The Aliens Colonial Marines Dropship Filming Model!

Adam Savage at prop store in London. I always want to say prop store of London. I had to work hard to remove that. That's gone, man. We're in London at prop store. Stephen Lane, how are you? I'm very good. Thanks, man. Very good. You guys have an auction this fall. It's happening right now and it has some insane things in it. But this is the drop ship from aliens. This is the drop ship from aliens. You're right. Actually, you know what? This year we have a really amazing collection of aliens content as well. We've got Harry Harris archive. His collection is in this, which has brought a lot to market that's never been seen for years and years and years. But this piece, a model miniature with this sort of hardware on it, it's a phenomenal item built by the Skotak brothers, of course. And it just sort of sings out aliens, doesn't it? I mean, aliens is so much about the hardware and it's just like this particular piece, man. Aliens is about the hardware and it's also about Jim Cameron's intersection with the hardware, because I know that he built the maquette of this. That's right. Famously grabbing Blackhawk helicopters and other model parts and cobbling together, because he's an excellent maker and illustrator, his version of what the drop ship should look like. Yeah. But look at the detail on this thing. Isn't it just amazing? I mean, just starting at the front here, you've got Ferro and Spunkmeyer, the pilots in there and co-pilots sitting in there all ready to go. You've got the decal on the side, which says Smartass, I think it is, around on this side here. And actually, I've had decals like these come from other sources over the years, because they obviously just interchanged this between the Smartass and the Bug Stomper, so that one model just flip it over as they needed to for different shots to save on the money. The rivet work on this is really beautiful and sensitive. It's just such a thrill to see this thing up close. And this is a big shooting miniature. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's a bigoture, isn't it? I mean, it's not far off it at all. I mean, this this would be a multipurpose, I think, you know, if you look at it and the way that it's sort of been pieced together, it looks like there's a motion control mounting point right through here or a filming mounting point through here. I know there's another one in the tail section. Obviously, we've got one on the underside. So this thing is designed to be shot from all different angles on all different sides. And in fact, you've got sort of holes in different places as well. Maybe it's been suspended. There was a light over here, so maybe a red LED went there. Could have been an LED there as well. But yeah, I mean, it's just and look at the paintwork on this sort of distressing and just the aging that's gone into it as well over the O2 here and around that area. It's just wicked. It is also for the age that it is, it is in a remarkable shape. It's in good shape. You're right. And interestingly enough, when this was when this last came to market, actually this part, the cockpit section was actually separate. So it got sold at one point with a replica cockpit and then this went out somewhere else and the existed, the current owner of this actually managed to bring those two pieces back together again, which is great to see. That's amazing. I was going to say these two screws up here at the top of the cockpit look a little neat. They're a little bit evident, aren't they? Yeah, I don't think it would have been allowed on set like that. And it has had some other restoration work that's been done to it as well over the years. But you know, the size of this and the age of this, it's not surprising, but it's maintained it, hasn't it, really, as much as anything else. Managed to keep it alive. Well, I mean, I notice how little like dings there are on the edges, which is usually where I see a lot of the weathering, right? Or whether it's where someone's handled it. And this has clearly been love. It has been love. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. The pods on the top here, I won't move them now, but they're hinged so they will fold in over each other. So they sort of give that closed effect as well, which is really cool. It's missing the gun ports that would go here. Yes. Yeah, it looks. Actually, if you get underneath there, I think you can actually see where they were once bonded, can't you? Yeah. So you've got them bonded, all the marks there. Yeah. You've got the landing gear on that as well. Some of the electrics hanging out on the underside here. Yeah. And so, I mean, this had lights throughout it. So you have lights to the front. You've got engine lights to the rear as well. And it's sort of pretty. Oh, I bet that's the bulb that goes in that hole up there. Nicely done. Did some problem solving on the clock today. That's brilliant. Yes, that's where the LED is. You can see you've got like a steel armature that goes right up through the underside of it there as well, giving it its core strength. So that allows it to be filmed from all these different angles, which is obviously so important to it. I just delight in how crude and crunchy the inside of spaceship models are. Yeah. Right. And it's just it's all business in here. Yeah. Right. Yeah. There's no nobody's trying to prove anything. No, no, absolutely. And you sort of see that as well with the engines on the rear, don't you? I mean, it's just sort of like, yeah, look at that, because I think when you when you come around to the back there and look at the engines, I mean, it's just these guys. Yeah, it's crazy looking. It's just like a halogen light in the back of there, isn't it? Just sort of drilled out and tapped out to give it enough light. So it's going to emanate out the back of the back of the craft. And these these I think these are MR-16s. These halogens, they burn hot, like super hot. Yeah. Whenever I see them in spaceship models, I'm all like, oh, man, you poor bastards. Yeah, you're right. I mean, that's something that with technology has really helped now, hasn't it? With LED and cold light technology, it just means everything is possible that wasn't possible previously. No, I worked in film just before kinofluorescence became in heavy use. And so every set I was on for the first few years was hot as, you know, it was crazy. Yeah. Yeah. But I mean, this is just it is such an iconic piece. Yeah, you've got all this sort of pin lining and decals on the top of it here as well. We're sort of detailing again all the riveting on the on the wings over here as well. The back fins, haven't you? It's just amazing. You know, how much is that ever going to be seen in the shot? But it just adds so much depth and breadth to it, doesn't it? It really does. And, you know, when light goes over it, all of a sudden, all that detail tells a much greater story. All gets picked up. Yeah. Oh, man. I loved it. I didn't realize it had been built by the Skotak brothers. That's a that's a lovely lineage to get your jet blast decal there. Another part of the landing gear there, which I'm sure at one point would have been practical. It looks like it sort of just clipped in place here, isn't it? Really? Quite basically. And then, well, clearly, they only intended ever to shoot this from the front. They didn't need to bury that. That's right. Right. So this is like it shows up at the bottom. We don't need to. Who cares? Yeah. Which is great. The auction is happening right now. It is. Yeah, it's live online right now. So there's over fifteen hundred lots from over three hundred and fifty film and television shows, which is quite an astonishing volume of content. It's also pieces in there to all budgets as well. So starting from a couple of hundred bucks and upwards. And it's really worth just checking out a prop store dot com and tune in for auction day as well. We're live stream every single day. You could add a drop ship to your home collection. Thank you so much, sir. It's been a pleasure, man. Lovely to see you. Such a.