Forbidden Planet Pistols

I have been having them machined as a two part plastic and one brass part.

I learned to order 2 1/4 inch plastic rod and have them machine the main body from that and then 1 inch to machine the tip in front of the brass part.

It is not a cheap operation, then I would have to take the tips to another shop for flame polishing.

Rich

Hey, Rich-- A question--

When you make the clear emitter parts, do you cast them or do you turn them? I had a set turned for a build I was doing, but no one makes true 1/2 inch plexi these days and my discs were too thin to stack up to the correct accumulated length.

Scott
 
I fear we may never know...I was always told the FP models were vacuum formed.

I tried skimming my copy of Cinefantastique for the line above that but missed it, must be a one line part...

Considering how many movies and TV shows these kept showing up in and on...it is possable some where along the line they redid the main bodies out of a fiberglass casting, after all the vacuum formed bodies may have begun falling apart.

Rich




I saw that original at comic con and was wondering why it was fiberglass when I had heard for years that it was vac formed. They were very convinced that it was authentic considering who it came from.
 
I'm one of the few folks who got what they paid for from MIM! I got the blaster kit and it finished up really nice. It's packed away now but it needs to hav the silver highlights done on the ribs.
 
This thread was the straw that broke the camel's back I finally sat down and actually watched Forbidden Planet. All this talk about the robot and the guns and I just could not take it any more. I really enjoyed the film and now I'm totally into the whole Forbidden Planet thing.

Thank you for pushing me over the edge .
 
I see where Osaka Tin Toy Institute in Japan is offering a "licensed" FP Blaster replica for what comes out to around $1300.

RT03_Ray-gun_E-1.jpg




http://www.eonet.ne.jp/~robot/index.html
 
Is it me or is the paint job just wrong?

$1300? I would much rather have one of Rich's.
 
The thing that strikes me about the OTTI version's paint job is that it's matte rather than metallic... and also that middle silver stripe on the body is awfully wide. The endcap rim has issues as well.

Still.... they got the shape of the tip right, and it looks to be a decent replica, I'm sure it's well made (I have a few of OTTIs tin robot replicas and they are superb). Unfortunately it would be overpriced at HALF the cost! :lol

ottivsscrnusedvsbarton.jpg
 
I agree the paint, finish, rear cap and so on and details look off and the trigger is also off.

Only 50.

Oh well.

Rich
 
The thing of it is, that there is so much we will never know about the prop designs from FP because of it's studio origins. Who designed the Blasters, the Command Mic radio, Doc Ostrow's medical props? What did the first designs for the props look like? Why did that jewelry box (also used for the radio props, you can see the ball clasps on them) on the holster side of the equipment belt have a battery box like the Command Mic? Why are there no behind the scenes photos of the fifty four foot miniature of the Krell shaft? So much we will ever know.

David.
 
True but it is also abut 50 years ago as well.

Some of the information was in a special Cinifantque.

Some was lost in the studio system of 1955.

Rich
 
Here is a fun thing, look at the belt boxes when they are on the ship...

On the ship they are wood blocks with pictures on them.

On the outdoor sets and Mobius's house and the lab they are the plastic boxes with lights...at lease the one with the command mike has lights.

Rich
 
In some of the exterior saucer scenes they are also dummy boxes. The hero versions had a dark colored box behind the radio, with a wire leading into the radio to power the lights. In some scenes there was a duplicate of the radio in front of the holster, which also had the battery box, but no mic/camera. This prop may have been built for one of the deleted scenes that got cut for budgetary reasons.

I just found it funny, when I discovered while looking at some stills from the movie, that they used those plastic jewelry boxes for the radios, and the other device by the holster. I don't know if you can still get them, but cheap, and inexpensive jewelry use to come in plastic boxes. The base was usually black, or dark blue, and they had a clear lid. The clasp was just two plastic beads molded in to each half. The hinges were two beads at each corner, which had a piece that snapped into them from the other half of the box.

Useless fact, that large device with the clear dish had working lights. I don't know if it was built for FP, or some other production. But in "The Man From U.N.C.L.E." episodes, "The Brain Killer Affair", and "The Cherry Blossom Affair", they use it, and the white tubes were lite up. That other radar unit, with the yellow stripe on the dish that got carried in was also used in the opening credits for a show, I think it was "Science Fiction Theatre". The reason for the yellow stripe, was to show the dish spinning.

David.
 
The jewelry boxes were later re-used in the Twilight Zone episode "Valley of the mists" then two more times in different episodes of The Man from UNCLE as a mine detector.
The Forbidden Planet Rifle was also used in UNCLE as a laser mounted to a stand on the roof of UNCLE HQ.
It later reappeared in The Three Stooges in Orbit as the laser cannon mounted to the flying submarine.
The FP pisol (without the handgrip) and the holster were also used as a mind-control device in yet another UNCLE episode "The Gurnius Affair"
The fence posts were also used as well as parts of Robby's head in "The Bridge of Lions Affair"
Ed-209
 
And the Queen of Outer Space with Za Za ..

and made fun in the spoof film Amazon Women on the Moon.

AND they were used in George Pal's 'The Time Machine' as well, at lease the uniforms were.

Rich
 
Dug out my old copies of Spacemen March/June 1964.

Found a couple of pictures of the pistol and rifle.

Note the details of the pistol.

Enjoy.

Rich
 

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