I stumbled upon Jan Rukr's '
Aliens Papercraft' website a few years ago. It's well worth a look. There are some impressive free models you can download & make including, a full scale model of the Pulse Rifle from the Aliens film. The only things missing from the site I felt, was the Aliens... So, I starting to formulate a cunning plan...
This image has always stuck with me for some reason? It's from issue 2 of Trident's Aliens comic, March 1991. Ambitious! I hear you say... well, in the end I though so too and opted for plan B...
A full scale paper Alien Facehugger in a cryogenic specimen tank... Say WHAT!! - I hear you say... Well, as I had mention earlier in my blog, Sketch-Up has enabled me to explore projects which I had previously abandoned...
I'm getting pretty good at Sketch up now don't you think? :-)
Finally! I'm starting to construct my initial paper mock-ups of both the tank and facehugger. I've had a lot of problems with Pepakura, unfolding my 3D computer models. For some reason this program really doesn't like curves plus I've exceeded it's polygon limit -Doh! So, some careful lateral thinking required here...
I've got enough information of this model into a 2 dimensional net patten now for me to be able to fill in the blanks by 'hand' as it t'were, changing these nets to include both proper curved surfaces and additional structural strength - as I've said before, it's one thing to model something on the computer, but when it's replicated in the 'real world' other constraints need to be taken into account like gravity for example - it has to be able to support it's own weight...
The face hugger on the other hand still needs a bit more work on the computer - I really want the tail and fingers jointed somehow - I know, I know, I'm insane... but I'm still thinking potential fan film here - and you know it's what you would need from a prop such as this... :-)
