LeMarchand
Sr Member
Pics of brass raw pieces are FINALLY in,
http://www.therpf.com/showpost.php?p=841297&postcount=581
Brass run sign up in the junkyard:
http://www.therpf.com/showthread.php?t=43886
Time to start a new thread in which you will be able to see the progress my buddy Mike (SithSheriffBrody) and me are making on the lighter from Constantine. We will keep you informed on the development of this very cool, yet tricky, timeconsuming and expensive project.
NOTE: This is not an interrest thread. If you have questions, email me at shadowrunner@home.nl or PM me
So, let's break down the project into segments and see what we have come up with sofar. The lighterproject is basicly devided into 5 parts: The body, the artwork, the Benedict medal, the hinges, the zippos and the etching process.
The Body:
The body is made of brass and using my own zippo as reference combined with very good shots from the 'Holy Relics' featurette on the DVD i am almost done with the blueprint for the body. I will use this to make a styrene testbody to see if it looks right and to test the opening and closing as the locking piece on a real zippo is too short and will have to be replaced by a longer one. When i am satisfied, i will have it machined out of brass.
The artwork:
When it comes to vector tracing artwork, i always thing of my friend Mike first. He is very good at it and is very dedicated. He is the guy who also did the artwork for my 'I, Robot' badges, in case you have seen those. Mike is currently tracing the body artwork and send me a pic of his progress. The artwork is the same on both sides. There is also writing on one of the thin sides which reads:"Fiat Iustitia et Piriat Mundus".
The Benedict Medal:
The round medals, which are on both sides of the lighter, are 'Benedict Medals' you can find them in all shapes and sizes on the internet. However, after looking for many days, i haven't find the correct one, and we have decided to have a custom one made. Again, Mike will do the artwork and i will have a master made by either acidetching brass or laserengraving magnesium. Since the medal looks brighter than the brass of the body, i think it is best to cast the medals in a metal called 'pirates gold' which has a dull gold look to it.
The Hinges:
Ah, the true challenge of this project, i kid you not. When i started researching the hinges i thought of a couple of options: Zippo hinges, sunglasses hinges or miniature hinges as found in dollhouses. I am now convinced they used the hinges found on some sunglasses.
There are 2 hinges on the lighter, each has 5 'knuckles'. I found 2 pairs of sunglasses which have these kind of hinges. At first i thought they were no good as they were not flat like the ones on the prop. I took my dremel and started sanding them and as a result i ended up with hinges that look very close both in shape and size.
The downside of this? It is nearly impossible to find sunglasses with the correct type of hinges. Most sunglasses with metal hinges have 3 knuckles. The ones i found are brandless and impossible to track down, they also couldn't be backordered. So the last 3 days i have surfed all over the internet to see if i could find a place which sells sunglasses in bulk for as cheap as possible with the correct hinges, sofar no luck. I also tried to look for asian companies that make parts for sunglasses (most sunglasses are made there), this has turned up nothing either. So my search for these continues.
The Zippos:
The used a real zippo insert for the prop according to the featurette. It is gold colored and can be found on ebay for $10-15 a piece and sometimes cheaper
The Etching:
Once everything is done and parts aquired, i will send the parts and artwork to a professional etching place to have the artwork acidetched on the body. I have written to a very good place in the UK, hope to hear back from them soon.
As more progress is made, me or mike will post here to keep you all informed.
If you know where to buy sunglasses with the 5 knuckled hinges for cheap (no more than $3 a pair) please let me know as it is driving me NUTS.
Cheers,
Marc
http://www.therpf.com/showpost.php?p=841297&postcount=581
Brass run sign up in the junkyard:
http://www.therpf.com/showthread.php?t=43886
Time to start a new thread in which you will be able to see the progress my buddy Mike (SithSheriffBrody) and me are making on the lighter from Constantine. We will keep you informed on the development of this very cool, yet tricky, timeconsuming and expensive project.
NOTE: This is not an interrest thread. If you have questions, email me at shadowrunner@home.nl or PM me
So, let's break down the project into segments and see what we have come up with sofar. The lighterproject is basicly devided into 5 parts: The body, the artwork, the Benedict medal, the hinges, the zippos and the etching process.
The Body:
The body is made of brass and using my own zippo as reference combined with very good shots from the 'Holy Relics' featurette on the DVD i am almost done with the blueprint for the body. I will use this to make a styrene testbody to see if it looks right and to test the opening and closing as the locking piece on a real zippo is too short and will have to be replaced by a longer one. When i am satisfied, i will have it machined out of brass.
The artwork:
When it comes to vector tracing artwork, i always thing of my friend Mike first. He is very good at it and is very dedicated. He is the guy who also did the artwork for my 'I, Robot' badges, in case you have seen those. Mike is currently tracing the body artwork and send me a pic of his progress. The artwork is the same on both sides. There is also writing on one of the thin sides which reads:"Fiat Iustitia et Piriat Mundus".
The Benedict Medal:
The round medals, which are on both sides of the lighter, are 'Benedict Medals' you can find them in all shapes and sizes on the internet. However, after looking for many days, i haven't find the correct one, and we have decided to have a custom one made. Again, Mike will do the artwork and i will have a master made by either acidetching brass or laserengraving magnesium. Since the medal looks brighter than the brass of the body, i think it is best to cast the medals in a metal called 'pirates gold' which has a dull gold look to it.
The Hinges:
Ah, the true challenge of this project, i kid you not. When i started researching the hinges i thought of a couple of options: Zippo hinges, sunglasses hinges or miniature hinges as found in dollhouses. I am now convinced they used the hinges found on some sunglasses.
There are 2 hinges on the lighter, each has 5 'knuckles'. I found 2 pairs of sunglasses which have these kind of hinges. At first i thought they were no good as they were not flat like the ones on the prop. I took my dremel and started sanding them and as a result i ended up with hinges that look very close both in shape and size.
The downside of this? It is nearly impossible to find sunglasses with the correct type of hinges. Most sunglasses with metal hinges have 3 knuckles. The ones i found are brandless and impossible to track down, they also couldn't be backordered. So the last 3 days i have surfed all over the internet to see if i could find a place which sells sunglasses in bulk for as cheap as possible with the correct hinges, sofar no luck. I also tried to look for asian companies that make parts for sunglasses (most sunglasses are made there), this has turned up nothing either. So my search for these continues.
The Zippos:
The used a real zippo insert for the prop according to the featurette. It is gold colored and can be found on ebay for $10-15 a piece and sometimes cheaper
The Etching:
Once everything is done and parts aquired, i will send the parts and artwork to a professional etching place to have the artwork acidetched on the body. I have written to a very good place in the UK, hope to hear back from them soon.
As more progress is made, me or mike will post here to keep you all informed.
If you know where to buy sunglasses with the 5 knuckled hinges for cheap (no more than $3 a pair) please let me know as it is driving me NUTS.
Cheers,
Marc
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