Firefly - Mal's Pistol (Model B)

Matheus

Matheus

New Member
Hello there!

This is my first thread on the forum and it's about my first atempt at replicating a TV/movie prop. I decided to replicate the Model B (Mal's pistol from Firefly). I really love the design on that gun, it is futuristic enough and grounded on reality enough and (of course) it's really badass looking.

I've been researching for reference and general prop making techniques for about two month now and last week I started making Blueprints and templates. Since there's lots of you guys that have replicas of the gun or made on yourselves I would like to know if some one would be kind enough to check the Blueprints I made this far and se if my measurements are ok or really off. I've never tried to do this sort of stuff so I'd be really glad if some one could help me out.

Here is the link to download the PDF of the full size blueprint that I drew: https://www.dropbox.com/s/shh06k3ykxknr00/Model_B_Blueprint.pdf?dl=0

Thanks and I'll keep posting my progress here.

Matheus
 
I can't comment on your scaling from just looking at the PDF, but you've done a fantastic job getting the shapes right. I've seen a lot of people make the gun, and few have done as good a job as you have.

How do you plan to build the gun? Will you be doing metal, or plastic?
 
Risu said:
I can't comment on your scaling from just looking at the PDF, but you've done a fantastic job getting the shapes right. I've seen a lot of people make the gun, and few have done as good a job as you have.

How do you plan to build the gun? Will you be doing metal, or plastic?
Click to expand...

Hey man thanks for the input! I've got a SVG version of that blueprint if you'd like to see it and check my scaling. I got the shapes from a bunch of fotos and a rough 3D model that I did just to see if they look ok in 3D space.

This is my first attempt at prop making, so I got very limited access to power tools. I'm planning on building a master out of MDF or some soft wood like Balsa and then cold casting it in resin so it looks like metal. I'm planning on puttig some metal pieces on the inside so it has some wheight to it.

Matheus

P.s.: Here's the link to the SVG blueprint https://www.dropbox.com/s/kgf8411t4ysmndi/Model_B_Blueprint.svg?dl=0
 
You're running a little bit too big. I don't have my gun here in front of me right now (Phil cast off screen used), but the frame measured .486" wide. Accounting for some minor resin shrinkage, the frame of the original is most likely .5 or very slightly under. Your grip shape is slightly off as well, I traced the grip off of my gun, here is a drawing I made of it years ago laid over my own blueprint for the gun I drew more recently.



The blue grip is accurate, the frame for the rest of my art was based off of incorrectly shaped grips, you can ignore that.

I was working on machining a gun from solid brass and steel, I dragged the project out for a couple years and then there was the Sidkit 2.0 run last year and I laid the project to rest. Given the incorrect grip shape I started from, my machined gun was never going to be what I wanted it to be unless I invested a couple hundred dollars and several hours into making a new frame. The Sidkit gun ended up being a pretty big disappointment as well, so I'm currently without a great Mal gun. I ground one of the resin grips off my Phil gun in hopes of replacing them with real walnut grips, I might finish that process at some point, or I might scratch build a brand new gun the easy way and go the cold cast route as well. It's been bumped down to low priority for now, though.
 
Risu said:
You're running a little bit too big. I don't have my gun here in front of me right now (Phil cast off screen used), but the frame measured .486" wide. Accounting for some minor resin shrinkage, the frame of the original is most likely .5 or very slightly under. Your grip shape is slightly off as well, I traced the grip off of my gun, here is a drawing I made of it years ago laid over my own blueprint for the gun I drew more recently.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v328/NinjaRisu/Grip Comparison_zpsog1m6mv5.jpg

The blue grip is accurate, the frame for the rest of my art was based off of incorrectly shaped grips, you can ignore that.

I was working on machining a gun from solid brass and steel, I dragged the project out for a couple years and then there was the Sidkit 2.0 run last year and I laid the project to rest. Given the incorrect grip shape I started from, my machined gun was never going to be what I wanted it to be unless I invested a couple hundred dollars and several hours into making a new frame. The Sidkit gun ended up being a pretty big disappointment as well, so I'm currently without a great Mal gun. I ground one of the resin grips off my Phil gun in hopes of replacing them with real walnut grips, I might finish that process at some point, or I might scratch build a brand new gun the easy way and go the cold cast route as well. It's been bumped down to low priority for now, though.
Click to expand...

Wow man! that helped a lot. I'll try to re-scale it based on your grip and the measurement you gave me. It might take a feel days to re-draw everything but I'll keep you posted on the progress.

Matheus.
 
That would be great! I started making the blueprints on the new scale yesterday and man those grips were quite a bit off.
 
Matheus, welcome to the RPF and thanks for sharing your fantastic blueprints! Mal's pistol has always been a favorite of mine. I look forward to seeing your progress.
 
Userd: this might be overly critical, because I was precisely machining my own gun before buying it, but the new Sidkit guns are pretty dimensionally wonky. Being cast parts, they have some unappealing curvature to them. The bigger problems for me were that the trigger was brass plated, the brass plating elsewhere on the gun was poorly applied, there's a big hole on my left rear side plate where the nickel plating underneath shows through. It's barely noticeable when the gun is shiny, but sticks out like a sore thumb once the brass is blackened. And lastly, I ordered one of the kit guns expecting to assemble it myself, which I was confident in my ability to do, and when it arrived it had already been mostly assembled, just the magazine and the barrel were left separate, and all of the parts that were put together used wide thread screws mangled into the soft metal. It wasn't done with care or precision and can't be fixed now that it was done wrong. I appreciate that we were able to get access to these kits so long after Sidkit died, but I wanted to assemble it properly and wasn't given that chance.
 
Risu said:
Userd: this might be overly critical, because I was precisely machining my own gun before buying it, but the new Sidkit guns are pretty dimensionally wonky. Being cast parts, they have some unappealing curvature to them. The bigger problems for me were that the trigger was brass plated, the brass plating elsewhere on the gun was poorly applied, there's a big hole on my left rear side plate where the nickel plating underneath shows through. It's barely noticeable when the gun is shiny, but sticks out like a sore thumb once the brass is blackened. And lastly, I ordered one of the kit guns expecting to assemble it myself, which I was confident in my ability to do, and when it arrived it had already been mostly assembled, just the magazine and the barrel were left separate, and all of the parts that were put together used wide thread screws mangled into the soft metal. It wasn't done with care or precision and can't be fixed now that it was done wrong. I appreciate that we were able to get access to these kits so long after Sidkit died, but I wanted to assemble it properly and wasn't given that chance.
Click to expand...


Should see the way my finished one arrived. the postal system. mangled It. could have been packaged better in my opinion,
 
DaveG said:
Matheus, welcome to the RPF and thanks for sharing your fantastic blueprints! Mal's pistol has always been a favorite of mine. I look forward to seeing your progress.
Click to expand...
Thanks Dave! I'll try to keep posting my progress although it might take a while to finish 'cause I'm achaeology graduate student here Brazil so money is not realy something I've got a lot of.
 
Risu said:
Userd: this might be overly critical, because I was precisely machining my own gun before buying it, but the new Sidkit guns are pretty dimensionally wonky. Being cast parts, they have some unappealing curvature to them. The bigger problems for me were that the trigger was brass plated, the brass plating elsewhere on the gun was poorly applied, there's a big hole on my left rear side plate where the nickel plating underneath shows through. It's barely noticeable when the gun is shiny, but sticks out like a sore thumb once the brass is blackened. And lastly, I ordered one of the kit guns expecting to assemble it myself, which I was confident in my ability to do, and when it arrived it had already been mostly assembled, just the magazine and the barrel were left separate, and all of the parts that were put together used wide thread screws mangled into the soft metal. It wasn't done with care or precision and can't be fixed now that it was done wrong. I appreciate that we were able to get access to these kits so long after Sidkit died, but I wanted to assemble it properly and wasn't given that chance.
Click to expand...


I really appreciate your detailed answer Risu. After some thinking time I decided to go for the Sidkit Mal anyway. Like yours mine came part-assembled and although this will mean it's more tricky to seperate the shells for plating, as I want to blue the frame, it's not anything that time and patience can't resolve. The castings I received are all pretty straight and I'm quite happy with the fit and finish since it's a kit. I know a few people have complained that the wooden grips have gaps at the top but I've seen shots of the movie-version hero gun which has gaps at the top of the grips too so no big deal. I intend to put this one aside and make it a winter project when I can dedicate some care and time to its completion and detailing on the long winter nights. I will post pics on the forum, somewhere, when I do it.

Matheus - any update on your progress?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Your guess is as good as mine but the melting point of zinc is 419.5 centigrade and the temperature of the tip of the flame on a BIC butane lighter is quoted at 1,900 degrees C so I'm not going to test it by holding a lighter to it!
 
userd1402 said:
... I know a few people have complained that the wooden grips have gaps at the top but I've seen shots of the movie-version hero gun which has gaps at the top of the grips too so no big deal...
Click to expand...

Anyone with pics of the movie or TV series pistol showing the ill fitting grips? I did a run, years ago, of walnut grips for the Sidkit version.
 
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