TOS BSG Blaster in progress - NOW COMPLETE

[Jeeves]

Hi all,

I've been working on this blaster kit - it's my first commissioned buildup...and it's a bit of a challenge. Whoever actually cast and sold this piece, please do NOT stand up and be recognized. :lol Anyhow, I thought I'd share pics of my progress for educational and entertainment purposes.

Get a grip....on goobers, boogers, clumps, chunks and a major misalignment between the two halves of the entire blaster.

Getting a little better (still not puttied)

I am not an animal. I am a blaster...

Realigned, Rescribed, Rebuilt....

Glarrrghauupppttthhhgghh.

Tons of material removed, entire structure resculpted. Still more "organic" than symmetrical, though.

Another trail of resin-goobered tears...

Getting better - still needs reconstruction. I've since puttied, and rebuilt major sections of this area.

Happy little bubbles. I am now hallucinating from resin dust inhalation.

Bubbles gone, and out with the bad detail...

..and in with the new.

No rest for the wicked

Again, before putty / rebuilding with Aves putty, but looking better. A deceptively large amount of resin was removed to make the tip as symmetrical as possible.

I basically touched almost every edge and plane of this blaster with a sanding stick, xacto, razor saw, scribe, dremel or file, trying to make lines sharp, and circles circular. A lot of styrene was also used to reconstruct the hopelessly mangled. When the first pass of cleanup was done, I took a break and had a little fun with primer...and here's the beauty shot.

Unfortunately, beauty is only skin deep. A little sanding reveals a lot of character that I've filled and puttied out of the surface.

Well, the bottom line is that this thing is going to be far from perfect, but I hope that with a good paintjob, many of the defects will be hidden, and this will build up to a decent display piece for my (hopefully) satisfied customer.

-Raj

 

[ricksprops]

Wow that is a horrible casting. Why is it that I see constantly people using white urethane to cast. I've been making props for 25 years and hardly ever use white. Black is the way to go.

Good luck with filling holes.

rick

 

[Jeeves]

This must be a fairly old cast...I'm not sure I've seen anything like this in a while. (Of course, nowadays, I only buy resin kits from Matsucorp or Shawn Morgan, and a select few others.) That black resin that Matsuo uses can pick up INSANE details, and it's honestly a better blued metal finish in it's raw state than I can do with paint.

Thanks for the good luck wishes, I may need them.


-Raj

 

[SurferGeek]

Looks like the garbage that NewMoon Props puts out. Carved from a block of soap by a one armed, three fingered blind man. :lol


Looks like you are working miracles though. :thumbsup

 

[wuher da brewer]

Wow. My very first resin blaster from my very first convention many years ago looked like that. I took a look at the one assembled and painted on the table and fell for the bait and switch. I assumed it would be easy to knock it out when I received a sealed box with a black and white photocopy of the gun on top. When I got home and looked, it was clear that this was going to be more of a pain than I anticipated. It was in 4 or 5 pieces that didn't come close to fitting together without lots work. :lol
I pull it out every once in a while. Do a few passes with sandpaper, dremel, or files and put it away again. That just about encourages me to pull it out again. Its a Star Trek III Klingon Disruptor, at least I think. I don't know enough about the movie weapons to be sure.

 

[BOBATAFF]

i think that is a coolmodels or arsenal models ( same firm on ebay ) that sell these
i picked two up from them last year what a mess

the best blasters out there are from a guy on the asap board he rotocasts them

they are top notch i have a universal studio blaster and the rotocast version and they are both top work

jay

ps good luck on the blaster

 

[JOATRASH FX]

You Sir, are a brave man. I wouldn't even touch a casting like that, but then sanding and filling are probably my least favorite parts of prop-building.

 

[Treadwell]

Very nice turd polishing there. Your client would probably have been better off just finding another one rather than pay for all your labor.

 

[Jeeves]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Treadwell @ Jan 17 2007, 07:44 AM) [snapback]1398970[/snapback]</div>

Very nice turd polishing there. Your client would probably have been better off just finding another one rather than pay for all your labor.
[/b]

Ha ha. Since this is my first commission, I'm only charging $50. My prices will be going up a bit for the next builds, though. Thanks for the compliments folks. It's a real challenge to step back from this piece and see the improvements - because when you are down in the details you continue to see flaws.

I may have to look around on ASAP for one of the better rotocast ones for myself. All of this time with this blaster has really made me a fan of the design. It's a really cool blend of blaster and raygun elements, and it is a lot bigger than it looks.

Finally - if someone has a CSM from a Revell 1/32 Apollo kit (the litle 4-dish array) they can spare, please let me know.

-Raj

 

[Mechamaniac]

Good God, that's gotta be one of the worst, if not THE worst, castings I have ever seen.

 

[Nexus6]

^LOL^ @ "turd polishing".

OT: I cannot believe how much you've been able to improve that piece. :thumbsup

That's dedication imo. It probably would've been easier to make a whole new sculpt from scratch, then cast it yourself.

 

[franz bolo]

Great work.. I hate the design of that blaster but the grey primed look actually makes it look better..

I'd like to see a weathered version of this blaster. The one's I've seen all look like cheap toys..

FB

 

[Gojira61]

Your a brave man, I've thrown much better castings away.

Your client should be very happy.

Jim

 

[Darkknight0667]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(BOBATAFF @ Jan 17 2007, 02:06 AM) [snapback]1398958[/snapback]</div>

i think that is a coolmodels or arsenal models ( same firm on ebay ) that sell these
i picked two up from them last year what a mess

the best blasters out there are from a guy on the asap board he rotocasts them

they are top notch i have a universal studio blaster and the rotocast version and they are both top work

jay

ps good luck on the blaster
[/b]

I couldn't find any threads at ASAP about someone offering a rotocast TOS blaster. But, if the person you're referring to is the same one that is offering the rotocast NuBSG Seasons 2 & 3 blasters, I think he's persona non grata here.

As for Jeeves' work on this piece, it's phenomemal. I know, because I'm the guy he's doing it for. I don't know it's origins of the piece as it was a freebie given to me by another board member. Had I tried to wade into this myself, I'm pretty sure it would have been the first and last kit I ever attempted. I can't thank him enough for all the hard work he's put into this piece. I'm already blown away and it's not even done yet. Add to it that he's been extremely communicative throughout the entire process and you have a builder that I'd highly recommend to anyone.

 

[atacpdx]

Earlier guesses were correct. It is in fact a coolmodels cast from ebay. 1 of 2 bought at the same time. Believe it or not, that was the better of the 2.

 

[Darkknight0667]

That's scary, Mark.

Jeeves' Before pics should be archived as a warning to anyone that asks about coolmodels' kits.

 

[Jeeves]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Darkknight0667 @ Jan 17 2007, 04:50 PM) [snapback]1399140[/snapback]</div>

That's scary, Mark.

Jeeves' Before pics should be archived as a warning to anyone that asks about coolmodels' kits.
[/b]

LOL.

Thanks Darkknight. It's sincerely a pleasure to build this up for you. I am, despite the captions, having a good time building this blaster. I've learned that I like carving, and I'm definitely developing some new skills in the process. Thanks for the kind words, the recommendation, and for being such an understanding and supportive first customer.

Franz B - I think this thing will get a light weathering - Taleisin did one of these with a rub-n-buff finish that is really out of this world. It really made the piece "pop" and look much more realistic. I haven't worked with rub-n-buff yet, so I'm not sure I'll go there this time. I can see how they may look toylike in the pics, but if you get one of these blasters in your hand, you may change your mind. I didn't really like them myself until I got a hold of one...it's really cool in person.

-Raj

 

[Funky]

It reminds me of a droid caller (Linhof) casting that I received a few years back from someone who is still active on this board. Keep in mind, I was new to resin cast pieces so I thought this was of the norm. Needless to say, I ended up throwing the piece away and obviously, I don't buy ANYTHING from this "member".
You, my friend have the patience of a saint. No WAY I would have tackled that one. Excellent work.

 

[Talisen]

Raj.

Try it, you might like it..

And it tastes great too.

Thanks for the compliment

 

[Emeldahay]

Your a brave man tackling this.

Some of my jobbies look more like a BSG blaster than that kit. I wont post any pics though.