Well my bugsuit finally arrived a week ago, well, most of it. Can't beat the £163 customs charge either The backpack's missing but apparently it was a bad pull from the mold and it should be on it's way. We shall see.

It's going to take a lot of work to get it to what I consider to be a decent hopefully screen accurate standard but he who dares wins.

You certainly get a better idea of what you're up against when you've got the thing in your hands that's for sure. I've started cleaning off the latex flash on some of the pieces, but going to be working on the head and neck to begin with. I think that's the most important bit to get right but also looking good.

A lot of the piping detail was pretty rough so I've cut that out and have all the replacement stuff here ready to go. I've managed to smooth the front of the dome and get rid of the nasty mold line that
was on it so happy with that. 101 amazing uses for a pumis stone

It's gonna be fun







Chris

What is it with you and piping replacement?!

Good luck with the build Chris, keep us posted!

Harry

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http://www.facebook.com/TheHHACA - @TheHHACA

I'm not sure why this guy doesn't colour his rubber black. Surely it'd make everyone's life a LOT easier!

Harry

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http://www.facebook.com/TheHHACA - @TheHHACA

Lol.

Maybe because i bought 100metres of it a few years ago and want to use it up

Nah, I think the problem with these casts, and this really is the tip of the iceberg with this kit I've got, is that a lot of the detailing has seen better days or it's right along the mold lines so trying to remove the mold lines from the ribbing in the piped sections is a task and a half especially since it's latex to start with.

If my memory serves me right from when I had a conversation with Doug at the London FCC 3 years back, this suit has been cast from the Alien War one

I want to build it up primarily as a display piece, but also make it wearable as well. The head actually fits my head which is great, however the chest piece is an oddity itself. It really doesnt sit right
when put on the right way as the neck seems too high and the nape of the neck too low, however if I put it on back to front it fits perfectly like a waistcoat. It's almost like it was sculpted on a mannequin but back to front so the chest of the alien was sculpted on the back of the mannequin and vice versa.

The boots fit me as well so it's all good. And yes Harry I agree with you it does seem strange to cast these in normal 'white' latex, although I believe I read somewhere that adding dye to the latex accellerates mold deteriation.

O_O, new bugs for the hive . Weeeeeee. Though m not sure when m i gettin mine. Good luck with ur bug building and have fun. I would like to c ur progress too.

Good to see more bugz!!

How's the build getting on?


Bri

_________________
In Space No One Can Hear You Scream ...
Dave Xeno - missed but never forgotten......

Well I got a 1:1 statue on the way...But I'd like to get a suit. Where do you go or who's in the know? PM ok:)

Regards
Christian

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"Asps, Very dangerous! You go first!"

Tasmania's 1st official AB owner

Slow and steady to be honest.

Just been working on removing the flash from all the parts, redoing the piping and other details on the head , adding support to the neck piece ( which is as flimsy as a pair of marigold gloves ), dremmelling away some of the lumps and things on some of the pieces from where the molds are obviously shot to bits, , resculpting the top teeth to make them screen accurate, reinforcing the jaw and a few other things that I will show in due course when they're worthy of taking pictures of.

Still no backpack despite being told again that it would be in the post - I really don't know what it is with some prop sellers but when you shove over $1000 in their hand you shouldn't then have to be running around after them chasing up things. I can see myself having to sculpt one of my own at this rate

Still, it'll come good in the end and be kick ass

Cheers



Chris

good luck with the build Chris. ill be keeping an eye out for updates

Does anyone upgrade their bugs with animatronic jaws? I only ask as it seems there are loads of animatronic Predator mask conversions on U-Tube and having had a little bit of animatronic experience I don't see it being a problem.

Pete

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Hey Pete,

Good to see you back!

I can't speak for anyone else but personally I wouldn't know how to go about it, that would be my problem! With skills & experience like yours I'm sure it's relatively straightforward. Well, fairly sure!

I've got a fibreglass Aliens head that I'd love to mech but I wouldn't know the first thing to do!

Harry

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http://www.facebook.com/TheHHACA - @TheHHACA

I'm doing an animatronic jaw for Alan (and ultimately Abe too).

SAS

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Alan T. Alien
1st Lt Smith, SA "Sidewinder"
A13/TQ1.4.19720EX CMA
Founder of UKCM 13th Regt. 1st Batt. Freebooters
Founder of Special Armaments Section (Heavy Weapons)
"People don't understand. people like me"

Hey Simon, if you wanna add me to that equation I'd be happy to chip in.

Or maybe could you post a tutorial?

Hi there Pete, good to see you back here again.

An opening jaw is something that I've been meaning to do pretty much from the start and have been toying with ideas on how it can be done. It's something that I'm intent on incorporating into the head as I do the build rather than return to it when it's completed being prepped and painted up.

My loonie tunes sketchpad of crazy ideas was pretty full prior to the kit arriving but now it's here and you get a chance to see what you've got to play with I've narrowed it down to 2 options that I can see and that's

1) Using a basic mechanical cable operated system ( similar to the one Pete Mander used for his Alien Seed fanfilm head ) here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7t0VywKtKk

or by incorporating a servo/cable type system running from rechargeable R/C car type batteries. There is very little in the way of room with the head when you first get it but you can make more room for yourself.

Having little or no knowledge of servos and all that kind of stuff, I'm assuming it would be possible to have a servo set to have a limited run of travel , activated by some sort of pressure switch or on off switch, so by pressing the switch it would open the jaw along it's limited run and hold it there, but on releasing the switch the servo would return to it's normal resting position, thus closing the jaw?

Cheers



Chris

Personally I would go for the self actuated version Like Pete's rather than servos and electronics simply for the reason that a well made self actuated mech' is less likely to fail than an electronicly activated mech'. Oh and servo's can be quite loud too.

The main issue with the whole thing is the tongue, I have been working on a simple mech' for this so it can be activated by hand and shoots the tongue out nice and fast just like the original.

Anyway I'll be interested to see the progress of ya' bug

Pete

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Bit of an update on this thing but not too much.

Sculpted myself some new teeth/gums for top and bottom and run those off - I've made a temporary hinged bracket inside the head to hold the jaw although even though I've strengthened the jaw with a piece of thin sheet aluminium it's still wobbly and getting the top and bottom teeth to close together nice and neatly is really hit and miss.
Anyway first run of just seeing how it all lines up today and it's not too bad as a starting point.

Lots of tubing getting put on slowly to the head to sharpen that detailing up. Most of the components have been cut, trimmed and tidied up so are nearly ready for the painting stage.

The neck piece is just the biggest pain in the arse going but just gotto persevere with it to get it sorted out.









Chris

Looking good!

That's looking great mate!

I'll be interested to see how you pull off the jaw mechanism! I too would liek to get my alien head rigged up for jaw/lip movement some time soon!

Keep us all posted on this topic!!!

AWESOME!!!


Bri

_________________
In Space No One Can Hear You Scream ...
Dave Xeno - missed but never forgotten......

Well having been to the local craft shop and buying up some artists acrylic paints I thought I'd make a start on trying to nail down the paint scheme on this lil beauty.

I took some screen grabs from the Quadrilogy showing Tom Woodruff sponge painting one of the SU heads with various paint colours on a palette so printed that off and had a good old ' what colour do you reckon this is then?' conversation with the shop staff. Of course the inevitable ' what's it for? ' question was asked followed by the usual ' Well it's like this......have you ever seen...... blah blah'


Amyway, I've tried the colours out today on parts of the head and chest and am happy with the dark browns but feel that the lightest colour I got which was Ochre Yellow had too much of a yellow tint to it
and having mixed some of the other colours around a bit gave what I can best describe as a 'milky coffee' or 'light sand' colour a go and through the airbrush it was pretty good so I'll go grab a tube of that colour tomorrow. Still a good exercise and a chance to see how things are hopefully gonna turn out.

Still heaps of things to do to pretty much all the parts in the kit , sanding some of the greeblies on the castings, filling in holes with latex, smoothing down seam lines and so on. So it's all still very rough but at this stage I'm happy enough with the progress.










Chris

Great work Chris! I think you might have got close to the SU colours.

And, in the right light it does look good.

Keep up the good work.

Nice work Chris!

I've posted this here before but I thought it might help you with your painting:



Harry

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http://www.facebook.com/TheHHACA - @TheHHACA

Fantastic work Springer!!

I love the sharp detail you have added to this suit!!

Keep up the great work man

Bri

_________________
In Space No One Can Hear You Scream ...
Dave Xeno - missed but never forgotten......

Not much more to add but been trying out different shades of the brown colours and getting pretty close now to what I'm happy with.

Cheers for the pic Harry, got the 'set' of those from the Quadrilogy for reference amongst literally hundreds of others. Obsession? Nah not much honest Although if you have any more of those tasty shots then do feel free to share

Anyway, boot and a glove nearly done.





Chris

Thanks Chris!

I think everything I had of those creature shop photos ended up on the DVD, I think they used everything I sent them. It looks like you've got the paint job nailed pretty much anyway - that's some nice paintwork!

Harry

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http://www.facebook.com/TheHHACA - @TheHHACA

That' some creepy shots man....


Nice work!!!