Ultimate Badass
Well-Known Member
It has been way too long since this has been updated...I really need to get this project complete because a hugely ridiculous opportunity is in front of Matsuo and I once this baby is done!
Aliens M56 Smartgun
- Thread starter Ultimate Badass
- Start date
Hey, you know the drill: Fast. Cheap. Good. Pick two. As much as a lot of the stuff in your build has cost, I shudder to think how much more it woulda coulda been if you'd put a "rush" on it. Plus, the additional time you take gives me time to work on finding and saving up for this or that piece. If you've the time and inclination, could I PM you for questions and clarifications?
Ultimate Badass
Well-Known Member
I am always happy to help however I can. I don't come on here every day, but I'll eventually get back to you!
Ultimate Badass
Well-Known Member
Good news everyone...the project is again underway! The rear block setup is being constructed now to allow for the rear grip trigger assembly to come together. Still a long way to go, but this is a huge step in the right direction.
I will update this thread as things come together!
I will update this thread as things come together!
Ultimate Badass
Well-Known Member
Matsuo and I have obsessed over every single detail and if you're looking for input, I'm sure either one of us would be willing to provide whatever info you need. I'm definitely aiming for this gun to be an exact clone to what Vasquez had in the film in every way, even the details we never saw in the movie or really in any of the main reference material.
Church
Active Member
Hello do you happen to still have the contact info for the person who made your steadicam rig?Alright guys,
So it's been a while but now I have some free time. I have some big time photos for you and I hope you appreciate what I'm about to share.
Everyone saw the steadicam vest I sourced...well, as I implied before, I have another on the way. It is not yet in my possession but once it gets here I'll be sure to share some photos (it's the same model vest but it's more accurate in terms of coloring and will need less modifying).
The steadicam arm is biggest piece of the puzzle when it comes to the smartgun. The thing is, even though it was a Cinema Products model III arm, there are DIFFERENT variants of the arm, and, go figure, through my research and hours of staring at screen shots, I've confirmed that Vasquez and Drake each had a different variant of the model III arm. I was able to make connections with a few awesome people in the steadicam community who essentially reviewed the screen caps I pulled from my Aliens DVD and they were able to identify every single component of each arm.
Here are some reference shots:
If you look at Drake's arm, you can see some silver-colored anodized parts. Now, if you look closely at Vasquez's arm, you will see that hers has no anodized components (aside from the piece that connects the arm to the vest which you can see in the first reference shot above and below):
Here's another reference shot, of Vasquez's gun and the steadicam arm:
So as the story goes, I spoke to enough awesome people in the steadicam community, and I was ultimately directed to a gentleman in California who is essentially the go-to guy in the country when it comes to all things steadicam-related. He is quite difficult to get a hold of, but I managed to get a cell phone number off of someone and though I rarely call strangers, I gave it a shot. I got a generic voicemail message and figured what the hell, I wasn't giving up that easily. I left a message and waited...and prayed...and hoped. Well, God answered my prayers. Later that day I got a call back from the guy and though he was in a hurry he said he would like me to email him reference of the steadicam arms and he would get back to me.
I sent him a bunch of screen caps (I essentially pulled every single frame from the movie that showed the arms and sent him about 30 pictures). A few days later he emailed me back and dropped some insane news into my lap...this guy DESIGNED the model III arm for Cinema Products. He built every arm that was produced in the early to later 80's, and, yes, he inherently built the arms used in the movie! He admits that he did not know ahead of time that any of the arms he was building would be used (the arms were donated to the film by someone who had purchased the arms from Cinema Products...they weren't obtained directly from Cinema Products for filming).
ANYWAY, so it turns out that the guy who designed and built the arms in the movie was going to be BUILDING MY ARMS. I WAS PSYCHED! This may not seem like a big deal, but it's a HUGE deal. I don't recall anyone ever going this far as to ID that each steadicam arm was different, and also to find someone to ID each component of each arm...then only to be connected to THE guy who built them; my mind was blown.
First things first, the arms are extraordinarily expensive. I opted to have Vasquez's arm produced first and Drake's can wait for some time in 2015. Without getting into specifics, I can say that each arm costs over twice of what the actual MG42 cost me. Overall, my expected budget of each smartgun including vest + arm + gun + headset is $17,000 - 19,000 (yes, for each).
I don't mind the cost, as the guy who I am commissioning to build my arms has been amazing. He was going to build me look-alike modern arms using titanium. I saw some photos of these arms, and they are beautiful and very, very close to the screen used arms in appearance (most of you would not even realize it was different). However, there were subtle changes with the newer arms he builds. I asked him if he could somehow source the older, screen accurate pieces to build my arms...I wanted my Vasquez arm to be EXACTLY like the one in the movie so I could share the experience of walking around with my second favorite movie prop of all time...I wanted to experience what Jenette Goldstein did.
Well, FEAST YOUR EYES:
LOOK AT THAT WORK OF ART!
Here is a comparison shot (the top is Vasquez's arm and the bottom is mine):
NAILED IT!!!!!!!
The arm construction continues (he is still sourcing parts to complete it). Overall, parts have come from all over the world for this steadicam arm build...here in Pennsylvania, Utah, California, Brazil, Berlin amongst other places. Steadicam operators everywhere are donating/trading the specific pieces needed to make this arm exact to the movie's arm. As much as I love the overall prop and all of its components, I will ultimately be the proudest of the steadicam arm. I also realize that I am not the one building this steadicam arm (much like I am not restoring the Cadillac being used for my Ecto-1 build), but these projects are so complex and significant that there is really no way that I myself, nor anyone that is not an expert in the matter, could.
More photos to come soon!
