Aaron has a D shaped carabiner (carbine hook) on his belt with a key chain hanging from it.
I'm sure to have a photo somewhere... I'll be back.

...and here I am.

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"The other Gareth"

Now then... Andrews' pouch.

It's made of heavy ripstop fabric and attached around his waist with a separate belt with QR type buckle, like a 'fanny pack'/'bum bag'.

Again... Somewhere I have photos.

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"The other Gareth"

...and in other news...

I found my old camping mug

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"The other Gareth"

Great information Gareth! You are a treasure trove of details.

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My entry-level prop and costume tutorials: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=12751

I've been collecting for many years

I'm only too happy to share the wealth!

Now I need some of those rather lovely coffee cups...


Somebody did identify them but they were a touch expensive.

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"The other Gareth"

Thank you for all this information!

Was this pouch a repurposed military surplus item of some kind or a production-made film-dedicated item?

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“How do you know my name?“

“It's stenciled on the back of your shorts.“

My pleasure!

Now, that I don't know for certain. But given how much was made for the film - the trousers, the prisoner 'hoodies', the long coats, all the kit for the commandos & handlers - and the fact that there is no evidence of any sort of label on that pouch (nor any old stitching holes where one might have been removed) I wouldn't be surprised to find that it was custom made.

I've got a long experience with military equipment and I would expect to see a label smack in the middle of the back of a pouch like that.

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"The other Gareth"

Thanks for this. It’s a mysterious prop. I notice now from your photos that it appears to have a three press button closure, not two press buttons as I had thought before. That’s interesting if true.

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“How do you know my name?“

“It's stenciled on the back of your shorts.“

So I wrote Ralph Brown (Aaron) about the thing on his belt and he wrote me back, saying "That was a keychain. Warders always have those. I actually don’t remember it at all to be honest."

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My entry-level prop and costume tutorials: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=12751

Wow Retrogarde, thanks for sharing that! That’s really cool you contacted him. I’m really surprised that he replied. That’s very good of him.

It’s interesting that he can apparently simultaneously both remember and not remember what the item was!

I really like his character and also superintendent Andrews. I loved Brian Glover as the irascible and violent neighbor Mr. Rottweiler in the TV show ‘Bottom’. His voice is just so great!

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“How do you know my name?“

“It's stenciled on the back of your shorts.“

I'm going to jump in on this thread! I'm going to shoot myself in the foot here and say that "I have never really cared for Alien 3". Yup. I said it. Now to redeem myself. I had seen it when I was young and it just didn't grab my attention. I then purchased it on DVD several years ago to complete the trilogy, and I watched it, and it again didn't catch my attention. I watched it again last week and loved it. Go figure, right? I think the crappy alien stop motion really turned me off. I looked past that this time and saw all of the beauty of the film that had previously been overshadowed. When the end credits rolled I decided that I needed the jacket myself. I have sourced a lot of the stuff I need to make one, but I do have one hang up. The new production jackets by Alpha Industries have fur inside the hood that matches the color of the coat. At least that's the way it appears on their website. Does anybody have any suggestions on staining or dying the fake fur in the hood to the correct brownish color? I plan on using this as an every day winter coat, so something that doesn't make the fur feel gross would be preferable lol.

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Dustin (Stretch) Snelgrove

The fur lining in all the old sage coloured jackets I've seen is in fact a dark grey, not brown. My jacket is 1972 and the fur is grey.

Judging colour is difficult in film as we know...
For a long time many people thought the Nostromo jackets were brown. In fact they're blue.
The whole Brown Bess / Olive Drab debate was another classic example.

I don't believe that the fur in the screen-used jackets was brown.

I think this photo most closely shows the colour as lifelike as possible and matches nicely to my eye with my old jacket.


Towards the later part of the film the fur in Aaron's jacket has been scorched and his whole costume has received some blood staining - the fur on the right side in particular has then taken on a red tone.

Ripley's jacket shows signs of having been heavily 'dirtied'.


Looking at the buttons in particular I'd say that's had a misting spray of black paint.

The weathering could account for the additional browny-dirty appearance of the fur in some scenes.

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"The other Gareth"

Whilst I'm going through my collection of images...

There was some discussion last week about the random pouches on Troy's jacket...





Definitely a canteen pouch and what looks to me to be a US Individual First Aid Kit (IFAK) pouch.

https://www.google.com/search?q=vietnam ... H4OGsbeVeM

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"The other Gareth"

I believe you are correct, WDI. The fur looks brown or close to brown in a lot of shots, but very well could appear that way due to lighting and weathering. And I believe you are right in that the vintage jackets did have a grey fur lining in them (though sometimes it appears brown in some photos, probably due to lighting or color washout from surroundings lol). I'm keeping my eye on eBay to see if a vintage Alpha jacket pops up in my size, but I may have to buy new and figure out the fur issue then.

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Dustin (Stretch) Snelgrove

Hi Zombieinthehat, why don’t you get a used Alpha N2B on eBay? Originals have the correct color fur. It would be simpler than re-coloring one.

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“How do you know my name?“

“It's stenciled on the back of your shorts.“

I am keeping my eye on eBay in the hopes of finding a vintage jacket. So far, I have only found vintage jackets in the standard mil-surp sizes of small and medium. Everything I have seen over that is either new or the wrong color. I am going to be needing a 2xl. I'm still holding onto the hope that I can find one.

Edit: I actually did just find one. I have to get through Christmas before I can really think about purchasing a jacket. I'm going to keep looking at eBay for the next couple of weeks and see how many larger sizes pop up. I may regret not getting this one right now lol.

Edit Edit: Nope, the one I found is just used, not vintage.

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Dustin (Stretch) Snelgrove

A slip while trying to change a tire at night in the rain has added some unplanned realism to my costume. The color will fade over time, but I kind of like the effect. This is right down the front zipper cover.

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My entry-level prop and costume tutorials: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=12751

Car battery acid is also very effective at weathering these jackets. Ask me how I know...
Fortunately for me it was only the bottom corner of the storm flap which got burned.

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"The other Gareth"

Hey, Retrogarde, the real life distressing looks great!

@Gareth, thanks for posting the photos of the jacket with the attached pouches and for confirming their origins! Those jackets look amazing. It’s incredible how different the color is to what I had thought. Troy’s jacket looked black to me in the still but it is clearly a shade of olive drab.

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“How do you know my name?“

“It's stenciled on the back of your shorts.“

There's a funny mix of colours... Most of them are a drab olive/grey, but one sold with Ripley's costume is definitely brown.

They're on my list to recreate at some point. It's a very strange design. I'd love to have one in my hands.

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"The other Gareth"

Yeah, those prisoner jackets look almost like they are, or were patterned off of anyway, a removable liner for another jacket.

Edit: I haven't narrowed it down, but I'm finding a lot of jackets that are close. Quilted Bomber Jacket is what I'm searching. Considering the movie was filmed in the UK, it could be of British military design.

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Dustin (Stretch) Snelgrove

It's definitely not one of ours.

It doesn't really strike me as something which would have been military issue because it's such a weird and awkward design. I think, like the trousers and so much else in the movie, that they were probably custom made.

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"The other Gareth"

I agree with this. They do not seem to be a military surplus item.

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“How do you know my name?“

“It's stenciled on the back of your shorts.“

You guys are probably correct. The design very much looks like pattern used for quilted bomber or flight jackets, just with the front zipper and the collar removed. And the quilting is tighter together like you see on more of the British garments. U.S. quilting is usually much larger. But the elastic on the waist looks "higher quality" than anything I usually see on military garments. And then the sleeves... The sleeves look like sleeves from a sweatshirt. It's very much it's own creature, that's for sure.

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Dustin (Stretch) Snelgrove

It would be amazing if you were to recreate that garment. I would be interested in one.

I like them better than the trench coats but the trench coats are still very interesting. I read in an interview with Charles Dance (unless I’m confusing the interview with that of another cast member) that the trench coats were made from surplus British military tents. Their construction is really detailed. I absolutely love the wooden toggles and canvas loops affixed with rivets used to close the coat, fasten rolled up sleeves and attach the hoods. The trench coats in terms of material, design and construction - like so many other props and costumes in the film - are very evocative, in my opinion, of early to mid 20th century European fashions. It is such a neat choice to go in that aesthetic direction and carries a lot of meaning, yet another layer of subtext in the film.

_________________
“How do you know my name?“

“It's stenciled on the back of your shorts.“