Mike Rush
Well-Known Member
In Ridley Scott's Alien, when the characters of Dallas and Ripley need to consult the computer (whom they call 'Mother'), they go through a complex series of security procedures to gain access. One of these involves unlocking a box by pressing buttons in sequence, and removing a key.
After the film was made, possession of many props - including the key and its box - passed to Mr Bob Burns in California. Bob is a well-known and much-loved custodian of film props, famous for his generous attitude of allowing people access to his collection.
Unfortunately one visitor to his home took advantage of his generosity by helping themselves to the original key. By the time Bob realised, the box was empty; the key had been stolen.
Sadly Bob has no photographs of his key. The only images available are of this key, sold at Propstore some years ago. (Bob does not think it is the stolen key.)
As you can see it is quite futuristic, even bizarre, and looks rather hard to duplicate!
In 2009 stephen210 visited Bob's home. He returned with several photos of the box plus measurements, reasoning that this would help anyone who wanted to try and build a replica.
I began working on the dimensions, first in Sketchup...
... and later as a foamex prototype.
As the box was being made I could also extrapolate some 'best-guess' dimensions for the key itself. I knew I could never build one but I thought perhaps a solid version to display in the box would be nice.
At first I tried 'correcting out' the perspective from the Propstore photos. This got me close, and also let me see some of the contents flat on - albeit as if underwater!
At that point however, Harry Harris turned up an old photo of the same key. The photo was quite old and blurred, but it gave me something new: a clear profile.
This allowed me to draw up a reasonably accurate key plan for the first time. I was then able to make a rough 'dummy' version, for test-fitting etc. I jigsawed the shape from foamex and added real half-round dowel for the handles.
At this point the only way to gauge the size was to work backwards from the known dimensions of the box. I posed for a snapshot to see whether I was even in the 'ballpark'.
It looked okay.
By now the idea had been put to me of actually trying to make a reproduction key which could be sent to Bob Burns to replace his missing one. It's the kind of idea that sounds impossible at first, but the more you think about it the harder it is shake it off.
I knew that if I did end up making one for Bob, it had to fit perfectly. There was no point going to all that trouble on estimated measurements, only to have it not fit in the real box. So with stephen210's help I sent one of my dummy keys to Bob. Before I knew it, Bob had sent me a photo of my mockup in the real box. (This was quite an honour in itself!)
This showed me that I had the shape and size not quite right, but close. From the photo and Bob's comment that he remembered it as being larger, I made two further mockups: one 5% larger, and one 10% larger.
Once again I posted them off to Bob and waited. Soon I received photographs.
These showed that the 5% was still not quite big enough, while the 10% was a touch too large. I chose to make my final plans 8% larger than my first.
After the film was made, possession of many props - including the key and its box - passed to Mr Bob Burns in California. Bob is a well-known and much-loved custodian of film props, famous for his generous attitude of allowing people access to his collection.
Unfortunately one visitor to his home took advantage of his generosity by helping themselves to the original key. By the time Bob realised, the box was empty; the key had been stolen.
Sadly Bob has no photographs of his key. The only images available are of this key, sold at Propstore some years ago. (Bob does not think it is the stolen key.)
As you can see it is quite futuristic, even bizarre, and looks rather hard to duplicate!
In 2009 stephen210 visited Bob's home. He returned with several photos of the box plus measurements, reasoning that this would help anyone who wanted to try and build a replica.
I began working on the dimensions, first in Sketchup...
... and later as a foamex prototype.
As the box was being made I could also extrapolate some 'best-guess' dimensions for the key itself. I knew I could never build one but I thought perhaps a solid version to display in the box would be nice.
At first I tried 'correcting out' the perspective from the Propstore photos. This got me close, and also let me see some of the contents flat on - albeit as if underwater!
At that point however, Harry Harris turned up an old photo of the same key. The photo was quite old and blurred, but it gave me something new: a clear profile.
This allowed me to draw up a reasonably accurate key plan for the first time. I was then able to make a rough 'dummy' version, for test-fitting etc. I jigsawed the shape from foamex and added real half-round dowel for the handles.
At this point the only way to gauge the size was to work backwards from the known dimensions of the box. I posed for a snapshot to see whether I was even in the 'ballpark'.
It looked okay.
By now the idea had been put to me of actually trying to make a reproduction key which could be sent to Bob Burns to replace his missing one. It's the kind of idea that sounds impossible at first, but the more you think about it the harder it is shake it off.
I knew that if I did end up making one for Bob, it had to fit perfectly. There was no point going to all that trouble on estimated measurements, only to have it not fit in the real box. So with stephen210's help I sent one of my dummy keys to Bob. Before I knew it, Bob had sent me a photo of my mockup in the real box. (This was quite an honour in itself!)
This showed me that I had the shape and size not quite right, but close. From the photo and Bob's comment that he remembered it as being larger, I made two further mockups: one 5% larger, and one 10% larger.
Once again I posted them off to Bob and waited. Soon I received photographs.
These showed that the 5% was still not quite big enough, while the 10% was a touch too large. I chose to make my final plans 8% larger than my first.
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