Men in black tri-barrel project (updated 4-9-09)

[Rusty85]

I got a package today in the mail, of...you guessed it, THE TRI-BARREL from the first Men in Black!(courtesy of MisterFushion) This is unbelievably exciting for me as this is my holy grail of movie props along with its counterpart the Pulsar Blaster.

Anyway, I'm going to start restoring this thing ASAP, and hopefully get some copies out there to the hardcore MIB fans with Rick's permission of course.

This is in really good shape compared to the last one I owned which wasn't salvagable unfortunately. There are some places that are going to need some work, but I should be able to make the neccsary repairs to it.

One thing I'm not quite sure how to approach though is the end of the barrels. They seem to have a slight curve to the right that isn't that noticeable, but still. Anyone have any ideas on how to get the curve out? It's made of a hard foam, and I mean hard. If anyone has any ideas please post away :thumbsup

Here are some pics for now, one of the gun and the other of the curvature in the barrel.

 

[Funky]

Re: Men in black tri-barrel!!!

Put my butt on that interest list! love):love

 

[tubachris85x]

Re: Men in black tri-barrel!!!

So this is an original screen used?

 

[kurtyboy]

Re: Men in black tri-barrel!!!

I've never tried it with foam but resin can be heated, re-shaped and then cooled in cold water.

Works with boiling water but I've neer tried it with anything this thick. :confused

Worth a try!

So this is an original screen used?

 

[Rusty85]

Re: Men in black tri-barrel!!!

This isn't screen-used, only a casting from the stunt gun. I actually watched the movie a few nights ago, and while the pulsar blaster is shown after the bug explodes I never saw the Tri-Barrel, although it could have been shown for a split second while the guns flew through the air...

I'm thinking about heating it, seems like the only way it'll straighten up.

 

[racprops]

Re: Men in black tri-barrel!!!

I am interested as well.

Ask Rick how to strighten it.

Rich

 

[silverskyes402]

Re: Men in black tri-barrel!!!

I'm not interested, I'm IN!!! I seriously can't wait to see where you get with this, very exciting!!!

 

[Mxlplx]

Re: Men in black tri-barrel!!!

IN!

 

[mez7]

Re: Men in black tri-barrel!!!

I never saw the Tri-Barrel, although it could have been shown for a split second while the guns flew through the air...

the tri-barrel gun is the gun Will Smith takes out of the trunk when they first show up to fight the bug......at least thats what i recall....

 

[Rusty85]

Re: Men in black tri-barrel!!!

the tri-barrel gun is the gun Will Smith takes out of the trunk when they first show up to fight the bug......at least thats what i recall....

I know, what I meant was that I never saw the stunt version of the Tri-Barrel in the movie, I saw the hero version plenty of times. :love

 

[robstyle]

Re: Men in black tri-barrel!!!

Unfortunatly, you cant do much to straiten rubber or hard foam. If its foam, it will crack. If its rubber, it could also crack. Rubber heats when it cures and thicker rubber sections tend to bend, same with fast casting plastics or pretty much and high heat material. Ive even seen steel armatures bend in fast casting plastics.

If your doing a box mold, you could theoretically, try and plung a rod into the barrel and butt end, secure the rods to the box and see if that works. Im afraid that if you try and simply apply pressure to one end while molding it, it would just lift up when pouring the other side and your ruined.

 

[TurboMan]

Re: Men in black tri-barrel!!!

I'm in
I'm interested
I'm willing to do whatever it takes to get one:lol


Todd

 

[Rusty85]

Re: Men in black tri-barrel!!!

Ughhh... That isn't good news. Well, I don't know what other options there are really then...

 

[silverskyes402]

Re: Men in black tri-barrel!!!

Shoot, I'll take a warped cast if it comes to that, do some workings of my own to get it straight, I'm just excited that you got this rusty!

 

[misterfusion]

Re: Men in black tri-barrel!!!

Glad you like your new toy.

Maybe mold the original piece then make a cast in a medium that you can tweak?

 

[darkchylde80]

Re: Men in black tri-barrel!!!

Damn that's so purdy :love I want one, will do anything to have one............within reason!

 

[Rusty85]

Re: Men in black tri-barrel!!!

Well, did some work on it yesterday. Some parts of the surface were sunken so I had to fix those and fill a bunch of air bubbles, along with a bunch of sanding...

I noticed that one of the parts has numbers written on it going circular around the cap.

Its the cap on the right side of the gun (right side is the side I snapped) and is on the top parts where the barrels are connected to the main body of the gun.

I'm guessing this was a found part which would explain the numbers.
They read something like this...A112181M 2.5? GM 9.5
Anyone got any thoughts?

Here's the part I'm referring to.

I'm going to try and snap a bunch of more pictures soon here. Show some better close-ups along with the left side of the gun.

 

[mbmcfarland]

Re: Men in black tri-barrel!!!

Cool! I'm interested in one.

 

[Rusty85]

Re: Men in black tri-barrel!!!

I've been looking online for the Bicycle brake online and have found some that look close, but nothing definitive.

I sent an email to Rick about any found parts but haven't heard back yet as I'm sure he's probably busy with projects.

 

[Rusty85]

Re: Men in black tri-barrel!!!

Well, I had done a tiny bit of work on this but brought it to a halt quickly as another member and I have been discussing a possible collaboration. I'm still waiting on contact from Rick about found parts, or any useful info.

Anyway, I had taken over 60 pictures of it and thought some people might like to see a few more than I had originally posted. I'm trying to gather as much reference material as possible right now so if anyone can, please post any useful pics that you might have.

Here are the new pics for those interested! :thumbsup