FULLCOCK'd - another PKD water blaster upgrade

I first heard about the Elfin Knights FULLCOCK Real Form TAKAGI Type M2019 Water Blaster - aka the PKD Water Blaster - aka the Blade Runner squirt-gun - when Tested mentioned it on YouTube. I figured hearing about it from Tested meant they'd sell out before I could get one, but I decided to try anyway. Thanks to inside information and direct assistance from RPF members, I managed to acquire this rare toy at a decent price from the other side of the globe. Special thanks to 829Japan who helped a lot of us get hold of these, and everyone else who researched vendors and prices.

The main RPF thread about this gun is https://www.therpf.com/showthread.php?t=275949 and it's a good read. Still, I like to document my prop projects with their own threads, so here I'll talk about my own take on this toy gun. To be clear, I'm a fan of the PKD blaster, but hardly an expert on it. When in doubt, that main thread's going to be my first resource, along with various older threads about other replicas of the same prop.

Anyway, on to the project. In the last two years I've picked up cheap toy versions of most of the iconic science fiction guns I care about. I'm not Mister Guns, but I like iconic props and some of those are guns. The cheap Rubies Han Solo blaster is a nice base for upgrading, and their Leia Sporting Blaster is extremely accurate - mostly needs paint - and it's dirt cheap. Et cetera. I wasn't that interested in the gun from Blade Runner, but I like it - hey, it's got LEDs! - and upgrading a squirt-gun is right in line with these other projects. Surely there would never be a cheaper way to get a nice replica of this gun. And it sure looked nice!

However, I hit my first tough choice almost immediately when I got my FULLCOCK in hand. Wait. I mean when the toy arrived in the mail and I looked it over.

It's a good problem to have, but: this thing is beautiful already.



Elfin Knights have created a real artwork of a prop replica in this squirt gun. I don't really want to mess with it. I hadn't anticipated that. I'd been looking forward to painting and installing LEDs and stuff, but I don't want to crack this open. It's too nice.

Luckily, the toy was sold in two color schemes, and I got the other one as a backup, and I don't really care about that second color scheme. So I think I'll be modding my backup instead.



I'd say STAY TUNED...but actually this project might go pretty slowly. We'll see.

Following your progress closely.

Okay, first impression: this thing is pretty firmly welded shut. It might be a bit hard to open up.
This little ring on the front holds the two halves together geometrically, so that's got to go:

I just pried it off with my fingernails. Poink:


So far so good. :cool

The bottom of the gun is a smooth flat surface. It looked flexible, so I tried gently pushing on the seam area, and got it to split open:


That's a promising development!
I'm going to try to wedge it open with progressively thicker shims, starting with a razor blade.
Not this kind, which is actually pretty thick:

Rather, I'm starting with this thinner kind:

(I cut off half of the double-sided blade, so I have somewhere to grab it.)

That just barely fits in the split so far:

I'm hoping to NOT BREAK the plastic, so as you can see I'm going VERY slowly.

I ordered some of those super-thin saw blades that someone mentioned on the main thread. When those arrive, I hope I can wedge the halves apart enough to start sawing through support pegs through the gap.

Hey Dan,
I was the one who ordered those small x-acto saws. They work but with lots of effort but after cutting all around the gun I stopped when I couldn't get the area split where the trigger and the pump section. I used both the saws and a flat x-acto blade, alternating between the two. No small feat and they do remove a bit more material than I wanted. I also removed the grips which I will now need to dremel the raised bubble parts of the handle out and attack the pump/trigger area to finally split the gun. I'm waiting on the add-on kit in the sales thread before I do anything else.

I'm not going to split my other gun. Going to approach it a simpler, different way. Still going to open up the handles but leave the body attached.
Good luck, be careful and i'm looking forward to what you have planed.
Cheers !

Thanks for the details. Sounds like this may not be easy.
My saw blades should arrive later this week, so we'll see if I have any luck.
I might eventually give up on splitting the main section if it gets too difficult, but I'd really like to have easy access to the interior, to do the wiring and stuff.

My first plan, and it's a doosy, was to open the front part of the receiver above the gun barrel where the pointy thing would have been if Fullcock have made that and using 11" long bend at the tips medical tweezers (which I bought) and snake the LEDs and wiring inside that way. I would have to still open up the handle (removing grips and dremel the bubble) and somehow get the wires through the top of the gun down to the handle where I would have the batteries. I have it worked out in my head but the execution has yet to be attempted.

Plausible, I guess, but you've got your work cut out for you.

I'm still hoping I can just kind of pry it open. I pushed gently on the seam on a few more flat spots. I got a couple of scary cracking sounds, with no cracks, so I think I successfully loosened the bond a bit more.

I finally got to unbox those saw blades. They really are almost as thin as the thin-style razor blades. Wild. Micro-mark always comes through with the cool tools.

Meanwhile, here's another shot of the amazing unmodified orange/black version:




Incredibly cool toy!

Hi, I'm new to the RPF and wanted to use the Blade runner blaster as my first project. I've been looking for TAKAGI Type M2019 Water Blaster and I can't find it anywhere for a reasonable price. Would you or anyone else be able to point me in the direction of a distributor? I have a brother who lives in Tokyo if that helps. I just need to know where to send him to get it.

Thanks!

Patrick

You might want to try contacting member 829japan. He's the one who bought a case or two of them for us here. He's in Japan and may be able to point your brother in the right direction.