My Fifties Raygun Project (update 12/22)

Mr. Nagata

Mr. Nagata

Sr Member
RPF PREMIUM MEMBER
I was feeling inspired today, so I decided to go to the hardware store and buy some parts for a fifties raygun. I really love Darth Saber's steampunk raygun thread, so I'm going to do one of my own. However, my gun will be more inspired by fifties toy rayguns. I sketched out a few designs, but nothing worth posting. I'm working most of it out as I go along. After about two hours of work in the garage tonight, I came up with this:

raygun1.jpg


It's PVC couplings, completely reshaped with a belt sander. The handle is from a fold-up saw, but it's been heavily reshaped and bondoed (not visible in the photo). The fin was cut from aluminum. I scratch-built a recessed area in the main body for a big knob (which I have yet to find). Eventually, I'm going to have a clear acrylic tube on the front of this assembly, with some vacuum tubes, and coils and other "guts" that you can see inside. But the overall design will be very streamlined, like an old cadillac.
 
Last edited:
Re: My Fifties Raygun Project

Sweet! I love the scratch built stuff like this. Always very inventive, rather then just replicating something (not that there's anything wrong with that!)

Though, if I may, the handle does look a little anemic for the size of the PVC
barrel you have started there...

Good luck, keep going and taking pics!!
 
Re: My Fifties Raygun Project

Looking forward to it. I still consider the Dooku you made the standard-bearer for hardware building.
 
Re: My Fifties Raygun Project

This is one of the things I do in my off time. Build ray guns, that is. I try to keep them as scratch-built as possible with few found objects, but it's a very enjoyable art.

I have many pics of my original ray guns in the pics section of my myspace page: www.myspace.com/puppetforge

I try not to replicate famous designs but to explore the look and feel. My ultimate gal is to make something that looks like it walked off a sci-fi serial set in the 1950's.

Take a look if you feel like you'd want some inspiration! :)

-Gordon
 
Re: My Fifties Raygun Project

Very cool! I love steampunk stuff and I plan on doing a steampunk gun somewhere down the line. If anyone else has pics of stuff they've done, PLEASE post it. It's very inspiring!

Thanks, Jakob. I'm glad there's still people on the board who remember my scratch-built sabers. I actually sold a bunch of them earlier this year, and then the hard drive where I stored all the pictures of them crashed. So these photos are pretty much all I have left:

obi.jpg

dooku.jpg

quigon.jpg

maul.jpg


Yeah, the handle is pretty thin and I'm not in love with it. I was being lazy and trying to find a handle at the hardware store. It was the only one that was not overly modern-looking AND made out of a paintable plastic (most were rubberized or polyethylene).

I guess I have to scratch-build one now. Thanks, HouseAtreides. I'm kidding. I don't like the handle either.

This gun is going to be pretty large and cartoony when it's done. That's sort of the look I'm going for.
 
Re: My Fifties Raygun Project

Great job so far. I can't wait to see the finished product!
Any ideas for the final paint job??

BTW, I've been a long time admirer of your scratch built sabers. How anyone can get a scratchbuilt saber to look so accurate is beyond me.

DS
 
Re: My Fifties Raygun Project

Hey DS! Long time! Your steampunk gun really inspired me to scratch-build something. Thanks for posting here. As for the paint job, I haven't totally decided yet, but I'm thinking an aqua blue/green with some yellow pinstripes. It's going to be really colorful.

I spent a little more time working on this thing today. I took said advice and beefed up the handle a bit and I'm 100 times happier with it now. So thanks for the tip! First, I built up the main structure with PVC pieces:
raygun2-1.jpg


Then I bondoed, sanded, and primed the whole thing. There was a lot of fine carving I had to do to get a shape I really liked. There's a lot of little imperfections not visible in the photograph that need to be spot puttied. That'll be the next step:
raygun2-2.jpg


I went to an electronics surplus store to pick up some vacuum tubes, lights, and knobs. They no longer had the knob I remembered. It was a translucent red knob with an attached dial plate of numbers. Really cool looking. But alas, I wasn't going to dig around for hours to find it. So I went with a different knob which I'm going to paint. I layed it in here for sizing purposes. I may create a dial plate to insert into the recess. I haven't decided yet:
raygun2-3.jpg
 
Re: My Fifties Raygun Project (update 12/14)

VERY sweet job on that handle, dude. I admire the work and effort. You could have settled, but you moved past and improved it immensely!

-Gordon
 
Re: My Fifties Raygun Project (update 12/14)

The modified handle looks great! It balances much better with the main part of the body... I'm really looking forward to seeing where you take this buildup... :cool :thumbsup
 
Re: My Fifties Raygun Project (update 12/14)

A few more updates. I did a massive amount of spot puttying, sanding, and priming. I primered and sanded the surface a total of three times to get a really smooth, immaculate finish. I still have one more primer coat I want to do, but after I cut the trigger hole. I painted the main control knob red and laid it in just to take this photo:
raygun3-1.jpg


On the other side of the raygun, I drilled holes for three indicator lights which I found at the surplus electronics place. They're not glued in yet:
raygun3-2.jpg


The next "module" of the gun is the transparent compartment with all the electro gizmos inside. For the clear housing, I cut up one of those clear acrylic thermal mugs from Starbucks. The kind with the inner compartment for photos and such. Here's how it will eventually attach:
raygun3-3.jpg
 
Re: My Fifties Raygun Project (update 12/14)

Lovely!
Do you already have an idea of the things you will put in the transparent section?
 
Re: My Fifties Raygun Project (update 12/14)

Man, you weren't kidding when you said you wanted an 50's style Cadilliac look. The design already reminds me of a tailfin section of a vintage Caddy (Especially with the 3 red lights. ).

Great work!

DS
 
Re: My Fifties Raygun Project (update 12/15)

I painted the rear section of the raygun a couple days ago. I went with a very bright blue:
raygun4-1.jpg

I haven't totally decided yet, but I think I'm going to do a very minor amount of weathering. Nothing severe, but just a little grime in the seams and stuff so it looks like it's actually seen some action.

I also began working on the clear module of the gun. I struggled to find a way to secure the innards inside the clear tube. I don't want to put any glue on the acrylic, because it will be visible at certain angles. Also, glue wouldn't be very strong. Unfortunately, I used 2.5" PVC coupling for the main body of the gun, and 2.5" PVC pipe isn't easy to come by (at least not at my hardware store), so I had to get creative. I decided to use PVC reducer bushings stacked inside each other to create the "plates" on either side of the clear module. Cut-down rubber pipe couplings will serve as gaskets to make the tube fit securely to the main body of the gun:
raygun4-2.jpg


I began adding detail and painting the main plate inside the clear module. I will add a bunch of vacuum tubes and other greeblies to make the inside look cool and mechanical. I went with a copper color:
raygun4-3.jpg


I test fit everything together to make sure it fits. It's really coming together now:
raygun4-4.jpg
 
Re: My Fifties Raygun Project (update 12/18, started painting!)

nice clean work. great workmanship.

im gettin into these retro blasters, might need to give it ago myself.

z
 
Re: My Fifties Raygun Project (update 12/18, started painting!)

zorg said:
nice clean work. great workmanship.

im gettin into these retro blasters, might need to give it ago myself.

z
Click to expand...


Same here. I've already spotted some potential parts here at home... :love
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

JoshuaV
Nightmare Before Christmas Jack Head Cast project
Replies
4
Views
764
davidnagel
davidnagel
PAULH
Aliens Colonial Marines Helmet - Project Finished
Replies
8
Views
1,228
PAULH
PAULH
RandomDesignDE
B-12 Drone from Stray
Replies
3
Views
494
RandomDesignDE
RandomDesignDE
Jennigirl
Update! 6/20/24 1/6th scale foamclay Slimer
Replies
1
Views
365
Jennigirl
Jennigirl
Avenger Steed
My homage to Jaws.
Replies
9
Views
498
Avenger Steed
Avenger Steed
Back
Top