KPD Blaster - "L's" gun from Netflix's live action version of Death Note

kcpstudio

kcpstudio

Sr Member
I guess I'll start off with a intro. For those don't know me.... my name is Ken Palkow and I'm a Hollywood special effects, weapons, and prop fabricator. Some of you may know me and some of you won't but I'm sure you know my work. I have built everything from weapons for Kate Beckinsale to weapons and gadgets for Matt Damon and Tom Cruise. I'm passionate about my work and I wanted to share a current release with you. After reading about all the positive posts about this gun, it was suggested to me that I start a thread. So, here we go. I won't go into all the boring details of my work but I will say it can be stressful at times.... to say the least.

So, getting into this gun which we're designating as the KPD Blaster. Yes, the gun shows a ton of homage to Blade Runner and that was not by chance. To really give you the full details of what ultimately led to this guns development, I think its best we start from the beginning. Like any prop in a production, it all starts with ideas, a story, and conceptual visions. Sometimes, I'm commissioned to design and fabricate but other times I'm supplied with initial art which lays the foundation for my fabrication. I'm going to ask a friend of mine, Ray Lai, to please chime in and give you guys his introduction and part in this project. Ray is a wonderful artist and I have had the pleasure of working with him on more films than I can even remember. You could say I make the physical reality out of his visions.

Ray, please kick this off with some background on yourself and lead into this project in particular right up to where the art is signed off and turned over to me. I'll then jump back in and go from there. Then I think some joint stuff and Q&As from you guys.

KPD Blaster Thread Starter.jpg
 
I never noticed the green LED in the other pics... That is just AWESOME!!! This is everything the blaster SHOULD HAVE BEEN in the new BR movie! I LOVE this design!!

-B89!
 
So glad you opened this thread. Looking forward to more pics and that video you mentioned. If your doing that run I would be interested in one. Though I live in the U.S. I thought that person from the UK in the other tread who suggested for a kit because of import laws was a good idea. I like to build one myself if possible but would settle for a full fledged finished one.
I wholeheartedly agree with the others that this should have been in the new BR film. Phenomenal work Ken !
 
hey, thanks again for posting the pics, I'm really looking forward to see more and hopefully be part of the run if it happens :thumbsup
 
Hi

Thank you for the positive response.... this is one of my most satisfying design attempts and I am really happy for Kenney's brilliant artistry in bringing it to reality.

So if you'd indulge me I'd like to lead you through my part of the process and the journey (abridged of course) that lead to the approved final design of "L"'s Blaster in Death Note.

First a little about my background... I work in the film industry, having started on set in various positions from PA to Assistant Director.... and then in the production office and then the in the most round about way possible I arrived in the art department.... though not as an illustrator yet but that's another story.

I've made a ton of models growing up (and still do when I have a chance) and I am mostly self taught in the ways of 3D modeling.

Designing stuff is fun, hard work, aggravating and fun. One has to have a knowledge of industrial design, artistry and story telling. There is more to consider but the primary thing is to serve the script and to be part of the world it inhabits.

When starting any design, I usually get some sort of brief and/or direction or references from either one or from all of the following: the Production Designer, Art Director, Prop Master and sometimes from the Director. Then I find and research my own references and start sketching ideas to develop the character of the design and the function as the script dictates and beyond.

In this case the brief was kinda like this.... The character known as "L" has a gun and we're going to make it a little different. Adam, the director of Death Note is a big fan of Blade Runner and suggested that we base our aesthetic to Deckards Blaster as a homage ....or something like that.

OK. No reference required as I also have "studied" this prop since the first time I saw it.
Being so iconic the challenge was to design a Blade Runner Blaster without actually designing the Blade Runner Blaster. OK.

The first thing I did was to draw up anything like it that wasn't like it.... here is a few attempts:

P1 ConceptSketches.jpg


Then to draw it but not to draw it......

P2 ConceptSketches.jpg

It kinda went on like that for a few days.....

I even tried a few like this just to be different.
P3 ConceptSketches.jpg


One of the most distinctive things of the BR Blaster is that its sorta has the silhouette of a revolver but no visible cylinder suggesting a technology that is outside our perceived norms like something in the future might be.....like in Blade Runner. The thing is that our world of Death Note was not in the future but now.... todayish. So with this in mind I started incorporating the cylinder into the design which eventually lead to these two:

P4 ConceptSketches.jpg

Which was ultimately combined to this one....
P5 ConceptSketches.jpg

At this point it was decided by the prop master and the production designer to create a full render to show the director.... But before I did that Dan, the prop master, showed me something brilliant that I could incorporate into the design
GunWithCamera.jpg

Believe it or not this is an actual thing.... it's a camera mounted to a revolver that shoots six shots... one picture per shot of the gun. Brilliant!
For me, the design has some meaning and reason for being the way it is instead of just looking cool.

With that in hand and in mind I proceeded to model the Blaster around a Smith and Wesson revolver that was going to be the donor gun for this prop.

I will go into that in a following post.... Cheers.
 
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Fantastic. Thank you both so much for this glimpse into the design process! I love 'early concept' drawings! And the final fabricated blaster is superb! :)
 
Chroming was a tad pain in the butt to do. Realistically, I should have ran a much longer cure time between applications. However, lead times didn't allow for that and I pretty much sent these to set in the green. As stated in the past, I use a process which actually began life in the automotive industry. I'm always pushing the envelope on trying to get chroming and gold finishes to look as real as possible. Here's a pic of part of prop from a current film I'm working on. I can't show what the prop is, but you can see the gold finish. I was going for a 24k gold look. Each application should have a min of 24 to 48 hours to cure before moving on to the next application. The guns I made for Death Note would typically need a week to run through the processes correctly. Hint, I realized years ago that a gloss black base doesn't yield the best end result for chrome. ;) So I rarely use black. I bet that just blew your minds. That's why I always experiment. There is actual 4 different "chemicals" which ultimately yield the results you see on the guns.

IMG_4076.jpgIMG_4077.PNG
 
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