MrGreene
Well-Known Member
A preface:
Over the past few years, I've been slowly working through my list of holy grail props, starting with the Master Sword/ Hylian Shield from Zelda and moving on to Dr. Horrible's Death Ray and a Ghostbusters Proton Pack. I lurked here for about seven years before actually making an account, but now I've decided to actually start documenting my builds. Yay!
Anyway, Trigun always gave me that warm fuzzy feeling, so I decided to knock another one off the list this year.
The plan:
I decided I wanted to build Vash's revolver, with a working double-action trigger, rotating cylinder, and a working auto-ejector. After spending a few days researching the old Poseidon pistol kits and not having the money to straight-up buy Rook's molds from him (which I totally would), I decided just to build my own, since even the Poseidon kit has a few details that aren't quite right.
..and besides, I just got access to a laser cutter and all kinds of cool new big-boy toys, so I had to find an excuse to use them :lol
The Build:
I've learned the hard way that good references and blueprints are by far the best starting point for any prop, so I dug around the internets for some starting dimensions.
Since most elements of the gun's design were based on parts from existing guns, I decided it should be possible to mix-and-match some parts to get a functional result. I used some photoshop magic to put together a proof of concept, and surprisingly, it turned out pretty okay:
..but since the original reference has a skewed perspective, I couldn't use it for all the dimensions...
<NERD ALERT>
..so I dug around wikipedia and some gunsmithing forums to find the exact dimensions of the .45 Colt round, cylinder, and barrel (.45 Colt is the proper name of the '.45 Long Colt' round). Using that as a starting point, I dug out my trusty graph paper and started re-watching the entire series to screenshot as many good references as possible. Like most anime from the '90s, almost nothing is drawn with consistent proportions, so I took the most realistic/detailed references and did lots of math. Here's a rough sketch of what I ended up with:
Tentative dimensions are about 12.5"L X 5.9"H X 1.6"W (at the cylinder)
Right now I'm vectorizing the blueprints in sections, as I plan on laser cutting the double action trigger mechanism, frame, and parts of the outer shell.
Well, that's about it so far. The final plans still have some tweaks to be made and parts to add, specifically the grip, hidden power cell (plant tech for the Angel Arm), and a working auto-ejector mechanism, which will unfortunately require the front end to be cast in resin and hollow to work properly.
It's still in the design phase, so I'll gladly take any critiques or suggestions for anything I might have overlooked. I'll keep posting updates as I get further along.
Over the past few years, I've been slowly working through my list of holy grail props, starting with the Master Sword/ Hylian Shield from Zelda and moving on to Dr. Horrible's Death Ray and a Ghostbusters Proton Pack. I lurked here for about seven years before actually making an account, but now I've decided to actually start documenting my builds. Yay!
Anyway, Trigun always gave me that warm fuzzy feeling, so I decided to knock another one off the list this year.
The plan:
I decided I wanted to build Vash's revolver, with a working double-action trigger, rotating cylinder, and a working auto-ejector. After spending a few days researching the old Poseidon pistol kits and not having the money to straight-up buy Rook's molds from him (which I totally would), I decided just to build my own, since even the Poseidon kit has a few details that aren't quite right.
..and besides, I just got access to a laser cutter and all kinds of cool new big-boy toys, so I had to find an excuse to use them :lol
The Build:
I've learned the hard way that good references and blueprints are by far the best starting point for any prop, so I dug around the internets for some starting dimensions.
Since most elements of the gun's design were based on parts from existing guns, I decided it should be possible to mix-and-match some parts to get a functional result. I used some photoshop magic to put together a proof of concept, and surprisingly, it turned out pretty okay:
..but since the original reference has a skewed perspective, I couldn't use it for all the dimensions...
<NERD ALERT>
..so I dug around wikipedia and some gunsmithing forums to find the exact dimensions of the .45 Colt round, cylinder, and barrel (.45 Colt is the proper name of the '.45 Long Colt' round). Using that as a starting point, I dug out my trusty graph paper and started re-watching the entire series to screenshot as many good references as possible. Like most anime from the '90s, almost nothing is drawn with consistent proportions, so I took the most realistic/detailed references and did lots of math. Here's a rough sketch of what I ended up with:
Tentative dimensions are about 12.5"L X 5.9"H X 1.6"W (at the cylinder)
Right now I'm vectorizing the blueprints in sections, as I plan on laser cutting the double action trigger mechanism, frame, and parts of the outer shell.
Well, that's about it so far. The final plans still have some tweaks to be made and parts to add, specifically the grip, hidden power cell (plant tech for the Angel Arm), and a working auto-ejector mechanism, which will unfortunately require the front end to be cast in resin and hollow to work properly.
It's still in the design phase, so I'll gladly take any critiques or suggestions for anything I might have overlooked. I'll keep posting updates as I get further along.
Last edited: