Who is this "Sidkit" and why don't I own his Mal Reynolds pistol?

[eltee]

Ive built/started 3 of these kits and they all have the same crummy fit at the top

Please note how the screws are not perfectly centered and there is a gap around the screwhead. I REALLY think you guys would be better off lining up and drilling your own holes, and you will probably do so more precisely than settling for a mass produced "one hole should be close enough for all" hole that I drill (and charge you for).

At any rate, unless I get specs on the screw, I can't do any drilling anyway.

 

[pennausamike]

I would definitely be in for a set of walnut grips.
I prefer getting them without the hole.
I planned to drill mine through the frame, through the back of the grips.
Then countersink the outside.
I don't mind doing some fitting, I just can't carve the shape properly.
If these don't come to pass, I'll be back to making my oak grips work.

 

[eltee]

Pennausamike

Any chance you could post or send me a closeup of the bare grip frame, please? I don't have the gun, only a set of grips so I don't know the layout of the frame but the pic you posted helps alot.

 

[Patattack]

Here ya go:

 

[Serenity]

I recently acquired a Serenity version of the Sidkit and it's a really nice piece. However, as stated many times in this thread, the metal is incredibly soft, which I found out the hard way... Before I started to disassemble it to work on, I pulled the trigger, and BAM the hammer piece busted off.

Does anyone have a spare or know where I can acquire one? I'm willing to pay/compensate, of course.

 

[racprops]

Not to beat a dead horse, as Sids gun part that have the working trigger, hammer and frame are made from major cutting of a Casting of a Bulldog frame (guess where it came from)

If no one can help you I thing you maybe able to mod some of my castings to work for you.

I bet it is the hammer lever that broke.

Contact me at racprops@cox.net

Rich

I recently acquired a Serenity version of the Sidkit and it's a really nice piece. However, as stated many times in this thread, the metal is incredibly soft, which I found out the hard way... Before I started to disassemble it to work on, I pulled the trigger, and BAM the hammer piece busted off.

Does anyone have a spare or know where I can acquire one? I'm willing to pay/compensate, of course.

 

[keelhauler]

I recently acquired a Serenity version of the Sidkit and it's a really nice piece. However, as stated many times in this thread, the metal is incredibly soft, which I found out the hard way... Before I started to disassemble it to work on, I pulled the trigger, and BAM the hammer piece busted off.

Does anyone have a spare or know where I can acquire one? I'm willing to pay/compensate, of course.

Hey, glad you were finally able to acquire one of these! Funnily, the round hammer piece on mine broke off, too. I haven't bothered to try and fix it yet. I was thinking of maybe drilling a small hole and inserting a pin or something.

 

[Serenity]

Thank you for the offer, Rich, I'll be contacting you in a moment...

Hey, glad you were finally able to acquire one of these! Funnily, the round hammer piece on mine broke off, too. I haven't bothered to try and fix it yet. I was thinking of maybe drilling a small hole and inserting a pin or something.

Haha yeah! I remember a long time ago asking you about them. I finally picked up one last week in a trade. I thought about drilling a small hole for a pin too, but that metal is just so soft... I'm afraid of messing it up more. Soldering is definitely out of the question too.

By the way, thanks again for all of your help.

 

[falcon dude]

Rich
I wasnt aware you made a Serenity/Firefly pistol. How come I missed it?
Helder

Not to beat a dead horse, as Sids gun part that have the working trigger, hammer and frame are made from major cutting of a Casting of a Bulldog frame (guess where it came from)

If no one can help you I thing you maybe able to mod some of my castings to work for you.

I bet it is the hammer lever that broke.

Contact me at racprops@cox.net

Rich

 

[jason1976]

Yeah, Rich, I saw your posts earlier in this thread complaining about how sid stole some of your ideas/designs/work (mostly on the bladerunner blaster), and was basically a "re-caster", but I didn't see where you posted any where that you did this gun

I have never spent this much on a prop before, but I love Mal's gun, so I jumped at the chance to get a metal one. I was very disappointed in the quality of the metal, to say the least. One of my large side panels bent a bit, leaving a small crack in it, and a gap at the top were the two side meet near the barrel. I filled the hole forward part, and the gap at the top, in with super sculpy. :lol I backed it with a heat gun. Now my mag fights in tightly and stays there with nothing but the very tight fight. On, the down side, it ways a freeking ton now. :lol I mean, you couldn't hold it up long enough to shoot at anything, if it was a real gun. Oh, and my hammer bit never worked. I like that I can pull the trigger, but nothing happens (click wise) when I do pull it. Over all I'm much happier/prouder of my casting of the real prop Phil did.

Rich
I wasnt aware you made a Serenity/Firefly pistol. How come I missed it?
Helder

 

[Sidewinder]

I thonk Rich is saying that Sid used the (his) Bladerunner trigger/hammer mechanism and grafted it into the Mal pistol.

SAS

 

[JOATRASH FX]

I was very disappointed in the quality of the metal, to say the least.

Sid and Rich both use a pewter-blend in their metal castings. For small-run castings, there is really no other option if to want to keep it affordable. I used similar metal in my run of FF Jubel Early pistols... the stuff I used was almost pure tin.

But Yeah, it is a soft metal and you have to be a little careful when handling it. Still, compared to the resin that we usually have to settle for, even soft metal is a tremendous upgrade.

I am fortunate enough to own one of Phil's real bronze "Model 47" Mal pistols. I can tell you that it cost about 6X more than the Sidkit. I'm sure that's partly due to the extreme limited nature of the piece, but the price of casting the metal is probably a big part of it as well.

 

[racprops]

I thonk Rich is saying that Sid used the (his) Bladerunner trigger/hammer mechanism and grafted it into the Mal pistol.

SAS

Thanks that is what I am saying...

Sid and Rich both use a pewter-blend in their metal castings. For small-run castings, there is really no other option if to want to keep it affordable. I used similar metal in my run of FF Jubel Early pistols... the stuff I used was almost pure tin.

But Yeah, it is a soft metal and you have to be a little careful when handling it. Still, compared to the resin that we usually have to settle for, even soft metal is a tremendous upgrade.

I am fortunate enough to own one of Phil's real bronze "Model 47" Mal pistols. I can tell you that it cost about 6X more than the Sidkit. I'm sure that's partly due to the extreme limited nature of the piece, but the price of casting the metal is probably a big part of it as well.

One thing as I am aware of the softness I do two things try to keep it as thick as possable and I also order the hardest possable metal for the castings, so in many cases my castings are a little harder and able to take more use.

The weakness of plastic and metal lead to the major reworking of the bulldog trigger, which sid copied.

I can not really say this is a recasting, as A. only a part of a highly modifides Bulldog frame, trigger and hammer is used, B. And these seemly are taken from his earlier recasting of my Bulldog model he used in his copy of my Blade Runner Model. A cleaver reworking.

I was under the impression a S&W 38 was inside the real prop not a Bulldog...

Rich

 

[jason1976]

Oh, I'm not deputing that it was the cheapest way to cast it in metal. However, other then weight, and metal look, it is far worse then resin. I've dropped my resin one more then a few time, and it weathers it just fine, this kit would blow to pieces. If the resin one did brake, you could just clue it back together, with some care, but this kit you couldn't glue it, epoxy it, welled it, solder it, or do much of anything if it broke. I new one guy, that wall working one it the hole barrel gent very crooked, do to it's very low melting point. I mean, when some of the smaller parts of my kit went a bit crooked, all I had to do, is get it a little worm (in the sun, or with a heat gun) pick it up, and strten it up with my hands, and I'm not talking with a lot of effort here, I mean, with my finger tips. I was told before I bout mine, that it was as tough as a Dinex, but I have had a number of Denix's, and all of them (wall junk) are far better then this. IMO. I mean, it's practically like having a gun made of chocolate. :lol It's been a real learning experience for me, I wont be going to this road again, it's resin, or high end metal. (solid machined aluminum, or better, and if cast better casting materials, etc. ) No more chocolate bar props for me.

Sorry, but we have a bad habit on these board of over selling some items. I've bout a lot of items around these parts, because so many people song the praises of said item, only to find it to be a com pleat piece of junk, wall other pieces that got the exact same reaction, were very, very nice. I know, no-one likes to hurt anyone's feelings, but just as we should sing the praises of truly great items, we need to be honest about the bad ones.

This it is ok, if your just going to put it on display, and never tough it again, heck it's wonderful for that. It looks great (if you can get it together without messing it up), and it looks like a much better metal then it is. But, if you want to play with it much, costume with it, or are the least bit clumsy. then save your money, get a much better version, or settle fro resin.

 

[pennausamike]

I was under the impression a S&W 38 was inside the real prop not a Bulldog...

Rich

It was a Taurus 85 revolver. (pg 78 of the Vol.I Firefly Companion.)

Mike

 

[racprops]

Oh, I'm not deputing that it was the cheapest way to cast it in metal. However, other then weight, and metal look, it is far worse then resin. I've dropped my resin one more then a few time, and it weathers it just fine, this kit would blow to pieces. If the resin one did brake, you could just clue it back together, with some care, but this kit you couldn't glue it, epoxy it, welled it, solder it, or do much of anything if it broke. I new one guy, that wall working one it the hole barrel gent very crooked, do to it's very low melting point. I mean, when some of the smaller parts of my kit went a bit crooked, all I had to do, is get it a little worm (in the sun, or with a heat gun) pick it up, and strten it up with my hands, and I'm not talking with a lot of effort here, I mean, with my finger tips. I was told before I bout mine, that it was as tough as a Dinex, but I have had a number of Denix's, and all of them (wall junk) are far better then this. IMO. I mean, it's practically like having a gun made of chocolate. :lol It's been a real learning experience for me, I wont be going to this road again, it's resin, or high end metal. (solid machined aluminum, or better, and if cast better casting materials, etc. ) No more chocolate bar props for me.

Sorry, but we have a bad habit on these board of over selling some items. I've bout a lot of items around these parts, because so many people song the praises of said item, only to find it to be a com pleat piece of junk, wall other pieces that got the exact same reaction, were very, very nice. I know, no-one likes to hurt anyone's feelings, but just as we should sing the praises of truly great items, we need to be honest about the bad ones.

This it is ok, if your just going to put it on display, and never tough it again, heck it's wonderful for that. It looks great (if you can get it together without messing it up), and it looks like a much better metal then it is. But, if you want to play with it much, costume with it, or are the least bit clumsy. then save your money, get a much better version, or settle fro resin.

I can not say anything about other's metal casting..I have been working with my cast metal for years now and I find mine to be a few grades harder than my good cast plastic and a little more forgiving..

Mine will not break but will dent when dropped.

Mine can be welded with a mini torch, we use one to fix holes.

It was a Taurus 85 revolver. (pg 78 of the Vol.I Firefly Companion.)

Mike

Thanks.

Rich

 

[jason1976]

Well, man, I've never had the pleasure of owning one of your props, but based solely on what you've posted here, it sound like yours is a far better product, and well worth a look. If I had that kind of dough I might give one of your pieces a go. I have to say, I would have loved to have getten one of those PPG's. (that was you, right? )

I can not say anything about other's metal casting..I have been working with my cast metal for years now and I find mine to be a few grades harder than my good cast plastic and a little more forgiving..

Mine will not break but will dent when dropped.

Mine can be welded with a mini torch, we use one to fix holes.





Thanks.

Rich

 

[racprops]

Well, man, I've never had the pleasure of owning one of your props, but based solely on what you've posted here, it sound like yours is a far better product, and well worth a look. If I had that kind of dough I might give one of your pieces a go. I have to say, I would have loved to have getten one of those PPG's. (that was you, right? )

I have not done a Metal PPG Run yet... they are forth coming, I did do a run of Jayne's Gun Boo, and I beleive and hope everyone that got one was/is happy.

As that was a large gun it seemed to take assambly well and some running around and playing with it and a couple of cons showing it off and all the misshandling that happened AOK.

Rich

 

[JOATRASH FX]

Sorry, but we have a bad habit on these board of over selling some items. I've bout a lot of items around these parts, because so many people song the praises of said item, only to find it to be a com pleat piece of junk,

While the heritage of Sid's Mal Firefly pistol has sadly become a bit questionable, I have to say that both versions (Firefly and Serenity), in regard to quality, are two of the nicest items I have in my collection and I don't think they even come close to warranting the description "complete piece of junk"! I wouldn't take them costuming, but they are beautiful pieces, far nicer than just about any resin props I own, and I am very picky about what I have. I fiddle around with my metal Mals and (the Rich's metal PPG I have) all the time without any problems. But then, I've never dropped them... and I am careful not to. They are display pieces after all.

Here's a recent photo of my girlfriend wielding them:

As far as metal hardness, I can't find a huge amount of difference between Rich's, Sid's or even my own Jubel Early pistols. All of them can be soldered if needed (though the Mal pistols I have were perfectly cast and needed none), but you have to know what you are doing when working with soft metals like this or you can run into problems. You also can't compare Denix mass-forged stuff with "home cast" metal, even though I'd say my Mal pistols have a much nicer (but less sturdy) surface finish than the Denix guns I own.

I have not done a Metal PPG Run yet...

What happened to the ones you were working on last winter when I got my metal PPG? I thought they were on their way to being completed.

 

[racprops]

What happened to the ones you were working on last winter when I got my metal PPG? I thought they were on their way to being completed.

Still working on them...

The Blade Runner came first...

Rich