Machining a Blade Runner blaster from scratch

[jnoshea]

Hi,

Decided to put my machining skills to the test and try to make a Blade Runner blaster almost entirely from scratch out of aluminium in my home hobby workshop. No photos yet sorry but made a YouTube video of my progress so far making the receiver of the bulldog part of the prop. Part two should be ready in a day or two where I've made the cylinder and some fake amo. I would appreciate ideas for the build, especially on how to machine some of the more difficult parts. I've started with the easy bits of course.

First video is here...

Cheers
James

 

[Duncanator]

Very cool project!
I like how quickly it seemed to come together making the first part. It already feels like something substantial.
Can't wait to see how the rest of it goes.

 

[eethan]

super cool, looking forward to see more

 

[stussy]

great start,i'll be watching this.

 

[joberg]

Great so far...are you going to remove some of the metal from the inside of the grip?

 

[jnoshea]

Thanks guys! I'm undecided on how to remove the metal from the grip. It might look good to leave just a frame and remove as much from inside as possible using the milling machine, but the easiest would be to drill two or three large holes.

 

[romond]

Cool project. Can't wait to see the finished product.

 

[jnoshea]

Part 2 is now uploaded to YouTube. I did some more of the easier bits (simple geometric shapes) so got the cylinder, crane and ammo done in this one. It gets tricky from here.

When I get a chance I'll start with the triggers next. I watched Adam Savage make his for the snub nosed by making a hole of the correct diameter in some plate and then drawing around the rest of the trigger. I think I'll put some 8mm aluminium plate in the lathe chuck and bore out a 1 inch hole to do something similar. Then I'll try the trigger guard. I'm going to have to mill out a notch for this in the grip frame as mine is all one piece unlike the original. The base of the hand grip seems quite easy. I'll just screw a bit of plate that's slightly too big to the base and then hand file it down to match the hand grips perfectly. Not sure yet how I'm going to do the plate that attaches to the crane to cover the cylinder. I might have to buy a boring head for the mill so that I can bore out the back of the cover to a slightly larger diameter than the cylinder.

 

[PAULH]

Great work so far!

 

[joberg]

I think that with your skills and your machines, it would be easy to hollow that grip (like the real Bulldog)

 

[eethan]

that is so cool and impressive to watch. thank you for sharing

 

[seekerofgiants]

This looks absolutely incredible!

 

[David3]

I'd definitely hollow out the grip frame but perhaps a little different to the original prop and more like how it would have been manufactured for a real blaster. Which could be anything you think looks cool through the grips really.

 

[jnoshea]

Thanks guys. Well I took your advice and bored out two 1" holes in the handgrip frame to let light through them. Same radius as the triggers to make it consistent. This was definitely easier than milling out most of the frame, which was my original thought. So third video is available. I didn't get as far as I wanted but managed to make the triggers, trigger guard, frame holes, and the base plate of the handgrip. Thanks for the feedback.

 

[eethan]

awesome work! it's really nice to watch how you do it.
I would say the trigger frame is really squarish and would gain from being a bit more rounded like the original but other than that, it's really nice!

 

[Apollo]

Wow talk about a difficult Project!
Coming along nicely, looking forward to your progress

 

[David3]

That's very cool.
Hopefully those amber grips will buff up a little better once you've finished.

 

[jnoshea]

awesome work! it's really nice to watch how you do it.
I would say the trigger frame is really squarish and would gain from being a bit more rounded like the original but other than that, it's really nice!

Yes, I thought about changing this part of design. Bil'sl future version resin model that I'm working off has something close to this and in the 2049 film K's blaster has a very angled trigger guard so I've gone with the more geometric look. I will round off the edges when I get my hands on a hand held rotary tool to make it a bit softer though.

 

[jnoshea]

That's very cool.
Hopefully those amber grips will buff up a little better once you've finished.

Yes, I've been a little worried about this. If anyone knows how to shine these up without damaging them then I'd appreciate some advice.

 

[eethan]

Yes, I've been a little worried about this. If anyone knows how to shine these up without damaging them then I'd appreciate some advice.

mother's mag and aluminium polish. you just polish by hand with a rag and it works very well.