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Hi everyone, so yeah I need a bit of help. This isn't a GW or other wargaming project, it's actually for something totally different - an 'Alien' diorama using one of NECA's 'Classic Alien Warrior' figures from the first film - but since it's only a modelling project that could easily be for Tyranids, I thought I'd ask you guys. I have attached images that show roughly what I'm wanting to achieve, in basic concept form using the box it came in. That's just to give you an idea of what I'm looking at.

So, I'm wanting to model a small section of roughly 12" tall and 8" wide spaceship interior wall. The diorama is the alien breaking through the wall to get to its prey, and as well as wanting to replicate the look of a spaceship, I need to convey clearly that this wall has been scratched and clawed apart. So, I need Dakka's help to make this look convincing. Here's what I'm wanting... (Oh, and excuse the pose of the Alien. I had him in the perfect position before and stupidly changed it and then couldn't get it back to how I wanted it. Oh well.)







How do I make a believeable-looking spaceship interior? I'm thinking of including mesh, piping etc. but is there anywhere you can point me to for help (I tried searching and only branded 28mm spaceship terrain was coming up) on making it look good? Tutorials and such? Or has anyone got any advice for me? It's really help with materials that I need the most, I've done terrain stuff in the past but it's all been natural landscape things or squared-off Imperial structures - nothing complicated like this. So does anyone know what materials would be best suited for making a sturdy-looking wall, but are flexible enough for me to damage and tear up? I was thinking Foamboard, the sturdiness it gives would be good and I could so easily replicate the acid blood that the aliens have that melts materials by simply spraying into the foam section. Thoughts on that?

Here's a reference picture of what part of the 'Nostromo' (the spaceship in 'Alien') looks like. It's very complicated and I wouldn't wish to try and replicate it to that level of detail, but something like it is what I'm aiming for. I've spolier'd it due to its size.



One last thing, it's going to be enclosed. So basically, you won't see out the back of the piece like you can in my basic concept images. I've going to seal the back section off but make it accessible because I want to install a light in it of some kind - I'm thinking a red LED light to put at the top of the interior above the alien but out of view and placed in a flashing pattern so it looks like warning light or something, I reckon that'd be pretty cool. Any ideas on that?

Cheers for any help in advance!

Nice project !
Do you have an idea of what the rough scale is ?

Foamcore should give you the cut and bend ability you are looking for. It's interior is foam, so it should lend itself to the melted / torn look pretty well. Give it a coat of acrylic matte medium before you paint it. Add a layer of cut-out sheet plastic or heavy card for more detail like integrated bulkheads.

The mesh available for latch hook at craft stores is a nice wall covering/ floor material.
Bendy straws make nice conduits. Use them combined with several widths of dowel rods to make pipe junctions.

Acrylic fibres can put light wherever you want it. A cheap source is those lamps from gift stores with the color changing acrylic fans.

Use your imagination as you look at scenes from the films. Sometimes a trip through the craft store will inspire you with the textures and shapes you are looking for.

Nijal wrote:Nice project !
Do you have an idea of what the rough scale is ?

Not really, sorry. I believe the Alien figure itself is approximately 9" tall, which I think puts it in scale with a 7" tall human (I might be wrong). What that works out to on the 1/nth scale I have no idea.

snurl wrote:Foamcore should give you the cut and bend ability you are looking for. It's interior is foam, so it should lend itself to the melted / torn look pretty well. Give it a coat of acrylic matte medium before you paint it. Add a layer of cut-out sheet plastic or heavy card for more detail like integrated bulkheads.

The mesh available for latch hook at craft stores is a nice wall covering/ floor material.
Bendy straws make nice conduits. Use them combined with several widths of dowel rods to make pipe junctions.

Acrylic fibres can put light wherever you want it. A cheap source is those lamps from gift stores with the color changing acrylic fans.

Use your imagination as you look at scenes from the films. Sometimes a trip through the craft store will inspire you with the textures and shapes you are looking for.

Excellent stuff, cheers for the info! Just the kinda stuff I was needing!

So the scale shoudl be roughly 1/10.
Maybe more successful searches can be done to find accessories, knowing it. But as far as I know the scale 1/10 is used mainly for RC cars.
Here's a link to some photetched parts that can be added to improve the textures of walls.
http://www.tankzone.co.uk/cart/16_pe_parts.htm

I have a couple of books about Alien (the original movie). They explicitly say that Ridley Scott (the director) asked the scenery and props people to "cramm the interior with all sorts of stuff" like it can be found on a World War 2 bomber. So tubing, wires, grids, panels, vents. Also the interior is full of warning signs, stencils, boxes, etc.

UPDATE: There is a store called Five Below that has Fibre Optic lamps for less than 5 dollars. Get thee there and light this thing up right.

Nijal wrote:So the scale shoudl be roughly 1/10.
Maybe more successful searches can be done to find accessories, knowing it. But as far as I know the scale 1/10 is used mainly for RC cars.
Here's a link to some photetched parts that can be added to improve the textures of walls.
http://www.tankzone.co.uk/cart/16_pe_parts.htm

I have a couple of books about Alien (the original movie). They explicitly say that Ridley Scott (the director) asked the scenery and props people to "cramm the interior with all sorts of stuff" like it can be found on a World War 2 bomber. So tubing, wires, grids, panels, vents. Also the interior is full of warning signs, stencils, boxes, etc.

Cheers about the scaling info, will defo give that link a look in. That's very interesting about the set design info. Doesn't surprise me based on the outcome of the ship design interior. It'd be great to represent it properly and do it justice, so I guess I'll just nail down the basic design of it, with the largest tubes/pipes/cabling etc. and then go back and add in more things to flesh it out and make it look similar.

snurl wrote:UPDATE: There is a store called Five Below that has Fibre Optic lamps for less than 5 dollars. Get thee there and light this thing up right.

Ah, cool! I'll give it all a look, definitely wanting to get this thing lighted up once it's done.