BSG TOS Colonial Blaster WIP

[Jintosh]

First, some of my inspirations for my design. The gray one is a flawed solid resin cast blaster that I got off of eBay many years ago. I wanted something cheap to use as a visual reference, and only in hindsight do I realize that this could very well be someone's recast. (sorry if it's yours, I did not knowingly buy a recast at the time) I used this only as a visual reference, I did not do anything other that look at it. My replica will have lights and sound, so I would add Factory Entertainment to my list of inspirations. I looked and listened to their product and will take all that into consideration when building my replica. The last two blaster pics are of an actual HERO prop working blaster that is the only known surviving blaster that had the FLASH. Since mine will have a working light in the emitter, I used the skinny-in-the-front wide-in-the-back transparent parts in the emitter like the surviving HERO. (some blasters are reversed) I made some design choices on my blaster to make it mine. It is not an exact copy of any one blaster.

 

[Jintosh]

The modeling stage took many hours, and I'm not even done, as I still have to modify it for my electronics. This was a technically challenging modeling task. Some things I left, slightly off, so that I could identify my replica.

 

[TazMan2000]

Since you have it already, and designed a whole new one, you could use parts of the new one to repair the flawed one.

TazMan2000

 

[Jintosh]

I put the DVD set of BSG TOS in my inspiration list because I copied some sounds from the DVD's and will be adding them to my Blaster. Since DUTCH CYLON is also my inspiration, I might have to add a way to play the BSG intro music from my blaster. Dutch Cylon's blaster is awesome.

 

[Funky]

I’ve always thought it would be a neat idea to cut out the barrel/emitter and replace it the the clear, vintage bathroom sink knobs like they did on the real props.

 

[enterprise0216]

Here is a thread way back from 2011 on post #42 you can see where person did work on the crystal clear faucet handle. However do thing as you are planning just sharing info for to check out. Funky mentioned it in his post. Keep it going loving the 3D model.

D-Projects: Battlestar Galactica TOS Blaster Build

Wow good pics! I am still working my project so still gathering info and kits, ect. I plan to figure a way to use metal tubes to run the wire to the muzzle end. I also need to cast my blaster kit I currently have to modify parts for a new master. Anyway a fun but my no means a quick project. I...

www.therpf.com

Here is what found that are still available Danco now makes the faucet handle original was from pfister.

Amazon.com

 

[Jintosh]

I’ve always thought it would be a neat idea to cut out the barrel/emitter and replace it the the clear, vintage bathroom sink knobs like they did on the real props.

I'm using an actual LIMIT switch like the original as the trigger, but this is the first I've heard of this sink knob part. Oh, I see enterprise0216's post. Looks like it would take too much modification to make that work.

 

[enterprise0216]

Agreed a lot of work to modify and grind then buff etc etc.

 

[Jintosh]

I bought a two pack of limit switches that were already wired and had the metal wheel off of eBay. Using the original type of switch is not something most replicas have.

 

[Jintosh]

Okay, looks like about $100 for parts. (not including the limit switch from earlier)

This won't be as cheap a build as I had hoped.

In truth, less than $100 in parts for **A** blaster. The problem is with Amazon that some parts come in MULTIPLES whether you want 4 or 5 of them or not.

 

[nivektunk]

Watching intently
Cheers, Kevin

 

[Jintosh]

My eBay resin blaster purchase and a 3W full range speaker from Amazon. This is the highest watt speaker I could find that SHOULD fit in the blaster. As per someone's suggestion from the other thread, I made the vents out the back of MY blaster have slits in them so the sound projects directly back at the user. I think this is a good sound choice. Some of the parts showed up from Amazon even though I just ordered them yesterday. Yay!!

 

[Jintosh]

I want to be able to play some sounds without lighting up the emitter, so an emitter tied to the busy pin of the main circuit board is not good.

Going with blinking LED's is also out, as even a bunch of them isn't going to provide the brightness I want. I want the emitter to really light up in dim light. So, I'm going to use a bright LED that is normally intended for flashlights. But then how to get it to turn OFF?

After minimal research I found a small device that alternates between two outputs of LED's. But I'll only hook up ONE LED. It has programable HZ timing. Meaning you can set it for 1 second on each LED, and it would normally light LED 1 for 1 second, then light LED 2 for 1 second. But I won't have an LED 2. So, It'll just light LED 1 and then turn off. You have to remember to let off the trigger after you fire or it would come on again after 2 seconds of holding the trigger have passed.

 

[Jintosh]

I have to rethink my emitter control.

I went into audacity and pulled up the two blaster sounds that I am going to use, and they are both around .6 seconds. With the led alternator board I bought, that means LED 1 would light a second time at the 1.2 seconds if you happened to hold down the trigger that long. But if it flashed twice, there would only be one sound. Not desirable. I'll have to come up with plan B.

I got my LED for the emitter today. It claims 2000 lumens. I avoided the liars that claim 50,000 lumens (for the same bulb I bought, no less) So many people will just lie to get a sale. I think 2000 lumens is the best I can get with the power source I've chosen.

I'm trying to max out everything. Max speaker is 3W because of size, and 2000 lumens is max brightness because of the battery. But remember fans, individual results will vary!

---edit--

It's a drop in replacement for a flashlight, so it already comes with a driver board attached for clean power. I don't have to add any resistors or anything.

 

[Jintosh]

I want to be able to play some sounds without lighting up the emitter, so an emitter tied to the busy pin of the main circuit board is not good.

Going with blinking LED's is also out, as even a bunch of them isn't going to provide the brightness I want. I want the emitter to really light up in dim light. So, I'm going to use a bright LED that is normally intended for flashlights. But then how to get it to turn OFF?

After minimal research I found a small device that alternates between two outputs of LED's. But I'll only hook up ONE LED. It has programable HZ timing. Meaning you can set it for 1 second on each LED, and it would normally light LED 1 for 1 second, then light LED 2 for 1 second. But I won't have an LED 2. So, It'll just light LED 1 and then turn off. You have to remember to let off the trigger after you fire or it would come on again after 2 seconds of holding the trigger have passed.

It should be noted that this board will NOT work with just one LED. Two must be hooked up.

 

[Jintosh]

Okay, after spending days looking at timed relays, I have decided that instead, it is okay if the emitter lights up for the other sounds besides the firing sound. It's the easiest way I can see.

This is achieved by using the "busy" signal off of the main circuit board.