kcpstudio
Sr Member
So, with the closing of the last webisode, I decided to start a thread on the guns I made for the show. I know there is a huge following so I'm sure you fans would appreciate some inside... behind the scenes... pics of the build process for the colonial sidearm. Since I own the design, I will be able to share these pics as well as a little about that back story on how these came to be. For those of you that have questions, I will try to answer in a timely manner but keep in mind that I'm usually on a film and building a lot and may not be able to get back right away.
So, let's get started. How did the sidearm for B&C come about? It's actually kind of a long story. Everyone remembers weapons used during Battlestar Galactica... right? How the mini series pilot guns...(which were merely the prototype guns and never meant to be used on the show in the first place).... turned into the season 1 guns and the the Five-Sevens.... correct? Well, when the decision was made to go to the Five Sevens, I didn't care for the guns. Here we have this great scifi show and we turn and great looking weapon into this.... off the shelf thing. I don't know about you but I didn't care for it. :angry
When I jumped on board with Caprica, I was commissioned to help build cosmetics stuff for weapons. In the beginning, most of us assumed, or at least hoped, that Caprica would be everything, or more, than BSG was. I will not comment on how that all turned out for us. :cry But, like I said, in the beginning, I assumed there would be a time where the studio would need colonial sidearms and felt this would be a great opportunity to stay ahead and design the new gun in advance and bring back that "look" we all fell in love with. I though I would show it to some of the studio guys and they would eventually use it. That never happened... and if you watched the show.... you would understand why. There really wasn't any point in the show that they would need this gun. A lot of people loved the show and a lot of people were disappointed. I was kind of on the fence. I loved certain things about the show but in the end, I was hoping for that "BSG" feel. I know now... Caprica was never written going in that direction.
Getting back to the sidearm. lol So, here I am wondering how I can bring my version into the entire BSG genre. It ended up being pretty easy because the mini series gun "kind of" evolved into this season 1 gun... and then into the five-seven. I will not comment on why that happened so don't ask. lol All I needed to do was redesign the mini series to an earlier "older" version... and that's what I did. Since I had one of the mini series guns here, I just took that look and aged it a little. It all started with turning on my computer and bringing up Solidworks. I spent about a week working on the design before I was happy. In the end, I had a weapon that looked a little older but still had that "BSG" look. For those that say it's the same gun, it's not. lol It's close but very much different... especially internally. My guns are sharper and cleaner around the edges with various detail differences throughout. I did everything on a 5 axis HAAS cnc. The finish I chose for the shells is a Cerakote gun coating. However, the exact mix will remain a secret.
One of the biggest changes you'll see is with the internal gun we used. Mainly in the trigger guard section as well as the barrel are completely different. The mini series and the season one hero guns used the same two internal guns so you'll notice the porting in the custom barrel and the rounded trigger guard. See, during BSG, there were 4 sets of hero cosmetic shells.... two mini series and two season 1. But, there were only ever two hero firing internal guns. When transitioning from the mini series to the season 1 shells, the internals were pulled from the old and placed in the new. For the B&C guns, we used guns that had an old look, were already made (used in another film you guys may think they look familiar), and because of the budget... why not recycle the guns. So, these different internal guns had no ported barrel and the trigger guard was cut off and a replaced/modified to a new "squared off" look. Another change was going away from that "wood" grip look of the season 1 guns and going back in time to a black rubber standard grip. The combination of that internal and the new design of the shells created the new "look" for the colonial sidearm.
FYI.... the internal real firing B&C revolvers were actually the original choice for the BSG guns and would have been. But, the trigger guard wasn't liked much and new guns were made. How funny things eventually come back around. lol
OK, anyone bored yet? Wake up.... :behave So here I have these cool looking guns and ready to go for Caprica. But, in the end.... :facepalm Never happens. I give the guns to the armorer and he rents them out to other shows.... like Fringe. Yes..... the colonial sidearm was a futuristic weapon on Fringe before earning it's rightful place in BSG: Blood and Chrome. lol If you watch the season 2 episode 20 "Brown Betty", you will see both hero guns there. Some fans out there noticed the guns and thought they were the original BSG mini series guns but there were in fact my B&C ones.... well, pre-B&C hero guns. lol
Now, we hop into the future and Battlestar Galactica: Blood and Chrome is now given a green light. As most of you would suspect, there was a lot of green screen done. Obviously, the original BSG sets were long gone but scans were taken of them before tear down. The budgets for the show were nothing like BSG and a lot of the props were on loan or rented to make B&C a reality. It was this place in time when the studio rented my guns to be a part of the entire world of BSG. The rest is history. So now you guys know some of the story behind the colonial sidearms.
So, let's get started. How did the sidearm for B&C come about? It's actually kind of a long story. Everyone remembers weapons used during Battlestar Galactica... right? How the mini series pilot guns...(which were merely the prototype guns and never meant to be used on the show in the first place).... turned into the season 1 guns and the the Five-Sevens.... correct? Well, when the decision was made to go to the Five Sevens, I didn't care for the guns. Here we have this great scifi show and we turn and great looking weapon into this.... off the shelf thing. I don't know about you but I didn't care for it. :angry
When I jumped on board with Caprica, I was commissioned to help build cosmetics stuff for weapons. In the beginning, most of us assumed, or at least hoped, that Caprica would be everything, or more, than BSG was. I will not comment on how that all turned out for us. :cry But, like I said, in the beginning, I assumed there would be a time where the studio would need colonial sidearms and felt this would be a great opportunity to stay ahead and design the new gun in advance and bring back that "look" we all fell in love with. I though I would show it to some of the studio guys and they would eventually use it. That never happened... and if you watched the show.... you would understand why. There really wasn't any point in the show that they would need this gun. A lot of people loved the show and a lot of people were disappointed. I was kind of on the fence. I loved certain things about the show but in the end, I was hoping for that "BSG" feel. I know now... Caprica was never written going in that direction.
Getting back to the sidearm. lol So, here I am wondering how I can bring my version into the entire BSG genre. It ended up being pretty easy because the mini series gun "kind of" evolved into this season 1 gun... and then into the five-seven. I will not comment on why that happened so don't ask. lol All I needed to do was redesign the mini series to an earlier "older" version... and that's what I did. Since I had one of the mini series guns here, I just took that look and aged it a little. It all started with turning on my computer and bringing up Solidworks. I spent about a week working on the design before I was happy. In the end, I had a weapon that looked a little older but still had that "BSG" look. For those that say it's the same gun, it's not. lol It's close but very much different... especially internally. My guns are sharper and cleaner around the edges with various detail differences throughout. I did everything on a 5 axis HAAS cnc. The finish I chose for the shells is a Cerakote gun coating. However, the exact mix will remain a secret.
One of the biggest changes you'll see is with the internal gun we used. Mainly in the trigger guard section as well as the barrel are completely different. The mini series and the season one hero guns used the same two internal guns so you'll notice the porting in the custom barrel and the rounded trigger guard. See, during BSG, there were 4 sets of hero cosmetic shells.... two mini series and two season 1. But, there were only ever two hero firing internal guns. When transitioning from the mini series to the season 1 shells, the internals were pulled from the old and placed in the new. For the B&C guns, we used guns that had an old look, were already made (used in another film you guys may think they look familiar), and because of the budget... why not recycle the guns. So, these different internal guns had no ported barrel and the trigger guard was cut off and a replaced/modified to a new "squared off" look. Another change was going away from that "wood" grip look of the season 1 guns and going back in time to a black rubber standard grip. The combination of that internal and the new design of the shells created the new "look" for the colonial sidearm.
FYI.... the internal real firing B&C revolvers were actually the original choice for the BSG guns and would have been. But, the trigger guard wasn't liked much and new guns were made. How funny things eventually come back around. lol
OK, anyone bored yet? Wake up.... :behave So here I have these cool looking guns and ready to go for Caprica. But, in the end.... :facepalm Never happens. I give the guns to the armorer and he rents them out to other shows.... like Fringe. Yes..... the colonial sidearm was a futuristic weapon on Fringe before earning it's rightful place in BSG: Blood and Chrome. lol If you watch the season 2 episode 20 "Brown Betty", you will see both hero guns there. Some fans out there noticed the guns and thought they were the original BSG mini series guns but there were in fact my B&C ones.... well, pre-B&C hero guns. lol
Now, we hop into the future and Battlestar Galactica: Blood and Chrome is now given a green light. As most of you would suspect, there was a lot of green screen done. Obviously, the original BSG sets were long gone but scans were taken of them before tear down. The budgets for the show were nothing like BSG and a lot of the props were on loan or rented to make B&C a reality. It was this place in time when the studio rented my guns to be a part of the entire world of BSG. The rest is history. So now you guys know some of the story behind the colonial sidearms.
