Here is my first proposed mod. Again, I am REALLY hoping some of the big Aliens guys can pop in and verify my ideas (Harry, Tom, Matt, Willie, I am looking at you!)
I want to first say that there is only so much that can be done and at some point you have to stop. I realize that these mods are going to be a series of compromises. My goal here is NOT to make a perfect PR, because it just isn't going to happen, but instead to do the best I can with what we have from HCG (which I think is an amazing base). This is in NO way a detractor from what HCG is offering and I hope no one takes my mod as an indicator that HCG put out a poor product. I think the product is great, but think us RPF members can take it even a step further.
OK, so when I look at the stock of the PR, the first thing that jumps out at me is the bottom of the stock, the butt presses into your shoulder. To me, it seems much thicker than what we see on the movie stocks. While it SEEMS to me that all the stocks from the movie are thinner, maybe there is a thicker version, but I tend to think that HCG made this part thicker for durability sake (as we know at least one of the original PR's stock is bent in this area). Since I don't plan to take this into any actual battles, durability isn't my primary concern and I am willing to sacrifice the durability and strength of the stock in an effort to make it look more like what I think it should.
There are two things I plan to do to the stock. First, I want to take a metal file to ALL the edges and round them slightly, and this has to be slight because the metal isn't thick enough to endure heavy filing. I am most interested in taking down the top two back corners a bit.
Second, as mentioned above, I want to make the bottom of the stock thinner.
After comparing this to a number of original photos, I am somewhat modeling my stock after the Aliens 3 rifle stock owned by Propstore, primarily because I have a good photo of it from Comic Con 2009 and because it is my understanding that while the Aliens 3 shell is new for Aliens 3, the guts of the gun, including the stock are original from Aliens.
In my opinion, the overall shape of the metal box below the stock is off, but there is nothing I can do about that without essentially creating a whole new stock, so I am just going to accept it for what it is and leave it alone.
The stock on the HCG Pulse Rifle is ~ 14.5mm. After comparing it to the Aliens 3 stock, I believe it should be ~ 9.1mm. My plan is to simply to mark it off, go in with a dremel and shave ~ 5.4mm off each side and then file as needed.
I am throwing this out here first to get thoughts and opinions to see what everyone thinks before my gun goes under the knife.
Please see the photos below and give me your thoughts.
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