Nostromo Building thread, tips and tricks....

[FenGiddel]

[SKIN JOB 66]

[SavageCreature]

I don't know if this thread is even still active as it looks like no one has posted to it in a while, but . . . I have a friend who's a propsummit frequenter. He was showing me some things that were pretty cool so I started looking around the site more and ran accross this thread that mentioned the original AEF Nostromo kit. That really knocked me back on my heels, I must admit. I didn't think anyone had noticed that kit in it's extremely short lifespan. I worked at AEF all those years ago and designed that kit (though it was constructed by someone else). I also probably cast half of those dozen or so copies that made it out the door. The internet has truely made the world a much smaller place. It was nice to know our efforts were noticed.
c.

[Mike Rush]

Great to meet you! I had many happy hours painting those 1:35 figures and putting them in dioramas etc.

I know someone who bought the AEF 'queen egg chamber' set - do you know how many of those were made?
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Mike

"We're not heroes - we're from Finchley"

[SavageCreature]

I know we sent out at least a hundred of the egg chamber. I had one until a few years back when I finally let go of it on e-bay. That was a nice kit.

I still have some of the figures. Never did bring home a Nostromo, though.

AEFs Nostromo hull was hollow. I notice that most of these on this thread are solid. I was adamant that ours be hollow. That much resin produces so much heat. Wears the molds out much faster, etc.

[Mark Sheppard]

Welcome Savage Beast

I have in fact, rotocast, the hulls, and a "secret" way I would be happy to share with you via PM... most likely the way you guys originally did it. Rotocasting about broke my back...I did it by hand... now I do it in the new "secret way LOL!!!!I am sure you remember the large Round Flat molds.. for the smaller parts well those and the hull survived. almost everything else I had to redo.

The top docking module molds were torn both Top and bottom, and I had to rebuild it and remold as it was slightly off center. I got 4 casts of the nacelles and the port side disintegrated. All these molds were very old. I believe the majority of them were an industrial Urethane.. is this correct? The new molds are of very expensive and high-quality degassed silicon, As you can see, this kits revival is my passion, and has let me on to doing a whole series of ALIEN model kits... I still have the original and could do a very very rough kit, but the new parts I did very accurately using some research a bunch of guys here contributed to.

Never fear that anything ALIEN here will be lost... too many hardcore people here.. again, welcome!
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[SavageCreature]

Well, as I remember it, all the molds we made back then were 3M M rubber. Later we started using HS 2 and sometimes 3. I would love to hear about your secret method and talk about other details

I still have all the photos of the original Nostormo film model that I based all my design work on. The model was already old more than twenty years ago. I hadn't thought about any of this in years until I ran across this thread. (almost makes me feel old)

(and it's 'creature' not 'beast' )

[Mark Sheppard]

aaah makes sense... wow, that is some old stuff, 3M rubber

I am sure you recognize this part...


I actually remolded the bell housings and made a new insert that looks loke the final version of the Nostromo
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[Mark Sheppard]

Here are more pics of the original molds from january,,,

This should bring back memories






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[joberg]

Welcome aboard SavageCreature...I'm sure you're liking it here already! Good to have an additional kit/model maker on board.

[SavageCreature]

My mistake though I didn't notice until you mentioned it. They weren't from 3M they were from Dow Corning. And yup!, those molds look mighty familiar. How'd they find their way to you after all these years?
c

[Mark Sheppard]

On the Nostromo discussion thread I was very impressed with the final airlock design as envisioned by Space Jockey. This makes a lot of sense, I always envisioned the observation blister facing backwards, and of course how it is situated in a way that makes perfect sense.

Today I created a new part to be included with the Nostromo kit. It is a small garage hanging off of the bottom of the hull aft of the front Thruster module pretty much like the blueprints on Propsummit. In these pics I still need to add the Brass landing strut leg tubing before I make the mold , but here you can see the observation blister, airlock door, and lift pad hanging down i think (all upside down of course) very sorry about my crappy camera.. But this will make a nice addition to the kit with all of the other mods...






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[FenGiddel]

Now that, sir, is what a proper Nostromo model should look like!

When I first received my Halcyon kit in the 90s, I gave the bottom of the main fuselage a good going over to find hints of the airlock complex and shuttle garages...to no avail, of course.

Your kit is what I would've loved to have seen! Your 'accurizations' blend right into the overall aesthetic of your design.

Go, jtparker, go!

(I wonder if you could suggest materials to use in molding my own airlock. Is there something that would bond well with vinyl, but would pick up the detail your part did?)

[joberg]

Very good addition to your fantastic model JT

[SKIN JOB 66]

Same as Joberg, I'm impressed since the start of this project by all the work, time and love you've put into this model kit, JT...

...it's going to be a real chef-d'oeuvre in the end, just like the screen-used model(s) !!!



BRAVO AGAIN !!!

Fred
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[USCSS_Nostromo]

Looking very nice indeed!

[Mark Sheppard]

Thanks a lot guys... now based on Space Jockeys Blueprints, I am going to create 6 new antennas to go with the kit.. and a main boom that will be correct based length, should bring the ship to about 27-28" long. so really there is not much left to be done here with the restoration. its all additional parts now:-) 7 more simple parts and finished woohooo!!!
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[Space Jockey]

[SavageCreature]

Though this is all probably much too late, (as jt's Nostromo is a fine model and nearly complete) I was digging through some things and ran across the piles of photos I took in the old days when I did 'real' stuff. (as opposed to digital) I was reading this thread and heard mention of Nostromo shuttles, so when I found images of the Narcissus bay I thought I'd share. I also found this one of the foot long Nostromo. Anyway, thought you guys might at least get a chuckle out of seeing them.
sc

[Mark Sheppard]

Those are great pictures! Thanks for sharing them!!

Yup that is the foot long Nostromo model, I have yet to see an example of this anywhere!!!!

you can see that they never added the front thruster pod to the bottom of the foot long model before filming, and this is noticeable during the shot where the Nostromo lights its 3 main engines and pulls forward of the refinery,

Also missing are the two bottom engines here. I dont see any evidence on the model that they fell off, so possibly they were also not added here. If I recall correctly they addition of the front Thruster, rear bottom engines and repaint was all ordered at the same time.

Very interesting models here..
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