From the Book Of Alien from the late 70's comes this painting done by Ron Cobb of a late and discarded design for the Nostromo from the film Alien.  I got this book when I was about 12 and was amazed by the pictures inside (the film scared the hell out of me when I was the same age) and have always wanted to see what this particular craft looked like in the flesh, well 26 years later and it looks like i'll get a chance sometime soon.  The pictures from the book and also the alien quadrilogy dvd don't match the painting so i've decided to compromise between them incorporating elements from both which means the finished model will look slightly different to the pics and painting but close enough that it'll look the part.  Also I used the plans I found to work from (left) as the desktop background on my laptop and had to stretch them to fit on the screen (below) and this elongated the design which I kinda liked so used this for the dimensions for the model but due to my less than exacting modelling skills this model has a few innacuracies so i'm going to say it is based on the Leviathan.

 The specifications on the blueprint read as follows:

Basic Lockheed CM 88B Bison transporter frame modified and fitted with a Yutani T7A NLS Stellar Drive. The original Saturn J3000 engines have been replaced by 2 Rolls Royce NGG Cyclone Thrust Tunnels with bi-polar vectoring for mid line life function. Each power plant developing 7,250,000 tons thrust (14,500,000,000 pounds) giving a high impulse total of 14,460,000 tons.

 

<This is where it all began

 

The start of something big here, as you can see from the laptop in the background this isn't going to be a small model.>

 

 

<The main body of the craft taking shape. 

 

Next up is the head and here's the start of it.>

<Here's what I assume from the pics is the cockpit.

 

Cockpit fitted into head.>

 

 

<With side walls in place.

 

 

Inserts for jets on either underside of head.>

 

 

<Test fit of head to neck.

And from above.>

 

 

 

 <With the head nearly finished I start on the underside of the neck and start to work backwards and yes I know it looks like the backs hanging down a bit but the heads not glued on yet.

 

 

 

And from the front.>

 

 

 <Starting the side pods

 

 

 

 

Sides glued together>

 

 

 <Thrusters made from tips from a cake piping thing.

 

 

Side pod front detail coming together >

 

 

<Pod next to side of hull for sizing

 

 

 Working on the rear of the pods>

 

 

 <Rear thrusters in place and more work done to rear of pods

 

 

And filling up holes in the front of the pods>

 

 

 

 <Details in front boosters

 

 

And more stuff on top>

 

 

 

 <Rear landing gear housings started

 

And fitted>

 <And inside the housings go the landing gear that start with the feet themselves

At work I found this toner cartridge that seemed to look interesting>

 

<It fits nicely under the main body of the ship and is a good place to start to get the shape of the underside after some modifications have been done

 

 

 

I've hunted high and low for something I can use for the main engines under the rear of the body and haven't found anything the correct size so I decided to make something from scratch>

 

<Making the front shape is a challenge but i've got this far so far, now all it needs is a bit of sanding and filling and sanding again....
 

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