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I have been tossing this one around for a while and after seeing Skoda, over at Zealot build his, I decided to throw my hat in the ring as well. The model can be found over at the ALIENS paper craft site. http://aliens.humlak.cz/ When you get to the main site, it will be on the right side. You will have to play with site a little but it is there. When you download the plans, it will be about 1/48th scale. Go to your printers property and change the orientation to landscape. The model will now be about 1/35th scale. It will be large enough for the details and the tabs will be easier to control at this size. This is the beginning and I have about 80 photos to edit and the build is not half done yet. The teaser is, I am surprised as to how it is coming out. I use almost all of the printed plans but there is an abundance of scratch built material to play around with. And lastly, thanks Rukr for the design, I will try to do justice to your creation.

following this for sure

 Viktor von Domm wrote:
following this for sure

Thanks for looking in Viktor. This thread will have an abundance of scratch built parts in it. More to come

Here is where the scratch build takes place. There are two sheet plans for the floor templates and for instruments and signs The engine panels are a bit too dark in one page. I increased the clarity for them on the other page but the floor grates came out too light. The tabs in the wheel well are not visible from the inside and this will help in the detailing of the interior later on. The back walls of the wheel wells are the throw away parts rescued and placed as the backing for the wells. the dark panels are glued over the tabs and they will not be visible from the out side. I am using Jans plans but there will be an abundance of scratch build in this model. Enjoy and see you all next posting

the alien APC is one of my favorite builds... just watched the movie (first two) the other day on TV...
for any PDF force this is a very good chimera count as...

 Viktor von Domm wrote:
the alien APC is one of my favorite builds... just watched the movie (first two) the other day on TV...
for any PDF force this is a very good chimera count as...

If you want to keep it in scale with the GW figs, Print the plans out as is, at portrait orientation and it should be compatible at about 1/48th scale.

by the way.... would you mind showing some smallish tut on how you actually laminate your pieces? that would be immensly useful!

Pretty cool little project. I'll be doing something similar to the UD4L Dropship here in a little over a month(urse you afghanistan!). Keep up the good work! I'm curious to see how you'll do the tires, that part seems a little sketchy.

Viktor von Domm wrote:by the way.... would you mind showing some smallish tut on how you actually laminate your pieces? that would be immensly useful!

I will try later on in explaining the process of paper lamination Thanks for looking in.

Firehead158 wrote:Pretty cool little project. I'll be doing something similar to the UD4L Dropship here in a little over a month(urse you afghanistan!). Keep up the good work! I'm curious to see how you'll do the tires, that part seems a little sketchy.

On the ALIENS site mentioned in the first entry, there is a Cheyenne drop ship. If you change the orientation to landscape, it will come out to about 1/72. Jan did a 1/48 scale but did not make it available but you can see the APC next to it in the photos.


Here are a couple of teasers as to where I am at on the build.

More scratch built stuff. most of the caution labels have been redone and look much better now. the steering wheel is glued to the bottom of the console ledge. The troop chairs and the operations console officers station will be a bit more different than the drivers seat. Enjoy and see you all soon with more updates.

such love for detail... how much of all that goodness will be seen oce it is finished? not really much i suspect?...too bad really...
by the way... do you work mostly with picers or with your fingertips? wrapping around all that paper with just bare fingertips... i can´t see that going well...

Wow, I'm going to have to try this later on.

Viktor von Domm wrote:such love for detail... how much of all that goodness will be seen oce it is finished? not really much i suspect?...too bad really...
by the way... do you work mostly with picers or with your fingertips? wrapping around all that paper with just bare fingertips... i can´t see that going well...

I do use tweezers, needle nose pliers and other tools like micro screwdrivers and drill bits to use as a form to wrap the paper around them. I use my big fat fingers a lot as well.

killykavekommando wrote:Wow, I'm going to have to try this later on.

The site is in the first post, there are also other models there as well, like Judge dread law giver auto gun, The colonial marine weapons on a 1-1 scale and the drop ship of which I made a build thread here on it. Try it, you may like it.

I use my big fat fingers a lot as well.

LOL...i get problems by my stiff fingers even when using bitz from GW... on that detail scale like you do i wouldn´t get anything done without tools^^

 Viktor von Domm wrote:

I use my big fat fingers a lot as well.

LOL...i get problems by my stiff fingers even when using bitz from GW... on that detail scale like you do i wouldn´t get anything done without tools^^

Oh, by the way, The insides will be visible, since the top will be cut into three sections and the center portion will be able to lift off to see the interior.

Here is the next batch of photos. The drivers door is constructed and it will open and close. It also allows a view into the inside drivers cabin that cannot be seen when the top is removed. I find that making the door this way, is easier than folding those teenie thin tabs. The last photo is of schematics that I use for the instrumentation, displays and warnings. Print the instrumentation page on lanscape for this model and in portrait for Jans original version. Enjoy and see you all next posting

Hey, you're back... Looking forward to this - do you still have updates planned for your galleon as well?

those clamps have saved my day quite often too... and they have quite a lot of clamping power!

Ruglud wrote:Hey, you're back... Looking forward to this - do you still have updates planned for your galleon as well?

In fact, the galeon is in front of me while I build the APC. This way I willnot forget to get back to it.

Viktor von Domm wrote:those clamps have saved my day quite often too... and they have quite a lot of clamping power!

Necessary tools of the trade, along with tweezers and pliers, and glue.


Here I deviated from Jan's plans, in that the sloped sides are scratch built. I made a laminated rib support for the sides and for the mechanical panels. The skinning panels are made from cardstock laminated 2X. This gives the model a very sturdy construction on par with a plastic model. Enjoy and see you all soon with more updates. BTW the main console is finished and it looks great. I am working on a slide mechanism for the console operators chair.

And now, on with some more updates, the next posting will cover the front drivers door, but until then, here are some panelings.

More updates and the one that some of you have been wondering about. For the door, I used 120lb cardstock for the flat part of the hinge. I was going to make them out of brass but decided to try it out of paper. Be sure to cut the slots out first, before cutting the side panel out. It will give you some surface to work with and make sure that you do not cut all the way trough to the edge.

Started the insides so that I can begin on a whole bunch of new ideas for the interior. That floor plate was designed after I started on the build. That is why I broke it down into three sections. Next build, if I get around to it, the floor grating would have been one of the first steps in the process and it would have been glued in its complete form to the floor schematic.

Here is a small tutorial on the making of laminated pieces. It stands true for thin or thick pieces. It cuts down on making fiddly little tabs and gives you a solid piece to work with. Here I made some first aid kit boxes but with the same technique, I also made some ammo boxes. With this method I made the crossbeams and the structures for the seats. The only thing holding me back is more imagination. The last photos are of some c-ration boxes the Pulse rifle with the ammo can sides. These pieces are laminated to the required thickness. The c-ration boxes can be laminated and the printed part wrapped around it but it folds like the real box. The parts are set for landscape and are about 1/35 scale. if they are oriented to portrait size, they will be about 1/48th scale. They can be used for other dioramas or details other than the ALIENS venue. Enjoy and see you all next posting.

The APC is coming along nicely and the details are making it look better with every added detail. This is the beginning of the cabin detail. The first thing in the agenda is the weapons locker. It will take a couple of postings to detail the progress, but first I have to finish the editing.

More on the console, The work continues with the console, but it cannot be installed permanently until the front left jump seat is made and attached. If the console is put in first, then the jump seat will have a hard time being installed. Excuse the misspelling on some of the captions. Enjoy and see you all next posting.

I went to the local hobby shop looking for some 1/35 scale figures for the APC and I noticed that Tamiya now makes 1/48th scale figures. These smaller figures are about the same size as the GW figures and can be modified into Imperial guards or ganger units. I may try them later and see how they stand up to the GW figures.

These set of photos jump around a little. The sliding rod is for the commanders seat, which will slide in front of the console. The seat was also suppose to swivel but I forgot and made it fixed looking forward, but it still slides.

The weapons are okay but the new better versions were made after I loaded these version into the weapons locker.

The sliding side door is finished and it works, but that is still further up ahead. In the meantime, enjoy and see you all next posting with the building of the seats.

Here are the updates on the seats. This model has three different seat versions. The first one was done a while back while doing the drivers station. Here the construction will be on the commanders seat which will have a head rest and arm rest. The configuration is also different. The single seat version will adapt to multiple seating capacities. Next posting, there will be a build sequence on the troop seat construction. Enjoy and see you all next posting.

I have an idea for making the wheels turn but that is for another posting.

Here is a follow up on the seating arrangements. One thing I did not mentioned. is that I drill a hole near the top to insert the safety bar clip. The C-ration boxes are the old style, I will upload the MRE large box later on in the build. Enjoy and see you all next posting

Here are more photos of the seat building process. Not shown is the drilling of the hole on the pylon for the safety bar. When you drill the hole, make sure it is on a flat surface so that the part will not unravel when drilling. Go slow while drilling the hole. Enjoy and see you all next posting.

The amount of detail in making the model and documenting the process are both impressive

One of my favorite movie vehicles.