Fullsize Alien Warrior Build (Xenomorph)
- Thread starter Metalalien
- Start date
Palantirion
Active Member
- Ahh, I've seen stuff like that but haven't used it myself. Is it essentially a low-temp PVC type thermoplastic? Does it like to shred more than sand?thank you sir... it's going to look even bigger when it's hanging from the ceiling with it's full diorama to go with it..
I used friendly plastic for the teeth but I am not really happy with it... it does NOT like sanding at all. I probably should have just used apoxie clay...
Also, is it somewhat flexible after it cools or rock hard? Just curious for a potential project of mine.
Metalalien
Sr Member
it's worse than shredding it melts when you try and sand it.. gets gooey. It stays fairly hard when cool through. Maybe if it needed more heat to melt it would be alright. Also paint and resin doesn't like to stick to it.
Palantirion
Active Member
-Oh, of course...it's low temp thermoplastic so frictional heat makes it move around instead of sand. I ran into that problem trying to grind shape into cooled hot glue. It heats up too much even from a hand held sanding stick? Could try a card scraper (or similar) to shave it smooth.
As far as painting the teeth, I have yet to find something that Liquitex Gloss Medium and Varnish (different than the thinner Liquitex Gloss Varnish!) won't stick to. I used it as a primer for the stainless steel parts on my Avanti that I had to partially paint over. Years later, still no peeling or lifting.
Metalalien
Sr Member
Not sure what I am going to do... might try putting a thin layer of apoxie clay over them to see if it will stick. Tried resin and it would just peel off. It melts very easy actual wonder if being in a hot car would melt it.
Metalalien
Sr Member
Thanks for the tips. I don't consider any part of the Alien "fiinshed" just yet... any part of it that bugs me too much can be removed or redone..
expo180
Member
That looks incredible! Really blown away by the sheer scale of it!
And yeah, I'm loving how your four legged friend clearly gives ZERO F's that there's a Xenomorph on his (or her) patch
Great stuff as always
Metalalien
Sr Member
Palantirion
Active Member
Glad it's still moving along. SO much work!
That SW puppet, that is from Aliens, right? And the coloration is accurate to how the suits were painted as well?
That SW puppet, that is from Aliens, right? And the coloration is accurate to how the suits were painted as well?
Metalalien
Sr Member
Aliens yes, that is the cockroach brown coloring they decided on at one pont..Thanks to Camerons love of blue gels they all look blue on screen unless a tungsten light hits them.
Here is the coloring you see on screen vs the brown...I am not painting mine brown... this will be a blue/grey alien.
As you can see they looked more bluish at one point before they went full cockroach.
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Palantirion
Active Member
- Thanks very much for the clarification! It reinforces what I had previously read, but now with great visuals too. I'm saving those pics for future reference.
The brown/blue thing actually reminds me a bit of how I was painting my crown and head with two different color schemes. Similar to it being hit by different light colors. Blue and brown are a nice warm/cool contrast and it's something you could use on yours; Either warmer highlights with cool shadows or the reverse. Both will increase depth. Of course you could also get a similar hue range effect with lighting a-la Cameron, just with less control.
I don't know what the deal is with Cameron and his obsession with blue - going back at least as far as Terminator. I mean, his cinematography is signature but also I feel like it's become cliche. I am also known to be critical
Metalalien
Sr Member
We can go even further down the rabbit hole. To me it's almost like there was a disagreement about the color and design of the Aliens between Stan and James. I have not read anything like that mind you it is just an idea I came up with over the years. I am not even sure which side either of them are on...- Thanks very much for the clarification! It reinforces what I had previously read, but now with great visuals too. I'm saving those pics for future reference.
The brown/blue thing actually reminds me a bit of how I was painting my crown and head with two different color schemes. Similar to it being hit by different light colors. Blue and brown are a nice warm/cool contrast and it's something you could use on yours; Either warmer highlights with cool shadows or the reverse. Both will increase depth. Of course you could also get a similar hue range effect with lighting a-la Cameron, just with less control.
I don't know what the deal is with Cameron and his obsession with blue - going back at least as far as Terminator. I mean, his cinematography is signature but also I feel like it's become cliche. I am also known to be critical
I will say this though. If you go to Stan Winston Studios he has a display room with every creature they made for the movies... all of them are very faithful to the movie they are from.. except one - Aliens.
The Alien warrior on display is very hard to find picture of but it looks nothing like the warriors from the film. it's like they turned everything up to 11. Very over the top. I am taking ideas and reference from that Alien as well. Mine will be a combination of the Puppet, the stunt suits, the Winston studio display, with a little bit of my ideas thrown in for good measure.
Funny thing about the Winston studio display is the pictures you can find are usually tinted brown for some reason but I found a true color picture and lo and behold... it's blue/grey
if you look close at the blue/grey picture you can see the wire that holds the doublejaw sticking out of it's mouth.sorry for the low res pictures... like I said it is hard to find pics at all.
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Palantirion
Active Member
- Very very interesting. Feel free to go further down the hole, I'm not claustrophobic.We can go even further down the rabbit hole. To me it's almost like there was a disagreement about the color and design of the Aliens between Stan and James. I have not read anything like that mind you it is just an idea I came up with over the years. I am not even sure which side either of them are on...
I will say this though. If you go to Stan Winston Studios he has a display room with every creature they made for the movies... all of them are very faithful to the movie they are from.. except one - Aliens.
The Alien warrior on display is very hard to find picture of but it looks nothing like the warriors from the film. it's like they turned everything up to 11. Very over the top. I am taking ideas and reference from that Alien as well. Mine will be a combination of the Puppet, the stunt suits, the Winston studio display, with a little bit of my ideas thrown in for good measure.
Funny thing about the Winston studio display is the pictures you can find are usually tinted brown for some reason but I found a true color picture and lo and behold... it's blue/grey
sorry for the low res pictures... like I said it is hard to find pics at all.
Metalalien
Sr Member
Here is another theory. Maybe Cameron's blue gel obsession explains the whole brown/blue Alien thing. Maybe they were always suppose to be blue/grey but under the ever present Cameron blue gel the details would wash out on film. So in the end they decide to repaint them cockroach brown so that under a blue gel the camera would still pick up the detail.I don't know what the deal is with Cameron and his obsession with blue - going back at least as far as Terminator. I mean, his cinematography is signature but also I feel like it's become cliche. I am also known to be critical
That might even explain why the pulse rifle is painted brown bess. Maybe Army green didnt read under the blue gel so they went with brown again.
Palantirion
Active Member
- Definitely what I was thinking. OD under blue gel would turn teal, whereas brown turns a dark green. See the last revisions to my queen's jaw tendon for an example, the brown transitions to teal - where they mix it looks like a dark OD.
I never understood though, why the queen was painted so differently than the warriors in Aliens. Maybe because she is seen under a wider variety of lighting conditions, or maybe longer duration per shot.
Metalalien
Sr Member
Maybe they just thought she looked too pretty in blue... after all the devil wore a blue dress..
She did eventually get her cockroach brown make over for Alien Resurrection but Bob Burns who loaned her (head) out to ADI made them promise to repaint her blue again before returning.
Palantirion
Active Member
-Huh, I didn't know that the Resurrection queen was literally the same as Aliens'. I know Alec borrowed the queen head from Bob to sculpt the AvP queen's crown, and then returned it after removing the clay.Maybe they just thought she looked too pretty in blue... after all the devil wore a blue dress..
Metalalien
Sr Member
That is not how Bob tells the story but I don't know for sure...
Also there is this from the ADI youtube channel.
here is the description..
"ALIEN RESURRECTION not only brought Ripley back to the big screen but marked the return of a "Queen" as well. Utilizing the original head from ALIENS (courtesy of Bob Burns), ADI's RESURRECTION Queen puppet was designed and built to perform on her back, giving the a character shackled and beaten look the script demanded."
Here is bob talking about it... can't find the clip where he says they will repaint it for him but I swore he said that somewhere
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