Xeno | Bricks On The Dollar

xeno_step_24

Carter’s Design Notes:

Thanks for purchasing my custom Xeno kit! H.R. Giger’s famous alien has long terrified and fascinated me, and with the release of some new Lego elements in the past few years, I finally felt that I could do justice to a minifig-scale xenomorph.

The intricate bio-mechanical nature of the beast makes for some complex building – if you run into issues, here are a few tips;

– Attaching the minifig arms that serve as the Xeno’s breathing tubes is definitely the fiddliest part of the build – make sure the bars from the taps in the shoulders are pushing through as far as possible before attaching the minifig arm assembly. There should be a noticeable click when the hands successfully connect, and afterward the shoulders can be rotated fully, though if both are pulled out too far the assembly may become loose.

– For posing the alien, I’ve had most success setting one leg in front and one in back, with the front foot holding the weight and the ‘toes’ in back balancing the model. If you want an option that’s easier to move around without rebalancing, you can attach a minifig hand to the back of each foot for a more splayed look, or connect one foot to a clip for inclusion in a diorama.

– The tail makes extensive use of the illegal clip-to-clip technique – this makes it easy to reassemble the tail in different configurations for different poses, and you can flip the 4081, plate modified (what I call a headlight plate) to have the tail whip in the opposite direction. The danger with the clip-to-clip technique – and the reason it’s illegal – is that using too much force can cause the clips to break. Connect them just enough so that the C-shaped clips link together, but not so much that the ‘palms’ of the clip are pressed together. Similarly, clip the base of the tail onto the headlight plate so that it bends toward the underside – don’t force the clips in a way that feels fragile or brittle.

I hope you enjoy building and displaying this model as much as I did designing it, and please contact us with any questions, comments or concerns!

carterbaldwin@gmail.com.

Thanks, and happy building!

-Carter