This is a cool thread.

Tail pictures as promised.

Battery pushes fully into the tail. The inside of the tail is pretty much gutted to fit the snail-fan inside. The tube carries the air up the back of the inside of the suit, and pumps air into the neck/head. If you look at the second picture, you should be able to see the switch which is quite easy for an Alien hand to switch on/off.

Just dont sniff the tail whilst glueing

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SSgt Kris "Bloodsucker" Kobus, VAS.
A09/TQ2.0.12136E1

Good idea, i like that. However as im still planning on having a semi-rigid tail i won't have the space in mine to do it. My idea for the tail now is to use plumbing tube instead of metal bar. I'll get some 1" tubing and heat it so i can bend it. The advtantage of using the pastic tubing is that it'll be lighter and it'll also have a lot more flex in it so it'll 'move about'. The plan is to leave a long tang of the plastic tube protruding from the end of the tail. This will again will be heated, bent up and then squashed flat. This will then attach to the back brace. On the front of the chest harness i'll be adding a chest-strap to stop the weight of the tail/back piece from dragging the chest up

That's the plan anyway

Got a fair bit done yesterday but didn't get many pictures. I've now fitted the neck inside the head. Man that was a BALL ACHE. I glued it inplace only to find the neck was at a bit of an angle and crumpled down the back of the neck. So i had to cut it back off and start again. I also lined it with some black linen cloth which allows you to see through but is very dark so you cannot see through it at all, even with a camera flash. The only thing i need to do now is add some foam on the inside to stop the fabric pressing against my eyes as it's a tad uncomforable.

I also sprayed the teeth silver and hand-painted a small area around the mouth black. This is so when i come to mask-off the teeth to spray the head i can simply mask off the entire jaw area. I need to get a smaller brush today to go between the teeth -



I also sat down last night and trimmed up the tail. This takes a good few hours as you have to get in between each of the 'vertebrae' to cut away the flashing. And there's lots of them !

Looking good.

Thinking about it if your using a PVC tube you could perforate it along it's length and draw fresh air down through it using a small fan at the base mounted on your back support.

I've got a big reel of Blue Alkathene pipe here.

Feel free to come and whip a length off it.

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You don't have to be pitilessly sadistic to work here.... But it helps.
http://www.chefs-creations.co.uk/shop/index.php/colonial-marine

http://www.kgbairsoft.com/wordpress

What sort of diameter is it ?

The awkward part is this; The tail is obviously foam filled but it's already got a hollow core (yey !). However . . . On the larger section the core is about 1" diameter, but then in the smaller section it goes down to about 3/4". So i either need two sections of differing diameters that i can stick insider one another or somehow cut a section from a single piece to make it fit in the smaller tube (if that all makes sense).

In fact i'll probably pop it over for you to have a look at tomorrow (assuming you're about)

Yeah, I'm about...

I've got two different diameters as it happens.

I use one length of it as a drain rod that goes underneath the driveway.
It's left over from when I put all the cabling in under path to the house. If you can use it, you can have as much as you need.

_________________
You don't have to be pitilessly sadistic to work here.... But it helps.
http://www.chefs-creations.co.uk/shop/index.php/colonial-marine

http://www.kgbairsoft.com/wordpress

Couple more bits done

Firstly i've done the feet. These are basically stretched over a pair of jazz boots i bought for a different costume. I've had to cut out the areas where the boot elastic is otherwise i can't get them on (the xeno feet are designed for size 8/9). Once they're painted etc you'll not notice -






I've also made headway with the tail. A trip to Chef's and a bit of experimenting with polythene piping and metal fuel line. A combination of both gives the tail a nice rigid shape -

looks good . how you going to do the little mouth ?

im not. doesnt come with one. in the future i'll probably get another head with a view to install animatronics.

Tail looks good...

Got my plastidip paint through so i've done the head, tail and feet today

Don't forget to add glitter Green and blue to the Varnish

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SSgt Kris "Bloodsucker" Kobus, VAS.
A09/TQ2.0.12136E1

Alien Selfie!

Looking awesome!

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Cpl Matthew Rendar. M56 smart gun operator. 2nd bat 7th colonial marines "Rendars Raiders "

So cool! I want to buy just a head and put it on my wall lol

Love it.. Keep up the great work

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A12/TQ1.0.22137E1
PVT. Schmaus, Christopher J.
2nd Batt 6th Regt
USS Tahoma

Not a great deal to report from the weekend. I planned to do a fair bit yesterday but instead spent the day nursing a crippling hangover

I did manage to get the back piece done on Saturday though. I used the 'dowels' method for attaching the horns to the back. You first need to peel the latex back from the edges a bit and trim some of the foam out first. Then cut a slit into the foam and glue a length of wooden dowel in. This gives it strengh and also allow a point to add screws into when you come to fit the harness. The horns were glued in place with contact adhesive then superglue around the edges. It's a surprising amount of work actually.

After it was fitted i then went around with the dremel grinding off the seams (which i should have done first).

Next job after painting will be to pick-up a harness and see how im going to attach the tail & chest section

Looks ace man. Amazed with how quickly it's coming together, it looks like a mammoth task! Keep the updates coming

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Si vis pacem, para bellum
SFC Steve "Fireball" Parsons - A08/TQ1.0.52150E1
69th Regt. 1st Batt. Homers Heroes

Have you decided on a name or collar colour yet?

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SSgt Kris "Bloodsucker" Kobus, VAS.
A09/TQ2.0.12136E1

I think we should call him "fluffy"

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You don't have to be pitilessly sadistic to work here.... But it helps.
http://www.chefs-creations.co.uk/shop/index.php/colonial-marine

http://www.kgbairsoft.com/wordpress

Fluffy begins with an F has to be and A

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SSgt Kris "Bloodsucker" Kobus, VAS.
A09/TQ2.0.12136E1

Instead of "Fluffy", how's about "Alopecia"?

Well after a two week holiday in Mexico i'm back and ready to crack on !

Today i attached the chest to the back plate -



Then shortened the wooden dowels from the horns to attach a section of 2mm ABS (left over from stormtrooper building). Note i've also use a short section of 40mm pipe and 'split' it over the plastic plate. This then allows me to attach the tang from the tail. I'll put another one at the bottom. This allows the tail to swing side-to-side slightly as you walk. The tail is rigid -



This then gives you a secure anchor point to attach the harness (necessary due to the weight of the tail/back piece) -



The belt of the harness will be worn around my chest instead of my waist. This means it can't ride up and allow the back to slip down. It also means the belt will be totally hidden under the chest section