"How To Make Alien (Xenomorph) Walls & Corridors?" Topic

QUESTION:

Would squirting or drizzling a few mailing tube halves with a hot gun be the best option for getting an effect similar to this?

If not, what else would you suggest to add the same organic look to an existing tunnel or corridor?

Thanks,

Dan

How about carpet tubes or pvc cut in half and drizle wood glue or hot hot glue down the sides?

By the way, I am aware of the ready-made ones from Griffon and Scotia Grendel.

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And the "First Contact Terrain" sold by Dark Art Miniatures:

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As well as the hive walls that were once made and sold by Wild Walls:

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HOWEVER . . .

What I really want is to turn an existing corridor piece into a tunnel with giger-esque organic texture.

Thanks,

Dan

bleached chicken bones, hot glue, and plastic cable covers :)

How about electrical cable tubing or vacuum hoses?
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they would be the plastic cable covers :)

Has anyone been able to apply that to their terrain?

If so, I would LOVE to see what the final product looks like before I dive in and run to the stores.

Thanks,

Dan

Crazy idea alert . . .

If there was a way to greatly strengthen a dry urchin shell like this (foam insulation inside and polyurethane varnish on the outside), and then roll it over polymer clay, do you think it could imprint a texture similar to that of the alien secreted walls?

QUESTION:

Do you think it could create they proper negative impression on clay?

auction

Dan

I would first use newspaper and 50/50white glue/water to layer the surface and then pull, pinch, press into place.

This will create an organic wrinkle surface over the whole area fast and inexpensive.

Then back fill with coffee straws, little wires from recycled electrical cords (or the like), a few marbles, flat glass beads, aquarium gravel from that dried up tank in your garage, etc.

Prime in white

Paint with chrome before the primer dries (this will dry at a different pace and create a crazed cracked effect)

Wash/dip in black, wipe

Tada

:)

I didn't see the sea urchin post.

Tape off one end fill with single expanding foam

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The blue one…if not this brand then make sure it says single expansion or for windows/door frames/or sills..if not then it may expand the urchin to bits.

Only fill 3/4 the way because it still expands.

28mmMan,

So what do you think of that crazy sea urchin idea?

Which reminds me now of some of your cool ideas here:

TMP link

Dan

But that said…you are looking at hours upon hours to create a tool that may do what you want…I would think a handful of cheap beads from the craft store could easily create the same sort of surface that you could either apply or create a flat tool.

Do you mean beads imbedded or glued to a ball and then rolled over clay (or paper mache) layered to the inside of a half tube?

Perhaps as a spherical variant of this other crazy idea?

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Dan

I have used them for art projects before…some are delicate as tissue, some look strong and then you breathe on them and poof, others are tough.

Crapshoot

I would think flat.

Make a wheel tool with your beads and bits glued/epoxied to it (or your urchin shell :) , roll over clay with a lego mold frame around it (12-18" x 6-8"), coat with talc powder, lay your wet (glue/water) paper, press into each detail, let dry, pull off.

Cut, wet, apply as you like.

Lego mold frame?

Dan

If you are going to make a rolling tool of your urchin then insert a tube through the center for your axle to turn within.

Some interesting ideas, the hot glue idea is probably the way I would go, the urchin idea is good but would probably be hard to achieve.

Hot glue as a final touch perhaps…I have used hot glue…a bunch…buy glue sticks by the 500 batches…and I don't think it will do what is desired.

Again, as a finish texture, yes!

Agreed on the urchin process being a pain in the rump.

spray foam comes out looking like intestine and puss bubbles…just be careful about how much it expands. Use very small amounts right on the walls.

See:
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Ok, I guess I could start with the easiest suggestions and, depending on the results, I might consider escalating to the next.

I also found this older thread from 2007, which has some additional ideas:

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Thanks to all of you. I promise to let you know how the attempts work out.

Dan

Sculpey man Polymer Clay. It is turning into my terrain material of choice. Usually a mix of super Sculpey, fimo, sculpy3 and other brands Mixing brands tends to give the best trade off of qualities. I generally pick up a bunch when it goes on sale, I also have 20% discount with DickBlick.

I'd give this idea a try with sculpty.

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Another approach: glue beads and bits of ribbed tubing, chicken bones, etc., to a piece of pink foamboard, then give it a light dusting of spray paint -- not enough to completely melt the foamboard, but enough to melt the surface with the stuff glued to it. The exposed areas will have a cool melted look that can then be painted up with all your slimy, dribbly colors.

I think, too, that painting the alien corridors with gloss paint (or highlights and streaks with some gloss-coat) will give it that creepy "wet" look that we saw in Aliens.

Good stuff all!

Been giving this some thought.

If you have the half tubes/corridors already…and considering the cheapest process, I would secure the Blue can expanding foam, a handful of thin and flexible twigs (especially if you have Crepe Myrtle trees around you, and I know you do)

hot glue, handful of cheap craft beads (dollar store pack), some electrical wire if you can get some from scrap, and a blow dryer.

Hot glue the bits but leave plenty of room between and keep it chaotic.

Use the expanding foam to fill the gaps, flow under the twigs/bits, etc…use the blow dryer on cold to push the foam around; do not touch with your fingers unless you want the foam to collapse. If you use the hot air it will melt the foam at bit (or actually liquify it) but this releases some stinky results so do this out side and stay upwind or have a fan behind you.

Keep a few chop sticks handy to poke and play with the foam. You can collapse sections and use the wet gel to "paint with texture". Just try to work fast and do not stay in one area too long, balance you efforts across the whole item.

If you don't want to do any terrain modelling, you could try just printing out some 'Geiger/Alien' looking artwork from google.Resize it till it looks OK and glue on the insides of the corridors.

Did one of these a year or two back, needed to do roughly 100 actual feet of tunnels, rooms and corridors – so sculpting by hand wasn't an option I wanted to do. I did a couple of tests of molding and casting…but I didn't care for the repetition that happened. So…this is more or less what I ended up doing.

I went to the local craft store and bought a couple craploads of beaded string. A half dozen different sizes and shapes. I went to the local recycling center and picked up a few pounds of scrap copper tubing (soft tubing not the hard wall pipe). Finally I went to the local electric hardware store and grabbed an assortment of corrugated wire loom.

With all the bits, bobs and pieces sorted out – I began laying them out on the bases that I had previously cut (2" foam laminated to 1/4" MDF with tunnels and rooms carved out of it). You can mash the copper tubing down to make ribs…the beads can be laid out on the beaded strings to represent bladders, egg sacks and pustules…and the corrugated loom makes for interesting bony bits.

Unfortunately that still looks a bit like crap…but the finishing is pretty straight forward. Grabbed a couple tubs of Apoxie Sculpt and start mixing. Once the putty is mixed, use your favorite tool (dough roller…pasta machine…hands) to make it very flat and thin. Once that was done, I draped it over the tunnels and pushed it down over the beads, tubes and loom. In places I tore holes to expose the actual material under it. In other places I folded it over a bit. Trim off anything that comes over the top and flatten that again for the next section. I ended up using around 20 lbs of the putty to do the entire set of tunnels. Each 4 lb package was good for around 10 square feet at around 1/16 to 1/8 inch thick.

Think the total cost was around $250 USD for everything, with the vast majority of that being the putty used to skin the thing.

An option for your tunnels that works great is to either split PVC pipe or get the half round PVC gutter. I use it when I am doing sewers and what not…but I have considered using it for caves and the like as well. You can heat it in an oven and bend it into curves and odd shapes.

"I went to the local craft store and bought a couple craploads of beaded string. A half dozen different sizes and shapes. I went to the local recycling center and picked up a few pounds of scrap copper tubing (soft tubing not the hard wall pipe). Finally I went to the local electric hardware store and grabbed an assortment of corrugated wire loom"

I like what you did, an extensive process to be sure…but I am left with one real question…

What is the unit of measure noted as "crapload"?

:)

Haven't tried this (yet), but…

Use blue mesh from those cheapie AC filters, cut into strips
and glue into the tube (but not flat. You want some "depth"
so that when it's finished it looks like a mass of strands.)
Then glop on your primer/paint/gloss finish (maybe pushing
and pulling strands here and there to open up small gaps or
too keep it from flattening out on the wall.) Won't have
that "bony" look, but more of a spider-thingy spun habitat
(and you could still 'hide' stuff in the walls…. ;)

I believe a "Crap-load" is enough to finish home repairs from hobby supplies…

Another rather easy option is to use lengths of foam insulation and melt it with plastic glue to make your tunnels.

Then give it a nice coat of black paint and lightly drybrush a metallic tone (Green tends to look the best and adds a bit from the advertising for the Alien series) before using a spray on gloss seal.

While not a perfect match for a xenomorph hive, it's extremely close and dirt cheap (Full board for under $50 USD including a chipboard underside).

Oooh, another thought! Aluminum foil! Crumple up a sheet really well, then unfold it and glue it to the walls of your corridor tube/base/thingie. Glue your beads and bones on top of it and then, if you prefer, dribble hot glue or melted Woodland Scenics water effects down the sides here and there. When primed and drybrushed, the walls will look like something alien-ish, methinks.

I'm still thinking of making walls on my own. And, to that end, I've kept digging for more examples from film, such as these here:

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But I can't help but wonder whatever happened to Griffon Studios and the Alien Hive Walls they made:

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Dan

How much scenery do you need?

Javelin98,

Hmm. I guess about 4 linear feet. The rest of the corridors will be untouched by the xenos.

Dan

Do you have the mundane corridors ready to go?

Will you be making overlaying hive details or having them as separate structures altogether?

I'm not going to start on the untouched corridors yet, until I resolve what to do with the hive walls.

The project depends on whether or not I can really make those walls look hive-like.

Dan

This portion might be easier to make, don't you think?

Dan

The reason I mention the mundane walls is that there are patches and transition points that mundane wall will connect and thus be seen through the xeno wall.

I would first focus on your mundane walls…and then create thin overlays that could convert and section into xeno hive wall…then you could have lots of potential for different set ups.

I wonder… what if you took a section of your "mundane" walls and covered them tightly with wax paper. Then use just a dot or two of white glue to affix your chicken bones, beads, tubing, and whatnot to the wax paper.

Now get some rubber cement (the kind that looks like mucus and stays rubbery and flexible even after drying) and dribble it down over the wall (both sides) and the assorted stuff stuck to the wax paper. Let it dry. Working carefully, you might be able to peel off the glue-and-crap construction and set it aside. Then, when you need xeno-ified walls, you can just drape as many portions of the glue thingie over your mundane walls. If you pour on the rubber cement thickly enough, it should be strong enough to withstand repeated handling.

Oooh… another alternative to the rubber cement: paintable clear silicone caulk! Very strong and sticky stuff, and you can paint it in your choice of colors or just leave it clear.

Check out CaptainGeneral's use of the SciFi Wild Walls sheets, about 1/3 down this page:

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Here are some of those pics:

More here:

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Dan

Here's a closeup of the Scotia Grendel one:

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If I wanted to game in 1:1 scale . . . here's a 4 x 8 ft section for sale:

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Dan

Guys,

PLEASE let me know what you think of this crazy idea (embossing alien organic-looking pattern on polystyrene strips):

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Thanks so much,

Dan

Could you make a mould out of lego, cover the bottom with a thick piece of wet clay (as shown by 28mm Man), press things like softened chicken bones (how do you do that again ,is it boil them??) bits of different hose etc, then churn out plaster pieces?

You guys will love this:

Source: link

Dan

Such a popular theme and setting for a sci-fi game i am really suprised that no miniature company have picked up the perverbial ball and started to produce a Giger style corridoors system, even printed ones that could be downloaded would be a start and better than nothing at all…

On first thought I'd go with the following…

Hot Glue
Leftover Tyranid arms and legs
Guitar strings
Springs

-Eli

I made some about five years ago for some one, and do plan to make make some more and cast them in resin.

What worked for me was to drizzle hot candle wax over a frame work. Two or three coats over the top of each other, to give it different thickness through out.

Also it is very easy to carv any pattern into it, and if you make a mistake simply put a little wax over the mistake.

The finish is realy smooth, choose the right colour wax for a base coat , and then simply ink over the top to give it a slimy look.

If you want a slightly rougher effect simply add some sand to the wax.

Hope this helps.

Mike

Well when you do get around to making them and putting them into production ill be one of your first customers. :)