Blade Runner Tomenosuke / CAW PFC Hybrid

So a funny thing happened today. I got this plug-fire Charter Arms .44 Bulldog in the mail, and it looked a little familiar...



They couldn't be the exact same dimensions, could they?



Whoa.



Whoa!



Yup, that'll do.

It's exactly the right dimensions. In fact, except for a few mounting points here and there, it looks like exactly the same parts. I think you could swap them in and out with no problems at all. The big difference is the firing pin, of course.





So a conversion would require one to use the PFC frame, but most of the other Tomen parts could be used. I have a serious case of new-project-itis but this is just way too cool to pass up I think. Especially since those Takagi Ignition blasters are rare and very expensive. Maybe I'll wait for the next batch of Tomen kits so I don't have to cannibalize the one I have now. Or maybe I'll just start anyway :facepalm

Re: Deckard's Blaster PFC Conversion?

Wow. That's awesome!

Re: Deckard's Blaster PFC Conversion?

cjchiu said:

Wow. That's awesome!

Click to expand...

It's like the world's easiest "live fire" build just begging to be put together

Re: Deckard's Blaster PFC Conversion?

Wowzers that's a cool discovery. Nicely done!

Re: Deckard's Blaster PFC Conversion?

Start now you can always wait and buy another Tomen while you play with this one.

Re: Deckard's Blaster PFC Conversion?

So I finally did a little work on this.

Cut the grip-frame down, and removed the barrel.







I still need to drill the mounting points for the outer grip frame, so that's just placed on there for now. The front trigger installs perfectly, though.

Then I installed the standoff for mounting the right-side cylinder cover / Steyr mag.





If you have a Tomen cylinder cover you don't want, I'll take it! Mine's been broken for so long

This is awesome! Is the Bulldog metal?

Buch said:

This is awesome! Is the Bulldog metal?

Click to expand...

Unfortunately, no. Japanese law makes it so metal receivers are for the most part illegal. Somehow this same company managed to skirt that when they released a Thompson M1A1 a few years back, but that might be due to the historical significance of that one? Not quite sure. This Bulldog is the same heavy-weight ABS that most modern model guns (and the Tomenosuke) are made of. I'm planning on trying to polish and blue it like I've seen some finished.

The receiver and grip frame are I'd say 98% identical. Only a few things don't line up, and only a few parts aren't interchangeable (like the cylinder arm... ugh). The hammer spring is also much heavier. Once I get the barrel drilled I'll do a test fire video. It takes double cap cartridges... which are loud!

Got the grip frame sorted today. Almost bricked the project a few times. I only have a hand drill (and no taps!) so this probably should have waited... but I'd had a beer and was feeling confident -- what could possibly go wrong!

To register where the mounting screws would go, I masked the outside of the bulldog frame and then lined it up where I wanted in the outer frame. I don't have too many pictures of this sadly, but I essentially shoved a marker through the holes where the screws would normally go and used those as my drill guides. Here's a totally unhelpful picture from before I marked or drilled anything.



To tap the holes, I chucked up the screws in my hand drill and just drove 'em on in. Not recommended, but I really wanted to make some more progress today. Anyhow, hey it worked!



The grip angle is slightly off. In fact clearances for the cylinder release were pretayyyy tight.



In fact I had to shave the little nub on that grip down just a little to make the release slide easily again. Things are going to be pretty tight with the left-side cylinder cover as well, but I think I'm going to be ok.

Usually when I reach a point like this, where I've almost nuked a project but managed to come out the other side unscathed I stop. Not today though! After a brief time trying to use the cylinder arm of the bulldog - only to start pulling my hair out trying to get the registration right for the right-side cover - I decided to just use the arm from the Tomenosuke. It's not a perfect fit, but after I sanded down the diameter of the part that slides into the cylinder it actually worked just fine. It seems to open a little further than the Tomen did... or I'm just crazy.





Cool! :cool Almost done! With any luck I'll actually finish this thing soon! All that's left is the trigger-guard and anchoring the top receiver / left-side cylinder cover. Oh, and I gotta drill a hole through the barrel for that muzzle flash. Still, the grips were actually the scariest part of this whole thing for me, so having that over is huge. More soon!

Test video:

Alright, home stretch as far as construction goes. I was having a hard time finding exactly the right size standoff, but then I had a brain wave.


Just use an M6 male to M3 female threading adapter.








Works a treat.





All I have left to do is get the trigger guard installed, and drill out a hole in the barrel.


Thennnnn I'm gonna experiment with finishes, though. I know you can do a lot of cool stuff with the heavy-weight ABS. I also tried to deepen the really nice blue finish I had on my receiver, but only ended up messing it up. I might redo that too, although that would be the fourth time I've sanded the receiver down in its lifetime. The etching still seems deep enough, though, so maybe I'll go for one more try. Anyhow, that's all I've got for now.

Another test fire after mounting the Steyr receiver. Really, really need to get that barrel bored out. Still cool :cool

Re: Blade Runner Tomenosuke / CAW PFC Hybrid * Test fire*

Thanks for the kind words, guys!


I got the trigger guard installed today. It could use a little find tuning, as it's a tad wobbly. I had it secure, but the way I'd done it was causing it to pull to the side, so I just left everything pressure fit for now. It's pretty secure, so I'll fix it later.


To get it in there, though, I basically just filed out a notch in the Bulldog grip frame.








Easy peasy. Then I drilled out the front cylinder crane hole on the frame so that the plug on the Tomen trigger guard would pop in, et voila!





Just have the barrel to bore out now. I've had to sand, and shave tons of things that I haven't mentioned to get it all fitting right. I think that's all due to errors on my part, though. I might do another one someday, and I think with better measuring & a few extra tools I could get it to fit together even better.


Still, I'm really happy with how it's all turning out... although in the end I guess it just looks like a Tomen, or a Takagi with a metal receiver. But in my head it's so much more


Now I have to go fill out my DROS for something very exciting!

Re: Blade Runner Tomenosuke / CAW PFC Hybrid * Mostly Done*

I had a little bit of free time today, so I ran down to the workshop and bored out the barrel.





Cool. As you can see a lot is still coming out the cylinder gap. I didn't make the hole that big since the way it mounts to the receiver is the same as the Tomenosuke - basically by working as a plug, which is the opposite thing that I want right now. Next time I'm there, I'm going to increase the bore as big as I can while it stays strong. Right now it's only at about 3/16 of an inch so there's plenty of room for me to go I think. Still, it's encouraging!

Re: Blade Runner Tomenosuke / CAW PFC Hybrid * Mostly Done*

veektohr said:

http://i.imgur.com/n1rWamA.jpg

Click to expand...

That pic is awesome.

Re: Blade Runner Tomenosuke / CAW PFC Hybrid * Mostly Done*

veektohr said:

http://i.imgur.com/n1rWamA.jpg

Click to expand...

That picture is going to be my new screensaver!

Came out beautiful. Although looking at the first few pics where you were test fitting the Bulldog to the parts, I gotta say there was something pretty cool looking about the single trigger version.

I am so jealous!

Reminds me alot of this shot where the blast is coming from the sides as well as the muzzle.

I just love that face Harrison Ford is pulling. You won't get that from Ryan Gosling. His gun will have a CGI muzzle-flash.