KPD Blaster - "L's" gun from Netflix's live action version of Death Note

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Continuing on the KPD Blaster I'll start where I left off....

After a few design sketches to get the approved feel of L's Blaster came down to this sketch to start creating a full out design render.




When designing a fictional firearm it is generally based and built around an existing one that can actually go bang bang much like the BR Blaster and countless other blasters, except for Phasers. Actually I lie as the Assualt Phaser was based around a Beretta but I digress.

I think it wasn't quite decided for sure if we were to base this on a donor gun as there was some talk that the pow pow could be done in post production as a VFX effect because the gun wasn't really scripted to fire that much if it fired at all. This would have been a budgetary (as well as a design) consideration as it costs a little less to fabricate a static prop and I could be free to design anything I wanted.

But I like to design stuff and things that feel like they belong or can exist.... that there is realism in the design. So I started to model the KPD anyways on an existing revolver just to A: get the proportions feeling right and B: they might decide to fire the Blaster for whatever reason.......so I modeled up the revolver frame based on a plastic scale model of a Smith and Wesson ( 357 I think) that I found in a garage sale......



I wasn't directly involved with any of the bang bang decision making process and I am a little fuzzy on all the twist and turns of all that but in the end of it the powers that be decided to go with a firing prop. It was during this that I got a model from Kenney to stand in for the donor gun.

There is a bit of universal coincidence or fate or just great minds thinking alike that the model I was using was very close to what Kenney gave me so I didn't have to alter the massing model that much so that I could go into the fun part.... defining and adding details.

I had a direction for the front part of the gun but what I was having a hard time with was the rear of the gun behind the cylinder..... it was looking way too pedestrian and not very PKD Blaster. But then I remembered this thing:

Anyone know what this is?

Right! It's a bobbin case for a sewing machine. When I was very little, I was totally fascinated with this thing from my mom's sewing machine. It had an engineered machined look and functioned really simply and it looked pretty neat too. And I thought it'll be cool as a design nod to my mom.

Once I decided that is this is what I was going to do, it was pretty straight forward in implementing that into the design.



Here is a screen grab of the design model before a material render pass



Here is a material render study in the vein of it's inspiration.

And one of the final material renders that was approved.



Of course this is not the end of the story as it now needs to be built.

A prop master named Dean once told me that one of the problems with designing something today is with the exactitude of the design. In the old days it would have been a sketch on a napkin and/or some line art of a side view or 3/4 view and generally what is built is what is built as long as it follows the general direction of the drawing.

Nowadays when a director is presented with a fully rendered photo real concept they expect to see that object built.

Unfortunately it ain't always that easy.
Fortunately there is someone like Kenney around and at this point it's where our processes intertwines and he takes the baton to the next level.

Thanks for the detailing and pictures, your renders are really nice!
looking forward to see the build phase

Bobbin from a sewing machine, very cool!

Well, I guess I should jump in now. First, I think we should all give another huge shout out to Ray for the incredible share. Thanks bro.

One of the huge challenges I face with a lot of projects is the expectations directors, art departments have. It can definitely be challenging. This design began for me with a phone call from the on set armorer. He just had his initial meeting with production and had given his recommendation to use me for the build. I do all his complex machining when it comes to taking a live fire gun and heavily modifying it. There's so many things that have to be addressed. First, safety is the number one concern for me. I don't need to build a weapon and blow off Kate Beckinsale's fingers. I don't think that would end well for me. So, I always over design... over engineer. Other factors play into all this..... lead times and budgets are ultimately a deciding factor on what will be done. It's hard sometimes when I love a design that a director signs off on and then production says we got $100 to build it. sigh There have been times I ate the costs and lost my shirt on a gun because I loved it so much and wanted to build it as it should.

Anyway, getting back on track... I got the call from the armorer and he said we have this show and they want a heavily modified gun. I asked what the show was and he said Death Note. Well, I never heard of it but my girlfriend knew about it and loved the animated series. We discussed the gun in detail and he asked for my opinion on a base gun. At this point in the game no designing was really done except for Ray's initial B&W sketches. The armorer mentioned the director wanted a Blade Runner feel to the gun. Well, this peaked my interest because I did not end up fabricating for the new Blade Runner. When Alcon Entertainment announced their plans years ago, I jumped on that like flies to the ****. I had constant communication with Alcon and even had a part time "agent" of mine trying to work his magic getting my foot in the door. He had a close relationship with Harrison's one assistant so he had my portfolio in Ford Production's hands right away. There were some initial "talk" that production was considering Vancouver to film. Well, I had put out the word to all the prop masters that I wanted that gig. The cool thing was that if it had gone to Vancouver.... there's really only one armorer there and guess who does his complex stuff. Yeah.... I was hoping it would go there. But, in the end, I missed that opportunity because it went elsewhere. So, needless to say, when I saw Ray's initial sketch..... my first thoughts were that I was going to build this like there was no tomorrow rub and then rub this in some faces. You have no idea what your positive comments mean to me. Like..... why wasn't this Gossling's gun. Thank you for all those!

Let's get back on track again. Over the years I have chosen a few different firearms as my typical "safe" base guns to use when covering with machined aluminum parts. Anyone that knows some of my work knows I favor the Smith and Wesson 38s. Typically the model 15. It's easy to convert to fire blanks. It's easy to design, machine, mount barrels to it etc etc. And I have proven many design mods to this gun over the years. It's a beast. The armorer already knew I favored the model 15 and had suggested the gun to production because I had mapped it over the years and it could blend in with what they were thinking. I had created real working CAD models of the weapon and that was another deciding factor. I have close relationships with firearms manufacturers and I'm one of the very very few fortunate to have contracts and NDAs in play with these companies for full access to their CAD models.

However, because this is an older weapon, there were no CAD models ever done or available.... only factory blueprints. I took whatever prints I could get and spent, I believe, a month creating a full detailed set of CAD models on this gun. This is important when I design "aluminum shells" I'm going to machine and mount over it. It all needs to be precise and fit the gun like a glove. During this month, I measured like crazy using everything from micrometers to calipers to even breaking out my $80,000 laser scanner. Here's some of the parts.













Another huge reason I have made CAD models of so many weapons we often use is the fact that it saves considerable amount of lead time during the design and build time. This is extremely important.

After learning about Death Note from my woman, I decide to check out the animated series. Well, I'm not going to lie.... I ended up binge watching the entire series in two days. Let me say I immediately fell in love with the show. When I'm asked to build on a show, it is not uncommon for me to come up to speed by reading a script or, if its a sequel, watching the previous film from the franchise. This gets me in the right frame of mind with respect to designing.

I'll leave with this final thought until next time. After binge watching the show, the first thing that came to mind was.......

Why does "L" need a gun?

AND Ray..... shame on you for not showing me the render with the Blade Runner color scheme! I would have made up some bull**** story to production about not using chrome! Man.... this would have made a better stab at the Alcon guys!

The BR colors render really is just incredible. If this goes to kit, I'm raising my hand for that option

Keep the info coming, guys, I can't get enough! Makes me miss the good ol' days of proper special features & behind the scenes documentaries.

Thank you so much for sharing your processes guys. Very cool to see and hear about how it all came to fruition!

Love all of it guys! The process, the B-T-S aspects (budgets, safety, renderings, designs, etc):cool And Ray, when I saw that bobbin case it reminded me of my Mother's old Singer!
As a kid, I was always fascinated by that little piece of engineering!

oh man... building a gun for Kate Beckinsale... :love
do you have a website or something somewhere where we can see all of your work?

I wonder if it's the Underworld Awakening pistols. I've wanted that compensator since I saw Crying Freeman as a kid

Underworld Awakening was one film... yes. I built several weapons for Kate on that film... swords, knuckle buster, and.... her guns. I saw a airsoft replica was made of her one set of guns with those comps. Those are pretty accurate if you're looking for a set.

nice! was it custom fitted to her hand?
so, anyways, any website or anything where we can see your work?

Not custom fitted to her hand. And no web site. I'm lucky I can find the time to take a dump. One of these days I'll publish a table book of my work with a ton of behind the scenes pics of the fabrication of all kinds of props.

That would be great to see

Last day of shooting.

Yesss! I was hoping that video was still happening

Had to work the prop into another film I was doing. Crew came down from Boston to shoot my shop. So I kind of circled the shoot around the gun. You guys will understand when it's released.

Wow, i'm from Boston. Wish I was part of the crew. Looking forward to the viddy.

Yes, video!!

Hey guys, any other news/pics on that project?