My ALIENS Hero Pulse Rifle - Matsucorp/HCG/SD Studio hybrid

[Filandrius]

Hello everybody! It's now time to unveil my own personal holy grail, a prop I've been working on for almost 3 years, and that I've wanted to own pretty much all my life. This is a hero pulse rifle from Aliens, built to be as accurate as possible to the screen-used ones while respecting the Canadian firearms laws. Meaning that everything is metal, except for the Thompson M1A1 and Remington 870 receivers, which are resin casts by Matsuo. Here's the rundown of the parts I used:

- SPAS 12 cage & pump (cut & customized by me)
- SD Studios grenade launcher front block, magazine butt plate & stock
- HCG barrel vent & shrouds (machined & modified by Matsuo)
- Cold cast resin Thompson & Remington receivers by Matsucorp
- External/internal steel parts for the Thompson and Remington
- Vintage wood Thompson rear grip (customized by me)
- Steel Thompson magazine replica
- Lightbender ammunition counter
- Noble sling

Aside from the work done on the aluminum shrouds by Matsuo, I've done all of the build myself. All the metal parts have either been bead blasted or deburred before paint. I've used Aervoe #999 "Earth Brown" as a Brown Bess substitute for the shrouds, and Tremclad professional flat black for everything else (except for the small firearms parts, which I've blued; incidentally the Tremclad and the blued parts match very well)

The magazine is loaded with some inert .45 ACP bullets. Since all the (deactivated) Remington parts are real, the grenade launcher is "functional" i.e. the pump racks and the bolt moves. I've chosen not to weather it right now, but since I've finished assembling it I've stopped handling it like a ming vase so it'll weather naturally. Needless to say that it weights half a ton; that and the fact that it's mostly metal really feels like a real weapon. Long story short: it was definitively worth the wait and I'm ecstatic!

Here's some pictures. Let me know what you guys think!

 

[2keepandbear]

Looks amazing!!! Matt does some great work. My pulse rifle will hopefully take shape next year, it won't be TOTALLY hero like this one, but close enough for government work ;-)

Congrats, that PR is a thing of beauty!

 

[leejinwen]

looks awesome

 

[Filandrius]

More pics. I couldn't resist taking more of them with all of my Aliens props, with natural lighting this time. In the sun the brown came out almost olive, which illustrates very well what happened on-screen (and why so many people think that the rifles are green)

 

[Robiwon]

That's a beautiful build filandrius! I think you used probably all the best parts one could get for a PR build! Great job!

 

[Filandrius]

Thanks a lot. Yeah, I really went all-out on this one, since the PR is one of my holy grails and all.

 

[dr_slurpee]

Very nicely done!

 

[Filandrius]

Thanks! Means a lot.

 

[chukzilla]

Ah-firmative! That's a gorgeous build.

 

[L0B0]

Awesome!! nice work.
I need some of your pictures in my web.
please contact to me

 

[Lear60man]

Fantastic build! FYI the MR Motion Tracker is a fairly accurate representation of Brown Bess. I never liked the Brown Bess and have a couple of tins just for the sake of preservation.

On my PR's one is the latest Matrix Airsoft in stock color. My Custom airsoft build was years in the making and is battle worn from various cons and Halloweens (looks great). My live fire PR was painted Brown Bess then frosted with Olive Drab. Its the perfect blend of eye correct and screen correct.

For my live fire I used:
HGC aluminium shrouds
Real SPAS cage and grip with deactivated Remington 870 fitted by Matsu
SteinShneider barrel vents and forward triangle.
Matsu Aluminium magazine end block
Live fire Thompson TM1 single shot with 16" barrel to accommodate California laws.
Unknown rear shoulder stock
Noble sling
Self made electronics IE static counter
Custom grip from the Thompson supplied Oak grip.

I would say that you will upgrade over time like most people do...but you seem to have all quality pieces.

Congrats!!!!

 

[Filandrius]

Thanks a lot! As mentioned earlier, as a Brown Bess alternative I used Aervoe Earth Brown. I compared it to the real thing, and it's just a tad lighter. Other than that it reacts exactly the same way as the Brown Bess (photographs differently depending on the light) I never even considered using olive, because it just looks wrong to my eye. Anyway since I watched Aliens on blu-ray it's painfully obvious that the screen-used rifles were brown.

As for upgrades, I'm really not planning any on this puppy. Don't forget that I live in Canada; any real firearms are a big no-no. I already pushed the limit on what I could use with the parts I have; the only parts I could possibly upgrade are the receivers, and I can't get those, legally, financially or otherwise.

 

[gyoung2993]

That is something to be very proud of !!!....welcome to the family !!!........never get tired of seeing the builds of an M41-A pulse rifle...its a phenomenal weapon..:thumbsup..shes is a pretty thing....remember...when you pick that pulse rifle up, stay sharp and frosty...............like Apone said...Check those corners , check those corners !!!...D