Okay a recent post on the RPF called the "ICONS Hero PR" the "most accurate representation of the Pulse Rifle".

I hardly agree with this but I'm not about to start a war over there without some "ammo" to back it up with. Aside from being an incorrect "green" colour- the rear of the shroud is in question for me.

So I'm looking at it- and the rear section of the shroud around the stock has that typical blocky rectangular shape to it. Just like their "stunt" version which was duplicated by the GnG airsoft conversion kit.

So... to my knowledge this is inaccurate isn't it?

From the many various kits and repos I've seen this section has been depicted as being anything from an almost perfect rectangle to having a perfectly semi-circular D shape (a D on its back).

The remaining Bapty rifle- the A3 rifle on Harry's site that was painted black for A3 and then repainted OD green and sold by PSOL, has a rear that looks closer to the ICONS rear. Yet another rifle that is on the Quad set (lacking the second trigger for the GL) seems to have a rear that is more D shaped. Various shots in the film lean either way. Are both correct? Is it just my eyes? Is it a trick of the light?

Just a bit confuzzled.

Kevin

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I told you I'd shoot, but you didn't believe me! WHY DIDN'T YOU BELIEVE ME!?!

Here is the best "ammo" that I can give you, Sarge. Please feel free to use them as you see fit.



To my knowledge, this first pic represents the A3 "hero" that was, at one time, 'blacked out' for the production.



This pic represents the left shroud half of a Thompson firing only PR made by Bapty. You can make your own judgment on the degree of squareness of the back end of those shrouds. I'll keep digging and see if I can find better pics of this.

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Tom

Its not a square...more of a trapezoid with rounded corners. Looks to have been formed by a strip of metal strapping wrapped around the end of the two halves, the kind of strapping with holes on it.

(i) With all the repaints the actual props have been through its hard to tell what this piece is by examining photos of the props today.

(ii) The Alien 3 Pulse Rifles were vacuformed over the Aliens shell so they do not have this strapping, they also lost the pattern of holes in the metal strip.

Re: the photo above of the half shell...if that is from 'Aliens' why would it have the strap and bracket molded in like that?

Good question. I wish I had the answer to that.

Yo Sarge. At the time of this posting, they need someone to verify that pulse rifles were actually seen in A3. I did a search here and couldn't find the screen captures that I had remembered.

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Tom

Dan- thanks for your input. The more I look at the remaining Bapty rifle, the more the ICONS one seems to be a nearly exact replica of it. I know what you're saying about a trapizoidal shape with rounded edges. It's just that some pics the top half looks more rounded and almost semi-circular... could this be just the non firing stunt rifles?







On it!


Kevin

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I told you I'd shoot, but you didn't believe me! WHY DIDN'T YOU BELIEVE ME!?!

The rear strap isn't molded in. If you look closely you can see that it consists of two strips of aluminium. These are rivited to the shroud itself. Contrary to what most people do on their Pulse Rifle builds the rear band does not connect the two halfs of the shroud. You can see this quite clearly on the Propstore Pulse Rifle.

Cheers,
Stefan

The Icons gun is an accurate representation of a 'stunt' rifle if anyone cares to split hairs.

It all does boil down to weather we are talking about metal heroes or stunt guns. Without a treatise on how many stunts and heroes were used, I would honestly say that you have a pretty wide choice in shapes.

The back straps and trapezoids were riveted tightly on, they look 'molded' on in that pic because they have been painted over several times.

The tail section of the hero shroud that I've seen looked like it was originally a 'D' shape on it's back but the 'dorsal section' of that shape had been flattened. Weather it was over time with use or it was made like that I don't know.

They were hand hammered metal remember, so all the hero shrouds had minute differences, even the pix Tom posted show variations in certain key elements.

The one hero gun I saw was extremely wonky, the carry handle and sight groove were so battered there is nearly a half inch difference in width between the front and the back.

The rubber stunt guns appear to be molded from a hero that hadn't gotten beaten up yet so the tail section looks more D shaped.

So Kevin in answer to your question regarding the 'Hero' shape I maintain the aft section is closer to a 'Flattened D'.

Bands that go around the back are inaccurate, (sue me :p ) Correct banding is not a band at all they are strips riveted to the back.
Side trapezoids are riveted on and most have more rounded and softer edges than what I make.
Front and rear plates on the mag well, trigger guard have rounded corners.
The lower band was very thin sheet, thinner than the trapezoids and rear straps.

M

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"Stand up for something...Or get knocked down for nothing..."

Kev, I wish I had pics of the original we had for reference at Icons years ago. One thing you can count on is that no one Pulse Rifle was the same. We always 'Idealized' out the wonkiness. I have always preferred the round D shape as opposed to the rectangle Icons/Airsoft version.

I think the SD and first gen MIM shrouds were the best interpretation. Matsou probably had his hand in there somewhere but I dont want to speak out of turn. 2 things I would have changed. A) thicker mag receptacles and a slightly shorter rear so that the M1 sticks out by an .5 inch or so like the originals.

After holding an original, its kinda like pulling back the curtain on the Wizard of OZ. We as a community here at the AL have done a tremendous job of turning something from the 'reel' world into something in the 'real' world. Like Mat said the Icons gun was an accurate interpretation of the gun we had to play with......not all the guns, which were all a little different.

I got your 6 on the RPF,
Christian

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Wow, I got a brazilion for this?

Thanks for all the input guys! Many thanks Matt, Christian, Dan and Tom (Tom you helped the least so you're last on this list... kidding Bro! ).

After scouring several dozen pics I could find of screen caps and production stills, it does seem that nearly no two PRs were exactly alike. I *think* the underlying thought is that the existing Bapty rifle seems to have the most recognition so it stands to reason that the rest of PRs in the film would look most like this one. <- I'm not stating a fact here- just saying that it is probably how most people would think (IE an accurate PR should look like the Bapty Full Hero PR).

Personally I like the more D shaped rear stock myself.

Kevin

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I told you I'd shoot, but you didn't believe me! WHY DIDN'T YOU BELIEVE ME!?!

Anyone have a pic of the Icons Hero shroud? 'Cause the Icons stunt shroud doesn't look anything like any "real" PRs.

Here's an Icons stunt...



check out the gap between the carry handle and the Thompson.

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Jon

'Do not go where the path may lead: go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.'

http://www.therpf.com/showthread.php?t=63174

Here's a link to the RPF thread- lots of pics from many angles of the ICONS Hero PR.


Kevin

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I told you I'd shoot, but you didn't believe me! WHY DIDN'T YOU BELIEVE ME!?!

Any place on the list is good by me.

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Tom

OK as I suspected I had a (re)cast of the icons hero shroud (the detail and inside the mag well is identical).

I say "had" since this is what you need to do to the icons hero shroud to make it "more" accurate:

start with this (I'd already rounded off the tail end when I took this pic BTW)



take about 10mm out of it with a bandsaw:



reshape the front, back and GL trigger hole:



and you end up with this:

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Jon

'Do not go where the path may lead: go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.'

Photos taken at Alienwar in London, shared by a board member.

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This was very interesting. I had to bump it.The beauty of a pulse rifle is all subtlety.quit a brave mod to do on that Icons.
Hadn't seen those photos of the bent stock PR. ( I forget what its current designation is right now.)

It's the 'Eta' rifle.

Harry

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