A.E.F. Aliens Marines |
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This is my collection of A.E.F. Designs Aliens 1/35 scale Marines. I've had these models for a long, long time. It's definitely been one of those projects I've always wanted to do but my comfort level was never quite there. At least until recently. After years and years of collecting, I'm lucky to have all the AEF Aliens kits. But for this project I wanted to focus on the Marines. The 9 Marines that I did were Hicks, Hudson, Vasquez, Drake, Apone, Frost, Dietrich, Wierzbowski, and Crowe. I have 10 kits total because AEF released two kits for Vasquez, a Smartgunner model and a Combat Pose model (think Vasquez's last stand). The hardest part was getting started. I wanted the models to be as close as possible to how they were presented in the movie. So the first thing was color schemes. The original colors used were based off Humbrol Paints. There were many online resources to find which colors were used for the cammo and armour. That presented a problem because there were a few colors that were no longer being made by Humbrol. Me, being way more comfortable with acrylics, I decided to go that route and try to match from there. I started with Citadel's (Games Workshop) new line of paints - I also had most of the original ones. Citadel added a lot more paint colors in their last release and I was quite happy with how I was able to match most colors. I had to buy a few extra here and there but it all worked out. I used a lot of online reference photos, and also used the Hot Toys 1/6 scale Models for references as well. If anyone is interested in the colors, please email me and I'd be happy to let you know which ones I used. These are resin kits, so the quality was either perfect or not-so-perfect and required holes to be filled or parts to be sanded down. But overall I was very impressed with the quality of the models. When the prep and fitting was done I 'loose' built (meaning I used a tiny amount of glue for the helmets, arms, weapons, and lamps) so that after basecoating I took them all off so I could fully paint each piece. Another touch of realism I wanted to add was webbing and wiring. I ended up using 0.019 inch diameter black wire and 1/16'' black ribbon (which I used for webbing). It actually turned out pretty well, though on some models it was hard to make the webbing 'sit down.' These first few Marines pictured are Wierzbowski, Crowe, and Dietrich (left to right). They were easy enough. Wierzbowski was the first model done up and I probably painted him a total of 3 times, trying to get the colors, patterns, and washes right. The next models are Smartgunners Drake and Vasquez. These were the most fun, and also the most challenging. The Smartgun rig is harder to place together than I had imaged. These were also the first models that required 'personalization', with Drake having 'BITCH' on his Smartgun and Vasquez having 'ADIOS' on hers. Vasquez also has 'El RiESGO SiEMPRE ViVE' on her armor. A lot of patience went into that... The wiring was also quite tough to wrap around the Smartguns. The originals had two wires that wrapped around the rigging arms. I tried that and it looked way too crowded so I settled with just one. The batteries that power the Smarguns were also a little different. I think the original battery was based off a potato gun, as the actual batteries don't have that little handle on the bottom. The kit pieces have that little handle so I just left them, if it bugs me I can always cut them off. The next models are Frost and Apone. Frost had a little white heart with an arrow through it with the word 'HEATH' in the middle. Not possible for me so I settled with the heart and arrow. Apone was pretty easy, he just had a lot of accessories: binoculars, motion tracker, Pulse Rifle. The next set is Hudson and Hicks. Hicks was pretty straightforward, only having a heart under the lock and clasp on his armor. Hudson, however, presented a lot more challenges. Straight up, he had a lot of personalization. The googly eyes were easy on the right rear shoulder guard. On the front he had a skull and crossbones with 'or glory' underneath and on the left there was a 'Louise' with a red ribbon under the 'O.' Yeah, that was not going to happen. There was no way I could paint that small. I tried on paper, but it was just too big for the model. So I just settled with the skull. |
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The last model that I did was the combat pose Vasquez. In all the AEF kits two sets of legs and arms were included (Which I think is pretty cool). I decided to go for the 'last stand' pose of her kneeling with Pulse Rifle in hand. That does it for the Marines! I've been one of those 'long time listeners, first time callers' having followed Starship Modeler for a long time. Having finally moved into my last house (meaning I'm never moving again) and my wife letting me have a man cave, I'm able to sit down and finally build up all the models I've had for years. My next project and hopefully my next post will be the other models in the AEF collection, Gorman, Ferro, Spunkmeyer, Burke, Ripley, Newt, a few aliens... Ha! Who knows, the Halcyon APC is also calling my name... Image: Marines Image: More Marines Image: Drake Face Image: Flamers Image: Hudson & Hicks (or is it Hicks & Hudson?) Image: Hicks Back Image: Hudson Image: Sarge Image: Smartgunners Image: Smartgunners Image: Smartgunners Image: Squad Image: Vasquez Image: Vasquez Image: Vasquez |
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