Facehugger

What

A full size model of an “Alien” Facehugger.

IDEA

WASTED TIME

REVIVAL CHANCE

Why

I loved all things Alien/Aliens. I’d seen Facehugger models in shops, but they were well beyond my price range. I wanted one and thought making one might be worth a try. I don’t know why the hell I had skills for that.

When

Mid to late 90s but not sure when exactly.

I bought a VHS collector’s box set in about 1993, and it had a less than life size sculpted Facehugger on the case. I used it for reference.

Development & Progress

I finished the main body and tail, but didn’t get as far as the fingers/legs. The detail was alright. I had never really figured out how I was going to make it properly or if there would be an underside detail, or what it would be cast out of, or what I would do with it. It wasn’t a very well formed idea really, but I probably got some enjoyment out of having sculpted it.

The Facehugger won’t have progressed much beyond this stage before being covered in plaster and then being destroyed.

Reason for Abandonment

I can clearly remember making a plaster-cast, and it went to shit because it was too big and heavy. The cast broke/disintegrated and was useless and the clay had to be gouged out or abandoned. Without better ideas of how to do it, and after spending time and effort on a failure, I didn’t want to go through it again, with no guarantee of any success. I didn’t know much about casting techniques and I should have been considering resin for the mould and then a latex cast. I don’t know it was a consideration, but I don’t blame myself for not doing it that way. There was no internet and I didn’t know where to get those things anyway. Besides, fibreglass and even just the resin by itself is a horrible nasty bastard of a material to work with.

Chances of Revival

None. After I bought the above fully made Facehugger many years later though, so there was no need to attempt making my own inferior version.

A pre-painted Facehugger model that I bought about 15 years after abandoning this project.

Legacy

As well as having bought a fully made up soft-ish model (above), I also have a bag of parts from a Facehugger and a Chestburster kit that I bought and couldn’t be arsed to assemble, let alone paint etc.

I’d forgotten I even had an unmade Chestburster as well as a spare Facehugger.

Regret

It was a shame to have created a detailed form that was never going to work out and was destroyed in reclaiming the clay from the terrible failed mould.