Hey. After a months of searching and alot of luck i have all the main parts required to build a shoulder lamp.
After seeing how much the intruder alarm sells for recently i am already leaning towards buying one of chefs great shoulder lamp casts and not destroying these original parts. Im just wondering what other opinions would be. Whether you would build or not.
Thanks

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Happy Happy, Joy Joy

That's a really tough call.

Maybe keep that display as-is and buy a resin kit?

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

Oh my, that is a tough one. Personally I don't think I could bring myself to 'build it'.

I faced a similar situation (but nearly as intense as your call) when I acquired the ultra rare SL85 calulator with full intentions to use it on my tracker. However, when the time came to cut out the button panel I wussed out. Right now it is displayed in its original (and excellent condition) form next to the tracker. In general going forward I am leaning toward collecting original pieces and trying to display them next to complete/resin ones as a "how it was made" kind of setup.

Personally I would just display those beauties next to a resin one if you have the space, but I wouldn't blame you one bit if you built it. Very tempting.

Tough call indeed!

Luckily I don't have to do any hacking for myself, I've enlisted another member here and her husband to build my tracker, another tracker which I've been acquiring parts for, and my resin tracker. But I still feel really guilty about deciding the fate of each part I paid good money for! Bigbisont mentioned his feelings on the Casio SL-85 as hard to bear... I feel the same. It was such a relief to FINALLY get one since it was my last part needed. But once I was holding it, I was like... "Do I really want to cut up this pristine relic? That I paid $75 for just to cut out a tiny piece of vinyl??"... I decided it was worth it. I convinced myself that having something from ALIENS made EXACTLY like the film was the holy grail.

So I'm gonna be the minority and say GO FOR IT! You don't really need a diving torch (Unless you're a diver!) but every Colonial Marine needs a little light to navigate those dark corridors!

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Lt. Melissa L. Klassen, ALG
AL Colonial Admin. - Executive Officer (XO) -- 2021-2022
RCCM | Royal Canadian Colonial Marines - Commanding Officer (CO) -- 2021-2022

Read the AL Charter Rules & Regulations: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1i3gd9QUyIqI_6rfk8kpxspbKU-JT4MBAjLPxfCkvGJ8

Grow a pair and build it. No Marine needs a reflecta lamp or a dive torch or an intruder alarm. But Marine needs a shoulder lamp made of real parts.
If I had my way all my parts and greeblies would be real.

Had the same dilemma when I bought my SPH4 helicopter helmet, it came with actual combat provenance from Vietnam, the American pilots name, his unit the lot. So keep it as is due to its historic interest or chop it?

Chopped it, I bought it to make a dropship helmet and that's what it is now and I love it bits!! ☺

Why in the world would at out of date room alarm cost so much? Is it because of ALIENS? I can't think of any other reason why.

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"Awww, someone tell me that's a boot!

It's a boot!"

III drops

Oh I'm sure thats it 100%. Alien fans are a bunch of lunatics . Crazy how most of this stuff could be in a cardboard box at a flea market and more than 99% of the world's population wouldn't pay $1 for it, but a small group of devoted fans will fight tooth and nail in a bitter frenzy driving the price to insane levels. Rather hilarious in a way.

Certain things deserve to be preserved.
The price of Graflex flash battery tubes went through the roof when vintage camera collectors and preservers learned a bunch of fanboys were buying them and butchering them to make some stupid replica of a fictional laser sword...!! Thankfully, some pragmatic prop replicator started selling repro handles specifically for Lightsabre fans.

So too, people get a bit narked when they hear you took an original museum quality M69 Flak Vest for some "childish dressing up" purpose.

If there's a collectors' market for something, I feel we have a responsibility to help protect and avoid destroying an item that may have as much value to those collectors as we'd have for an orginal 'lump of latex' with eight legs and a tail... especially if there are repro alternatives available to us.

Well that's the thing. Most parts of props go for next to nothing until someone finds out it's part of a movie prop. THEN people get all interested in "preserving" them.

It's like Shelby lamented. If the helmet was really that important, and didn't want it to end up in the wrong hands, someone should have held onto it.

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"Awww, someone tell me that's a boot!

It's a boot!"

III drops

I really thought about this myself. I find that it is easier to go with cast resin replicas. If you really want to help, get 3-d scans of the object and build them for 3-d printing on thing verse.

I am going to buy a chef's shoulder lamp next year. Unfortunately my costume this year will be lack luster accessory wise due to money and time.

If anyone needs help with their builds email or pm me. I will assist where I can. Some of the parts scrounging is maddening.

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The impossible takes a while longer and goes over budget too...

I meant where something itself is already a collectors item in itself.
Imagine a highly sought after $2,000 Rolex in near-perfect condition - Imagine ripping it apart for a 10-cent cog and binning the rest.
That's what I'm talking about.


Depends if the seller knows what they've got. There are whole TV shows about people buying 'useless junk' and antiques for pennies and making a fortune from reselling, because they know what it's worth while the people they buy it from don't.
Time was, you could buy a Seiko Pulsemeter for 8 Euros... just 8.
Now they cost hundreds.

The way i look at it is, are you happy with your purchase as it is or do you want something more from it. If you are happy to have it on display next to a resin replica, you go for it, it will still be cool and the items may even increase in value, however it will still be an intruder alarm and a divers torch. Chopped it will probably be a monetary loss however you will own a shoulder lamp made up of original parts, not too many of those about.
Using my SPH4 for an example, cost a fortune to buy however bought it to be converted so i did, there are thousands still out there for the Vietnam re-enactor boys to collect so had no issues with hacking it up. Now this is what makes it special to me, not the fact it belonged to some old Vietmam chopper pilot but that after it was modded it was signed whilst being worn by daughter by Collette Hiller and so now means so much more to me than its would ever have in its original state.
It's really down to you as the present owner to what you think, and feel you want from your props.

Thanks for the replys. I knew it would be a mixed bag! It just so happens in the last week i had another lucky buy and picked up another super switch alarm for a steal! And i thought they were rare!
Now i will use this one for a shoulder lamp build

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Happy Happy, Joy Joy

Jeez dude! Go buy a lottery ticket while you're at it, you've got the luck!

Also, that first SuperSwitch you got is a great Aliens prop as-is too. They had them in the hallway in Hadley's Hope straight out of the box. Must have gotten a good deal on them buying in bulk!

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Good idea retrogarde. I will do that tomorrow! With the luck i have who knows Yeah that is the reason I will keep the first find as it is because it's a prop in its self!

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Happy Happy, Joy Joy

Does anyone have the dimensions for the shoulder lamp "box" (the part that attaches to the armor)? I want to build one from scratch and if I just knew the width, I could extrapolate the rest. Please advise! Thanks

JiM, here are all the dimensions you'll need, good luck!

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=6916&hilit=shoulder+lamp+dimensions

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That's perfect! Thanks greatly! You rock!