The Aliens smart gun - German MG ?

[Watchdog]

By the way I meant to add that the helicopter is a fake too! Meant to show an Mi8 Hip it is actually a Super Frelon. Still a good movie though.

[lithgow]

Paul Verhoeven's glorious "Starship Troopers'-the battle rifles were modified M60s-must have been a real bastard to lug around (though presumably non firing examples would have been the usual rubber prop guns)-also twin 12.7mm DShk M38s wall mounted at the epic fort battle.

[pitfighter]

Paul Verhoeven's glorious "Starship Troopers'-the battle rifles were modified M60s-must have been a real bastard to lug around (though presumably non firing examples would have been the usual rubber prop guns)-also twin 12.7mm DShk M38s wall mounted at the epic fort battle.

The rifles on Starship Troopers were dealer sample Mini-14's with extra long barrels inside a fiber glass construction, that adapted the Ruger system to a bull pup configuration - they were still heavy.
The fort gun used in the first set, filmed in Casper Wyoming (Hell's half acre) was a twin mounted M2 .50 caliber set-up.

Rock Galotti was the armorer - and has done some terrific pictures, he is on FB if you want to ask him about guns used, he is always answering fans questions.

The insolent looking young punk with blonde hair in the center of the pic below is yours truly.
This pic was taken in Hell's half acre outside Casper Wyoming, we also shot in the badlands of South Dakota (Kadoka, SD), and then at Sony Studios in Culver City, I stunted on this project for nearly a year.
*Edit - some of the rifles had a working Ithaca M37 12 gauge pump mounted beneath in M203 style, no stock.

[lithgow]

I stand corrected.

[pitfighter]

I stand corrected.

It's their job to try to hide what is used - I am not involved with armoring for these major films (I do stunts on big movies and produce my own small films.) - but, I have seen the mini-14 used as a base for sci-fi guns a few times, either Mini-14 dealer samples or AC556's -

Avatar used them as a base for the Marine rifles as well as a standard M60, maybe this is where you saw one, the fiber glass mock-ups were similar to the ones in Starship Troopers.
Going back further 1989, Total Recall (Estudios Churubusco, Mexico DF) used Mini-14's inside the govt. fiberglass mock up guns, too.

The .50's in Starship Troopers had fake Dshk barrels on them - so a very good disguise as the twin mount hid the back of the receiver.

The only negative I recall about Starship Troopers was the spent 5.56 brass falling inside the neck of the rubber armor we were wearing, then dropping into your suit, there was no way to reach inside and remove the hot brass, lol.

This was a very young me, in Prague, CZ, on the Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, a short lived TV show - I was playing around for this terrible pic (trigger discipline and weird pscycho expression), but, the broom handles the local armorer had provided were all M712 Schnellfire, which I thought was pretty awesome.

[lithgow]

First film I can remember that used disguised conventional firearms in a Sci Fi film was the original Planet of the Apes (1968)-M1 carbines in an outer wooden casing that disguised the shape and gave slightly different ergonomics for 'ape' hands/arms.

[pitfighter]

Ha - as there are two people who seem interested in this subject (including me) - and because I have delved into ancient photos - here is a more recent pic - your own Pitfighter, about to get skewered by a bayonet - I made it into the trailer, probably because there was no other action in this particular film.



Not WW2 - and no more posts here, promise.

*Lincoln (2012) (Richmond, VA) My daughters were both disappointed it was not the one about a vampire killer.

[lithgow]

Please, Pitfighter-keep it coming-all highly interesting-if necessary the thread could be moved to the general discussions area-I've been a movie buff since I was very young-my grandfather liked going to the pics but not alone, so he took me which meant I used to see films that weren't really suitable for a child-'The Mercenaries' with Rod Taylor set during the Congo civil war in the early sixties sticks in my mind. The opportunity to here from someone with real experience and knowledge of the industry is really interesting to me and others to judge by the attention here.

[pitfighter]

Thank you.