Serenity Wash Pistol

[pennausamike]

This is my Wash Mateba WIP.
I had this, slightly less complete at the Prop get-together.

I bought this Mateba casting a while back.
It is a different model, so even with the mods it will never be exactly the same as the screen-used Wash pistol.
As an example, the swing out mechanism is under the cylinder instead of in front of it.

There is still a lot of work to do, including filling in the groove with bondo and machining a new groove with a ball endmill.
I also haven't even started the dummy hammer.
I'm really worried about how the grips are going to look.
My hand woodworking skills are awful and I don't know where to begin to checker the thing.

As with all my projects, part of the satisfaction is doing the work to get an uncommon prop.
That, and I never display the replica with a good photo of the real thing
One other thing I made was a fake receipt for Wash's pistol which I had Alan Tudyck sign in character as Hoban Washburn.
So I'll have that to display with my Wash stuff, also.

Mike

 

[Grey]

Hi, I believe the mateba casting you are using is one of the Poseidon Mateba kits, modelled after the gun the charcter 'Togusa' uses in 'Ghost in the Shell'. I really hope that's not an origional kit :lol I am fairly sure they came in black resin though, so it's probably a recast. Does the Mateba say 'M-M2003 K-3custom' on the lower barrel?

 

[justanuthercap]

Mike, nice project. Does anyone know if theres a cast of the correct model Mateba out there? I'd like to do one of these myself.

 

[Birdie]

I made some casts of the Poseidon GITS Mateba a while back. The one Mike has is one of those.

 

[silverskyes402]

Do you still offer the casts, I love the gun design but haven't seen them around, great work so far, can't wait to see the finished outcome!

 

[Birdie]

Do you still offer the casts, I love the gun design but haven't seen them around, great work so far, can't wait to see the finished outcome!

I haven't done any for ages, but I do still have the moulds. Drop me a PM if you're interested

 

[kurtyboy]

Maybe we can both find a pair of real grips somewhere... I couldn't find any though.

Your machined parts are marvelous by the way!

 

[pennausamike]

Maybe we can both find a pair of real grips somewhere...
I couldn't find any though.

ABSOLUTELY!!
My whole, "I made that myself", thing has limits.
I searched online and through a bunch of Shotgun News vendors hoping someone had bought up Mateba's spare parts when they went out of business.
No luck.

Mike

 

[pennausamike]

OK, no Mateba grips to be bought, so I just have to bite the bullet and make 'em.
Here is the block of wood they came from and the air tools I used to rough them out.
After that, it was all hand sanding.
They're not perfect, but they exceeded my expectations.
(I'm no woodworker.)

Something I incorporated that I don't see very often are the blue lens in the block in front of the trigger guard.
A LOT of work hand fitting them so that they press in.
A "friend" at work asked if I was going to make them light up!

There are still a few things to do before painting and final assembly, but at least I'm seeing light at the end of the tunnel.

Mike

 

[keelhauler]

It's gonna look great when it's finished!!

 

[pennausamike]

Wash's Mateba Pistol:

First, the case:
I bought a Smith and Wesson pistol case that had the emblem embossed in the lid.
So, I machined that out and made an engrave-able plate to go in its place.

Inside the case is the pistol, a fan-made Lyndono patch, and a "speed loader";
and of course, the receipt for the pistol signed by Wash himself, Alan Tudyck.

The pistol itself came out really nice, which for a while there,
didn't seem like a possible outcome.
I couldn't get the casting to clean up properly, and to my eyes,
the checkering (my first attempt) looked horrendous.

Happily, the stain on the real wood grips hides the awful-ness of my checkering job.
I don't think I'll ever checker anything ever again,
but I'm glad I did it on this replica.
I just really stink at tedious wood-working projects.

The "barrel" is stainless steel, and with the other aluminum parts, gives the Wash pistol a nice heft.
A little shy of realistic, but way better than a resin only replica.
I weathered the pistol and the grips.
The cylinder swings open, which is a nice touch, contributing to the realistic look of the pistol.

All-in-all, I'm satisfied with my, not-really-the-right-model-Mateba-Wash-pistol-but-close-enough-for-me, project.

 

[justanuthercap]

Nice job! And yes, checkering is a PITA!!! But good work on it. And the weathering sells it!

 

[Noeland]

I love it. I think you did one hell of a job!!

Yeah, checkering is tough without the right tools. With the right tools though, it's kind of fun.

YouTube - How to Checker a Gunstock

I've been shopping around for a decent set of these to do some checkering myself on a shotgun stock I'm working on.

 

[pennausamike]

Thanks for the positive comments!
I have a single, 18tpi, checkering tool.
I'm sure it would have gone better if I'd have had all the extras,
but I still couldn't get into it.

From my Firfly Weapons Collection thread:
SerenityMovie.net :: View topic - Firefly/Serenity Weapons Collection

This was the innards of the case I bought for my Wash pistol:

I ripped out the old guts and cut a new forming tray out of dense foam.
After this shot, I made a cut-out for the dummy speed-loader.



In this pic is a receipt I made and then asked Alan Tudyck to sign in character.

The "business" is Champion Outfitters of Beaumonde and Wash bought the Mateba, two speed loaders,
some conventional ammo, and 50 rounds of "Three-'pete" ammo.
Remember the scene in "Heart of Gold" when Wash was shooting at the bad guys in Serenity?
His revolver was going, "bang-bang-bang"; apparently with each pull of the trigger.

As a (not even remotely) funny story on the Wash sig;
I made up a receipt for Wash's Mateba to display with the gun, dinos, etc.
This was really important to me, but as things often go, my spare time went in the toilet for the two weeks leading up to Farpoint Con where Alan was appearing.
It took me four days of snatching time to make the receipt, including 2-1/2 hours the morning of the Con.
I missed the premier of "Trenches"
(which features the work of some of the folk who are to help me with "Fool Me Twice")
because I was running so late.
I was still scrambling to get my stuff together for Alan to sign.

For a document I had Ron Glass sign,
I had a post-it note on the document with "Derrial Book" spelled on it so he wouldn't have to conjure up the spelling.
(Heck, the BDM special-features called him Meriah or some such.)
The firearms receipt had a place for the sig,
which I noted,
and a place for initials, which I forgot.
I handed it to Alan, and honest to goodness, I forgot the "h" in "Washburne!
So now I'm residually pissed from missing "Trenches", I'm in disarray with my bag of Con stuff,
and now I'm flustered cuz I effed-up the sig.
(NOTE: Alan caught the mistake and signed the full name correctly, phew.)
Could it get worse, HECK yeah...
Alan saw the place to initial
(accepting or rejecting inclusion in the Alliance Firearms Recovery Database)
and asked what I wanted.
The words of brilliance that exited my mouth were something like,
"Just put the initials 'H-B' in the reject box."
I'm sure he was thinking, "Why would I put 'H-B' for Hoban Washburne?",
but he wrote it like I asked.
When he handed it back, I realized what I said.
Overall, my boys and I had a nice day, and Alan's presentation was HUGE fun,
but every time I look at that receipt, it just pisses me off at me all over again.

Mike

 

[burningman]

I really like that ..great project.
As for the reciept I love it man and having alan sigh it even better. I think if I was you I'd just scan that puppy and correct it in Photoshop and keep the original safe and out of light.

 

[WardenTorBaaL]

Nice Job Mike! I've said it before, but your Firefly collection is simply amazing! Glad to see you adding to it, especially with something of this caliber! :lol

 

[TheSt.LouisKid]

Very nice. Always enjoy seeing something different.

 

[pennausamike]

I really like that ..great project.
As for the reciept I love it man and having alan sigh it even better. I think if I was you I'd just scan that puppy and correct it in Photoshop and keep the original safe and out of light.

My son made the same suggestion regarding the receipt.
But, I already have the blank document and a scan of the signed copy,
so I folded the original signed receipt up and threw it in with the Mateba.
Partially, I want it to look like an actual artifact from the 'verse,
and partially the neat part is the fact that it is the real deal, signed by Wash,
and not a fascimile.
If I put the original away, it'll just be in a pile of papers, maybe even get lost.
This way, it's where it belongs, with the prop it goes with.
It will be out of the light, anyway!

Thanks for the kind words regarding this project,
Mike

 

[Lazer]

Great work on this build, its looking really good. I have a general question though. I'm looking to do a cosplay of Wash at some point, and so wanted to make my own replica of his pistol at some point. But I've noticed he has more than one sidearm attributed to him, for instance he exclusively carried a Colt Python for the TV show, and really is only seen with the modified Mateba in promotional pictures for Serenity, and to my knowledge doesn't really appear or is referenced to as his handgun during the film, besides what you might be able to imply from it suddenly being in Zoe's possession after Wash's death. So before I start making a replica of my own, is it generally considered to be the Canon that the modified Mateba is Wash's pistol? Or would it be more correct to stick with the Python (though I don't believe they'red be anything fun to create there, I think it's pretty stock). Anyways, thanks, and as I said before this pistol looks great, and I might be making one of my own at some point!

 

[pennausamike]

The Mateba was definitely Wash's movie sidearm.
A custom made holster for the Mateba was part of the BDM Serenity movie Wash costume.
I'm sure I have a picture of it somewhere; I just have to look.
To do a Wash costume, I would consider either the Python or modified Python as good enough,
just don't forget the dinosaurs!

Mike