Giger Alien '79 head refurb

[plastik46]

Hi everyone,

I'm new to the forums, and figured i would post my work in progress here.

I have found a prototype cast on ebay of an giger alien full size head. I have been looking for one for many years. The head currently is in pretty bad shape which i knew purchasing it.

my plan is to keep it close as i can to the original, i currently have it stripped and temporary mounted. a lot of repair work is needed on the piping and also a lot of bubbles currently need to be filled in along with creating the spine going down the top of the head. I have also mounted the tongue and lower jaw.

One of the bigger challenges will be sculpting and vacuum forming the clear dome that is missing.

hope you enjoy the post


Head when first arrived:




Stripping it revealed a lot more damage then expected:




With the temp mount and jaw:

 

[sleepybee]

Will look good in the end I think.

 

[sleepybee]

Any progress on this?
Thanks

 

[plastik46]

Hi Sleepybee,
It has been moving slowly haven't had much free time to work on it. i did replace all the 1/8 inch piping on the head there were way to many air pockets in the original cast to salvage most of it. I have used armature wire inside the tubing so it is nice and solid.

I actually have off from work tomorrow so i plan on getting some work done on it i need to sculpt the edges into the head currently it is just glued into place.

i will have some more progress to show this weekend.

P.s. Tape is only on till glue dries

 

[plastik46]

Small update on the progress:

 

[sleepybee]

Cool. great to see it evolves.

 

[Leigh]

This looks to me like a SwampDonkey head cast, they look like his upper teeth & tongue :unsure

Looks like your doing a good job of it too :thumbsup

 

[plastik46]

thanks for the comments

Leigh, it is a swampdonkey cast he had it on ebay. saw alot of negative comments about his project run. I had a couple issues receiving it also but got it in the end. The cast is in really rough shape mostly because of air pockets in the details. The tongue also seems a bit large to me so i will be cutting it down a bit. Also the materials used are not great. but i knew all this before buying it, they are hard to come by.

work has been slow on it do to life but it is getting there. First time for me doing it also so i'm learning as i go. Your sculpt is amazing by the way the best i have seen by far, i'm using yours as some reference as i go along I hope you do a project run when it is complete, i would love to have one.

Thanks, Josh

 

[pnag]

Leigh, it is a swampdonkey cast he had it on ebay. saw alot of negative comments about his project run. I had a couple issues receiving it also but got it in the end.

Hi Josh - hope you don't mind, but can you tell me the name of the account you bought it from on eBay? You could PM it to me?

Just that Marty (swampdonkey) owes about 5 of us $300+ each! I won't get you involved in the least, just want to find Marty again.

 

[Nwerke]

Where's a damn popcorn gif when you need one? I am square with Swampdonkey but my cousin-in-law Aaron is out hundreds. He's a lot less pissed about it than I am on his behalf, because I got him into that mess.

 

[plastik46]

Hi Josh - hope you don't mind, but can you tell me the name of the account you bought it from on eBay? You could PM it to me?

Just that Marty (swampdonkey) owes about 5 of us $300+ each! I won't get you involved in the least, just want to find Marty again.

Here is his page for ebay http://www.ebay.com/usr/swampdoney?_trksid=p2047675.l2559 looks like he has a couple molds for sale now http://www.ebay.com/itm/231468671447

i find it pretty ****ty of him to do this to ppl on this forum so i don't mind posting the info to help.

 

[Leigh]

Having looked at your cast plastik (& the moulds in the link above) it looks like the convoluted tube that runs from under the cheek to the back of the gums is mostly missing, do you plan on replacing this part? I believe the original was a length of metal armoured cable covering very much like the type found in phone booths.

 

[plastik46]

Having looked at your cast plastik (& the moulds in the link above) it looks like the convoluted tube that runs from under the cheek to the back of the gums is mostly missing, do you plan on replacing this part? I believe the original was a length of metal armoured cable covering very much like the type found in phone booths.

Yes I will be replacing the tube, I'm actually replacing all the tubing, they were all in bad shape for the most part due to air pockets. I will also be redoing the spine at the top. I cut the rest of the tubes off tonight and plan on gluing new ones on tomorrow or the next day. I am filling them with rigid material also so they won't be flexible at all.

 

[Leigh]

How's this coming along?
When I did the tubing on Bob I ended up spending a lot of time trying to get the outside diameter (OD) as visually right as I could. It involved slicing the tubing in places & either stretching or shrinking it.
The spines along the top of the head can be a little bit monotonous. When I did mine they were an idealised version (all intact) I believe the original had a few minor casting problems & the tips of the spines were missing in places.

 

[plastik46]

I haven't got any work done since cutting of the rest of the old tubing, life and work keeps getting in the way
the outside diameter is uniform because i used 3/16" armature wire on the inside you can see examples in the above pictures, the diameter is also the same of what was on the head when i received it. Since i'm not making a mould and casts i am making everything solid. don't want hallow tubing on a display piece.
The spines i will be doing last i think i will make them as close as i can to the original sculpt, not like the casts they pulled for the movie. i like the look of having all the tips.

I should be able to work on the head this weekend, thats when i have the most time to get some work done. I'm still thinking of ways to fill the larger 1/2" tubes so they will be rigid and solid.

 

[plastik46]

haven't got as much done as i wanted but there is some progress.
I ran into a problem with one of the new pipe for behind the cheeks, one of them is not shaped correctly so i need to make a new one.



i did get the new pipes under the head mounted and molded into the head
I'm still working on the shape of the head where the pipes enter the back.

 

[Leigh]

Looking good :thumbsup
Those pipes under the back there may cause you some problems getting paint to stick to them, they need to be keyed well to get a good bond. Give em a good going over with some Scotch brite.


HTH

 

[plastik46]

Looking good :thumbsup
Those pipes under the back there may cause you some problems getting paint to stick to them, they need to be keyed well to get a good bond. Give em a good going over with some Scotch brite.


HTH

Thanks for the tip Leigh, I have already done this before gluing & molding them in I will be doing it again though just to make sure i get the best results.

Hopefully i can get the rest of the tubing done this weekend.

 

[sleepybee]

Nice progress here. Great work
Keep going

 

[plastik46]

Thanks Sleepybee :$