“Aliens” was one of the greatest action/horror films of the 80s, and certainly one of my favorites of all time. Part of what made it so awesome, was the fact that is was a very lived in universe, giving a dark and gritty feel to the sci-fi theme. Part of how this was supported on screen was using scrounged parts to build some of the iconic weapons and gear of the USCM, and the M314 Motion Tracker was one of their most iconic pieces of gear.
In this series of blogs, we will build a motion tracker from mostly original parts, but you can just as easily use cast or 3D printed parts as original parts can be hard to find. Most of these items were found in junk drawers and are largely photography equipment that was outdated at the time. Now 30 years later things people are “throwing away” are even harder to find. Still, you can check overseas auction sites and get lucky if you are persistent.
Let’s take a look at the parts that make up the motion tracker and see what we will be using for this build.
The Body-
| Part | On Screen | |
| The body of the motion tracker is the Kango 426 Hammer drill, we will be using an earlier model that is identical for our purposes. |  |  |
The Greeblies
| Jobo “Laborleuchte” This is a darkroom light that will have the lanyard removed. We will disassemble this and paint it in parts. |  |  |
| Olympus T28 calculation panel This is the correct screen used calculation panel. Other replicas erroneously use a different panel. |  |  |
| Hama “Selbst-auslöser 5401” This is an auto release timer, both the timer and it’s plastic box were used. |  |  |
| Hama “Selbst-auslöser 5401” plastic box This is the box for the timer above. We didn’t get one with our timer so we will be using a cast from an original. |  |  |
| Transformer from the Matchbox Powertrack 2000 series This model was used on later versions of the Powertrack as well. Because this is rare, and collectable in the toy car hobby, we will be using a 3d printed proxy built to spec. |  |  |
| Part of the keypad from a Casio SL-85 The keypad is cut to place over the transformer. We are using the SL-80 model, which will net the same result. |  |  |
| Hama Slide Viewer B101 (3642) These are becoming more rare, because they are also used for a Star Wars security camera build. |  |  |
| Hama remote control for Pentax This is another hard to find piece, and the new versions are different from screen used. we are using a 3d printed proxy |  |  |
| ASSESS brand blood pressure monitor pump The hollowed out pump from the blood pressure unit. These are hard to find and can be brittle, so we are using a more sturdy fortified resin cast. |  |  |
| Part from a Vivitar Zoom Thyristor 2500 flash unit This cut out area goes on the bottom of the slide viewer |  |  |
| Part from a Vivitar Zoom Thyristor 2500 flash unit This cut out part goes on the top of the slide viewer. The blue ring on the hinge of this flash is also used on the smart gun eyepiece build. |  |  |
Next Steps-
Now that we have all the parts together, we will clean and prep them for painting and assembly. There are still a few more things we will need to make to help attach the parts, as well as get all the right connectors and fasteners. Stay tuned!
