District 9 was the successful debut in 2009 of its director, Neill Blomkamp, who, sponsored by Peter Jackson and with a small budget of $30 million USD, achieved important nominations such as the Oscar for best film, adapted screenplay, editing and, of course, visual effects. Formatted in a semi-documentary mode, the film deals with the arrival of a large alien ship in the city of Johannesburg (South Africa). The aliens, with refugee status, are sent to “District 9”, which becomes a ghetto where they survive as best they can. The private company MNU is in charge of managing everything related to these visitors, but it is only interested in its technology for military use.

Being a big  fan of this fantastic movie, the alien technology and art direction are exceptional. In it, for a few seconds, we get quick glimpses of the “Alien dropship”, but it’s not until the purchase of the book “The art of District 9”, where I found a couple of illustrations of the ship and I started to fall in love with its unique fantastical styling.

Created by concept designer Greg Broadmore, polished by other production artists, and finished off by Weta Digital (remember, it’s a team effort), the final result resembles that of an insect, which along with its tricolor camouflage and heavy wear, make a very attractive and exciting design, resulting in a visual design language that is both alien and earthly.

To make my Alien dropship model a reality, I relied on the orthographic plans and showreels of the original 3D model (unfortunately no physical miniatures were used in the production), achieving an exact and meticulous reproduction close to 95% of the original, requiring a time investment of more than 2 years of work to sculpt, cast and quality assure the parts.

The masters, like the copies, are completely 100% handmade, and at no time in the process were any parts created in CAD or parts 3D printed. This kit is purely hand crafted with precision, care and commitment to quality and excellence.

The kit is a 1:48 scale reproduction (37 centimeters long/14.5 inches), made up of 119 resin pieces, as well as others that complement the assembly.

All my kits are limited edition, and as always, the production process has been taken with extreme care, making copies with top quality Smooth-On* resin, combined with pressure tanks to minimize possible bubbles. All the molds created are double-sided, treated with a vacuum chamber, and large sprues and mold lines have been avoided as far as possible. Included in the kit is a complete and extensive PDF manual for proper construction and painting. Also included is a water-based decal sheet printed on Bare-metal brand paper.

For those who are interested, please contact me at the following email address: toromodelstudiomoviekits@gmail.com

*Due to lack of Smooth-On stock, some pieces may be cast with other brand resins of equal quality.