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Peter Foti
7 articles

1/15 Nostromo Airlock (Alien 1979)

June 25, 2020 · in Sci-fi · · 19 · 3.1K

Scratch built model of the Airlock from the movie (79). Built from polystyrene sheet, Evergreen, & 3D printed styrene. I mostly worked from a production sketch by concept artist Ron Cobb, and a few frame grabs from the film.

The styrene parts for the doors were cut with a Silhouette Portrait desktop cutting machine, which I had just got on sale. The indents on the doors were vacuum formed from .75mm styrene and glued in from behind. The padded elements were printed with polystyrene filament. The tubular wall mounted racks were bent up from some Evergreen rod using some homemade fixtures and a heat gun. The only kit parts used on this model were the 12 circular vents which were made from some wheels from a 1/72 Zvezda Topol kit.

The model was painted with Vallejo acrylics and lightly weathered with oil paints.

Reader reactions:
11  Awesome

17 additional images. Click to enlarge.


19 responses

  1. That is one really cool detailed model!

  2. Nice! And your dream job should be model maker for Sci-fi movies.

  3. That is awesome building right there! Thank you for sharing your build shots, they inspires, especially given the variety of methods you chose to employ. Very very cool.

  4. What, an airlock!? Of course you build an airlock, why wouldn't you. I see true dedication when I look at those fixtures. Any figures to inhabit the airlock?

  5. Really cool work. You have played Alien Isolation on Steam? It has an Ellen Ripley and Jonesy scenario in the Nostromo included.

  6. Hi Peter,
    I really like you choice of subject and the way you built it. The pre-CGI models built for films like Alien and TV series such as Space 1999 got me hooked on model making when I was a kid. It's great to see that spirit kept alive. Inspiring work. Thanks for sharing it.

  7. This is a wonderful build with out of the ordinary techniques, Peter.
    Congratulations!

  8. .

    1 attached image. Click to enlarge.

  9. Outstanding work!

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