That's a great display. :coolHere are a couple pictures of my Mal gun
Firefly / Serenity Mal's Gun showoff thread
- Thread starter DavidS
- Start date
DrMcoy
Sr Member
Here is a link to pics of my Phillipes RESIN, the Sidkit and the MODEL 47.
http://web.mac.com/tedeckel1/Site_3/Photos.html
http://web.mac.com/tedeckel1/Site_3/Photos.html
Awesome set, dude. Where did you get the wood grips for the Sidkit? Are they simply extras from Philippes' runs?
DrMcoy
Sr Member
Yes, I believe they were grips for Phillipes resin version that I modified very slightly to go on Sidkit. They aren't a perfect fit, but close.
There was someone that claimed they were making wooden grips for Sidkit, but they never materialized.
I will be putting the Sidkit and resin replicas in JY soon (is it ok to post such info in this forum??)
There was someone that claimed they were making wooden grips for Sidkit, but they never materialized.
I will be putting the Sidkit and resin replicas in JY soon (is it ok to post such info in this forum??)
yeh... that was Wakal...
he had some guy doing them for him and needed someone to send in their resin sid grips
i volunteered.......
i havent seen my grips since....
stolen, forgotten about.... whatever you wanta call it
superjedi
Sr Member
I remember that. I was on the "interested" list. :unsure
Here's my Phillipe resin Mal with metal thumbscrews and walnut grips. I bought it with the upgrades from a member here and it's one of my favorite props now.
I may go back at some point and add a touch more Rub-n-Buff silver on the grip frame and trigger guard.
Yeah, I was on the interest list for Wakal's wooden Sidkit grips as well. Darn shame...
Anyway, was it difficult to modify the grips to fit the Sidkit? Is it worth tracking some grips down, or should I just try carving my own? :lol
KarlBud420
Sr Member
OK my turn!
hows this look?
That's pretty sharp! How do you have the coins mounted vertically and where'd you find the code patch? Does it have an authorization code on the back of it?
Too bad you sold your plated Sidkit blaster. It would have been cool to have that and the Serenity gun crossed in the display.
Bruce
crap! your right, i was so busy slappin velcro on coins, i musta missed the damn patch... ill fix it...
Rocketeer blueprints? err... WHAT rocketeer blueprints? i dont know what your talking about...
i dont see anything rocketeer there... ??????
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Mike Rush
Well-Known Member
Sorry so late to the party! :$
Although I have resin, QMx and Sidkit versions, my favourite is definitely the Sidkit. Before assembly I had the parts plated in brass and chemically aged. (Thanks for the company details, Mike.)
When my parts came back I was a little disappointed as they had been much more heavy-handed with the ageing than I had hoped. It was practically all 'age' and no 'brass'. However, once I discovered that the ageing could be gradually removed with a kitchen scourer, this turned out to be a bonus as it meant that I could do the weathering to my own satisfaction.
The gun was done a while ago but I was holding back on taking photographs until I could get the (resin) grips painted. In the end they didn't come out at all how I planned so I will be doing them again! However for now, this is it:
The 'silver' parts of the frame were not plated. I simply polished up the Sidkit metal to a good shine, and to me it now looks like steel.
It also has replacement nickel thumbscrews from the RPF. I haven't 'dirtied' these yet, but I might.
Hope you like it.
Although I have resin, QMx and Sidkit versions, my favourite is definitely the Sidkit. Before assembly I had the parts plated in brass and chemically aged. (Thanks for the company details, Mike.)
When my parts came back I was a little disappointed as they had been much more heavy-handed with the ageing than I had hoped. It was practically all 'age' and no 'brass'. However, once I discovered that the ageing could be gradually removed with a kitchen scourer, this turned out to be a bonus as it meant that I could do the weathering to my own satisfaction.
The gun was done a while ago but I was holding back on taking photographs until I could get the (resin) grips painted. In the end they didn't come out at all how I planned so I will be doing them again! However for now, this is it:
The 'silver' parts of the frame were not plated. I simply polished up the Sidkit metal to a good shine, and to me it now looks like steel.
It also has replacement nickel thumbscrews from the RPF. I haven't 'dirtied' these yet, but I might.
Hope you like it.
Mike Rush
Well-Known Member
It was a flat £50.
pennausamike
Sr Member
You don't need to reverse the patch unless you want to.
The patches were originally intended to denote rank and have the triangle point down and the star upright.
But in the rush of television production work,
a seamstress sewed the patch on "upside-down".
The 76th and a number of fans follow "canon" from the "Serenity" TV pilot and "The Message" which showed the patch on Mal's arm the way the seamstress messed up.
But also seen in the "Serenity" pilot is the orientation of the rank authorization info on the back, as the designer intended it.
The design intention was to have Alliance triangles point up; Independents' triangles point down.
And, believe it or not, one of the Alliance patches got put on reversed on one of the Alliance motocross troopers' uniforms!
The Propstore of London also displayed one of the throat patches from the movie "Serenity" upside down, but that REALLY doesn't count.
To me, the original designers' intentions (both Shawna and Geoff)
are more "canon" and logical than a rushed line production foul-up.
I know this seems like nit-picking, but adherence to details like these are the things that often lend credibility to a fictional world.
How believable would a World War Two movie be if some of the American sergeants stripes pointed one way, some the other, the German swastikas were backwards and some, but not all, of the deaths heads were upside down?
I'm trying to finish up a number of real-life and 'verse projects now.
It is my hope to create a Browncoat uniform after all my current irons are out of the fire.
I'm doing it like the ones seen in the series, ie battleworn; and I want to use the unit that Mal mentions linking up with in "The Message", The 22nd at the Battle of Du-Khang; about a year before the surrender at Serenity Valley.
So I'll probably end up creating a unit patch and unit backstory.
But the Independents' rank badges will be star up, triangle point down.
The Firefly Companion has a good picture of the patches.
But they don't define the ranks.
And in fact, there are apparently two versions of the Lieutenant's
patch; one with the black border and one with the light border.
I intend to look into this a little more when the Hi-Def version of
Firefly comes out.
I'm hoping for a good screen grab of the Lieutenant's patch and Mal's.
(I'm not so sure Mal's had plain borders.)
That will at least provide a Sergeant and Lieutenant's style.
Too bad Zoe (corporal) didn't have a patch.
Although, if wardrobe didn't even know which way to sew the patches
on, its doubtful any meaningful distinction in rank would have been made.
A lot was lost in the translation from (rushed) design to
(even-more-rushed) production on Firefly.
Think of it as 11 hours of TV series (Firefly) for a lower budget than
2 hours of movie (Serenity).
Think of all the iconic images/props from Firefly,
(Mal's pistol; Jayne's hat, T-shirts, "Boo" pistol and Vera; the
Alliance City space cruisers and Serenity herself; Wash and his
Hawaiian shirts and dinosaurs; and on and on.
With so much to establish, and so little time and money to do it, the
Independents' patches obviously fell to the bottom of the priority
attention list.
As far as ordering the patches, I've had good luck with the eBay
dealers, but,
Patch N Pins
http://www.patchesnpins.com/firefly_serenity page.htm
has originated a LOT of new Firefly/Serenity stuff.
As far as I know they are the creators of the patches that are the most screen accurate.
They also have an eBay presence that'll sometimes save you a coupla
bucks over their straight retail.
PatchGeeks
http://www.patchgeeks.com/catalog/index.php/cPath/70
also has some of the same and some different patches.
(Ex: the PatchGeek Firefly Alliance and Blue Sun patches are different
than the Patches N Pins versions.)
The best place to get quantity orders of the basic Independents' patch is
Out To The Black Outfitters
http://www.outtotheblack.com/patch.html
With prices like this:
$4.00 ea., 1-3 patches;
$3.00 ea., 4-9 patches;
$2.00 ea., 10+ patches --
you really can "outfit your whole gorram regiment for the next con!"
I've dealt with all these sellers and had nothing but good experiences
with all of them.
Oh, and these are my Mal pistols.
On the Sidkit. I modified the barrel holding method
with a shoulder bolt coming into the back of the barrel for support.
This method also gives me the means to have a dummy operating mechanism
seen in the magazine well when the clip is removed.
I also bought two sets of wood grips for my Mal pistols;
one set for the metal Mal and one set for one of the resin Firefly Mal's.
The only disappointment is that the wood used was oak,
which has a very different grain pattern than the walnut that was originally used.
I have the walnut, I just don't have the carving skills to do much with it.
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Well, I finally got around to clear-coating and assembling my Mal pistol, and I am happy as can be.
As you can see, I've still got to attach the thumbscrews. I've also got a woodworking neighbor who's gonna get me some walnut to carve a new set of grips.
It's hard to photograph and get the color "accurate". Here, it looks mostly black, but in the right light it's more brownish, almost like blackened copper. It's a lot darker and a lot glossier than I expected, but I think I'm okay with that - looks more "real-world" that way, perhaps.
EDIT: Here's a picture showing the coppery finish a little better, but it's still very hard to do justice with pictures. You can also see some discoloration that happened for some reason. I'm not unhappy about it; I think it lends more character!
As you can see, I've still got to attach the thumbscrews. I've also got a woodworking neighbor who's gonna get me some walnut to carve a new set of grips.
It's hard to photograph and get the color "accurate". Here, it looks mostly black, but in the right light it's more brownish, almost like blackened copper. It's a lot darker and a lot glossier than I expected, but I think I'm okay with that - looks more "real-world" that way, perhaps.
EDIT: Here's a picture showing the coppery finish a little better, but it's still very hard to do justice with pictures. You can also see some discoloration that happened for some reason. I'm not unhappy about it; I think it lends more character!
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