Aliens: "Allen" Ripley costume

If it's any help:

Military flying suits worn by people flying transport aircraft and helicopters have pockets on the legs. Suits worn by fast-jet aircrew, who wear G-suits over the flying suit, have no pockets. Instead, the pockets are on the G-suit. That's certainly the way it works for the RAF, anyway.

I don't know if this goes anywhere to explaining the pocket discrepancy. I could well believe neither RAF nor USAF flying overalls have changed since the 80s.

HF
 
I believe I already mentioned that earlier in the thread. Luckily since most of it's covered, the modifications are a piece of cake. You can't have a pulse rifle for $60 without doing a little work, haha. I would very much appreciate it if you could post some more pictures of the accurate Thompson's main body, notably the areas that are different from mine. I know the slide is on the side, which is a very easy mod if I don't plan on keeping the gun functional, but it's hard to make out the way the casing changes shape.

The body is the same, just the slide is different. (in terms of using it in a PR that is. The barrel is finned/ribbed on yours and the M1A1 isn't but thats covered up in a PR any way, as is the section allowing the drum mag in and rear sight.)

I've attached the patent info that has all the measurements for the slide on it (page 4) :)
 
ok so here is where i am at the moment with the fiancee's ripley

I know the boots are not 100% accurate finding these in white was nigh on impossible what i really need is some help on the straps that go around Ripleys ankles

help would be great oh any one have a source for the Grenade Bondalier

ripleywip.jpg
 
So despite the availability of accurate pants, you chose a different option? Or are you still waiting on the accurate suit to come in?

The British flying suit is the one I'm eyeing, but the back is inaccurate, making the top half unusable without buying a much larger extra suit to make a brand new back with pleats. Also because I'm 6' 2" tall, I'd have to add an extra 3" of height to the body, hence the inability to use just one suit as a one piece suit, even if I found accurate fabric to make the extra bits.

Hfuy: The suits have changed. My dad has a USAF suit from the 80s from early in his career and it has the more accurate pocket flaps on the sleeve pocket, etc. He says the newer ones have removed the flaps to streamline. He also mentioned that all the TDY Canadian flight guys had epaulettes on their suits, but I looked them up and they're the stitched down type, not like Ripley's. I took a look at German suits as well, which have similar leg pockets to the Brit version, but are even less similar elsewhere.
 
I'm not surprised you're having trouble finding flying suits to fit someone that tall. Most people over six feet struggle to meet the sizing requirements - you'd take your kneecaps off on the instrument panel in the event of an ejection, and many militaries select people to fit a fast jet cockpit before they're streamed into particular types of aircraft, so aircrew in general tend not to be, er, vertically gifted.

Edit: Just noticed your last note - I can tell you current RAF flying suits don't have back pleats.
 
Thanks so much Robn! Those are some excellent grabs, they'll really come in handy. It's interesting to see how flimsy the original shoes were compared to the released version. Those ankle sections are really thin.

So I went looking for leather today, struck out on the first round. I do have a lead for a good leather source that just might have what I need, though. I also got my Wakal shrouds in from Talisen, and as expected they'll require a lot of work, but I got them for a great price and I couldn't be happier about that. Pictures once I've got some work done on the shrouds. I'm also leaning toward scratch patterning the whole flight suit now. Might just buy 6 yards of white fabric, dye it all a pale grey/blue in the washing machine, and just cut the pants out of it for DC, save the rest for later.
 
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OK, this is where I'm at after some trial and error, still more to be done. I picked up 6 yards of white cotton from Jo-Ann's. It's their Legacy Studio Solids collection, which is the heaviest cotton they've got that's not a twill. I really liked the look of the Rodeo broadcloth, but it wouldn't take dye well enough because it was 40% polyester. This stuff has a similar weave, but it's a little thinner and will wrinkle more. I don't like either of those traits, but what can you do? So first I dyed it with about 3/4 of a pack of pearl grey Rit mixed with 2 caps of royal blue in the washing machine. That tinted it, but it still wasn't dark enough. Tonight I tried again with another pack of pearl grey and 2 caps of royal blue. The blue seems to have been absorbed pretty well, but it didn't get much darker. I did my best to get the color in this photo, but it doesn't really show that well.

DSC02899.jpg


I would describe it as a desaturated baby blue. It sort of matches the continuity photos of Weaver on set, but I'd like to get it a little closer to the way it looks on screen, so tomorrow night I'm going to do another dye bath of just half a cap of black Rit and see how that goes. With some luck it'll do exactly what I expect and make it darker while adding a slight purple hue.

I also ordered my SPAS-12 airsoft, it should be here in a couple days. All I have left to get now is shoe leather and some zippers.
 
No progress really with the fabric. The black test wiped out the blue completely, so then I dyed it blue again and the results were slightly green. Deciding what to do next.

So for anybody who was thinking of following my plan for a budget pulse rifle, I recommend you stop now. I received my SPAS-12 airsoft from Amazon and it turns out its ridiculously undersized. Like about 2/3 size of the real thing. Completely unusable. I'm planning to just order a Spatcave kit now and may or may not replace his Thompson bits with my airsoft. On the bright side, this gives me much more time to worry about the Stompers.

And on that note, I went by a place called Saderma leather today. Worst website I've ever seen in my life, but their store was excellent. Very cool stuff in stock over there and they were very helpful and well-informed. I got a white leather hide, some grey Nu-life spray, and even grey leather dye, which after a test turns out to be much closer to an alcohol-based paint than a dye. I'll do a test with the nu-life tomorrow and then decide which one is better. I also got special shoe padding foam. So now all I need is a red lambskin hide for the tongues, some oval eyelets and grey velcro for the straps, the red mesh that arcs across the heel, and some liner fabric. The build is starting to look just a little less impossible. I'll start taking apart the BB6600s soon. The Stompers won't come apart until the last possible day, I like wearing them too much. I need to get an accurate heel pattern off the BB's anyway.
 
The only fully sized Spas-12 available is the Tokyo Marui one, every other is 3/4 sized.

You should of done a bit more research reguarding your pulse rifle dude ;)
 
It would help if the Aliens forum wasn't a mess. I couldn't navigate that place to save my life. Not much harm done in the end. Amazon has a great return policy. I'm only out for the Wakal shrouds. If anybody can get any use out of them, they're available for cost of shipping. I'd like to see them get put to good use.
 
Are you talking about The Aliens Legacy? Its no more difficult to navigate than this one :)

Are you tackling the motion tracker and flame thrower?
 
Materials update, I've got everything in hand now except for the oval eyelets and liner fabric, which I believe is the same stuff as car headliner, complete with foam backing. We've got some in grey at Jo-Ann's so I'll pick some up next time I go in. The rest of the liner depends on how much of it survives the removal process. Speaking of:

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I've learned that the construction of the BB6600's is very different from that of the Stompers in a number of ways. The top section being just sewn on top of the finished shoe through the liner is just one of those differences.

So here are the materials I picked up. The white leather I got from a place called Saderma Leather, the grey and red I got from Sav-Mor.

DSC02910.jpg


Then we have this stuff, all of you Nike Mag guys should get some of this. It's foam padding for shoes. Denser than upholstery foam, but not as rigid as EVA. This is exactly the stuff you should be using for your ankle sections on the Mags. I got it at Saderma. They have 2x3 foot pieces in 1/4" and 1/8" thicknesses for under $10 each.

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And I got this from a friend a while back, it'll work perfectly for the tongues. It's a very open-cell foam I think used for making muppets and mascot costumes.

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Lastly, here's the Wakal shroud kit I got. It's two vac-formed pieces and a bunch of resin cast plates, screw heads, and a site channel. If anybody wants this, it's yours for the cost of postage.

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My next step is to fire up my new heat gun and see if I can't melt the glue holding the soles on enough to remove them with the leather in tact. Cutting them out with an xacto is time consuming and leaves a lot of leather behind stuck in the sole.
 
Long time, no update. The heat gun was not successful in melting the glue, so I'm stuck with the drawn out cutting process.

I'm also going to have to make a concession on the pants fabric, just going to get some grey twill and overdye it with some royal blue. It's easy and it's cheap.

Found a perfect white t-shirt at Kohl's the other day as well. It's by Apt. 9 and it had "Lounge" on the tag. It's quite different from their regular t-shirts. The collar is thin and not ribbed and the sleeves are tapered for a slim fit. I just have to get it really dirty and that part is done.

Lastly, the Spatcave rifle is coming together. I'll be going to my local metal guy soon about cutting the stock and possibly barrel vents from sheet steel. The vents will probably be prohibitively expensive, but the stock should be pretty affordable. All this just to sling the darn thing properly, what a pain. The best news I've got is that I tracked down what I think is a GREAT replacement for Humbrol Brown Bess, and in a spray can no less. Found it at a local art supply store. It's Montana brand (specifically the silver "94" line of cans) in Mole Brown. From the pictures I've seen of both pulse rifles and of the paint itself, this stuff is at the very least really close. I'll take pics of the build once I get it put together a bit more, and I'll include one of the can.
 
So here are the materials I picked up. The white leather I got from a place called Saderma Leather, the grey and red I got from Sav-Mor.

DSC02910.jpg

Is this different from upholstery leather?

Then we have this stuff, all of you Nike Mag guys should get some of this. It's foam padding for shoes. Denser than upholstery foam, but not as rigid as EVA. This is exactly the stuff you should be using for your ankle sections on the Mags. I got it at Saderma. They have 2x3 foot pieces in 1/4" and 1/8" thicknesses for under $10 each.



And I got this from a friend a while back, it'll work perfectly for the tongues. It's a very open-cell foam I think used for making muppets and mascot costumes.

Thanks for that. I am all over that now :) Any recommendations for liner fabrics?
 
Can't really help you there, I'm afraid. The liners in the ankle sections of the Reeboks are car headliner fabric. The toe sections aren't actually lined, they just have fusible fleece pressed to the leather.
 

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