Nostromo Airlock
- Thread starter Photon
- Start date
Cool project! I really like your rail bending jig. I may copy that for other projects.
Photon
Active Member
Its been a while since I've posted any updates on this. I had lost interest a bit and lately I've had to force myself to work on it. I've made some progress recently and I think I'm starting to get my mojo back.
There are now two wall assemblies. As I started to dry assemble things I discovered that I needed to lengthen the walls on either side. Its a bit of a bodge. Hopefully not too noticeable once painted. I also reworked the bottom vents. I didn't like how they looked compared with the top ones, so I tore them out and replaced them. I think it was worth the effort and heartache.
All six tubular racks have been bent up. I'm very pleased with how these have turned out. I still need to make the legs and get them mounted.
The doors have been assembled and primed. I still have to make the hydraulic greebles that can be seen in the cutout openings.
I've also got the padding that surrounds the doors glued up and ready for some paint.
A quick fit check.
I got some yellow oxide paint down. It looks quite close to the film color, though its a little hard to tell in the photo.
I also got the pads for the ceiling built up.
All in all, I think I'm back on track. Hopefully the next updates will come a little more regular.
Peter
There are now two wall assemblies. As I started to dry assemble things I discovered that I needed to lengthen the walls on either side. Its a bit of a bodge. Hopefully not too noticeable once painted. I also reworked the bottom vents. I didn't like how they looked compared with the top ones, so I tore them out and replaced them. I think it was worth the effort and heartache.
All six tubular racks have been bent up. I'm very pleased with how these have turned out. I still need to make the legs and get them mounted.
The doors have been assembled and primed. I still have to make the hydraulic greebles that can be seen in the cutout openings.
I've also got the padding that surrounds the doors glued up and ready for some paint.
A quick fit check.
I got some yellow oxide paint down. It looks quite close to the film color, though its a little hard to tell in the photo.
I also got the pads for the ceiling built up.
All in all, I think I'm back on track. Hopefully the next updates will come a little more regular.
Peter
What a tremendous amount of work! Brilliantly done!!
Photon
Active Member
I've decided that building this as a sort of shadow box would be a pretty cool way of displaying it. Ten or so years ago I was in Chicago for a wedding and had the good fortune of seeing the Thorne Rooms at the Art Institute of Chicago. They were really impressive and I'd love to get some of that vibe here.
So for this display, I'd like to have it lit and be able to peer into the room through an opening. The question is: Should the front of the box represent an interior view of the room, or a view from outside the ship? Both are cool and have their merits.
Here's a screen shot from the movie showing the Airlock from the inside of the Nostromo.
One problem is the interior opening is small and would restrict the view. Not ideal. If I went in this direction I would eliminate the smaller opening and use the larger angled opening that mirrors the shape of the exterior doors. Also the greebles in the four triangular shaped quadrants surrounding the door look a bit arbitrary, IMHO.
Another option would be to model it from the outside of the ship. Here's a photo of the actual filming miniature (built by Bill Pearson, I think). This was used for the scene where Kane's body is ejected.
I think this would also make for a really striking display, though it might rob some attention from the interior, which should be the focal point.
What do you guys think? Do you have a preference?
thanks!
Pete
So for this display, I'd like to have it lit and be able to peer into the room through an opening. The question is: Should the front of the box represent an interior view of the room, or a view from outside the ship? Both are cool and have their merits.
Here's a screen shot from the movie showing the Airlock from the inside of the Nostromo.
One problem is the interior opening is small and would restrict the view. Not ideal. If I went in this direction I would eliminate the smaller opening and use the larger angled opening that mirrors the shape of the exterior doors. Also the greebles in the four triangular shaped quadrants surrounding the door look a bit arbitrary, IMHO.
Another option would be to model it from the outside of the ship. Here's a photo of the actual filming miniature (built by Bill Pearson, I think). This was used for the scene where Kane's body is ejected.
I think this would also make for a really striking display, though it might rob some attention from the interior, which should be the focal point.
What do you guys think? Do you have a preference?
thanks!
Pete
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basementdweller
Active Member
Well now you made me think about this in a different direction. You remember those 3D posters that I think McFarlane did? Like a forced perspective thing. I know it's not what you've been doing, but you could do more "scenes" that are like wall hangers and reuse many of the parts you've done, but flatten the depth by a lot. You could still get a 3D effect, but the viewing angle would be even more limited. Personally I'd love to have a few variants on the wall since so many are good and they take up a lesser footprint this way. You could get around the small opening problem you mentioned above, by doing a scene from in front of the opening and one "past" the opening. Maybe not what you wanted to hear, but I just thought I'd throw it out there in case it somehow inspires you.
BTW I love what you've done and I think it's awesome. Aliens is a personal favorite and my whole garage kit collection started with Halcyon alien kits and Geometric Designs Ripley and Alien Warrior. I've been meaning to do a corridor from LV246 for so long to display them in, but... yeah. Yours are impressive.
BTW I love what you've done and I think it's awesome. Aliens is a personal favorite and my whole garage kit collection started with Halcyon alien kits and Geometric Designs Ripley and Alien Warrior. I've been meaning to do a corridor from LV246 for so long to display them in, but... yeah. Yours are impressive.
How about the airlock that Kane, Dallas, and Lambert leave to investigate the alien ship? There's a little elevator/lift that sits on the outside of it, and I'm pretty sure the airlock just hangs off the side of the nostromo. No one's ever done a diorama of that, to my knowledge. I think I remember my Alien Vault book having some concept art of this, I'll check tomorrow
I may have been remembering wrong, but my Alien book didn't have much other than this:
The lower airlock sits right in front of the front landing gear, so you'd see the gear when exiting, which you can see in this CG render:
The airlock is also connected to Ash's little observation bubble, and here's a concept work I found online.
The lower airlock sits right in front of the front landing gear, so you'd see the gear when exiting, which you can see in this CG render:
The airlock is also connected to Ash's little observation bubble, and here's a concept work I found online.
Photon
Active Member
Thanks for posting those pictures. They're pretty cool.
So this is the airlock that Kane, Dallas, and Lambert leave the ship from. I was just having trouble deciding whether the view into the airlock should be from inside or outside of the ship. I think building the display with the vantage point from inside the ship would be the most screen accurate, since that's where all my reference pictures are pointing from. I thought that the exterior view would make a cool display, at the expense of not being entirely accurate.
I'm starting to lean towards keeping it an interior view.
So this is the airlock that Kane, Dallas, and Lambert leave the ship from. I was just having trouble deciding whether the view into the airlock should be from inside or outside of the ship. I think building the display with the vantage point from inside the ship would be the most screen accurate, since that's where all my reference pictures are pointing from. I thought that the exterior view would make a cool display, at the expense of not being entirely accurate.
I'm starting to lean towards keeping it an interior view.
Captain April
Sr Member
Very cool!
Photon
Active Member
Home today because my cars in the repair shop, I turned my attention to the airlock floor grate. This one cost me 2D6 sanity points*, but I'm really happy how it turned out (*not to mention chromosome damage from the cement fumes).
Rather than take the easy way out and throw down some Evergreen strips, I decided to try to shoot for Ron Cobb's vision seen below.
To cut these to the same length with a 45 chamfer at each end, I modified an Xacto mitre box by adding a stop and a small clamp to hold the piece being cut.
Then it was a matter of cutting them with a razor saw and cleaning up any burrs. These were then glued to a thin strip to make up each 'rail' of the grate.
I cut some grooves in a piece of MDF with the right spacing and glued some thin styrene strips at either end.
I continued this border completely around the rails.
The other day at work (when I should have been eating lunch), I used the milling machine to cut some slots in a sheet of .030" styrene,
using double sided tape to hold it in place.
I build a 2nd outer frame from thicker styrene and glued everything up. Here is the result...
I never thought it would turn out as nice as it did. I have no idea how I'll paint it, but that's a problem for another day.
thanks for tuning in
Pete
Rather than take the easy way out and throw down some Evergreen strips, I decided to try to shoot for Ron Cobb's vision seen below.
To cut these to the same length with a 45 chamfer at each end, I modified an Xacto mitre box by adding a stop and a small clamp to hold the piece being cut.
Then it was a matter of cutting them with a razor saw and cleaning up any burrs. These were then glued to a thin strip to make up each 'rail' of the grate.
I cut some grooves in a piece of MDF with the right spacing and glued some thin styrene strips at either end.
I continued this border completely around the rails.
The other day at work (when I should have been eating lunch), I used the milling machine to cut some slots in a sheet of .030" styrene,
using double sided tape to hold it in place.
I build a 2nd outer frame from thicker styrene and glued everything up. Here is the result...
I never thought it would turn out as nice as it did. I have no idea how I'll paint it, but that's a problem for another day.
thanks for tuning in
Pete
Last edited:
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