M577A3 APC from ALIENS with Interior - 1/48 Scale

[Bugstomper79]

Hi Everyone

This is not a new project.
Actually i started to work on it in 2008 and put it aside ever since (was it really that long? I'm getting old )

Since i never bothered to share it with anyone but a few close friends, i'll try to crate a overview of the progress so far.

The main idea was to figure out, how the APC could actually be constructed with the interior layout as seen in the movie. We all know that the interior used for filming set was too large to actually fit inside the dimensions of the full size Prop, but the general layout resembled the general Footprint of the APC's interior volume.
The Layout i came up with is this:

Seems like i had the same ideas about the general arrangement as the guy who came up with the awesome blueprints published at hydride-ion

Therefore i was convinced, that with some tweaking here and there a fitting interior could be desingned.

The other part of motivation was to try my skill at creating a papercraft while also providing myself with a model that could to go with my 28mm / Warhammer 40k style models.
The only papercraft availiable at that time was the one by Jan Rückr wich is a good papercraft but unfortunately based on a 3D model wich was quite inaccurate in a lot of aspects (side slopes, rear wheel arches...) - and without any interior.

So i started off with the APC schematics from the Colonial Marines Technical Manual, scaled them to 1in48 added my own ideas:

I wanted the wheels, doors and turrets to be poseable.

After some days of work i had my first rough kit layout finished and did a first test build.
Of course there were some issues with it and i continued to update some of the most problematic design flaws and buildt a second prototype:

So i called it a success regarding the general layout of the kit although there are still some minor issues.

I continued to fiddle with the files i created from time to time but my motivation was obvoisly insufficient to put in all the work required to solve all the remaining problems.

When i found this forum, the interst grew a again and after some rummaging in the chaos i call storage, i was able to dust off the old test builds:

Especially all those fiddly bits on the interior and the turrets are not exactly finished and some adjustment has to be done to some of the slopes etc.
Most problematic: the textures are really bad - back then I did my design work in MS Paint (!) and I'm still lacking the skill and the patience to redo it in better quality.

My goal is to fix some of the known issues and build another model with documentation of the process.

If anyone is interested, i'll gladly share the files i created.
(especially, if someone is among you, who feels able to create better textures...)

 

[ASC Mclaren]

Cool! I hope you finish your APC, and I hope we get to watch. Just a thought, the monitor station seems to have at least 32 screens. If one is for each marine, unless it is a command vehicle, that seems to me way too many. I would think that the number of seats and the number of monitor screens would be more equal.

 

[Bugstomper79]

Hi ASC Mclaren,

Actually I'm not sure, how many screens there are in the APC.
They used two screens for each marine - the upper for health status (pulse etc.) and the lower one for the helmet camera feed:

I counted 24 total - a minimum of 16 on the main wall and 4 on the sides (or rather front/rear) each - this corresponds well with the 12 passenger seats in the vehicle.

Apparently the source for each monitor can be selected independently - the ones facing forward and showing some kind of radar/motion tracker in this screenshot were also used to show the outside view during the initial approach (apparently fed from a camera mounted on the dropship) .

 

[Revell-Fan]

It is great to see that you are retrieving your old project. Don't worry about the textures, they can be enhanced when everything has been figured out. Did you make that model according to the blueprints? Did you consider the thickness of the armour and monitor walls?

 

[ASC Mclaren]

Cool, I thought it was one screen per, but now that you jogged my lapsing memory, that makes sense.

 

[zathros]

I know I can clean up the model itself. Revell-Fan is the best on textures. Let me know if you want some help finalizing your model. It will always remain your model. (maybe some help acknowledgements).

 

[Bugstomper79]

I'm glad there is some interest - this helps a lot to motivate me.
@Revell-Fan: I din't have any blueprints availiable at the time - just started with the references provided by the Colonial Marines Technical Manual - and the 1in35 scale plastic kit from Halcyon (which I consider as very accurate regarding the exterior).

For the design of my model I tried an approach without the use of 3D software - in my expierence those often lead to hollow, ballon-like models without sufficient internal support.
Actually I was trying to come up with ideas of how the structure of a "real" APC would be designed and use the same structural layout for the internal support of the papercraft.
Obviously there is no room for a massive chassis frame below the floor, therefore the body has to be self-supported.
So i took some clues from the arrangement of the Hunslett ATT77 wich was used as the basis of the full size prop

and from the structural parts visible on the roof of the interior set (i need the bluray for higer resolution)

I think its obvious that the internal width between the wheels as seen in the set is too large. These areas have to be narrower to allow larger wheel wells for suspension and steering.

The result is some kind of monocoque wich is layered from parts with textures for both sides of the structure plus (as required) some detailing layers on top.
Those main structural parts could be reinforced with additional layers or even plasticard to represent armour thickness or to increase the toghness - the model is supposed to withstand the handling of a tabletop gaming piece!
As my test builds show, even with only the basic paper layers this design is quite sturdy:

The interior detailling parts are optional - in this scale they are quite fiddly - so for gaming models i'm not quite sure, if they are worth the effort.

 

[silveroxide]

I used Jans model and upscaled it to about 1/35. There were at least three running props but these had the insides covered so they had no interiors. The props with the insides were non operational with the insides gutted and only show limited interior. The inside props as mentioned, are way too large to fit inside. I used a bit from all the props to come up with my version to included the interior. I laminated heavily and my version is sturdy enough to handle constant use and the doors are operational. You can see my thread here. http://zealot.com/threads/model-of-meritorious-mention-jans-aliens-apc-m-557.174430/ I hope that it will help you some in your build thread. Waiting to see how yours will come out.