sonny

Thanks, ok thats a good idea about drillings holes first then cutting. I know about the flange holes as a friend done that to his race car so inderstand the process and yes detail would be lost so not worth doing. Looks like i will have to persevere and get motivated and get drilling lol.

Thanks guy, thats very similar but not in "I" beam style more like Meccano, however meccano is way to big. Hmmmm the search continues

Hope posted in right area. Im after small plastic strips with holes in, like what you find on the inside of the aircraft frame (I dont know correct name). I have tried evergreen who supply a lot of small plastic parts but no joy. I have tried making them but lets say they didnt come out as expected :/ Ideally for 1/72 / 1/100 sale

Before or after painting the frame? Thanks for the tip

Thank you, just looking forward to final prep and painting.

Front Landing Gear One thing I noticed when watching the movie to enhance the front landing gear, was there are more than one type used, depending on what scale model. It seems the smaller scale dropships have reinforcement rods or mechanical rods to make the landing gear move, not totally sure. I wanted to include this in my build with any other detail from the other scale models, so I am basically combining all of landing gears used into one for a maximum detailed piece. Rods can be seen in these close up screen shots (sorry for bad pics) Showing the 2 studio scale models, note the small one bottom left of pic. ..and landing gear done. Added additional detail to the inside of the landing gear housing, the Oleo struts actually work and so does the hinge as I got a little carried away, these will be fixed in eventually for durability . Detail of hinge, which clips onto the longitudinal brass rod located in the housing.

Side missile wings This is where I am with the missile wings, been thickened up. Just needs poly filling and smoothing off. Missiles will be custom jobbies (more on that later).

Picked up on this project again after the Christmas break, where I have been doing "bits" to this here and there, and not really worthy of an update. So where are we at the moment, I redesigned the missile pylon hinges as I was happy with the angle that sat at (to high) when deployed, I will leave that for another update. So my attention turned towards the missile pods themselves. Missile Pod redesign Looking at the original items used on the movie is seems there was a few variants, in terms of details, such as the smaller model and the large model used. Few shots Studio model Studio model (on display) Prop from one of the original model, scale unknown I new pods will mostly be rebuilt enabling a lip to surround the external part of the pod allowing the 2 large inner blocks to be retained when in the closed position, these fouled on the models hull when closed, making them not close probably. (was a choice to have them on or off when building the original model). Mk88. launch bins added I wanted to make the tips of the missiles of the mk88's bins poke though so I made a crude missile rack from cocktail sticks and lots of superglue. Next job was is the upper MK10. Missile silo Mk10. Missile rack prob from movie (scale unknown) Out come the trusty cocktail sticks Mocked in position Rear vent view, needs a bit of jigging, but pretty happy with that. Not a bad fit So that is it for the pods, the 16 missiles (32 in total) and rack mounts will be built up from scratch after I have done the hull which will be some time yet.

Amazing work!!!

Looks great cant wait to see this finished

Hi, yes this one indeed, its a very good build, I see you ised the Gonzio ACP, im in two minds weather to use that or fork out for a Aoshima diacast one. i have the 1/100 variant Kaomi thats looks ok when on the ramp but the scale nazis would sloughter it.. I noticed you put the extra Oleo piston on the rear, just like how it should. 6 Dropships were used on the set of aliens with 3 different mix of scales and all these had slight differences, esp around the landing gear areas (to the eagle eyed). Did you use the same pin hinges?

Toothpast is good esp on car headlight, but I found it to be too course on anything else, the Megs product I had in the garage anyway and also has added polishing benefits like leaving a good shine.

Looks like a great kit! Nice paint job too.

Rear AFT Ski development The rear landing gear (AFT Ski) was next, I wanted it to look more like the movie option than the actually CMTM and other renditions, this has seen a few options. So this will be based on the studio model and the 1;1 studio prop and will contain extra detail. Side elevation of AFT Ski, this is different from OOB option. How it looks OOB, with just added rear Hydraulic cylinder and hyrdo hoses Screen shot from the movie showing hoses in and around the AFT strut. Reworked ski platform, chopped front end and top rail replaced with metal rail and additional hydraulic cylinders with hydro hoses and rear flap with lightweight side holes drilled Next was to jazz up the undercarriage around the AFT strut support, again this has been left disconnected for ease of paint and prep stage.

Some of the eagle eye among you will notice that I have painted the body again, this was done as a base coat a few months back, since then I have I wasn't happy with how it looked so then went back to the drawing board to continue to develop the build. Rotating Missile Pylons I wanted to be able to rotate the larger missile pylons, The model OOB lets you decide if you want them open or closed but you have to glue them in place for the open option or making very basic alterations to the pylon ends in order to locate to the hull. However I wanted to use a hinged method, one that would be hard wearing and easy to use. I tried numerous of methods, different hinges, fabric hinge, tape etc, but wasn't happy with the results, mainly due to the spring action on some of the plastic hinges, some of them being too big and on show. I then tried the Kavan pin hinges, bit of a result as they seemed perfect for the job, hope was not lost after all. Plastic hinge plates connected by copper pin, cut to size A slot was then cut into the hull join and enlarged, alignment at this stage was critical, best done with the pylon in with a small spot of glue holding the hinge in place first and marked with a pencil so the hinge can be glued fully in place when pylon is removed. I then beveling the sides of the hull so the center point of the pin hinge runs vertically in line with the body, otherwise it wont open fully at the correct angle. Hinge dropped in for final test adjustment Inside the hull, this was fixed in with superglue, this had to be done at this stage before the internal hull panels get put in place. Sorry about the state of that interior, that was from the previous look. Hinge now joined to the missile pylon from the inside, and also beveled recess for the hinge to sit in. The outside face was also filed to get the correct angle, this is necessary due to the outside "angled wedge" that comes with the kit, this has to be removed. In place when deployed, unfortunately I had to remove some of the plasticard in the pylon arm to gain access, so this will have to be replaced at a later date. ..and frontal view, the angle could do with being a "smidgen" open, but that will do at the moment, time to work on the other side, then do all the fine adjustments so they are equal to the eye. Once they are done, I will then simply pull the copper rod out of the hinges so the pylons can come away from the main body to make it easy for paint and prep, Overall i'm happy with that, and relieved too, the hinges also have natural movement (end float) so the pylons can wriggle into the closed position so these are not too rigid, which will be ideal. The missile pods will be totally reworked individual 32 Banshee missiles (a common thing to do on these), and smaller individual MK.88 Launch bins.

Hydraulic Cylinders to missile wings I wanted to add extra detail to this build, so gathering as much info as possible regarding the Dropship layout and internals, including blue prints, artists renditions etc, I came across what looks like Hydraulic Cylinders under the front expanding missile wings like so. Below, front cover of the Aliens Colonial Marines Technical Manual (CMTM) can be seen here circled in red. Although the Dropship shown is a slight different rendition of the one used in the movie, however I still want to combine both for maximum added effect for a hyper detailed model. This is a front view of the ship, that is found in the CMTM which I thought also showed the pistons, but i'm pretty sure its the rear wings. ( I only realised this after I had made the pistons) doh. However it still gives an idea as to what it would look like. Movable hydraulic cylinders made up to fit when in the open and closed positions. When the time comes to attach these for good I will cut down the rods and splay the ends out to act as a crimp (any other ideas?). These are currently off the model and will be attached for good prior to paint, so no other pics im afraid at this stage. One thing to watch will be when it comes to painting the internal hydraulic rod, paint may be too thick so will be using ink washes, again any tips/ideas? I have accepted it wont be chrome for obvious reasons.

Feb 2015 Air Brakes One of the main aims of this Dropship was to have everything on display and have the ability to open and close, such as the missile wings and pylons, however things like the ramp and landing gear will be fixed for obvious reasons. Things like the fuel flaps will be open, and the stairs deployed etc This come to the Exhaust/air brakes as I wanted these deployed, so it looked like its just landed (the thrust nozzles will also be pointing downwards). Pretty happy with that, simple but effective mod.

Hello all, Thought it was about time I signed up and posted up my WIP pics of my Halcyon 1:72 Aliens Dropship that I have been working on over the past few months. At the start of the year I was cleaning out an old cupboard at my folks where I came across my old Aliens Dropship from 1993, it was wedged for years (22 years to be precise) against the wall and a storage box, over the decades bits had fallen off and was looking pretty sorry for itself. After much searching for parts that had come adrift, I was only missing 2 minor components (will cover that later). So I decided to rescue it, strip it down and reassemble with a fresh paint job to become a display piece in my living room, seeing as i'm a massive Aliens fan, I thought it would be rude not to ( along with some other Halcyon kits I have). After browsing the web and seeing a few other Dropships (including one from here), it motivated me to take it to the next level, so I am planning on going full out with the hyper detail (so to speak) and realism. Not being a modeler, having only dabbled in the old Rogue Trader days of 40k/GW this should be a decent task, esp as there are no time deadlines to adhere to First of all let me apologise for the picture quality as they were taken on my 4 year old iphone for my own reference. So this is how she looked after 22 years of neglect January 2015 After collecting together all the piece, the time was now to see what parts of the plastic could be separated without damaging any of the parts and also to strip off any of the old paint, I remember I never undercoated this, just 2 base coats. Nail varnish remove (acetone) was used and did a pretty good job, including weakening the "most" of the glue in order to remove parts and to fill any gaps at a later stage. ..and all the parts stripped down and paint removed (majority of it anyway) you will notice the canopy has fogged, I made the mistake of using the acetone on it, my heart skipped a beat. ...HOWEVER all was not lost as I knew a trick to remove that (bottom right of pic). Everything in that pic was stuck, and couldn't come apart, so this build now will take place half assembled, as I would learn this had pro's and con's (but more pro's). After a check I was missing 3 missiles inc the panel, one of the 5x4 missile head panels that go in the from of the missile pylon and a wedged item that sits on the outer pylon to give it its angle when deployed. All these will be made up from plastic card and greenstuff. There was however collateral damage, one of the from landing gear panels had snapped, so plasticard will fix that. Next step was to tackle that hazed over canopy, so popped into the Garage for the trusty Megs headlight restorer, its basically a very mild cutting paste, rubbed this in with a lint free cloth, took about 20 min but came up a treat, so panic over and lesson learnt, Thanks for reading Sonny More updates to follow.