USCM (Colonial Marine) Armor Pep Files | Cybermike, Balding Eagle

I’ve built myself the USCM (United States Colonial Marine) M3 Pattern Personal Armor from the Aliens movie. A common problem is that the Colonial Marine pepakura design templates are often necro links.

DOWNLOAD Colonial Marine Design Template – Pep Files

So here are the files I’ve managed to track down. If the download does not work in Google Chrome, right click and select “Save link as…”. The ZIP file contains files both for the pepakura (eg those wanting to go down the papercraft/fibreglass route) and those who like to use foam. There’s also a facehugger, M41A Pulse Rifle and 2 helmet designs. I have also included an ab pad I designed using photos of a screen used ab pad.

These pepakura templates are not my files. I’m just sharing them. These files are probably the ones originally posted on the Predatorium by Nintendude (edited and unfolded by H1rgon) and are based on the designs in the AVP video game.

Other useful items

Completed US Colonial Marine Armour

Photo by RunnyEggGuy2 who takes great pics

In honour of Apone. Photo by RunnyEggGuy2

A Final Note on Screen Accuracy

Note I have found these designs aren’t quite screen accurate, especially the knee pad. I think I saw a snippet of conversation somewhere suggesting these were modeled from an Alien video game. There are differences if you know what to look for, and I had to modify the design to fit me properly. But they certainly put you on the road for an awesome costume.

Scaling your USCM Armour to Your Size

Oh, very important note when it comes to scaling this armour to your size. Measure yourself, add some extra for clothing, thickness of your chosen material (eg foam), breathing room, then SCALE THE BACK FIRST. The reason for this is the chest plate .PDO has the shoulder pieces floating off to the side, making the model wider and completely ruining the scalability. So scale the back, and use the scale measurement not the mm measurement to scale the front.

Body Armour

Since I was using the original Humbrol enamel hobby paints I needed to stiffen the armour. I decided to use a couple of different types of thermoplastic – Worblas Finest Arts, Lumiflex and probably even some Cosplayflex. This also meant I didn’t need to use my good high density foam and so I used some cheap “checkerplate” garage floor mat.

Removing bubbles and smoothing out the rough texture was time consuming. After a round of automotive filler (eg Bondo) I switched to automotive spot putty for the bigger divots, then a few rounds of automotive filler primer (or spray putty) and lots of sanding. This created a silky smooth surface. I laid down some aluminium spray, then coated that in a clear coat. The clear coat dulled down the shine but the idea behind this is I expected the enamel to get chipped and worn off, exposing the “metal” underneath – the clear coat was to help getting the metal colour from getting chipped off too.

USCM Ab Pad

Using photos of Dietrich’s screen used ab pad I came up with my own template for the padded section, which I made with some cheap black fake leather.

Personalisation

Everyone’s armour is personalised in some way, complete with choice of side arm and knife. So I got hold of an army green phone case so I could carry my phone around. I then made a combat knife combining a 3D printed handle and a foam blade. It is loosely based on the Gerber knife. The movie has the Marines using 2 main styles of knives. And finally (and not visible in my photos) I added an Ace of Spades from a very old card deck to my helmet headband.

My USCM grenade resin casts — M40 HEDP resin cast

Pentax 18mm lens molding — Casting the Pentax 18mm lens

Weapons – Combat Knife

I created a combat knife that is not screen accurate, although the sheath design is based on one of the knives used in the movie (Explorer Night Raider) and the blade loosely based on the Gerber Mk2 knife used by Hicks (you can download a 3D print file here). I 3D printed a handle and used my foamsmithing skills to create a con-safe combat knife. The blade is sealed with wet sanded Rosco FlexBond to get a smooth texture. The sheath is also made from EVA foam, with real stitching and a smooshed googly eye to simulate a press stud.

Weapons – Hicks’ Shotgun

The shotgun used by Hicks is a an Ithaca Model 37. The very same prop used in the movie The Professionals, just with the folding stock removed. It was hard to get some clear shots of the bag used by Hicks, so I had to take some creative license. I found a toy Shotgun in a similar shape to the one used in the movie and gave it an airbrushing. The bad is made from fake leather. I was in a rush and I am not happy with the results or the exposed threads on the underside, but this was a minor facet in the overall build and I didn’t expect anyone to be photographing my back.

Weapons – Pulse Rifle

No USCM build is complete without the Pulse Rifle! Did you know the Pulse Rifle contains parts of 3 real-world guns? The Thompson machine gun, a Remington shotgun with a SPAS cage and pump grip.

There are a few 3D files for the Pulse Rifle, each with their own inaccuracies. The one I used was created by Oleg Khmarnyi on MyMiniFactory. Note there is a commercial restriction on the license for this model.

Weapons – M40 HEDP Grenade

I 3D designed, 3D printed, then molded and cast the grenades for the Pulse Rifle. They have a nice solid weighty feel. The raw casts are available for sale here on my website.

Did you find this resource useful (not the download which I do not own, but the build log) 🙂

USCM (US Colonial Marines) Design Templates – Pep Files