Warehouse 13 - The Tesla Gun

kcpstudio

Sr Member

• Nov 13, 2012

• #721

I see some talk about LEDs for the Tesla.... like what iamthenight did.

OK... so a little back story here. So, when I was building the Teslas for the show, a question cam eup about providing LEDs in the tubes for two things.... a little FX lighting but also tracking LEDs for the visual guys when they post edit. I did in fact design and build a circuit board for the purpose. In the end I never placed any electronics in the studio guns. Actually, I still have all those boards.... built three of them to be exact. So, here's how they work. I had designed the board so there would be LEDs in all the tubes.... yellowish high intensity LEDs. The color of a glowing vacuum tube. The LEDs brightness would be controlled by the dial on the side of the Tesla. The LEDs would have a pulsating glow to them. When you hit the trigger, the LEDs in the front main tube would flash high bright and trickle down to the brightness set by the dial. The flash was like a strobe bulb. But I designed flickering effect into the post flash as the brightness calmed back down. Everything worked but in the end, I never ran with it. It looked great but I just didn't see it looking realistic enough for the vacuum tubes. I thought post edit was the better way to go.

So, there ya go, a little back story on the Tesla.

Cheers,
Kenney

 

robinhood jw

Member

• Nov 30, 2012

• #722

Interceptor6 said:

These are the pre-bottles. 5" long plus cap area. Should make a great indestructible tube!

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Interceptor6 said:

My wife's a preschool teacher. She gets them from seminars / conventions. Look for pre-school supplies, school science equipment, plastic test tubes, etc.
Jeff

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I've used these for steampunk rayguns. Here's my supply source: I'm also a homebrewer. My local homebrew supply shop sells brewing yeast in those vials. I just save them after each time I brew. It takes some elbow grease to scrub the label off, but it works. The plastic is actually pretty thick (over 1/8"). My steampunk gun has been knocked around a bunch of times, and the tube is still in great shape.

 

holtt

Active Member

• Nov 30, 2012

• #723

Has anyone made the little tiny meters in the gun on any of these operational? Should be doable as there are small ones that size (though hard to find).

 

Last edited: Nov 30, 2012

kcpstudio

Sr Member

• Nov 30, 2012

• #724

@holtt

You should have seen all the mods I wanted to do to the guns I made for the studio. It basically came down to budget. I had done a OLED screen at one point with an animation but it never went anywhere. I had done up a PCB for lights and everything but in the end.... post edit visual won over practical. LOL The only issue with OLED screens that small, you lose a lot of the detail. It looked very pixel-ated (if that's a word. lol You get the point.

 

holtt

Active Member

• Dec 1, 2012

• #725

Ah yea a little OLED screen would do the trick - some nice options out there to drive with Arduino, etc.

The smallest functional analog meter I've seen (got on eBay) so far is this little 1.25" OD 15 DC millamp meter ("International Inst. Inc." manufacture)...

 

T

timelordd

Well-Known Member

• Dec 8, 2012

• #726

So I am going to do a black one instead of the regular tesla...why not?

 

robinhood jw

Member

• Dec 10, 2012

• #727

I've been working on a steampunk version of the Tesla pistol.

This was largely out of my own interest in steampunk, but also to excuse some deviance from the official version, when finding screen accurate parts was going to drive me crazy and/or make me go broke. I kept the proportions, the flavor and form of the show Tesla, but made slight modifications to give it a more vintage look that would fit better with my steampunk costuming and with some more widely available parts. (Not to mention I distressed the crap out of it.)

Is there any interest in seeing photos of my take on it? Would they fit best in this thread, or (since it's a re-imagined version and not screen accurate) should I start my own thread?

 

kcpstudio

Sr Member

• Dec 10, 2012

• #728

Hey timelordd

What's up brother? Looking very nice. I like that black. I can't tell from your pic if you did this or not..... but what about doing the grip butt plate in brass? I think it would go pretty good with the black. I don't know..... it's a thought.

In any case, I'm definitely feeling the black!

Cheers,
Kenney

 

Interceptor6

Sr Member

• Dec 10, 2012

• #729

Pearl handles would be SWEET on that black!

 

PeterLC

Sr Member

RPF PREMIUM MEMBER

• Dec 10, 2012

• #730

I thought a totally black and gold one would look pretty cool.

 

PeterLC

Sr Member

RPF PREMIUM MEMBER

• Dec 11, 2012

• #731

I'm sure we'd all be very interested to see what you've done. We've seen a few varieties of Tesla here.

robinhood jw said:

I've been working on a steampunk version of the Tesla pistol.

Is there any interest in seeing photos of my take on it? Would they fit best in this thread, or (since it's a re-imagined version and not screen accurate) should I start my own thread?

Click to expand...

 

J

jedibugs

Well-Known Member

• Dec 11, 2012

• #732

PeterLC said:

I'm sure we'd all be very interested to see what you've done. We've seen a few varieties of Tesla here.

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I second that.

 

robinhood jw

Member

• Dec 11, 2012

• #733

I glad you guys are interested to see this. Thanks!

Here are the left and right views.

I shot a bunch more photos earlier tonight and started to write up some descriptions for my in-process photos, and it got to be long quickly.

I think I may create a whole thread for my process and for the rest of the final closeup photos.

 

TheDoctor

Sr Member

• Dec 11, 2012

• #734

robinhood jw said:

I glad you guys are interested to see this. Thanks!

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VERY impressive work!

Just one suggestion: Call it a "Victorian Tesla" instead of "Steampunk" - Your work is MUCH to classy to be called "Steampunk"!

 

T

timelordd

Well-Known Member

• Dec 12, 2012

• #735

Hey Robinhood I'm liking that take on the tesla alot and yes call it a Victorian Tesla.

 

T

timelordd

Well-Known Member

• Dec 12, 2012

• #736

Hey Kenny nice to hear from you! Yes that's my frame and thanks for the compliment, yes I will add a brass butt plate to it and maybe play around with the grip coloring..

 

Kingpin

Active Member

• Dec 12, 2012

• #737

robinhood jw said:

I glad you guys are interested to see this. Thanks!

Here are the left and right views.

I shot a bunch more photos earlier tonight and started to write up some descriptions for my in-process photos, and it got to be long quickly.

I think I may create a whole thread for my process and for the rest of the final closeup photos.

Click to expand...

Absolutely beautiful, I liked the standard Tesla already... I like the Victorian effort even more.

 

holtt

Active Member

• Dec 12, 2012

• #738

Found this item on eBay today. It would make a gorgeous part for a Russian Tesla...

W2W 1W 5 KW Vacuum Relays Lot of 1 | eBay

 

T

timelordd

Well-Known Member

• Dec 21, 2012

• #739

That looks interesting, Im still thinking of a Kryptonite tesla...

 

kcpstudio

Sr Member

• Dec 21, 2012

• #740

@ robinhood jw

...... Mother Fracker!!!! I think I just got punked! Damn....... very very beautiful! Definitely not in the steampunk class. I agree with TheDoctor..... absolutely Victorian!