Completed: Alien Queen Water Resevoir

C

CrimsonSky

Gawd
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Jun 14, 2003
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711
A student contacted me a few months ago, asking for help on a mod she was building as part of a senior thesis--sorta. So being the nice guy I am I thought to help as her mentor in the program. She has done such a great job so far with her Alien Vs. Predator themed case mod, that I decided to help out and build her the "Stasis Chamber" water feature for the top of the custom built case. You can see her worklog here if interested in seeing it come together.

Not much time to complete Rachel's Alien Queen water feature, so it must be finished in the next few days! With a bit of Super Sculpey, a toothpick and small paintbrush I sculpted the alien queen to about the size of an oatmeal cookie. For those unfamiliar with Sculpey, it is a polymer clay that can be baked hard in the oven. The fetus will be mounted on a "holding harness" that I will kitbash from various parts---its as if she was extracted from the host, secured and is in stasis. Ok now I want an oatmeal cookie damn it.

On the right is the clear acrylic capsule that will hold the Alien queen:

queen_sculpt.jpg


After airbrushing the little queen with flat black, some gunmetal and a bit of yellow its time to do some hand painting:

queen_painting-(1).jpg


queen_painting-(6).jpg


More updates soon!
 
Pretty much almost finished. I need to keep building the little cradle for the queen; It's basically made from scrap model parts from cars and trucks, and also small acrylic findings. I also need to put the alien's teeth in!

The compression fittings were mounted on that clear plexi disk by first tapping the hole then sealing them in permanently with two-part resin--same as epoxy but much stronger and water-clear.

I'm also installing a couple of LEDs inside this resevoir for effect

Once the alien/cradle is painted I'll coat the entire model in clear casting resin an mount it inside the res permanently.

alien_queen_assemble-(6).jpg


alien_queen_assemble-(8).jpg


alien_queen_assemble-(2).jpg
 
I completed the kitbashing and painting on the "stasis cradle" that holds the nasty little queen. Parts were mostly from model cars, and also the radar dish from a Millenium Falcon model. The next step is to install the LED in the cradle and cover the entire thing in clear cast resin to water proof it.

alien_cradle-(1).jpg


alien_cradle-(6).jpg


alien_cradle-(8).jpg



Here's a close up detailing the little "stainless steel" ring that secures the creature's tail. Its actually a chrome wheel rim from a 1/32 scale Cobra:

alien_cradle_ringclose.jpg


alien_cradle-(11).jpg
 
[Keanu Reeves]
Whoa..... :eek:
[/Keanu Reeves]

I hope she gets an A for this. :)
 
Cool! I haven't signed up yet on your forum but it looks like I'll have to..... :D

The 'spare parts' you have sitting around..... I may be wrong but I take it you don't build models in your spare time ('spare time'? Wazzat? ;) )...... do you just go into the local hobby stores and buy model kits on sale just to use to extract parts from for projects like this? Or do you have other 'sources' for spare parts?
 
You're right..I dont build models from kits...but you can find sales on ebay for "box of model parts" type stuff that have random pieces from various models. :D
 
Wow, I wish I had gone to a cushy school that would even consider a senior thesis such as this one. Let me guess, public education?
 
Damn man. That thing is orders of magnitude greater than a lot of things I've seen before. Very friggin awesome.
 
I installed a superbright (6500mCd) LED in the stasis cradle. The lamp and wires were then sealed in with clear cast resin to make it water tight. The edges on the two acrylic disks were unpainted so it would illuminate:

alien_queen_lighting-(5).jpg
 
wtf, you did that with basically a toothpick.....i bow to you....now and forever
 
woah, she fully owes you for this.....could come in useful sometime.......

Amazing job
 
Please tell me you documented creating the alien queen. That's the part I'm the most interested in to see pictures of.

Curse you for making us lowly amateurs feel utterly insignificant :)
 
The alien fetus figurine is completed--Even though she is in stasis, this creature is a nasty little bitch so I installed a chrome harness to secure her to the cradle. ;) Here are a couple of views just before resin coating:

queen_fin-(1).jpg


queen_fin-(4).jpg


queen_fin-(9).jpg


The crystal clear resin I've been mentioning throughout this project is made by Smooth-On ( www.smooth-on.com ). This two part resin is used for making clear castings to simulate glass and other clear objects. Its hard as stone once cured, and can be degassed (all the air bubbles removed) in a special machine for opticaly clear castings. The mix is 1:1, so you don't need a scale to measure it out prior to mixing parts A & B. It was important for me to continually rotate the alien figure once it was coated to prevent any drips or thick spots from forming on it. Cure time is several hours, but it thickens up in about 15 mins and turns to gel. This is the same material I used to make the capsule for my Matrix: Regenerator water resevoir, also with a figure inside. This resin coat completely seals in all the little model parts that make up the alien figurine, and will ensure that this res will last for many years.

queen_resincoat-(3).jpg


queen_resincoat-(13).jpg


Prior to mounting the capsule to the base, I had to polish a bit. Novus 2 & 3 for scratches, and then Kleenmaster Brillianize to polish it up and remove static.

capsule_polish.jpg
 
Elledan said:
Please tell me you documented creating the alien queen. That's the part I'm the most interested in to see pictures of.

Curse you for making us lowly amateurs feel utterly insignificant :)
Click to expand...

I had to work too fast to document the sculpting, however I'll make it a feature on an episode of The Modder's Workshop (upcoming instructional video series) for sure-- :D
 
/bows.


I am continually amazed at your sculpting and kitbashing abilities. Freakin' awesome.
 
Looks like a pretty smart female you're helping out. Looks as if shes got you doing all the work on the resevoir... :D
 
Since Rachel is going for an Alien Vs. Predator theme with elements of the predator temple. I thought I'd add some flavor to the base (the base is an acrylic bronze colored disk left over from my Metropolis mod)of the res by sculpting some simple stone/metal and hieroglyph texture. The stone is made from Sculpey, first by making the circular shape and then by pressing scraggly stone pieces into the soft clay like a stamping tool before baking. I also pressed some shapes into the clay using various model parts. Once this is airbrushed and hand painted it should look pretty cool.

alien_base-(4).jpg


To seal and leakproof the capsule, I poured liquid clear cast resin into a well (red arrow) created around it, about 5/16" deep. To make doubly sure it was sealed, I then poured resin into one of the hose barbs, sealing the capsule from the inside, again about 5/16" deep.

alien_base-(1).jpg


On the underside of the capsule, the same treatment with liquid resin. This should seal in the entire capsule and also the LED wires:

alien_base-(7).jpg


Close up detail of the "hieroglyphs" and stone texture. The pinkish material is where I blended the edges in with Bondo. This was then given a carved look with a sanding drum and my rotary tool:

alien_base-(9).jpg
 
I don't think words could eloquently describe just how cool that is. :eek:

Just a quick hypothetical question: how much do you think you'd charge someone (like me for example) in order to build a res like this one for them? I'm just asking. :)
 
The paint scheme is very basic: First the Sculpey is painted with a water-based acrylic paint to seal it in. Sculpey doesnt like enamel or laquer as a bascoat, the polymer tends to keep it sticky. Next the base was painted in gunmetal (black with silver) color:

alien_res_basepaint-(1).jpg


Then black acrylic was thinned out and "washed" into the nooks and crannies. This gives the carved look more depth:

alien_res_basepaint-(6).jpg


Earth brown was drybrushed lightly over the high spots:

alien_res_basepaint-(18).jpg


Silver, brown and black enamels were mixed to make a "jet exhaust" color. You can also buy this pre-mixes from Testors. This was lightly drybrushed over the brown.

alien_res_basepaint-(25).jpg


Next pure white acrylic was drybrushed over the jet exhaust color. Then silver drybrush, and finaly a very light brass color to finish the painting:

alien_res_basepaint-(39).jpg


You can see I made a ring from styrene to finish off the capsule. This plastic ring was covered in Bondo, then carved with a small drum sander:

alien_res_basepaint-(43).jpg


I put a small spring on the LED wires to relieve motion stress. Shrink tubing will go over this:

alien_res_basepaint-(15).jpg


Thats a wrap!---I'm sure Rachel will give us pics of the installed Alien Queen water feature when she gets to it.
 
:eek: :eek: i need drool face this thing is my new wet dream lol
excellent job man she's gonna miss the H2O System they are ripping out of her hands tho. :mad: kill them lol
 
Again, as I stated before, I am in awe at your talent. Excellent job, sir, excellent job.

Wow...
 
Wow! Amazing piece of work!

I not sure what impresses me more...
1. your ability to sculpt anything from scratch or
2. your ability to think of such cool things to do with the stuff you sculpt

Also, I noticed the little water bubbles in the container. You really should (MUST) show us some pics of water flowing around the alien.
 
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