Accessories: Hudson

Knife

A Gerber Mk II combat knife similar to that used by Hudson.

Webbing

The pouches seen here are actually blocks of high density foam covered in material. The straps and clips are hot-glued on. The bootlace tie and leather thong are not original, but added to the costume to enhance its appearance. Terry English tied the Japanese sacred knot in the tie when he met Harry at the first British Aliens Convention in April 1993.

Shoulder Lamp

The shoulder lamp box is made from a model 6000 intruder alarm made by UK company Superswitch Electrical Appliances Ltd. from Camberley, Surrey. It is believed that the company is now located in Stockport UK. These same alarms can be seen in their original form, used as door switches in the operations centre*. The keypad and sensor were removed and replaced with plasticard panels; a handle from a French power tool was added along with an arm from a portable video camera which, according to Terry Reed, was of German origin. (It does look remarkably like a lamp from the 'Reportalight' range.) The lamps were able to operate from both internal Ni-Cad rechargeable batteries or an external 12V power supply. In these costume continuity Polaroids a long black coiled lead can clearly be seen. According to Del Bennett (who was responsible for the practical lighting on Aliens) the battery versions were only able to give about 20 minutes of light before needing to be recharged. This would indicate that multiples of the lamps were made, perhaps along the same lines as the armour costumes at three sets per character.

* Laserdisc box set chapter 21 Frame 23271

Belt Clip

Some marines wore one or more of these items clipped onto their belt, but they were never utilised on screen. Over the years they have been ascribed various names and functions by different sources, but their intended purpose is a mystery. One theory is that they are a form of small pistol. This odd rumour is probably due to the fact that the prop is made from a slightly modified toy plastic popgun. The most likely theory is that they are analagous to grenades of some kind.
The same toy gun was used as a basis for the smartgun accessory seen in the "collect magazines from everybody" sequence. For this reason the two props are often confused.

Welder

This welder, added to the costume to enhance its appearance, is a resin reproduction by Marco Enterprises and features a light bulb in the welding tip.