Hello! I have been lurking on The RPF and been meaning to join the community for years. The new Blade Runner film has provided a good opportunity. I originally saw Blade Runner when it was released in 1982. I was a kid at the time. As I got older I developed a deeper appreciation of the depth of the film and it became one of my favorite movies. Over the last 30 years I would say I flirted with obsession on and off. I enjoyed Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep but for me it was one of those unusual situations where I liked the film more than its source material. I appreciate all the versions of the film for what they are from the theatrical release to the Final Cut version. Like the rest of us, I have been obsessed with props from many films including this one. At various times I have been focused on the spinners, the viewer in Deckard's apartment, the Voight Kampff device and, of course, Deckard's blaster. I would watch the film every year or two, make some sketches and move on. Eventually I came across Adam Savage's Tested videos describing his obsession with the Blade Runner blaster as well as Bill Doran's space gun projects. This resulted in a two year odyssey which saw me research and build my own version of the PKD blaster. I was attracted to the idea of trying to recreate a prop as one would, before the Age of The Interwebs, with limited information and poor-quality VHS screen shots. While it is not the same thing, I did see the opportunity of a similar experience present itself with the new Blade Runner movie and the new blasters. I have been working on Officer K's blaster in Fusion 360 and considering 3D printing it. I have also been looking at the Blade Runner influenced gun from the Death Note film as a future project.
Quite a challenge with limited resources and references.
