by Simon Haydn

“Independently targetting particle-beam phalanx. Whap! Fry half a city with this puppy. We got tactical smart-missiles, phased-plasma pulse-rifles, RPG's. We got sonic eee-lectronic ballbreakers, we got nukes, we got knives...sharp sticks…”

You know the rest and everybody loves the scene where the top turret rotates and drops to the back. The APC from Aliens doesn't appear often enough and it's a shame we don't get to see the vehicle's weapons in action. This is a project I've been trying to do for years and this is my second attempt. It was originally intended for the model in a month idea, but life had other ideas so I had to put it on hold.

Like most scratchbuilds certain parts dictate the scale of the model and for this it was the wheels, which I obtained whilst in a hardware store in Norway. The scale became roughly 1/11 and it really suits the vehicle, not too small and just right for turning into a radio-controlled toy. I'd already bought the 1/35 Halcyon version and used that as my template, along with drawings and photos obtained from the film and the internet.

The majority of the vehicle is made from scrap wood, but plenty of wall filler was also used. The covers on the wheels come from CDs and the grill mesh I found in a hobby store in the embroidery section! Virtually everything has been tailor-made, including the front Gatling guns and the muzzles of the main turret. It was surprisingly quick to build the main structure, but the fine detailing like the rivets on the door and windshield took a while. From start to finish it would have taken about 3 weeks to do, but there's still a lot of internal work to do and it'll be good to see it motorised.

Image: Close-up, turret

Image: Gatling gun

Image: Construction started/ size comparison