Doppelganger01
Sr Member
Hi all,
I've been away from the forum for a long time. I thought I would come back and share with you a bit of self-indulgent, yet cathartic, story telling about how I got into the hobby of movie prop recreations and just "maker-of-stuff", in general. I sat down at my computer one day last December to make a "one-sheet" of all the movie props I have recreated for myself over the years, and it started me thinking more about how I became such an obsessive nut over this hobby. While my interest in props, mainly sci-fi weaponry props, covers the entire spectrum of what I consider to be the biggest hits since I came into this world, Star Trek, Logan's Run, Star Wars, Blade Runner (both films), etc., I did not realize that there was one among these that stood out the most, even more than what I consider to be the best of all - Blade Runner. It was Logan's Run that I kept going back to over and over again for the the first 20 years of its existence among the cinema greats. From 1976 to 1995, pre-internet, pre-DVD, I lived in an information desert regarding the Sandman Gun. For those 20 years, it remained a mystery to me what it exactly looked like and how it exactly worked. I kept making versions of it over and over, trying to dial-it-in, from the first time I saw it as a kid in 1976 at the Drive-In, to every time it aired on TV. Each time I saw something different on screen and then to my father's auto shop I went to pilfer through his junk box of discarded parts and miscellaneous, well, "junk" , for lack of a better word. I would find stuff that I would bash together to make what I thought I had seen on screen. I am sad to report this went on for 20 years, until one day someone sent me the "Bill Blake Drawings" and explained to me how the real props worked. By then I had already learned basic metal machining and welding, so armed with a hobby lathe and milling machine, I spent 1995 making what I thought was the definitive Sandman Gun. Well suffice it to say, my obsession did not end with gun #7 and I set my sights on its varying iteration across the Logan's Run multiverse, from film to TV Series, to the Logan 3 novels, to the Marvel Comics adaptation. I could not get over my obsession, fascination is a nicer word, but obsession is more accurate to say. My original intent to create a "one-sheet" of all my cinema prop recreations, de-evolved into me creating a 32 page visual essay of this one prop - a prop that looks so simple in design, yet a prop that created such a magnificent practical effect on screen. I am still fascinated with it.
Rather than publish all 32 pages here, I published them to my Deviant Art account. If you are interested in reading this one bit of history in my life, please follow the link below. If not, no worries. I appreciate that you read this far. It is my hope, however, that some of you had a similar, yet a more successful introduction to, and journey in, this hobby.
www.deviantart.com
Thank you,
Rick
P.S. As I mention in the DA posting, I learned of Bill Blake and his "23rd Century Emporium" way too late. I never got to order his 20 page catalog back in 1978. Does anyone here still have a copy of this catalog? I would love to see one, just to file it away mentally and get over the F.O.M.O I've experienced for the past 49 years.
I've been away from the forum for a long time. I thought I would come back and share with you a bit of self-indulgent, yet cathartic, story telling about how I got into the hobby of movie prop recreations and just "maker-of-stuff", in general. I sat down at my computer one day last December to make a "one-sheet" of all the movie props I have recreated for myself over the years, and it started me thinking more about how I became such an obsessive nut over this hobby. While my interest in props, mainly sci-fi weaponry props, covers the entire spectrum of what I consider to be the biggest hits since I came into this world, Star Trek, Logan's Run, Star Wars, Blade Runner (both films), etc., I did not realize that there was one among these that stood out the most, even more than what I consider to be the best of all - Blade Runner. It was Logan's Run that I kept going back to over and over again for the the first 20 years of its existence among the cinema greats. From 1976 to 1995, pre-internet, pre-DVD, I lived in an information desert regarding the Sandman Gun. For those 20 years, it remained a mystery to me what it exactly looked like and how it exactly worked. I kept making versions of it over and over, trying to dial-it-in, from the first time I saw it as a kid in 1976 at the Drive-In, to every time it aired on TV. Each time I saw something different on screen and then to my father's auto shop I went to pilfer through his junk box of discarded parts and miscellaneous, well, "junk" , for lack of a better word. I would find stuff that I would bash together to make what I thought I had seen on screen. I am sad to report this went on for 20 years, until one day someone sent me the "Bill Blake Drawings" and explained to me how the real props worked. By then I had already learned basic metal machining and welding, so armed with a hobby lathe and milling machine, I spent 1995 making what I thought was the definitive Sandman Gun. Well suffice it to say, my obsession did not end with gun #7 and I set my sights on its varying iteration across the Logan's Run multiverse, from film to TV Series, to the Logan 3 novels, to the Marvel Comics adaptation. I could not get over my obsession, fascination is a nicer word, but obsession is more accurate to say. My original intent to create a "one-sheet" of all my cinema prop recreations, de-evolved into me creating a 32 page visual essay of this one prop - a prop that looks so simple in design, yet a prop that created such a magnificent practical effect on screen. I am still fascinated with it.
Rather than publish all 32 pages here, I published them to my Deviant Art account. If you are interested in reading this one bit of history in my life, please follow the link below. If not, no worries. I appreciate that you read this far. It is my hope, however, that some of you had a similar, yet a more successful introduction to, and journey in, this hobby.
Kipple-Maker01 User Profile | DeviantArt
www.deviantart.com
Thank you,
Rick
P.S. As I mention in the DA posting, I learned of Bill Blake and his "23rd Century Emporium" way too late. I never got to order his 20 page catalog back in 1978. Does anyone here still have a copy of this catalog? I would love to see one, just to file it away mentally and get over the F.O.M.O I've experienced for the past 49 years.
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