perfect after it's weathered a bit! It's the first pull out of the chest plate mold that was made by my buddy Nick.

You can also see that there is plenty of room to hide electronics and a sound kit underneath:




Also, I know that way too many people missed out on most, if not all of the Alien Day exclusives. The Reebok Stompers were by far the most popular (and most frustrating) thing we all tried to come up with. I was fortunately to land a pair of the mid-tops and then had someone offer me a pair of the hi-tops for only a small mark-up from retail to cover shipping.





They are very cool, but not really worth the thousands of dollars that some people have spent. Anyway, I hope to have some photos of the actual gun progress for you all soon!

 

[Ultimate Badass]

And now the armor chest plate is weathered to match Vasquez's while she is seen in the APC getting ready for action on LV-426...

And I also managed to track down this:

That is a brand new old stock Kawasaki KZ750 switch panel right out of the factory packaging...I was excited when I found it to say the least.