Hellboy Samaritan Case, custom mix of canon & non-canon build.

Hey all, I know I don't post here enough, and it's largely because making content for tested.com is all-encompassing. But I'm in a great mood today and thought I should show what I built this week.

Context:
I've been hand-machining Hellboy's Samaritan from scratch (see here
) and it's already four videos (and 140 hours of my labor so far) and a few more steps and videos coming.

View attachment 1365936

Building something like this means taking it apart constantly. I love the shots of it all separated.

View attachment 1365937
One of Norm Chan's beautiful photos.

So the gun needs transport right? I needed a case. There's one in the film, and it's definitely got an "Army" kinda feel. Several people have made versions here on the RPF and I looked at all the threads.

A couple years ago i won an ebay auction on a metal box that was very close (perhaps a bit large) to the correct dimensions of the Samaritan case from Hellboy. I've never gotten around to painting it, but finally did a couple weeks ago. Here's the result:

View attachment 1365933
IN addition to the paint I added the clasp from an ammo box for the front closure (thanks to someone's research on the RPF) and also added a brass piano hinge across the back of the lid. I painted the interior black and added a bunch of dirt and rust.


I was really happy with this. BTW the olive drab color base was a Tamiya rattle can. I didn't overly prep the surface, so after my paint was dry I used masking tape randomly placed on the box and peeled off some spots of paint. It worked great! Then I clearcoated in a matte lacquer. I'd share my Samaritan lettering art, but I hand cut this from paper using some very rough reference material. I'll see if my stencil is scan-able.
Aaaanyway, I was super happy with how this turned out, but I had one issue: I have never loved the interior of this case as we see it in the film.


View attachment 1365934

It's just a little...anemic for my tastes. So I considered a redesign of the interior. I researched some old pistol presentation cases and got inspired. Using 1/4" plywood and my 23ga pin nailer and some glue and felt, over two days I completed a non-canon interior that I'm really happy with. It feels authentic, and it's actually filled with all the tools I need for assembly, disassembly, and maintenance. Funnily enough, it took a lot of weathering to get the aging I did to show up on camera. I airbrushed burnt umber liberally in the corners and all over and you couldn't see a LICK of it on camera. I eventually did a distant all-over spray with black primer just to kill the vibrance of the green.
This build will go up in a couple weeks or so but I wanted to share it with y'all, as I come here daily to get inspired and for research. I've gotten a lot from the RPF over the 20+ years I've been participating.

Without further ado, here's my hellboy pistola in it's new habitat.

View attachment 1365935
The brown ceramic bottle in center bottom is a salt-cured inkwell. These were common during the civil war and several of them are visible in Broom's Box, which I own one of. They're not hard to find for a few dollars on ebay. So I liked the idea of putting one here full of some lithium grease. The speed loaders are static props from a run here on the RPF, I may end up re-making the mechanics of these, we'll see.
Next steps are to rifle the barrel, and then to chemically blacken the aluminum. Once I've done that, I think it'll be finished. Just a HUGE amount of work.

Cheers all!

This case looks awesome. I had thought about making a similar type of case for my Han ANH blaster, but with flocked recesses cut in a high density foam. But the felt here looks really nice, I might consider that route instead.
 
Hey all, I know I don't post here enough, and it's largely because making content for tested.com is all-encompassing. But I'm in a great mood today and thought I should show what I built this week.

Context:
I've been hand-machining Hellboy's Samaritan from scratch (see here
) and it's already four videos (and 140 hours of my labor so far) and a few more steps and videos coming.

View attachment 1365936

Building something like this means taking it apart constantly. I love the shots of it all separated.

View attachment 1365937
One of Norm Chan's beautiful photos.

So the gun needs transport right? I needed a case. There's one in the film, and it's definitely got an "Army" kinda feel. Several people have made versions here on the RPF and I looked at all the threads.

A couple years ago i won an ebay auction on a metal box that was very close (perhaps a bit large) to the correct dimensions of the Samaritan case from Hellboy. I've never gotten around to painting it, but finally did a couple weeks ago. Here's the result:

View attachment 1365933
IN addition to the paint I added the clasp from an ammo box for the front closure (thanks to someone's research on the RPF) and also added a brass piano hinge across the back of the lid. I painted the interior black and added a bunch of dirt and rust.


I was really happy with this. BTW the olive drab color base was a Tamiya rattle can. I didn't overly prep the surface, so after my paint was dry I used masking tape randomly placed on the box and peeled off some spots of paint. It worked great! Then I clearcoated in a matte lacquer. I'd share my Samaritan lettering art, but I hand cut this from paper using some very rough reference material. I'll see if my stencil is scan-able.
Aaaanyway, I was super happy with how this turned out, but I had one issue: I have never loved the interior of this case as we see it in the film.


View attachment 1365934

It's just a little...anemic for my tastes. So I considered a redesign of the interior. I researched some old pistol presentation cases and got inspired. Using 1/4" plywood and my 23ga pin nailer and some glue and felt, over two days I completed a non-canon interior that I'm really happy with. It feels authentic, and it's actually filled with all the tools I need for assembly, disassembly, and maintenance. Funnily enough, it took a lot of weathering to get the aging I did to show up on camera. I airbrushed burnt umber liberally in the corners and all over and you couldn't see a LICK of it on camera. I eventually did a distant all-over spray with black primer just to kill the vibrance of the green.
This build will go up in a couple weeks or so but I wanted to share it with y'all, as I come here daily to get inspired and for research. I've gotten a lot from the RPF over the 20+ years I've been participating.

Without further ado, here's my hellboy pistola in it's new habitat.

View attachment 1365935
The brown ceramic bottle in center bottom is a salt-cured inkwell. These were common during the civil war and several of them are visible in Broom's Box, which I own one of. They're not hard to find for a few dollars on ebay. So I liked the idea of putting one here full of some lithium grease. The speed loaders are static props from a run here on the RPF, I may end up re-making the mechanics of these, we'll see.
Next steps are to rifle the barrel, and then to chemically blacken the aluminum. Once I've done that, I think it'll be finished. Just a HUGE amount of work.

Cheers all!
Amazing build Adam, a truly epic achievement, I look forward to watching the build videos.
It is quite timely that you posted this. I dug out my DVD Special Edition of Hellboy on the weekend and introduced my girlfriend to Guillermo's vision of Hellboy. (She enjoyed the film!)

One thing I had forgotten about was the large armoury case the BPRD agent wheels into the museum, revealing amongst other items of ammunition, these blister packaged bullets.
A couple of these would be a nice accompaniment to your finished prop.
(Image courtesy of a propstore listing)

img14.jpg
 
man, this is so inspiring!!!!

one of my all time favorite film firearms.

incredibly impressive adam!
 
Amazing! I have been following the build on Tested, Love the "Naked" finish on the pistol.
I have the sideshow version, But your version is a work of art, I wish I had half your skill and a quarter of your tools :)
 
Such great work and very inspirational. I've been drawn to these custom storage cases from seeing your previous work on the microscope cabinet, beaver case and the Bladerunner gun.

When I made my solid pewter crown from the Twilight Witchking in the Lord of the Rings I knew I had to make something fitting to put it in. Making these types of storage boxes is a fun exercise that flexes all sorts of problem solving skills and creative engineering.

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Such great work and very inspirational. I've been drawn to these custom storage cases from seeing your previous work on the microscope cabinet, beaver case and the Bladerunner gun.

When I made my solid pewter crown from the Twilight Witchking in the Lord of the Rings I knew I had to make something fitting to put it in. Making these types of storage boxes is a fun exercise that flexes all sorts of problem solving skills and creative engineering.

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Nice storage case
 
I wait eagerly for more videos of the Samaritan on Tested. Thank you for taking the time to post all this after recording the gazillion videos you do!
 
I asked this on YouTube but I never got much of an answer: What legal issues are there in California for machining a more-or-less functional revolver? I really hope you're not going the orange-tip route.
 
Stunning! It's like looking at the Grail Diary, only better. Thanks for sharing your craft with us!
 
Adam, I really love the precision you have put into your Samaritan, truly some next level stuff.... Very keen to see how you go about the blackening of it, like a lot of people waiting with bated breath for the next video.... Not sure if it's of use.... But to anyone who's interested, I still have the reference stuff I Photoshoped to made up my ammo box, Feel free to PM me if anyone wants Larger HD files

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Hell-Boy-box numberspic.jpg


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The Dimensions
The Build
 

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I I keep meaning to have a gallery showing of my cases for my fave props. I've got a weird collective of them: everythng from a display box for my incredible Tom Spina Chewbacca mask to my bride sword.
The case becomes a super-obsession.
To be honest, I love all of your builds and obviously all of us love the props, but I really find your case and box builds are my absolute favorite things you do. The story building when you build a case for a treasured item is inspiring.
 
This is awesome. I've been following this build with great interest on Twitter and YouTube. I'm just getting started with replica props and my first one is a 3d printed Samaritan that I've got mostly printed, but will probably print most of the parts again.

The pics of your notes and dimensions are awesome, was hoping to find those.

Can't wait to see this all finished, especially the rifling.
 
Inspiring work. So much so that I tracked down and bought the Sideshow 1:1 Samaritan. (Sold mine years ago.) Now looking for cool accessories for it! Thanks for posting!
 
Love it! I used to have some gunsmithing tools. I always thought that the screwdrivers where made that way to avoid scratching the wooden stocks. I'm also obsessed with checkering tools. Checkering always seems to really beautify any stock.
 
Are you sending it out to have the barrel rifled or doing it in-shop? I have plans for a movie gun replica of my own and haven't quite figured how I'm gonna do that part of it yet. I have seen videos on line of people just putting it and the barrel in a vice, and using a punch and lots of lube, force it through by vice alone.
 
Are you sending it out to have the barrel rifled or doing it in-shop? I have plans for a movie gun replica of my own and haven't quite figured how I'm gonna do that part of it yet. I have seen videos on line of people just putting it and the barrel in a vice, and using a punch and lots of lube, force it through by vice alone.
He probably can do that on his mill. He threaded the inside of the large nut that he made. rifling the barrel would probably be similar.
 

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Most of the versions I've seen don't look to have any rifling, the way I did it on mine was to press some epoxy putty around the inside of the barrel about 1mm thick and press in the lines with a curved piece of wire, then when in hardened sanded it back to sharpen up the groves, I'm sure Adam will have a better solution, but for anyone out there with a resin version, it's a pretty simple mod.

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