Logan's Run DS Gun - TV version
- Thread starter maxspr1
- Start date
maxspr1
Well-Known Member
I did a search on ebay for MONTHS before I found the right one. It was listed as a vintage Alcoswitch momentary push-button micro-switch. I just kept looking until I saw one that matched in appearance--nothing fancy or clever. Wish I could give more info. As I said, my only advantage was that I recognized the type of switch when I saw it in the photos of original Logan props because I knew it from my old Buck Rogers props. I'll get out my props this week and see if I can get a good pic from the Buck Rogers guns because the switch I used in the Logan's Run gun is potted in place with gobs of JB Weld. I forgot to mention this before, but the vintage switch comes with a little cap mounted on the tiny nylon plunger which just pops off. You can see one with a cap used on an original DS gun on RACProps HERE and HERE. That's that weird movie/TV version hybrid prop with the big end cap you can see used in the pilot episode. So, the switch with and without the end cap both seem to be canon. Again, I wish I had more info. The main differences I can see between these vintage switches and newer Radio Shack ones is that the plunger is very skinny and is bare nylon and there is a beveled washer thingy that screws on a threaded shaft around the plunger.
maxspr1
Well-Known Member
Okay--I took some close-up photos of the identical type of vintage switch used in the TV DS Gun. This one is in a screen-used Buck Rogers laser rifle prop I own. It's epoxied in place and there are absolutely no identifiable markings on the parts of the switch I could see--sorry about that. Maybe someone can offer some more info to help in identifying and finding more of these...
maxspr1
Well-Known Member
...and while I'm at it, here are some WIP pics. Not only am I working on some new grips, but I decided to make the fin more accurate by more closely matching the angles to the angles of the fin in the reference photos. The fin was looking a little too large at the back. I didn't want any repainting to start obscuring details and softening any edges, so I stripped off the original paint on the barrel and body tube using the stuff in the bottle pictured below (bought at a Meijer store here in Ohio). It worked amazingly well with no noxious fumes and absolutely no damage to any of the parts, not even the rubber coating on the wire, the phenolic resin fin or the spot putty. The only negative thing the chemical did was loosen up some of the epoxy I used. Since I never posted WIP photos from the initial rebuild, here are some from this round of modifications:
Last edited:
alexis
Member
Hi !
I'm living in FRANCE, and Logan's Run TV show was very popular (years 1980 at 2000), not more actually but somes fans are here again. I'm webmaster of french website on Logan's Run (in FRANCE the title is : "L'Age de Cristal") and a very very great fan of the DS Flamegun. It's very very hard for us to find the working props, in USA you're very very lucky people. But I was find it, since some weeks, I have a working DS Flamegun Movie model : but, it's not working very well. I can't find a Tv model working DS Flamegun that I prefer. You have a very beautiful gun, I put somes pictures of my gun.
Very beautiful prop !!! :love
Next time, I trying to put a little video with my working DS Gun.
I'm living in FRANCE, and Logan's Run TV show was very popular (years 1980 at 2000), not more actually but somes fans are here again. I'm webmaster of french website on Logan's Run (in FRANCE the title is : "L'Age de Cristal") and a very very great fan of the DS Flamegun. It's very very hard for us to find the working props, in USA you're very very lucky people. But I was find it, since some weeks, I have a working DS Flamegun Movie model : but, it's not working very well. I can't find a Tv model working DS Flamegun that I prefer. You have a very beautiful gun, I put somes pictures of my gun.
Very beautiful prop !!! :love
Next time, I trying to put a little video with my working DS Gun.
Last edited:
OB10
Sr Member
Thanks for the button, pics, Maxpr1! That'll be very helpful! Another tedious quest to begin. :lol
And thanks for the pics of your gun, Alexis! I always like to see nice, big tasty closeups of interesting/confusing areas of props. Good pics help to make sense out of things.
I'm getting the hankerin..... :love
And thanks for the pics of your gun, Alexis! I always like to see nice, big tasty closeups of interesting/confusing areas of props. Good pics help to make sense out of things.
I'm getting the hankerin..... :love
alexis
Member
A little video of my DS gun in action, made quickly since few weeks :
http://laserdiscplaza.fr/videokiko/flamegunsuite.m4v
My camera don't have the goods settings ! :unsure
http://laserdiscplaza.fr/videokiko/flamegunsuite.m4v
My camera don't have the goods settings ! :unsure
That switch is an ALCO MPA103 and is still readily available.
Roger Ramjet
Sr Member
Nice pieces guys...
Quick note regarding the back switch:
I've held a screen used TV model where the momentary switch was complete with a head. It was also red!
This leads me to believe a number of the switches used on the TV guns were simply broken off at the head. This could have been by accident or design to create a better (on-screen) profile. Either way, one could argue the prop is accurate with either configuration of the momentary switch.
A couple unaltered movie guns also appear to have made it into the series.
-Rylo
I've held a screen used TV model where the momentary switch was complete with a head. It was also red!
This leads me to believe a number of the switches used on the TV guns were simply broken off at the head. This could have been by accident or design to create a better (on-screen) profile. Either way, one could argue the prop is accurate with either configuration of the momentary switch.
A couple unaltered movie guns also appear to have made it into the series.
-Rylo
Last edited:
That is real nice, love it!
Those ALCO switches have changable button heads. So you can red or black ones.
Yeah, I really think most of them just came off over the years. Like I said, the one I inspected was complete. It's ceratinly more comfortable to fire a working TV model with a complete switch rather than just a plastic stick hitting the web of your hand.
FYI: The gap difference you see between the plate and the center portion of the gun is all over the place from prop to prop. Just sloppy machine work with the originals from one prop to the next. It probably depended on who was on the mill.
The height of the side-plates can make it more pronounced, too. I've seen cleaner screen pieces that had very little gap while others were as wide as a door jam.
-Rylo
FYI: The gap difference you see between the plate and the center portion of the gun is all over the place from prop to prop. Just sloppy machine work with the originals from one prop to the next. It probably depended on who was on the mill.
The height of the side-plates can make it more pronounced, too. I've seen cleaner screen pieces that had very little gap while others were as wide as a door jam.
-Rylo
Last edited:
Chrisisall
Master Member
As a Logan's Run fan, I have to say this has been a totally fun thread to read through!
Ooops, I'm blinking....
*dashes off*
Ooops, I'm blinking....
*dashes off*
alexis
Member
Hi !
I don't know if it's a information for the possessors of Functional Flamegun. But, this week I was discover a thing : the person who sell me the functional Flamegun was send with it somes pieces of Calcium Carbide. It's was a old calcium carbide (3 or 4 years). And I was had somes problems for to shoot with my gun. This week, I was buyed a new lot of calcium carbide and my gun working really better !
Visibly, the quality of Calcium Carbide influences the working of the gun.
I don't know if someone have already found it.
I don't know if it's a information for the possessors of Functional Flamegun. But, this week I was discover a thing : the person who sell me the functional Flamegun was send with it somes pieces of Calcium Carbide. It's was a old calcium carbide (3 or 4 years). And I was had somes problems for to shoot with my gun. This week, I was buyed a new lot of calcium carbide and my gun working really better !
Visibly, the quality of Calcium Carbide influences the working of the gun.
I don't know if someone have already found it.
PeterLC
Sr Member
Over time calcium carbide will absorb and react with small amounts of moisture from the air. Even sealed in a container it won't last forever. As a kid, I used to play with it in a big coffee jar of water with a hole in the lid which allowed a jet of acetylene out to be lit. Also made a toy submarine powered by carbide which allowed it to sink and surface and move along.
PeterLC
Sr Member
Anyone thought of powering these things with butane? Much easier to get hold of. I did think about using the reservoir from a pencil torch or a gas powered soldering iron. Placing this in the main tube would allow access to the actual filling port when the "gas chamber" is removed. Will need a glo-plug and a Li-Ion battery. Of course I still have to get a kit to build a gun yet. Waiting waiting for the next round of them.
Similar threads
- Sale
