The discussion of the Alien series of films and the props used in them is the aim, but if it's got Big Bugs and Big Guns, then they are welcome too!





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 Post subject: Recreating fantasy: the Autotracking smart-gun
PostPosted: Mon Oct 09, 2017 1:08 am 

Service Number: A05/TQ2.0.32141E1
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OK I have done some initial digging on how to make a real looking smart auto gun:

Face tracking Pan/Tilt for raspberry pi:
https://www.instructables.com/id/Pan-Ti ... pberry-pi/

Honestly it would probably be more fun to adapt the wii nunchuck controlled predator cannon setup for this.

I am not enough of a gun nut to know what the mount tripod they used in the movie is called. I need help there.

I also need help in finding out what the weight of the auto tracking gun was so I can see how big of a servo I need.

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 Post subject: Re: Recreating fantasy: the Autotracking smart-gun
PostPosted: Mon Oct 09, 2017 4:09 am 

Location: ATX
Country: United States
Dayum. That's sweet.

Where do you guys recommend newbies start when they want to get into builds like this.
Like seasoned DIYers who have no coding experience?

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 Post subject: Re: Recreating fantasy: the Autotracking smart-gun
PostPosted: Mon Oct 09, 2017 10:32 am 

Service Number: A05/TQ2.0.32141E1
Country: United States
Red_2 wrote:
Dayum. That's sweet.

Where do you guys recommend newbies start when they want to get into builds like this.
Like seasoned DIYers who have no coding experience?


adafruit.com forums
instructables. which is part of autodesk AKA auto cad.
arduino.cc
raspberrypi.org

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Last edited by knoxvilles_joker on Mon Oct 09, 2017 4:45 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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PostPosted: Mon Oct 09, 2017 1:12 pm 

Location: ATX
Country: United States
Ah, thanks Knoxville!

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 Post subject: Re: Recreating fantasy: the Autotracking smart-gun
PostPosted: Fri Oct 13, 2017 1:07 am 

Service Number: A05/TQ2.0.32141E1
Country: United States
Does anyone know what the tripod base was for the smart gun in aliens?

I know they used something off the shelf for that and then built on top of it.

In all honesty the base really makes the gun, I can skimp on some other detail, but the base has to be uber realistic to really pull off the prop recreation.

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PostPosted: Fri Oct 13, 2017 2:52 pm 
Mad Cat
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Location: Active duty: USS Catalpa
Service Number: AO3/TQ6.0.79749E8
Country: United States
I don't think anyone has I.D. it as an every-day item. It was probably custom built.

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 Post subject: Re: Recreating fantasy: the Autotracking smart-gun
PostPosted: Fri Oct 13, 2017 4:19 pm 

Service Number: A05/TQ2.0.32141E1
Country: United States
Do we know anyone that has dimensions or information about n who built them?

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PostPosted: Fri Oct 13, 2017 8:56 pm 
Mad Cat
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Nothing concrete or official. There is the NECA 1:12 scale sentry gun (which I believe so far, is the ONLY model that has ever been released) that was just released, you could find out the height of Goldstein and Paxton and scale it from there.

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 Post subject: Re: Recreating fantasy: the Autotracking smart-gun
PostPosted: Fri Oct 13, 2017 9:11 pm 

Service Number: A05/TQ2.0.32141E1
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I have that unit. And the top part I can scale. The base as it is all steel will be easier to source as a fabbed unit. I seem to recall seeing that base in use in some WWII and Vietnam movies but can't remember what gun it goes with.

Also during that time that kind of base type was seen with some RPG, AA, and fixed sentry points.

I need to watch diehard to see what they used in that movie I suppose.

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PostPosted: Thu Oct 19, 2017 2:30 pm 
Mad Cat
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If the tri-pod for the sentry guns is a find item, I can only imagine how expensive it would be too ship. That's assuming the price for the item alone isn't sky-high.

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 Post subject: Re: Recreating fantasy: the Autotracking smart-gun
PostPosted: Thu Oct 19, 2017 5:00 pm 

Service Number: A05/TQ2.0.32141E1
Country: United States
Looking at sourcing and building myself. Thinking toilet flange for the servo rotation point. Use some couplers and reducers at the top part. Use a satellite dish mount for the bottom pipe base and then build up from there. Find some 35 degree joist pieces for the bracket. on the swing out arms, 1x1 for the arms, another toilet flange for the holes for the swivel storage option on the tripod with a 3 inch pipe for the center section. The back piece I could do in wood.

For the top pieces I would micrometer out the dimensions and build out of cardboard and coat with metal duct tape and then paint. I might use some luon board pieces for the screw in parts for access and realism.

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 Post subject: Re: Recreating fantasy: the Autotracking smart-gun
PostPosted: Sun Oct 29, 2017 7:47 pm 

Service Number: A05/TQ2.0.32141E1
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Looks like this might work:

https://github.com/digitalpeer/raspberrypi-motion

Will have to work on this after I finish the cannon parts up.

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 Post subject: Re: Recreating fantasy: the Autotracking smart-gun
PostPosted: Sun Nov 19, 2017 3:32 pm 

Service Number: A05/TQ2.0.32141E1
Country: United States
Looks like this is my best option for pan-tilt options...

http://www.trossenrobotics.com/p/phanto ... urret.aspx

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 Post subject: Re: Recreating fantasy: the Autotracking smart-gun
PostPosted: Mon Nov 20, 2017 12:56 pm 

Service Number: A05/TQ2.0.32141E1
Country: United States
Each servo is about 300. Read up on it and the servo alone mounted properly can lift 50 kilos without issue:

http://www.robotshop.com/en/torxis-high ... embly.html

All steel design.

I could not find recoil figures on the mg42.

This:
https://www.musiclessons.com/youtube/wa ... fJkU4Sah8I

Seems to show that the recoil is not too terrible...

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