Project Dropship 1:24 / Aliens

Today´s progress and one WTF moment.:confused:

I´ve resized the widht of the wheels they are now more thinner

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APC looks more real..not as a toy.:D

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back lights & boxes:smuggrin:

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Then something unspeakable happend. :mad:Autocad maked some "action" and few of my entities just disappeared...:eek:
Weird thing is that those entities disappeared in backups also-long hidden problem?!?.:arghh::banghead:..(all my DWG files are regularly checked
for errors and the errors are fixed..if they are found)...after that.action.the AutoCad 2013 crashed...:dead:

this was left after recovery...:mad::arghh::banghead:



turret, wheels, doors ..i had to create everything one more time.::hungover::mad:
(lucky for me, that Im not deleting my progress plans a construction lines)



AutoCad 2011 and newer 2013 are sh*tty software as hell....:mask::mooning:
Ihope that nothing like this will never happend in the future...
.In that case I´ve splitted the progress into APC and DROPSHIP line in different DWG files and make daily (error scanned) copies ..I hope it will help..:cool:
(Gold 14 years old Autocad 2000 Mechanical ...I ´ve created the USS SULACO in this soft with no error)¨¨

anyway.....for the good end of today´s news ....the diamond shape is here :angelic:

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sorry for harsh language
 
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Holy moly! What a frak with AutoCad! I'm so glad that you were able to fix the damage. I have never experienced such a weird error in SketchUp. However, I regularly save certain key steps in a separate file for backup reasons, too (sometimes the program freezes). I have five backups of the Aurora, three of the Landram and seven of the Viper.
 
ASC Mclaren said:
Looking at the reference pictures it appears that the APC has four wheel steering. Am I seeing things?
Click to expand...

@Alien99 nice job putting that split in the turret, and I'm glad you've managed to recover from the crash and missing assets fairly quickly. Fingers crossed for no repeats on that one.

I was searching around and found some pics with angles of the original sat rotting outside at Pinewood, some of which I'd not seen before - might be of use to you (you probably already have them)

http://www.imcdb.org/vehicle_40477-Hunslet-ATT77.html
 
ASC Mclaren - yes all four wheels are operational...
Revell-Fan - Iam making 3 giles with autobackup AutoCad ability and then , from time to time, whole new drawing file. This failure must be somtthing in system because the problem was with backup files also. After auto cleaning and recovery procedure some entities disappeared because they was not there a long time.:rolleyes:.... I explaining it: there was only some sort of echo or shape based on different physics!?! then original one?.....that´s why I have a fear which part of dropship or APC dissapear next....:arghh:..Finished work Ill convert into 3DS file and after that Iĺl be sure that everything stay on its place.
....There is one more chance...convert the entities and the whole project into older versions of the autocad.(2002.2006.2008...)..Iĺl try that..:cool:
biggusdoggus - nice link with all informations about the real APC. Specially the Aliens legacy forum with unique photos from build.
 
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I regularly save my models with other names like "progress1 (prg1) so in the even of a crash, I can go to not so far back. Rhino has a built in save function, so if it does crash, it creates a special file, you open it, and basically save it as the part/program, you only have one shot at it. This featured has saved my butt many times. I had such bad luck with AutoCad, I gave up on it. It's expensive, and it seems you have to pay for every aspect of it you may want. You do well with it though, despite your setbacks, way better than I could ever do. I can't make a box in 3DS so my knee bow in praise of you! :)
 
BTW, every time I watch the movie I do get the idea that the life-size vehicle was somehow damaged or not working correctly during filming. The scene in which the APC was released from the Dropship featured the (remote-controlled?) miniature. OK. Then it was cut to the life-size version which apparently was working properly then (the wheels were moving and it was really driving, even around the corner). Then in the later scenes all the action scenes featured the small one (crashing against the walls and crushing the Alien), OK, HOWEVER, whenever the big one was featured it was shown either standing (people got in or out) or moving only a few centimeters forward / backward. I may be wrong but could it be the case that the steering stopped working? Or was it too difficult / expensive to allow the big one to drive around?
 
Revell-Fan i thing that the big one was too expensive prop and it is cheaper to make and destroy minatures. second reason could be that real life size apc did funny waddle movement when stopped...you can see it in scene from South lock and deploying the squad i AP...and it is not sou operational as it is look like....

about the movie, i must correct you. The scenes, where you can see lifesize APC are:

dropship bay and loading the crew:blackalien:
deploying the crew next to the wind wall in Hadley´s Hope:rolleyes:
short shot in Special edition ...APC infront the South lock (scene where Ripley going into the Colony):cigar:
deploying the crew in Atnosphere processor:blackeye:
Ripley driving the APC trough debris (yep that is life size);)
Ripley driving back from the debris (there are lots of model shots, specially at the wheel and the hallway):angelic:
Detail shot at the damaged corner of the APC and burning wheel (note: the damaged corner was replace-able with the undamaged...see the line around the damaged part);)
Shot where is alien runned over (yep another one with the real apc):poto:
and finally.....shot of deploying the crew waiting for the dropship..:dead:

thats all shots where you can seel life size APC in the movie...;)
 
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Alien99 said:
The scenes, where you can see lifesize APC are:

dropship bay and loading the crew:blackalien:
deploying the crew next to the wind wall in Hadley´s Hope:rolleyes:
short shot in Special edition ...APC infront the South lock (scene where Ripley going into the Colony):cigar:
deploying the crew in Atnosphere processor:blackeye:
Ripley driving the APC trough debris (yep that is life size);)
Ripley driving back from the debris (there are lots of model shots, specially at the wheel and the hallway):angelic:
Detail shot at the damaged corner of the APC and burning wheel (note: the damaged corner was replace-able with the undamaged...see the line around the damaged part);)
Shot where is alien runned over (yep another one with the real apc):poto:
and finally.....shot of deploying the crew waiting for the dropship..:dead:

thats all shots where you can seel life size APC in the movie...;)
Click to expand...

Yep, I was just stating some examples from my memory ;) .

With "action scenes" I was referring to all scenes featuring some "action" in form of "fast driving around corners" and "crashing into a wall", not "ordinary" cruising scenes (= driving back and forth and "kissing" the debris wall) :D:p:D.

The driving forward and backward scenes were the ones which looked different from the rest of the APC scenes to me, which made me think that something was wrong with the vehicle. The scene in which the team deploys is one of the few I recall in which you can see the wheels turn (axle movement). However, I didn't know that the Alien was crushed by the real APC! :woot::);)

GREAT TO HAVE AN EXPERT HERE!!! :):):)
 
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Revell-Fan said:
With "action scenes" I was referring to all scenes featuring some "action" in form of "fast driving around corners" and "crashing into a wall", not "ordinary" cruising scenes (= driving back and forth and "kissing" the debris wall) :D:p:D.
Click to expand...

I read somewhere that it had a top speed of about 90mph, but its 0-25mph time was over 6 seconds, and of course even stripped down for the movie it still weighed in at something like 28 tonnes. It probably wasn't possible (or at least not safe) to have it charging through a movie set, certainly not cornering at speed, and as for crashing into/through walls, a 28 tonne vehicle would be a serious liability.
 
biggusdoggus said:
I read somewhere that it had a top speed of about 90mph, but its 0-25mph time was over 6 seconds, and of course even stripped down for the movie it still weighed in at something like 28 tonnes. It probably wasn't possible (or at least not safe) to have it charging through a movie set, certainly not cornering at speed, and as for crashing into/through walls, a 28 tonne vehicle would be a serious liability.
Click to expand...
I read that the Hunslet ATT77 (The base vehicle for the APC) had a top speed of 20MPH. Of coarse, that may have improved marginally once all the weight had been removed.
 
and what happend today.... :eek:

drop-progress-62.jpg


different (perspective) view

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after making this render...suddenly...AutoCad 2013 crashed again..I dont know if is the perspective mode or combination of more factors did this

AutoCad - Ending with failure
CRITICAL ERRROR: ---:mad::arghh:



System is searching for solution..o_O



funny thing described earlier in this thread is here..and catched for you :rolleyes:



When I´ve opened the drawing file (left side) everything looks normal..I can choose whatever I want.
But when I zoom in (Right side of the picture) the cannon entity disappeared.....even if i choose it...
the dotten line is everything what´s left....after recovery of this file , the cannon is completely gone. :eek:

and the weird and funny thing continues....the same ghost entity error is in both backup files :arghh::arghh::dead:


________________________
for non autocad experts..here is the legend:
DWG - drawing file - file with all my daily work at the APC
BAK - Backup file - it is drawing file saved one save earlier (if you save the drawing - DWG, then the earlier save DWG file is not owerwritten , but renamed into BAK)
sv$ - Autosave file (drawing saved by system in certain intervals) I have 2 minutes :D
________________________
lucky for me again and my daily drawing save. I´ve copied the cannon body entity from yesterday´s healty dwg file :cool:
...and i could make this videocapture of the cannon


looks pretty cool..;)
 
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When I attempted the gun rail system, as depicted, it was too frail and I had some options of either making it out of plastic beams. But I wanted to see if paper was feasible so I did mine with heavy laminated card stock and made some strengthening cross pieces to hold the rails in place. The wheels I made from pin heads inserted into a wood block so that it could handle constant use. The rail system was very tricky, but it is possible to make it out of card stock. Check out my version, item #96. http://zealot.com/threads/model-of-meritorious-mention-jans-aliens-apc-m-557.174430/page-5 Hopefully Jan's will be more easier than mine.
 
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