The Narcissus was the shuttlecraft and lifeboat for the Weyland-Yutani commercial hauler USCSS Nostromo. The escape pod which flees the exploding Nostromo (with one more passenger than intended) has often been criticised for only carrying three when a full ship's complement is seven, but it's an extraordinarily beautiful craft. The hard edges of cut plastic and kit-bashed finish are hard relief against the agreeable moulded curves of the thrusters. Both Ron Cobb and Chris Foss produced numerous designs for the Narcissus throughout 1978, but Cobb's eventual creation seems to have won the day. Model-maker martin Bowers designed a ship around the studio set, which was a foreshortened section of the back, vaguely followed Ron Cobb's painting of it also from the back. So I made up the shape of the craft and built it from sketches I did. I bet you didn't know I originally thought it should have an undercarriage!"

 

The Alien model build was a very organic process and the actual model builders were called upon to interpret the concept art and fill in lots of blanks. This memorable vehicle was created primarily by modelmakers Martin Bower and Phil Rae.