Project Tomensuke Blaster begins...

feedme

New Member
Hi all,

First up I've been lurking here a good bit and have been consistantly amazed at the great community here, what a collection of people. Seemed a good time to actually post.

I've been working on a sci-fi prop collection, and with Blade Runner being most likely my favourite film ever, I managed to get a Tomenosuke blaster second hand. Must've watched every video (including all of Adam Savage's great content) and trawled every article and thread by now, which I've found fascinating.

Below is how it arrived; I was a bit dissapointed to find a big scratch on the receiver, which really caught the light like a mirror, it polished out at the cost of the stock finish, but I intend on bluing the metal parts anyway (I have a replacement metal barrel and cylinder to fit).

I'd also like to get the cylinder and case fitted more snugly, improve the joins between the butt plate, outer frame and grips, and find a good compound to get the grip to a really high polish. I'm not going for the full battered hero replica, but hopefully more of a realistic 'at the time of use' look.


IMG_4570.JPGIMG_4567.JPGIMG_4566.JPG

Anyway hopefully I'll update this as I progress and many thanks to the knowledgable members who've informed my decisions so far.
 
Welcome to the RPF. You may also be interested in Propsummit, where a lot of the BR-obsessives are much more active :thumbsup Looking forward to seeing what you do with it! juajn7fernandez just did an amazing overhaul on his Tomenosuke. If you haven't already, check it out!
 
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Thanks! @juajn7fernandez did an amazing job. My registration is awaiting confirmation on propsummit so for now I'll log progress in here.

I've bought a blueing kit from Birchwood Casey for the steel barrel. It seems the plastic sections on the Tomensuke contain enough metal powder to allow them to be blued also - here's some photos I tracked down from one of the manufacturers. These aren't full metal parts for sure, as a metal gun body/barrel is illegal in Japan as I'm sure most reading know:

https://plus.google.com/photos/1082...21088809041?banner=pwa&authkey=CKPMzNOEpqjJQQ

Birchwood Perma Blue came with the kit, which I'll use for the replacement steel barrel. Composition issssss:
Water,
Selenious Acid,
Nitric Acid
Cupric Sulphate.

Birchwood Aluminium Black will hopefull blue the other plastic/aluminium powder sections. Composition is
Water,
Selenious Acid,
Phosphoric Acid,
Fluoboric Acid and
Cupric Sulphate.

The latter is what's been used in the gallery above.

Hopefully Nitromors will take off whatever the paint coating is on the receiver. Avoided a caustic stripper due to Zamak aluminium content.

Waiting on miniature hex drivers so I can safely dismantle the smallest allen bolts.

Whatever version this is it looks like the Laser Sight Rod will need to be drilled centrally in order for it to house wires to run to the circuit. Not sure if anyone's done this but I've seen the forthcoming 2049 Tomeno model has them connected up and lit now. Seems a tricky job.


FullSizeRender.jpg
 
It's looks like the HCG exclusive with the blued receiver. That's a bummer it showed up with a scratch. Good luck with your build!
 
use some white vinegar to remove the anodized finish on the metal parts. they will strip completely after an hour or so and then all they need is some polishing and you are goto go with the bluing.

Looking good so far!
 
Thanks for the tip! Receiver went into the vinegar and bubbled away. old small wire brush helped loosen the rest.

QguugC8.jpg


Fairly fine wet and dry after and a small mop to clear some tricky corners next. Learned to be careful fairly quickly as zamak is still pretty soft. Most of the top of the receiver casting is really nice - a little pitting on the bolt latch and port but I did my best. Previous owner had added some sticky-back thin felt and double sided tape to try and stem the rattling a little - I filed down the rear receiver bushing slightly to get a tighter fit. Will likely replace the felt pads (they could be stock, not sure?)

Here it is stripped, some polishing before blueing started here:

L2UH086.jpg


Moved on to T-Cut and even toothpaste to see what sort of level of finish I could get on the metal in preparation for bluing it. Under the metallic blue paint on the body I found the metal powder plastic has a pretty pleasing and accurate finish as standard. I'll experiment with the spare barrel to see what can be done with it.

Here it is a bit more polished up:

zssL1F9.jpg


Already pleased with how the subtle variations in genuine metallic finishes enhance the appearance. Waiting on some tools to dismantle further and progress.
Also got drill bits to attempt to drill out the laser sight and wire it in - anyone done this successfully?

Aaaand really want to remove the play in the barrel and triggers, will see what I can do there...
 
Looking great! Blueing these receivers can be a trick. I bet it will look pretty great polished back up. :thumbsup
 
Very nice so far! Are you going to weather the receiver for a screen accurate appearance or are you after an "as issued" look?
 
Thanks! I am finding it's reluctant to really take strongly to the sharper edges, perhaps something to do with the distribution of alloy components in the casting? Either way I can touch up with a cotton bud after a little more polishing I think. Steel barrel arrived today, have cut and rough-fitted, looks super sharp.
 
Test fit of steel barrel. Also worked on getting the grip/grip housing and butt plate edges all super flush, the width of the paint was making a hairline gap among other things, I'd like it so it's barely detectable as you move your finger over the joins. Getting rid of the blue paint on the body is really starting to make it gel properly I think.


Can anyone advise about wiring in the green LEDs? I've bought a stack of 2mm drill bits to hollow out the screwdriver sight secton. Soldering / electronics isn't my primary skill though...

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Not fully back together here, more of a test fitting. But here's some more steps completed:

Stripped off metallic blue paint on Bulldog frame / triggers etc
Blued steel barrel
Stripped silver paint from finger guard, lightly blued metal here.

Pleased with how it's coming along.

Still want to polish up the grips, waiting on some Tamiya Fine Finish compound to see if its appropriate.

3QWUnyg.jpg
 
Hey Guys,

Does anyone know if any authentic cylinders will fit into the tomen frame?? I've got a moded tomen, will post pics next!

But if its possible to fit an authentic .44 cylinder in there with a little moding id like to attempt. Thanks! any info would be awesome!!
 
Here are the pics of my Tomen so far. Steel Barrel in the works. as well as some other ideas. Im wondering if parts like cylinder latch, cylinder can be replaced with charter arms parts...
 

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