Hello everyone!
I'm a newcomer member to the forum, but I've been aware of it for sometime ever since I started making serious work into putting together my own USCM kit starting with obtaining a M41A Pulse Rifle.
I am a big fan of both the Aliens and Predator series, with involvement in many conventions that have happened in Western Australia and attended conventions right around the country (even little Ai-Con in Tasmania). It's only been in the last few years that I've had the capital to seriously work on my USCM kit because I wanted to go the whole hog on this:
Sean's interview at PAX East 2012 I credit the most to pushing my plans into overdrive once I got the income to do it.
So far with my work I have based it on Private Tim Crowe and Corporal Dwayne Hicks with some personal choice flair. This is what I have to date:
* M41A Pulse Rifle from Hollywood Collectable Group ("Brown Bess" standard edition, #383 of 1000)
* M1911A pistol with wooden grip from Denix
* Canadian Browning Hi-Power pistol from Denix
* Yang Kai Rifle Shotgun (airsoft/water common shots)
* US Army hip holster, belt and two-magazine pouch (Vietnam war era, bought it from a retired soldier; using it for the M1911A)
* US Army helicopter pilot shoulder holster (Vietnam war era, bought it from a retired soldier; even had field repairs; using it for the Browning Hi-Power)
* USCM Military patches (official, from Aliens: Colonial Marines)
* US army pants, correct forest camouflage style (army surplus)
* Panasonic WiFi digital video camera with night vision to fit into the "Pentax" camera cover so I have a working video I can live stream/webcast
* Two GoPro cameras to eventually put on the armor
* Motion Tracker software to use on a portable device for my motion tracker prop (under construction)
With work in progress being:
* Working motion tracker with sound (hell of a time finding the right drill to use as the frame, even with dumpster diving/landfill hunting, so I'm using a wrecked Hitachi VTP-13A impact drill)
* Leather shoulder holster for the shotgun (outsourcing)
* Life monitor overlay software to use with my Panasonic WiFi digital video camera (experimenting with an LG Lifeband Touch; may change sync device) for the live stream/webcast
And still to obtain:
* US Army helmet with correct forest camouflage style (negotiating to buy it)
* Pentax helmet camera cover (need to build it due to Panasonic custom job I'm going to try)
* USCM armor (need to build or outsource; I want it to be armor-grade and am prepared to pay for it)
* Army shirt (easy enough to get on surplus)
* Frost's shirt (easy enough to get as a replica)
* Army boots (easy enough to get on surplus)
* Racal Amplivox Minilites headset (probably have to settle for a replica if I can't fluke one tucked away at a call centre somewhere...)
* Shoulder lamp (need to build)
* Grenades (need to build, might skip)
* Torch-Welder (need to build, might skip)
For the pistols I
really wanted to stay true to the movie and get a Smith & Wesson 39 (Vasquez's pistol from Aliens of course), but I've had a hell of a time doing it in Australia due to our gun control laws. I'm confident with my connections I'll get a deactivated one eventually (or get my gun permits), but if I don't succeed at least I have the Denix pistols.
For the shotgun the Yang Kai Rifle Shotgun is the closest "convention safe" match I've found to the Ithaca 37 that Hicks used, but I'll need to cut down the barrel length to be more accurate. And since my "Brown Bess" isn't "convention safe", eventually I'll have to cough up for one of the recently released Aliens Stunt Pulse Rifle from HCG.
My aim is to eventually get this finished and go for the most accurate USCM kit in the southern hemisphere. Lofty goal? Sure, but I figured since I've already committed so much money to this pet project I might as well go all the way. I'm already working on rebuilding an Aliens vs Predator Arcade 3-player "Big Blue" cabinet from scratch so it's 1-1 accurate after scoring an August 1994 release of the CPS2 board and game unit to go with my Atari Jaguar mint-condition copy of Alien vs Predator... along with the rest of my Alien/Predator collection. Heck, I'd stick Billy's knife from Predator on my armor if I could get away with it.
And when I'm done I'll take it to the outside of a convention to show off a little but there isn't a chance in hell they'd let me in with the metal weaponry.