Buck Rogers Pistols

pennausamike · Sep 9, 2013

I decided to take a break from my Firefly/Serenity prop building by doing...
...a whole lot more of basically the same.
fireflyprops.net ? View topic - When is a Break from Firefly Prop Building....

And also, I took on a 1980's Buck Rogers pistol that I got from the RPF Junkyard.
I think I have a pretty good idea where this casting came from, and I understand why it was up for sale.

Fortunately, given all the huge voids and misaligned halves,
I have stock in the Bondo autobody putty corporation.

Well, not really; but I did do a LOT of "spread-on, sand-off" to fill holes and even planes.

I also sawed off and drilled out the impossible excuse for a barrel
and machined the the upper left block doo-hickey and a pocket in the casting to accept it.
The final modification was to replace the front sight blade and
machine a rear sight in the casting so the pistol could be aimed. (Seen in a pic of the completed prop.)

Given the resin castings awful origin, I think it came out OK.

I realized after I machined the barrel to match the cut off cast barrel that it was too long,
but at that point I had more work in it than I was willing to re-do
for what was meant to be a quick and simple project.

While I was finishing this ugly duckling up, I saw another "challenge" project come up on eBay,

A barn-find 1940's era Buck Rogers pistol.

I realize after blasting it and getting it apart that I wish I hadn't taken this one on, BUT, too late now...

Mike
My Firefly/Serenity Collection:
SerenityMovie.net :: View topic - Firefly/Serenity Weapons Collection

pennausamike · Oct 28, 2013

I've been busy with a lot of non-hobby projects
(yuck, actual grown up responsibility stuff)
but I have managed to make a LITTLE headway on my barn-find Buck Rogers pistol.

I got it apart, blasted everything (making LOTS of rust holes and pits) and applied a first layer of bondo.
I also pulled the stamped steel fins off and machined replacements out of brass.
I also wanted to upsize the pistol to fit an adult hand, so I lengthened the barrel
and added one more ring to the grip, with a brass cap.

Now comes the part that usually bogs my projects down for (weeks/months/years),
tedious puttying and sanding.

I'm debating whether to design a brass-and-painted-steel sight for the thing,
but I AM sure of the final color scheme; dark hunter green and polished brass.
VERY retro!

Mike

vidman · Oct 28, 2013

Both of your projects are AWESOME , loved the results for the other BR pistol . Keep it up

Doctor Clu · Feb 11, 2014

Both pistols are looking good!

pennausamike · Aug 12, 2018

Well, what do you know; I haven't updated this thread in 5 years.
In the meanwhile, I've added another 1970's Buck Rogers pistol to the collection, (not ready to be shown, yet)
and made a little progress on the not-one-but-two 1930's Daisy pistols.

I did a good bit of work on the Buck Rogers pistol until I just couldn't stand sanding it any more.
So I painted and assembled it.
I also latched on to a Wilma Deering pistol that was in need of a little TLC. So I blasted, modified and painted that, as well.

Since the last pics I took, I machined a Solo-esque brass and steel sight for the Buck Rogers pistol.
The targeting info is projected on the "glass" part of the sight. (That's my story and I'm stickin' to it.)

The Wilma Deering pistol is basically stock except for the (still in need of some final touchup) faux pearl grips.
I still have to make a pair of stands and put together display for the pair of pistols.

ed-209 · Aug 13, 2018

Fantastic restoration of the old toy. It looks magnificent!!!!! -Ed

pennausamike · Oct 24, 2018

The last of my Buck Rogers pistols will be one of these (origin of screen-used prop image unknown)

made by this eBay seller out of England

the original castings are a little rough and not particularly accurate (but far as I know, the only game in town)

so I modified the shape closer to screen-used, added a rear sight, and machined the "blade" that runs along the top of the barrel.

I have also made three of the four stands to display my thirties and seventies Buck Rogers pistols, along with a few other display items.

Funky · Oct 24, 2018

man! I've been looking for BR pistol for ages!

Krel · Oct 25, 2018

It doesn't matter here, but the firing guns from the TV show had holes drilled into the center of the clear emitters. This was to transmit the light from the flash tube.

David.

Prefect42 · Oct 25, 2018

As always, brilliant work. I especially like the green and brass BR pistol.

That screen used piece you have a picture of above blew me away. I had heard they were vacuformed but geez, seeing it like that just blew my mind.

Cheers,

Ted.

pennausamike · Oct 27, 2018

Prefect42 said:
As always, brilliant work. I especially like the green and brass BR pistol.
That screen used piece you have a picture of above blew me away.
I had heard they were vacuformed but geez, seeing it like that just blew my mind.
Cheers,
Ted.

Thanks for the kind words from all who offered them.

I have a few thoughts on the seventies era Buck Rogers pistols.
First would be that props often look different than they present on screen, and that often the props look cruder in person than our eyes see them on screen.
But having said that, I think the Buck Rogers hero and stunt props are quite possibly the worst looking prop weapons I've ever seen.
This is the back side of the screen-used pistol above

and here is the top of a "bad guy" pistol

that became the 2nd season Directorate, and I think, Hawk pistol.

Which leads to my second observation; because the Buck Rogers prop pistols were so flimsy and light weight, they didn't "handle" like real weapons on screen.
I see this at times on low budget and fan films where airsoft pistols are used.
It is hard to fake heft in a weapon; I'm not sure any amount of acting can replace a weapon that just weighs what it "should".

So, my two pet peeves about prop weapons are, weapons that are unrealistically light, and rifles, especially military use rifles, without slings.
Anyone who has humped a weapon any distance over some terrain knows how indispensable a sling is.

Mike

Lost in Trek · Nov 29, 2018

pennausamike said:
The last of my Buck Rogers pistols will be one of these (origin of screen-used prop image unknown)

made by this eBay seller out of England

the original castings are a little rough and not particularly accurate (but far as I know, the only game in town)

so I modified the shape closer to screen-used, added a rear sight, and machined the "blade" that runs along the top of the barrel.

I have also made three of the four stands to display my thirties and seventies Buck Rogers pistols, along with a few other display items.

I picked up one of these pistol kits. Looks a little small to me but you are correct... only one I know of available at this time.

pennausamike · Jan 3, 2019

Well, I'm calling these props done.
I built stands for all four pistols, and at some point I'll put together a display.
First are the early 1930's-1940's era Buck and Wilma pistols:

Then two views of the 1970's Buck pistols:

and:

Now on to a few other projects...

Jodbirch · Jan 30, 2019

Wow...these are AMAZING. I'm on the lookout for kits of the TV blasters. Great job!

TOKI · Jan 30, 2019

Overlooked classics, nicely done.

firstmark · Jul 19, 2019

pennausamike

Its interesting you say I think the Buck Rogers hero and stunt props are quite possibly the worst looking prop weapons I've ever seen.
Then you proceed to build up a replica kit into a work of art. The buck rogers toy guns are cool too especially your modifications.
Are you considering doing the buck rogers tv gun based on the match o matic lighter also?

pennausamike · Jul 22, 2019

firstmark said:
pennausamike

Its interesting you say "I think the Buck Rogers hero and stunt props are quite possibly the worst looking prop weapons I've ever seen."
Then you proceed to build up a replica kit into a work of art. The buck rogers toy guns are cool too especially your modifications.
Are you considering doing the buck rogers tv gun based on the match o matic lighter also?

Thanks for the kind words about the idealized Buck Rogers pistols that I built. As far as the match-o-matic lighter pistol, despite my tendencies towards being a completist collector, I have resisted building one of the little lighter pistols. I never say "never", but that one will likely never happen

CMbatz · Aug 29, 2020

pennausamike said:
Thanks for the kind words from all who offered them.

I have a few thoughts on the seventies era Buck Rogers pistols.
First would be that props often look different than they present on screen, and that often the props look cruder in person than our eyes see them on screen.
But having said that, I think the Buck Rogers hero and stunt props are quite possibly the worst looking prop weapons I've ever seen.
This is the back side of the screen-used pistol above

View attachment 983682

and here is the top of a "bad guy" pistol

View attachment 983683

that became the 2nd season Directorate, and I think, Hawk pistol.

View attachment 983684

Which leads to my second observation; because the Buck Rogers prop pistols were so flimsy and light weight, they didn't "handle" like real weapons on screen.
I see this at times on low budget and fan films where airsoft pistols are used.
It is hard to fake heft in a weapon; I'm not sure any amount of acting can replace a weapon that just weighs what it "should".

So, my two pet peeves about prop weapons are, weapons that are unrealistically light, and rifles, especially military use rifles, without slings.
Anyone who has humped a weapon any distance over some terrain knows how indispensable a sling is.

Mike

HI, the image of the GOLD Buck Rogers gun was taken by me (that's my kitchen table) - I used to own several BUCK original props. The gold blaster was sold to a big time collector a few years ago! - I've attached a couple photos from that old (table-top) shoot! ~cm

maxspr1 · Aug 29, 2020

The photos of the other screen-used Buck Rogers prop gun (the dark one with the electrical tape) are some of mine. Somewhere here on the RPF is a thread where I showed off my screen-used Buck props if you search. I had to sell that particular hero gun years ago, but I kept all my other originals. Here's a recent photo i took of most of them, almost all rubber ones except for one little hero working fiberglass pistol. Most of the time on that series, if you saw a pistol without a light effect, it was probably one of the rubber versions. I kind of prefer the rubber ones for that reason and because, frankly, they are a little nicer looking in person today than some of the ones with the tape falling off, etc. Incidentally, while many of the early BR hero prop guns were vacuum formed plastic, there were several fiberglass shell hero props made early on, including at least one Earth Directorate laser (Wilma uses it in the pilot to confront Buck in the hangar bay--you can tell it's a fiberglass one because you can see a deep screw hole on one side) and two working fiberglass Draconian pistols (the one Buck steals and shoots at Tigerman in the pilot is one--if you freeze frame it or look at the Fotonovel with its frame grabs, you can see the electrical cords coming from the prop and going up Buck's sleeve). Anyway, I obviously love talking about this stuff, but here are my props:

Funky · Aug 30, 2020

I want one of the SO bad, The only place I can find one is on Etsy and his casts are SO bad it’s not worth putting the work in. Anyone know of another source?

Buck Rogers Pistols

Sr Member

Sr Member

Well-Known Member

New Member

Sr Member

Sr Member

Sr Member

Master Member

Sr Member

Sr Member

Sr Member

Sr Member

Sr Member

New Member

Sr Member

Well-Known Member

Sr Member

New Member

Attachments

Well-Known Member

Master Member

Similar threads