"...a close personal friend: the M41A pulse rifle"

When Jeff gave me a box of parts that he told me could be assembled into a 1:1 model of one of the most iconic make-believe firearms in cinematic science-fiction history, I was both elated and intimidated (and grateful!). In the end though, I ended up with a very neat conversation piece.

I was elated because in 1986, I must have seen James Cameron's Aliens 8-10 times in the theatre. There wer at least four Tuesdays in succession where, having discovered someone who hadn't seen it, demanded they accompany me to the Paramount Theatre on Jasper Ave (sigh) to see it on the cheap.

My friend Rob and I cobbled together our own director's cut using the deleted footage included in the tv broadcast, and stitched it together with a cinematic VHS version using three daisy-chained VCRs and a pencil and paper list of pause points.

And yeah, science-fiction has a lot of great, neat weapons, but somehow the pulse-rifle manages to stand out. Partly it is the realism and industrial blandness of the design, partly it is how ubiquitous it becomes through some of the most brilliant action pieces of its time. One of the major reasons though is how they draw back the curtain on it when Lance Corporal Duane Hicks (Michael Biehn) outlines its capabilities and operation to the film's heroine Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver).

This combined with Lt. Gorman's detached recitation of the amunition type ("10mm exploding tip caseless, standard light armour-piercing - why?") both demystifies the pulse rifle whch makes it plausible to have it tear alien monsters apart, but also explains why it might deflect off more armoured foes.

The ammo counter, practical magazine, muzzle flash and distinctive sound have carried on a long ways from the cinematic release and through many a video game as well. So obviously, I wanted to make the most of the opportunity and do it justice, which is where the trepidation crept in. 

There was also a very real risk that the parts would languish in a box as many other projects have, collecting dust until some idyllic future point w

here I would have the time to lavish all the time on it that it might require.  But luckily, I figured out a short cut that let me assemble and paint it in less than a week.

I found a can of flat (ultra-flat, in fact!) olive-drab green spray paint at Michaels and purchased it with one of the ubiquitous coupons. After gluing the various half-pieces together with either two-part epoxy or superglue, and heeding Jeff's caution that a specific order of assembly would be required,  I sprayed all the "body" or housing pieces this colour, masking the bit of gun barrel and shroud protruding from the one end.

I then reversed the masking and sprayed all the "metal" parts black, and hoestly, that covered about 80% of the painting.

The receiver and ejector port (wait, isn't this ammo caseless? well, moving on...) well black bits on mostly green real estate, but it was a simple matter to carefully hand-paint those elements. First basic black, then a bit of zinc acrylic (leftover from another Aliens project, lol) on the exposed metal bits, as well as the loading port on the under-barrel grenade launcher.

Next up was painting all the recessed screws, which, though not the easiest to reach, really contributes to the verisimillitude of the whole thing, and did not take all that long. Lastly, the LED ammo counter in blacks and reds.

I had found a suitable descriptive plaque online that Jeff graciously printed out for me, and one that was painted, I was done - I had escaped the curse of the dusty box (for once)!

Now came the rub: how to display it? At two feet in length, there weren't many places I could put it, and didn't really want it on the walls of the Batcave downstairs at any rate. Luckily there was a suitable space in the unfinished part of the basement, on the way to the laundry area and deep freeze - out of the way but not hidden.

But how to hang it? I didn't trust the superglue to hold the weight of the model is suspended by the nadle, and no 3M Command Hooks were long enough to safely secure its width. 

Luckily enough, the 'decorative hooks' section of Home Depot turned up these brilliant wide, flat hooks that are not only flat black and the perfect size, but they fold up out of the way to boot!

Four screws later, the M41A was safely racked in its new home.

But this weekend, Glory graciously agreed to don her jacket full of USCM patches and let me photograph her with it for scale.

Sadly, there was no time to search out a better backdrop than the plain white wall of our garage (never a steam tunnel or well-lit modern industrial plant around when you need one!), but once again we refused to sacrifice the good on the altar of the perfect.

It also underscored how non-cosplay friendly my build was; simply changing poses was enough to break off the shoulder stock, but what the glue taketh away, it also giveth back, so we were back in business in short order. 

I wonder what might have worked better in terms of adhesive; I thought hot glue would be too thick for how flush some of the pieces were meant to sit, and found the epoxy a little difficult to work with. Maybe someday they will make some kind of polystyrene filament for 3D printing so you can use model cement on it?

Regardless, until I can justify getting an Airsoft version or something else more fun to play with, or hit the lotto and can buy a more prop-like replica, I am happy to have a piece of make-believe firepower on my basement wall.