TigerFire Studios presents...

Colonial Marine Smartgunner - Aliens

In putting together this costume I had numerous points of reference to choose from - a few books, several comic books, a couple of video games, and of course the iconic 1986 movie Aliens. When in doubt, references from the movie were my touchstone throughout this project, but I knew early on that I was not going for a 100% screen-accurate recreation.

I did produce a series of progress videos throughout the duration of this project which culminated in an overview/build guide when I was done.

Costume

Mark Rolston as Pvt. Drake. My vest, patches sewn. Me at Flower City Comic Con 2022.

Mark Rolston as Pvt. Drake. Aliens (1986)

My vest, patches sewn.

Me at Flower City Comic Con 2022.

Many elements of this costume were purchased: hat, vest, t-shirt, fingerless gloves, red bandana, pants, and boots. The patches on the vest were purchased from patchzone on eBay. The velcro patch on my hat came from WsbShop on Etsy.

M56 Smartgun

To construct the smartgun I began with a set of STLs available on Thingiverse created by Zagadka. These did require some scaling in MS 3D builder and I further used 3D Builder to cut many of these pieces so that they could lay flat on the print bed and not have details obscured by supports. I then cleaned up these pieces and reassembled them with epoxy, using some threaded rod to reinforce some of the thinnest parts near the forward and rear grips. A PVC pipe was attached as a coupler for the pivot joint. Coaxial cable was added for the 'video link' and battery. Foam bicycle grips were fitted, just like the original prop.

Materials: PLA filament, steel all-thread, coaxial cable, foam bicycle grips, JBWeld plastic bonder epoxy, Apoxie, acrylic paints.
Notable tools: Microsoft 3D Builder, Ender3 FDM printer.

Smartgun - actual movie prop.

Smartgun - actual movie prop.

Smartgun - all parts printed. Smartgun - beginning to assemble pieces. Smartgun - beginning to assemble the body. Smartgun - main body and pieces assembled.

Smartgun - all parts printed.

Smartgun - beginning to assemble pieces.

Smartgun - beginning to assemble the body.

Smartgun - main body and pieces assembled.

Smartgun - final assembly. Smartgun - clean-up, gap filling. Smartgun - primed. Smartgun - paint completed.

Smartgun - final assembly.

Smartgun - clean-up, gap filling.

Smartgun - primed.

Smartgun - paint completed.

Combat Harness (including shoulder lamp) and Headset

Jenette Goldstein as Pvt. Vasquez. Vasquez and Drake, headsets on.

Jenette Goldstein as Pvt. Vasquez. Aliens (1986)

Vasquez and Drake, headsets on. Aliens (1986)

Combat Harness in the Aliens Colonial Marines Technical Manual. Me at New York Comic Con 2022 (photo by Steve Prue).

Combat Harness in the Aliens Colonial Marines Technical Manual.

Me at New York Comic Con 2022 (photo by Steve Prue).

In the orginal film, the combat harness largely incorporated a Stedicam vest and arm, but those are expensive! Thankfully, A/V folks are resourceful and there are several guides for how to build something similar on a budget. I followed this one to build the 'arm' from PVC and made the brackets from aluminum plate with the included template. The main difference I added was to cut channels into the PVC pipe so that the springs could be placed inside. I also mounted it to a flatted piece of PVC riveted to a 2" pistol belt.

I made the 'vest' with EVA foam (heat sealed and Plastidipped), 2" nylon strapping and a number of buckles.

Unable to get my hands on an original Raytheon headset, I spent a fair bit of time figuring out how the original pieces would fit appropriately on a different set of headphones. The STLs were provided by a helpful member of the Aliens Legacy forums who has asked to remain anonymous so that their inbox doesn't get filled up with requests. A quick search of the threads and some polite questions will probably get you what you need though. Interestingly, these files did not include the camera lens, so this part came from a helmet cam designed by mkauffman41 available on Thingiverse. The 'glass' of the lens is a clear piece of plastic film. I made the boom mic by modelling a few simple parts in 3D Builder and fitting them to an aluminum tube. For the cable/plug, I coiled a couple pieces of wire around a wooden dowel and hit it with a heat gun. I chose to connect this differently than done on-screen to avoid possible snags at crowded conventions. I did keep the headphone jack so this does plug into the vest.

The STLs for the shoulder lamp were also provided by a member of the Aliens Legacy forum. I installed some LEDs in the lamp head, covered with diffusion foam, and wired into a battery tray in the main box. The back panel is held in place with magnets (and usually another piece of duct tape).

Overall, I managed to use a lot less duct tape than was used in the original film, but I used it in a few spots as a fun reference :)

Materials: PVC, aluminum plate, springs, PLA filament, aluminmum tube, EVA foam, nylon strapping, ABS buckles, LEDs and wiring, JBWeld plastic bonder epoxy, Apoxie, PlastiDip, acrylic paints.
Notable tools: Microsoft 3D Builder, Ender3 FDM printer, soldering iron, bandsaw, Dremel.

Combat harness - parts ready for assembly. Headset - parts printed Headset - Assembled and basecoated. Shoulder lamp - parts ready for assembly.

Combat harness - parts ready for assembly

Headset - parts printed.

Headset - Assembled and basecoated.

Shoulder lamp - parts ready for assembly.

Additional equipment

Coloial Marines are depicted with a plethora of extra equipment but Smartgunners seem to get away with carrying less, presumably because they already bear the substantial weight of their weapon systems. Even so, I did decide to add some extra gear for this charatcer.

A hand welder, designed by djdrthq2 on Thingiverse, needed the grip filled out with some epoxy putty (Apoxie) before I wrapped it in gaffer tape. A smoke-tinted lighting gel was cut to fit the 'welding screen' and glued with 'clear parts CA glue' to avoid frosting. I hang this from my belt with a paracord noose in reference to the paracord that many Marines use in the film.

A pair of the ubiquitous 'belt tools' carried by most Marines in the film were also printed, assembled. and painted to hang on my belt. These were designed by martinr1000 on Thingiverse.

I was also able to find and print models for the standard issue VP-90 pistol and Explorer Night Raider knife. Both are on Thingiverse, the pistol by Sonnyneptune and the knife by badkarma999. I did cut these models in half with 3D Builder so that I could keep the detail on both sides clean of support material.

Materials: PLA filament, CA glue, JBWeld plastic bonder epoxy, Apoxie, acrylic paints.
Notable tools: Ender3 FDM printer.

Belt tools - printed. Hand welder - printing. Belt tools and hand welder - assembled. Belt tools - basecoated. Hand welder - painted. Hand welder - final assembly. Pistol - printing. Pistol and knife - assembled.

Belt tools - printed.

Hand welder - printing.

Belt tools and hand welder - assembled.

Belt tools - basecoated.

Hand welder - painted.

Hand welder - final assembly.

Pistol - printing.

Pistol and knife - assembled.



Made Altered Bought
  • M-56 Smartgun
  • Smartgun combat harness (includes belt, mounting arm, and armoured vest)
  • Smartgun headset
  • Shoulder lamp
  • Belt tools
  • ME3 hand welder
  • VP70M sidearm
  • Night Raider combat knife
  • OD vest (patches applied)
  • OD cap (with patch)
  • Black leather fingerless gloves
  • Black t-shirt
  • Camo BDU pants
  • Red bandana
  • Pistol holster
  • Combat boots