USCSS Nostromo - Discussion Thread

[Space Jockey]

Thanks, Mike, for your kind words both here and on the RPF. Nice to see you here!
Yeah, it's tricky and time consuming but all the reference over the last few months has made it ALOT easier. On the front view aboveI'm going to be working on the area between the bridge and undercarriage tomorrow making some amendments.
Not sure what happened to the refinery model, I know it was sent to LA with other models after the shoot. Photos of it are in the refinery thread.

[Mark Sheppard]

Welcome Mike! wow there are a lot of new members here in the past week. !!

[Space Jockey]

Quick update. Still have some things to do on these areas, such as around the communications dish on the front, and I’ve yet to compare these with the pics Dennis and Jon posted on the Alien Experience site.
Starting to gather info too ready for the Narcissus.

[LastBattlestar]

GREAT work mate!

Mike, Oz
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[joberg]

As I said before: un-be-lie-va-ble Way to cool for words mate!

[maledoro]

Now, are you just doing exteriors, or are you planning on doing interior elevations and floorplans, too?

[Space Jockey]

[maledoro]

I was very impressed with Darrell Curtis's blueprints from The Nostromo Files, so it would be cool to see something like that with more detail.

[Monroville]

It's going to be hell trying to reconcile the different sizes seen throughout the movie.

(1) if you matched the NARCISSUS with the bridge, it will have to take up the entire undersection of the right wing. If you used the shots of the NARCISSUS under the wing as a source of measurement, the bridge pod would have to be drastically shrunken or the windows would have to be shrunken and moved forward (which would alter the blueprint from the actual model used in the movie just to achieve consistency)

(2) going by the internal bridge shots, as well as the close-ups of the bridge from the outside, the cockpit window is roughly 8 to 10 feet in height, which can then be used as a system of measurement for the entire ship. The problem is that it would mean the tip of the landing legs is roughly 10 to 14 feet high, and as we've seen between the "kid astronaut" outside shots and when Brett enters the landing leg room, the tip of the landing leg can be from 5 feet to 7 feet in height.

I've always thought the airlock was right in front of the front landing leg; I see how one of the original ALIEN model makers has stated that the airlock is located (probably) on the main body on the left side near the Narcissus' location - this would mean that the airlock door would be directly across from the left-side (or Port) landing leg. Regardless, Ash's blister would have to be to the left side of the airlock, being that his seat turns so he can look out the right side of the window to see the astronauts below.






The 2nd image would show the perspective from the airlock located near the Narcissus and how it should look as opposed to what we see in the film.

The 3rd image shows an alternative (or extra) location for the airlock as directly underneath the living quarters, thus the ramp the astronauts are on could also lift upwards INTO the ship to help unload cargo or bring wounded crew members (such as Kane) as close to the infirmary as possible without carrying them through the corridors of the ship (and have them possibly bleed to death before the autodoc could help them).

The 4th, 5th and 6th image show where most of us (or at least myself) always thought the airlock to be, to once again be close to the front pod. The problem is then that the airlock door would be flush with the landing leg doors, so what if there was a platform or "ledge" outside the airlock door for the astronauts to walk onto? The floor would be the lowering ramp, which per above would also be able to lift into the ship for cargo and wounded crew transport.

There is also the possibility of the airlock (or another one) being located in the center of the metal "band" that wraps around the bottom section of the ship. It would be facing the front landing leg as well as facing forward (image edited after words were typed; should say "one of these 4 areas")
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ALIEN:REVISITED fan edit:
http://originaltrilogy.com/forum/topic.cfm/ALIEN-REVISITED-movie-edit/topic/10458/

[Space Jockey]

OOOO, Sketches, cool!
Nice job.
The Narcissus is a conundrum. I'm fairly certain on the blueprints I can iron that one out, in fact I'll try to take a look at it this week, as I'm about to work on the final view, the underside. The part I'm concerned about is that the underside of the 'wing' going from main body to nacelle is sloped; but it ain't sloped on the larger model used for the closeups of the 'docked' Narcissus. So I'm not sure how to tackle that one. Any thoughts?

I'm pretty certain the tip of the landing leg 'feet' on my prints are too high. I'll amend that when I sort the numbers on the leg hydraulics out. JTP, do you happen to know what scale your model is and, if so, would you please be able to give a measurement width-ways across the ship?
5-7 feet for the foot height seems about right.

I do agree about the location of the main airlock. Ash's observation blister is still a tricky one for me. Personally I reckon it's around the forward undercarraige leg somewhere. However, JTP mentioned that Jon Sorenson detailed it to go on the side of the hull facing one of the nacelle landing legs. Ron Cobb on the other hand sketched it on the bottom. So neither one is neccessarily right or wrong; just a question of preference and interpretation, whether one wants to go with the model or a sketch. The full size set is different to the model, too.
I don't feel too much can be read into the direction Ash's chair is facing; there's nothing to say that Dallas, Lambert or Kane didn't physically turn around and wave a quick goodbye before setting off again in another direction. His monitor that he refers to seem to dictate the direction he's facing maybe...
I was thinking about it yesterday, so did a few off the cuff sketches also. I left my decent pens at work and I had my 1yr old running amok around me, but got a few quick ink ones done; I'll post them tomorrow.

Here's the Ron Cobb sketch: (I finally got a hold of a copy of Ron Cobb's Colorvision book too on ebay, cannot wait to see that one)

[Space Jockey]

Those sketches on the undercarraige... SK-1 and SK-2 just focus on Ash's Blister and Airlock; the others throw around some ideas on the undercarraige. Not got time to say much at the moment, will talk more later!

[SKIN JOB 66]

WAOW !!!

Great renditions of this area of the Nostromo !!!



Congrats Graham !!!

Fred (back from a week of well deserved holidays)
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[Space Jockey]

FRED!!!
You're back!!!
Welcome! I was beginning to think that you’d been taken away by aliens.
Hope you had a great time and thanks for the comments.

[SKIN JOB 66]

[joberg]

Very good rendition of that part of the ship Space Jockey! I prefer the first drawing showing the blister hidden by the landing gear...seems closer to what we're seeing in the movie.
Keep up the good work: it's gonna pay very soon

[Monroville]

really nice sketches (much better than those I whipped out), but there are still some things to consider:

(1) the airlock the astronauts are in is directly connected to the "waiting room' Ash is in later when they come back from the derelict. That means there wouldn't be a small airlock pod below the ship as depicted in your sketches.

(2) I still think that Ash's blister is essentially to the side of the airlock, and that the ladder way that Ash uses to enter into the blister room may even be connected to the airlock waiting room.

(3) also keep in mind that when the landing legs come out, the landing leg doors would cover the airlock up completely unless there was a loading dock "porch" for the astronauts to walk out onto from the airlock doors. Otherwise, the airlock doors would open up with the landing leg doors blocking the entrance.

IF the airlock is located by the front landing leg, the problem is still the various size discrepancies. If again going by the bridge window as a standard of measurement (which itself should be 8 to 10 feet tall), even comparing the bridge window to the landing leg feet in the Nostromo photos on the 1st page you are still looking at the tips being @ 12 to 14 feet tall.

That would mean the lower pics with the astronauts by the landing legs would have to show the landing legs to be twice as big as they are (I just attribute the size issues with budget limitations for making the film in 1979. Today, with computer technology, this would not be an issue... or at least you would THINK it wouldn't be an issue...)


For those of you who may be wondering why the fixation on the airlock being by the front landing leg, also remember that Dallas went into airshafts close to the landing leg room Brett "got it" in. Those airshafts were in proximity to the main airlock, which by this guess would be underneath the cargo room and the landing leg room. It would again mean the main airlock was close to the living pod as opposed to the opposite end of a half mile long ship (no wonder nobody was fat on the Nostromo!)
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ALIEN:REVISITED fan edit:
http://originaltrilogy.com/forum/topic.cfm/ALIEN-REVISITED-movie-edit/topic/10458/

[Space Jockey]

Thank you sir that’s very kind.
I’m going to answer 3) first as the others kind of follow on from it…

3) True, but unfortunately that’s down to the difference between the full size set and the models. I have to do a balancing act between the two, (plus the third being the internal layout of the ship). The undercarriage doors are in a different orientation to the feet on the model compared to the full size set. Trouble is, if I show the airlock at the corner of the undercarriage doors (between them, if you know what I mean) it creates a whole load of problems internally within the ship. The ship hull at that point is really rather narrow as it’s the lowest point in the ship, so there isn’t much room internally.
I opted to go with the Stuart Rose design for the airlock as it meant I could lower the airlock further and not interfere with been blocked by the doors quite so much, and it looks cool. Stuart’s design is nice, I liked it and fits in with the aesthetic of the ship.

Another difference between the models and full size set are the size of the doors; so I can up with the idea in the sketches that during its approach to the planet surface, the doors lower all the way down helping to shield the undercarriage hydraulics from dust and other crap flying about; on landing, the doors slide up into the ship, so it appears closer to how it looks on the full size set.

2) Well, so do I; it’s shown pretty close to the landing leg on the set blueprint, and I’ll think I’ll show it this way on the blueprints I’m doing too; however the model as Jon Sorenson has said is different in that it’s on the side of the hull. But the best thing about JTP’s model is that people will be able to detail it whatever way they choose and have fun doing it. Personally I’d like to think of a way to get sketch SK-1 to work if I can, as the side of the observation blister that Ash is seen ascending the steps ties in better internally within the ship to the side of the screen he appears on when walking to the airlock door in the scene straight after.

1) nooooooo...you have to think fourth dimensionally!! Lol! As mentioned in 3), if I didn’t adapt Stuart’s design, I’d be screwed as the airlock would be higher up, and be even more blocked by the undercarriage doors. And there’s nothing to say that the airlock itself isn’t a small air-tight elevator travelling up to C-Deck; but hopefully I’ll be able to show that clearer in coming sketches. We’ll see. Watch this space!

As for the airlock ‘waiting chamber’ Dallas tries to drive the Alien into….I reckon that’s a different airlock, probably on B-Level. There are some subtle differences between the airlock seen in the scene where Ash’s flicks the switch and lets them back onboard, to the airlock seen later where Ash and Ripley are waiting while Dallas plays cat and mouse with the Alien. I see if I can post some screenshots soon.

[Mark Sheppard]

you are correct.. that is b-level with the ladder going down to C-level...
to another airlock that was used with the lift and situated more in the center of the ship

[Mark Sheppard]

Great Sketches Graham..dayum! I dont even need my 3D glasses..

I would also not get too excited about referencing actual components based on what we see on the exterior large scale sets.. In real life, the landing struts would be much farther spaced apart that actual studio space would allow...

2 struts together would not even be visible in those weather conditions...maybe only a dim light off in the distance. I think things were laid out as far as the large scale sets as bst they could with the studio floor space available...

for example..from front strut to a rear strut about 167 meters, or 550 foot based on what I can roughly measure. There is no way those struts on the set are that far apart.. maybe 100-200 feet at the most.
would you agree?

[Space Jockey]

Yes, absolutely. Of course it’d be no problem to show it today with cgi, but back then, it shows a hint of the undercarriage in the distance, and it’s a great scene (probably one of my favorites) and captures the intent really well.
Just out of curiosity I measured on CAD the distance between the center of the front landing leg and one of the rear ones, and it measures 308 ft, or 95 meters. And currently it’s scaled to measure 800ft from the tip of the bridge nose and the rear of the nacelle boosters (minus the protruding fins from the back of each nacelle).

Got an image of the airlock area with landing leg and scalebar for comparison.