USCSS Nostromo - Discussion Thread

[Chronos]

There's some great pics of the Nostromo model over at:

http://johneaves.wordpress.com/2009/05/28/a-day-with-martin-bower/

[Mark Sheppard]

[joberg]

Thanks for sharing Chronos, always great to see these pictures and the amount of details we'll never see. Just to show you that it takes an insane bunch of model-makers to go to that length and, in the end, give and incredible product. Too bad not a lot of these were saved after filming ended.

[Gaff87]

Stunning pictures!
Thanks for sharing.

[SKIN JOB 66]

Those pictures are from Dennis Lowe's site...



More GREAT pics here :

http://www.zen171398.zen.co.uk/Alien.html

Fred
_________________
THE FUTURE IS A THING OF THE PAST

[Space Jockey]

NOSTROMO Plan View (First Pass)
Now working on the central section and the docking module.



I had a nice message from Martin yesterday and he showed me a really fantastic model he did of The Leviathan, based on Ron Cobbs concept sketch before it got redesigned into the Nostromo. I was blown away. I asked if if he'd give me permission to post it here, but he said to hold off, and that in a couple of weeks he'll prepare some new pics to post. Hopefully he'll put them on his site too. He can't do it yet though as sadly he's going to his father's funeral. I always feel bad about contacting these guys as they must get bombarded with emails.

[Mark Sheppard]

THAT IS LOOKING INCREDIBLE!!!!!

all I can say is WOW!!!!!!!!!!

[joberg]

Looking incredibly accurate Space Jockey! On another note; please convey my deepest condolances to Mr. Bower and his family.

[Gaff87]

[Space Jockey]

Cheers Guys, will do.
I will add that Martin has done another interview for the Blue-ray release of Alien, and he has submitted all of his photos to be included on it as part of the extras. Should be really great to see.

[andy]

Looks like I need to get a blu-ray player for sure now

Andy

[SKIN JOB 66]

[Space Jockey]

Thanks all! Did you hear that guys, I got not one but two 'WOW's this time! Awesome!
If anyone has pics of the top and rear of the ship, that would help as those are the areas I'm now working on.

[furystorm]

Space Jockey - Sorry if this has already been covered somewhere in this thread, but I did not see it. When you are finished with the blueprints for the Nostromo, will they be made available to us to purchase? And if so, do you know an approximate cost? Thanks!

I'm looking to pick up jtparker's kit, and these would be immensely helpful during construction.

[Space Jockey]

Well I've kind of hinted here and there that I might, but haven't really gone into too much detail because drawing this up takes alot of time; I can get it done pretty quickly but I only get a few hours a week to work on them. It's funny its only the last couple of months I've been able to devote more time to it.
I'm a draftsman by trade and my work drawing buildings is beginning to slow down (been lucky to hold out this long!), so maybe I'll get it done even quicker
I am planning on offering them for sale as a limited number, printed on mylar. I'll be sending Jon Sorenson, Dennis Lowe and Martin Bower a copy to keep / use to keep their fish and chips warm / whatever to say 'thanks' for allowing us to see all their really excelent photos of the wonderful modelwork that went into ALIEN.

[Space Jockey]

Well here's what I managed to get done today. The docking module is almost complete...the back quarter of it I took a bit of creative licence... I don't have any clear shots of this. Still a little more panel lines to add.
I'm confident the pipes are all correct though.

[Mark Sheppard]

This is great... While it sucks I must redo some things to make the top docking module accurate (is is going to put me back a day. I have already started... I hope to post pictures tomorrow night of the new master. If it looks good... Sunday it will be molded and complete.. good Job Guys....

So now I will go ahead, remold a corrected rear bulkhead, and corrected top half of the module.... I hope you guys decide to stop at some point..the silicon is 100$ a gallon!!!!

[SKIN JOB 66]

Nothing so far regarding this rear section of the docking module... Kepp searching...

Fred
_________________
THE FUTURE IS A THING OF THE PAST

[Monroville]

Hey guys,

Newbie here. First off, great work SJ! Nice to get a good detailed blueprint of the big N. Before you finish, a few things to keep in mind:

I don't know how you are going to match the different scales as seen throughout the film.

THE AIRLOCK and ASH'S BLISTER:
I've gone through the thread, and while it is stated from one of the actual NOSTROMO model builders that Ash's blister is on the port side, I still have to say that logically it would have to be as you stated - in front of the front landing leg (due to proximity with the forward living module for one, as opposed to hiking half a mile just to get to the airlock!). The problem still remains that the actors walked into the airlock as it was on level with the rest of the deck floor, when if the airlock and Ash's blister is contained on the extended box area in front of the landing leg the crew would have to go down a ladder to get to the airlock (or the outer air lock lowers into the extended box area below the Nostromo). Even so, the size of the landing leg shifts from 4 ft in height to what would have to be 10 to 15 ft in height if you take into account:

THE BRIDGE and THE NARCISSUS:
now for those keen ALIEN fans, you will notice they use the same set for both, just redressed a bit. The problem here is: if you take the bridge set looking at it from the outside and the Narcissus, which is located underneath the Port strut between the main body and the Port engine, and made them consistent in size, the Narcuissus would have to take up the entire space under that strut. Problem is: it DOESN'T.

In fact, if you measure the Nostromo by the bridge window (with the window roughly being the height of the set or one story: 8 to 10 ft) and use that to measure the ship with, the ship is roughly 1600 by 1400 ft, length and width. A good source to do a measurement of the Nostromo is that wonderful side view shot in the ALIEN photo novel. Just get out your metric ruler, measure the bridge window (which is a little bigger than 1 millimeter, thus 1mm could equal 6ft, or a man), then measure the length of the Nostromo in the photo using your 1mm=6ft ruling and you roughly get the results above. What is neat about this is that the landing legs correspond according to the "kid astronaut" scenes, whereas they are roughly the same height as the landing leg tips, which in that side view photo, the tips measure in at roughly 1mm or 6ft in height, or the same as the inner (or flat part) of the bridge window.

The problem is still the Narcisssus. If one were to go by the Narcissus for measurements, the Nostromo would be HUGE, as well as the bridge and the landing legs. One must also wonder how in the hell Kane's body goes flying by the Narcissus if the airlock is either in front of the forward landing leg or even the port landing leg. The outside view of the airlock right before ejection doesn't help with it's location either.

Either way, it's a mess continuity wise. Either the bridge would have to be shrunk to match the Narcissus' scale, the Narcissus would have to be tripled in size in the underbelly shot or they would have to be decreased/increased in size respectively by 50% so as to match in some way (and that is not taking into account the design of the set leading to the Narcissus and how in the hell it fits from the outside design).

That is not to say you should change the "blueprints", but that the actual ship design would have to be rejiggered to account for the discrepancy in sizes.

[Mark Sheppard]

As confirmed by Jon Sorenson, the one who built the actual Blister.. the blister is exactly where noted.

The narcissus interior does share part of the same polygon room, however.

.the bridge is the polygon room (doubling as Narcissus set) and then the large area forward with all of the consoles, seats, windows. there is much more that comprised the bridge than just the part that doubled as the shuttle interior