| Man! Once again, like in the mid-nineties, model making has taking over me. The difference is that now I always feel the need to improve what may already be a good model kit. Well the following subject, while being captured splendidly in plastic, could use a little improvement. |
The Power Loader needs no introduction. I still remember watching Aliens for the first time at age 8. The nightmares that resulted from that! Just when the queen alien had me shaking and I was beginning to think “Awww. Poor Bishop”, this badass, beefed-up fork-lift walks in and begins to pimp slap the hag! |
I'd seen this kit all over the web for years and about the time I really started to think about trying to acquire my own, I discovered that there was a newer version in the works. Go over to the Forbidden Zone for more info. I figured that I would wait for the new one since it was far bigger than this Halcyon version. Unfortunately though, the release date got pushed back and I just couldn't wait! |
As far as plastic kits go, this here model was my first venture outside of a familiar town called ERTL, USA (AMT, MPC, RC2... whatever!). I was really happy that Halcyon lived up to its reputation. The kit was well made with quality plastic and no flash at all. The details popped out and there was a healthy amount of parts to play with. Despite all the good things, I still felt that there was plenty of room for modifications. |
- forks - |
- arms - |
The arms were started by adding tubing to the "triceps" pistons to add more realism. Any ejector pin marks were filled as well. The forks and pistons were positioned in place when I joined both arm halves and putty was again used for the seams. I'd been thinking of making the elbows and wrists movable joints but since I would have to really manipulate Ripley's arms, I quickly decided not to. However, I changed my mind about the wrists when I planned out the pose. Again, sewing thread was used to cut them out. After this, I built up the missing walls with styrene, super glue and putty. I drilled a straight hole through all the pieces and inserted a piece of wire hanger to allow the wrist to turn. It's also tight enough to hold the fork assembly in any pose. |
The Process Of Making The "Arms" Movable |
Although I wasn't going to animate the elbows, I thought it would be appropriate to scribe lines to show where the joints met. I used Dymo tape to keep the lines straight, cut in with a broken tip Exacto and smoothed out with a scriber. Once I saw everything primed I was relieved that I survived this part of the build. The legs, however, will pose an even tougher challenge for me...more on that in a sec. |
- body - |
- legs - |
I used the sewing thread technique to tear the feet out. A whole bunch of plastic was scrapped! I didn't have the correct diameter tubing so I drilled through a perfect sized wooden dowel. I inserted thinner tubing into that. A simple box was constructed underneath this and filled with Durham's Rock Hard Water Putty. Epoxy putty was used to cover the leftover hole at the bottom end of the legs. I only did this so that the armature that would hold the leg to the feet and ankles would be held solid. I re-did this area so many times until I felt it looked ok! I then added aluminum tubing to the "calve" pistons and the smaller ones on the "shin" area. The "shin" pistons had to be made to go with the tilt of the legs, one side being shorter than the other. Finally, styrene was added to complete the round ankle gear. Whew! A couple of headaches went into modifying the legs but I think it was well worth it. Building them straight out of the box meant leaving the whole kit looking very toy-like. |
The Process of Reposing Power Loader |
- shoulder joints- |
- painting - |
I needed to paint the subassemblies first so that I could get to all the nooks. I haven't started on Ripley because I will need to chop up the arms and legs to fit the pose of the Power Loader. She'll be worked on later. |
Painting On Warning Lines |
The decals were next once all the paint was dry. As the Comic Book Guy might say, these are the worst decals ever! First, the protective wax paper was stuck to the decals, ruining most. On top of that, they were very thin and tended to tear easily. I was able to salvage most of the small decals but all of the black lines were trash. It's no biggie since they were inaccurate anyway. I applied what was good and proceeded to mask the feet and arms paying close attention to pics from the movie. This was actually a lot of fun. All was good save a few runs and a torn decal which will be easy to fix. Afterwards, I masked and painted a few areas that needed to be black including the backrest. Weathering will be done next followed by assembly of the loader and then surgery for Ripley. |
© Copyright 2005-2014. All photos of actual models are property of Joe Jimenez and cannot be used without permission. |