Wanted a display piece worthy of the excellent line of Aliens Minimates, so I decided to consruct one.

Simply started with a cardboard box. I didn't want folds and flaps visible, so I cut the walls from a bigger box and glued them together for the base fisplay. I figured the best place to start was the "secreted resin" on the walls. For this I used plaster gauze. I used crumpled newspaper to get the general shape, then placed the gauze over top, leaving a bunch of folds and stretch lines. I figured I would eventually want to have Xenomorphs crawling up the walls, so I decided to permanently plaster a few black minimate stands into the walls and ceiling. I also wanted to create the tendon-like cocoons and supports which basically required cutting strips of gauze, stretching them, letting it dry, then stretching another one off that. I did this a few times until I got the look I wanted. The cocoon I created is open, so it can be occupied by any minimate and swapped out easily. I gave the floor some texture as well by rolling up strips of gauze and snaking them all over the floor to create the tendril-like pieces that come off the eggs.

The next part of the display was the catwalk. I basically framed it with wooden skewers, then used modelers mesh for the flooring.

Before putting it all together, I painted the entire display flat black and added some grey and green highlights to the hive walls. I also added some details to the installation walls such as a Weyland-Yutani logo above a doorway, a junction box, and 2 sub-level signs.

The catwalk was then glued in place, and a few more "secretion" details were added. I decided to finish it off with some lighting. I drilled small holes every few inches apart on both levels, then glued the bulbs from a small battery powered strand of lights into each hole. The battery back was glued to the outside of the box, Aliens Minimates were added, and there it is! Of course, I didn't expect it to be so crowded, but I made this quite awhile back, and I didn't know they would expand the line so much. ;c) Well...Aliens should look a little chaotic anyway, right?