Phase 2. My Blade Runner pistol replicas.

[userd1402]

This thread is just an area for me to put descriptions and photos of my own Blade Runner replica builds. I'm not trying to start a conversation, that's for other threads. I'm just listing my own stuff as I research, source, build, upgrade and replace, so it's all in one place and I can refer back to it as time goes by and my memory becomes unreliable.
Also, the posts here will NOT end up reading in chronological order because I like to go back and edit old descriptions, add new things in earlier 'gaps' and shuffle things upward so it all becomes a bit 'mixed up'. Sorry. If it's any consolation I know where everything is.

I've always loved science-fiction movies. I love to imagine a future filled with space travel and flying cars and intelligent machines where I may one day live. Part of the fascination has always been the 'hardware', especially guns (and there are plenty of these because most sf movies are American). As a teenager I was lucky enough to live in a town with two good cinemas; a little independent theatre and a large town-centre 'palais'. Myself and my school friends would gather in town for the Saturday afternoon matinee and watching movies on a big screen became an important part of my life. Usually the movies were low-budget pulp science-fiction flicks, like Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, with lots of clunky ray guns and dodgy special effects. In the late 1970's Superman and Star Wars raised the bar for effects (if not for acting) but it was still mostly brightly coloured 'pulp' on offer. Then one weekend in 1982, at the age of 17, I saw a new sf picture in the little independent theatre that changed everything. The effect it had on me was quite profound. So profound that I went to see it again the following Monday, and again on Tuesday and again on Wednesday. It didn't have a long run. For some reason it wasn't popular. The last time I went I remember it was just the theatre manager and me in the place and we discussed the themes and issues of the story during the presentation (don't you just hate it when people talk during the film?). The movie in question was Blade Runner and it has stayed with me throughout adulthood (and all the revised versions) as the best science fiction movie ever made. I've also owned it on home taped Beta-Max video, commercial VHS tape, DVD and blu-ray, and I've seen it so many times I can recite every word of the script by heart. If memory serves it was first broadcast on British TV around 1986 and thanks to the wonder of video-tape not a single year has passed since then where I haven't watched it at least once. Today I'm in my 50's and my hobby is building screen-accurate movie prop gun replicas so it seems natural that Blade Runner pistols will form the heart of my display.

As you read the following build-logs you may notice I always refer to Blade Runner guns as pistols, never as 'blasters'. It annoys me that people call these guns blasters. Blasters in science fiction literature are almost always projected-energy weapons (for instance all the Star Wars guns are called 'blasters') and the Deckard gun is an old-fashioned slug-thrower, even if some of the rounds it fires are very specialised loads. You wouldn't call 'Dirty Harry's .44 magnum a blaster, it's a revolver, and let's not forget that under the 'dieselpunk' cladding Deckard's gun is a .44spl revolver! Yes, I know, I'm opinionated and stubborn.

Right, here we go!

2015: Rick Deckard's Steyr Pistol; ('World-Con' Sidkit #1). SOLD JANUARY 2017

The first thing any Blade Runner fan wants to own is Rick Deckard's Steyr pistol and I'm no different. This gun is a movie icon like no other. Thought lost for over twenty years, the one and only hero prop was found at the World-Con convention in 2006 by Karl Tate and as a result of his extensive pictures and measurements we now have some excellent replicas to build and covet. My Steyr is an all-metal replica by the late Siderio Germaino, a Sidkit. It has the full working functions; moving slide, swing-out cylinder, working trigger, hammer and ejector. It's been lightly blued and lightly weathered to resemble the hero prop in the condition it was when filming finished. The five red LEDs on the lower magazine all work as per the real prop but I have not wired up the two green 'sight-rod' LEDs as they were never shown illuminated in the movie (or were they?). I also added some .44 dummy rounds, again these were never shown in the movie but it helps add weight and I like heavy guns. The barrel is a turned steel replacement which was originally intended for a Japanese Tomenosuke replica but luckily it fits the Sid'. It was made about four years ago in the US by 'propsmith' Dave and came to me via about 4-5 previous owners.

I really like these kits and recently compared my World-Con Sidkit to a 2015 Coyle C&S (claimed by you-know-who as the best and most accurate replica on the market) and I'm really glad I got a Sidkit instead of spending well over a thousand on a Coyle. The casting of the Sid' is much cleaner and sharper than the Coyle. Sidkits can sometimes be a bit loose and rattly (apparently a dab of nail varnish in the screw holes will fix this) but the finished pieces are really impressive. This particular one was created in Italy from the original molds after Sid's death in 2009, by his business partner Michelle Possanza, and came loosely-assembled in two packages with just final fitting, wiring, bluing and weathering to do. I used ordinary car polish over the grips and when it dried I wiped off the excess to leave the 'World-Con' residue and ordinary Humbrol modeling enamels to add the black patterning to the bottom of the grip butt-plate. My bluing of the receiver is a little patchy but I think that's due more to the nature of the pewter amalgam than my technique which followed the instructions of several members of the replica prop forum who have had great success with these products. I see this build as a 'homage' to the genuine prop as it exists today and as a practice piece for the day I can build a real-parts replica with a genuine Charter-Arms frame, custom machined grip frame & cylinder shells and a real Steyr Mannlicher receiver.

[userd1402]

Rick Deckard's Steyr Pistol; 'hero' version (Sidkit #2). SOLD JANUARY 2018

This is the second metal Sidkit I have completed. It's the same 'recent' Italian casting as my first gun except this one came with a metal magazine & housing rather than the, actually more accurate, plastic version. Like my first Sid' this one has the full working functions to resemble the hero prop. I made a few extra modifications for accuracy too. I added a genuine Steyr rifle-scope pivot screw in place of the infamous Weaver knob on the right-side cylinder casing. I also swapped the replica 'binding post' on the same side for a genuine world-war 2 EE-3 field telephone aerial binding-post which was expensive but does look very good and has the correct amount of 'groove' showing under the end cap just as on the genuine hero prop. Finally I changed the perforated pewter barrel that came with the kit for a turned steel one. When doing my final assembly I added a small drop of my favourite 2-tonne epoxy glue behind the barrel end, as well as in all the screw holes, to ensure this PKD is rattle-free. My previous Sidkit became a little loose as handling took it's toll on the pewter castings and I do like to play with my toys. A little Turtle-Wax polish on the grips allowed to dry then wiped off leaves a little whitish residue on the plastic grips.

As with my first completed Sidkit the green LED's in the sight rod were not actually connected to the battery because they are not shown illuminated in the movie. The dummy .44 magnum rounds which fitted so neatly in my original Sid were just a hair too tight to fit the cylinder on this one. Probably a different batch of metal with a slightly higher shrinkage rate than the first one I built three years ago. The easiest fix is to use .357 shells instead. No one will ever know, unless you tell them. The final thing to do was to run over the bluing with a felt polishing pad on my Dremel to add highlights and emulate years of handling and this has given some nice contrast to the finish although I may have been a little over-zealous on a few areas (such as the bolt lever).

With the build completed I checked in with my friend who owns the Coyle to show him my progress and swap build-stories. He's the only other person in my part of the world, that I know of, with a PKD obsession like me and he's recently come into possession of an unbuilt Coyle kit to add to his 2015 C&S version. All I can say is that, having seen the Coyle in built and unbuilt form, I am increasingly impressed by the quality of the Sidkit. They are straight and true with fine, crisp etched details and no bubbles or voids to fill. My buddy has his work cut out for him to make the Coyle look as impressive as the Sid' I proudly waved under his nose.






UPDATE NOV 3rd 2017
I had the day off today so, apart from creating this thread, I have done a bit of modding on my Sid’. I started by dismantling the front end because the magazine was drooping at its leading edge. The back is screwed down beside the trigger guard but the front has very little ‘edge’ to hang onto so I dug out a genuine Steyr Mannlicher .222 rifle magazine and mag housing from the box where I'm collecting parts for a hybrid build. This one was made in 2015 and is laser-engraved with a date on the flat left flank. Obviously they didn't do this in the 1980's but I kinda like it. If this was 'in-universe' it would mean this was a four year old gun in the movie timeline of November 2019.

I tried the Sidkit magazine, with it’s LEDs and battery, in the Mannlicher housing and it was about 1mm too long at the back end. Luckily pewter amalgam is soft enough to file down easily. With the illuminated mag fitted tightly I filed the housing to mate the steel barrel diameter at the top edge and screwed it home but not before cleaning the receiver with Brasso. This actually took a lot more of the bluing off than I expected so I just went for it. I now have a 'variant' version, with a date-stamped mag housing and polished receiver. It looks cool and I’m very happy with the new look.




EDIT Nov 23rd '17;
I found some short lengths of white 'bell' wire in the shed so decided to add this to my gun to emulate the wires found on the hero. The genuine wires are a little thinner than mine, and not quite so bright-white. They also run on the outside and inside of the cylinder cover with a split half way down. The real Steyr mag housing I'm using is a little shorter than the Sidkit replica along the top/barrel edge so there’s a natural gap where the barrel/frame join can be seen. I can twist two wires together then insert the ends here, with a small dab of glue, then feed them down inside the housing’s trailing edge and under the magazine. I know it’s not the screen accurate path for the wires but because it's a real mag housing on a replica frame I have some tightness/clearance issues with the opening cylinder and having them run over the outside edge would tighten everything up when I try to access the cylinder so I’m working with what I got.



Apart from a slightly loose front trigger, which I will fix with a dab of UHU, that's about all I'm doing to this gun and now that I have this thread established, and the decks clear, I can start on my next project, a CAW Charter Arms replica revolver into a Tomensosuke kit.

EDIT 10th Jan '18: I can't believe how stupid I am! I was tidying my display shelf, to get a newly acquired Safex ash-tray on, and I dropped it! It fell a metre, nose-first, onto the hardwood floor. It took a nice big chunk out of the upper receiver front end-cap. It also took a chunk out of the floor which annoyed my wife. The frame appears to be bent a off-true as well now. I'm gutted. I think I'm just going to have to sell this now.



UPDATE 23rd Feb '18
I'm on holiday. I sold the Sidkit just before I went away and I just had an email from the new owner saying how delighted he is with it. As I sit here, by the pool in sunny Australia, I'm starting to think maybe I should have just got a few spare parts and repaired it. There's only one thing for it, I'm going to have to call Michelle and ask him to pour me another kit.

[userd1402]

Dave Holden's Steyr Pistol; 'ghost' version (Tomenosuke #1).

I have always wanted to see more of the gun that Holden tries to pull when he's attacked by Leon at the start of Blade Runner. Because in the scene Holden gets blown through an office partition by Leon's four-barrel derringer, actor Morgan Paull would have been holding a 'stunt' gun; a rubber cast of the 'hero' prop. I have a screen-capture from the film which shows the moment Holden pulls his gun and the light from in front of the camera reflects off the sight-rod and the top of the receiver. You can clearly see a casting line down the centre of the receiver, indicating that this is indeed a stunt-gun, but at no point can any colour be seen on or around Holden's hand so the grips were almost certainly NOT transparent amber like the hero pistol wielded by Harrison Ford. That's all the excuse I need! You see I think Dave Holden, with his sharp suit and immaculate hair, would have 'pimped' his Police-issue sidearm a little. He was a stylish guy and he would have wanted everyone to know it (even a 'skin-job' he was about to retire!) so I'm going to create that hypothetical pimped gun and call it 'Holden's Ghost'. This build is dedicated to the Late Morgan Paull who died too young and deserved more screen-time.



I was able to get the assembly-kit version of the new Tomenosuke 2049 issue in July '17 from Mune-san in Japan and have already gathered a set of upgrade parts; a stainless steel barrel from 'Teddz', a prototype set of mahogany grips from DylanRose and a steel replacement cylinder from DonParker over at propsummit. That should be a good enough set of parts to create a good looking (and decently heavy) custom gun. I decided the final 'look' for this gun should be silver/polished top-half, black through the centre and waxed wood grips over a polished grip-frame. So I'm polishing the upper-receiver to go with the stainless barrel and give a good shine. I have been using 'Mothers Mag' and Aluminium Polish'. It's a slow process, and quite messy as the polish turns into black gunk as you work. The black plastic magazine housing is very clean and I will polish this further to remove any moulding lines or flashing. The cylinder covers are also being polished first before I decide whether or not to paint them but will probably end up gloss black to fulfill my 'theme'.

I've done some research and a lot of people seem to change the LED colour on 'ghost' builds to blue instead of red & green but that's a step too far for me (and Holden) and I think the standard red lighting goes very well with my black/silver theme.

Update - 25th May 2018
I have long wanted to do some sort of live-fire version of Deckard's gun so I thought; why not modify this one to 'blank-firing'? Veektohr discovered the frame sizes on the Tomenosuke Pro-Retail and the plug-fire Bulldog revolver from Craft Apple Works in Japan were exactly the same. He made a blank-firing hybrid CAW/Tomenosuke pistol which looked fantastic and fired 2x7 blanks. I was so impressed by his build I decided to do the same conversion myself. I managed to acquire the necessary 'realistic' version of the .44 Bulldog revolver from a film & TV weapon supply company using an interesting delivery loop-hole (which I will keep to myself, so don't ask, as I'm not sure of the legality) and it's been sitting in my workshop just waiting to be used. With two guns to combine, a new hollow steel barrel to install, metal re-finishing/polishing, and all the safety aspects of modifying the blank-firing revolver this is going to be very involved and I aim to take my time and do it justice. I already have several parts in hand to complete the build; a steel replacement barrel, drilled out to allow smoke and sparks to escape, and an LED sight-rod. Since the CAW and Tomenosuke are so close I will also try, in due course, swapping the CAW cylinder for a Don Parker steel one which has no 'washer' in the end and will allow more smoke and sparks out the barrel.

The CAW pfc revolver doesn't need a huge amount of modification but it does need some fiddly work around the bottom of the frame, adding the second trigger, which involves splitting the grip and internals out of the frame so naturally I 'chickened out' and started with something else - cutting off the barrel with a hacksaw and filing down the mounting face for the metal replacement. I made a start with the hacksaw but found there was a lot more steel reinforcing inside than I expected so after labouring at it for a few minutes I tentatively tried to bend the remaining part out only to find the whole barrel coming away from the mounting face in one piece. Turns out it was only a tight press-fit after all and I needn't have bothered with the sawing..




Since each post on the rpf can have up to 24 pictures here are a few progress shots;






UPDATE - 24 Jan ‘18
I keep an eye on the tenshu blog daily because all new Tomenosuke products are announced there first. The blog is essentially for shop owners and retailers of Tomenosuke products. This week Shinji-san announced a very short run of replacement sight-rods for the Deckard pistol which include pre-wired LEDs at both ends powered by amazing miniature batteries inside the sight-rod tube itself. This incredible piece of engineering design has been produced by Kazuhiro Saito who created the limited edition ‘World-con’ version of the gun released at Tokyo Comic-con this year. Just 35 sets worldwide means they would sell-out instantly so I didn't wait for the advertised order-start-time, I simply put my request in right away and managed to get on the list. This means Holden's ‘ghost’ will now be fully illuminated rather than just in the magazine. I also found that LED modules can be purchased to fit this unit in red, yellow, white, green or blue which will allow me to keep my 'ghost' build in all red, black and silver.

UPDATE - 6 April '18
The sight-rod from Saito-san has arrived and I have installed red Milight LEDs.

Update - 11th June 2018
Tomenosuke have sent me a set of clear grips for this build. I feel very privileged as these were produced in very limited quantity by Tomenosuke for the old Pro-Retail edition and this appears to be the last set ever made (certainly the last set sold). Arigato Shinji-san. I think I will use the mahogany grips for a custom build now. Maybe a magnum version for Captain Bryant to wear.

Update - 26th June 2018
Shinji has just posted a very unhappy post on the tenshu blog. Apparently a couple of people who purchased clear grips from that last batch for 7560 yen (£52) have been selling them for 40,000 (£275) and even asking 65,000 yen (£447) on Yahoo auctions and so in order to alleviate the problem of 'scalpers' he has announced he will take orders for one week only and produce a new run of clear grips at the original price (so I had to order another set of course).

[userd1402]

Rick Deckard's Steyr Pistol; 'stunt' version (Tomenosuke #2). SOLD MAY 2018

Back in 2015 Tomenosuke did a limited-edition black rubber stunt gun. This is the gun as it was when it was first molded to make stunt copies, before the LED's and switch were inserted into the Steyr magazine and before the 'pinky groove' was cut into the butt-plate for Harrison Ford's fingers. This is like the pistol held by Ford in the scene where Pris kicks the gun from Deckard's hand as he searches Sebastian's apartment where she's hiding under a sheet. A rubber gun would have been used so Daryl Hannah didn't break her foot when she kicked it. At the time of release I was between jobs and couldn't afford one of these and since the edition was small I was resolved to never owning one but one popped up online recently and I put in a low bid. Luckily for me there were no other bidders.

My original plan was to re-create the gun Harrison Ford held during that stunt with Hannah. The stunt-gun on display in the Science Fiction Museum in Seattle could well be the one from that scene. The available reference pictures show it has amber grips crudely glued onto it to add detail. Unfortunately when I went at the rubber gun with my craft knife I found the grips were molded in. The seams were so crisp it looked like a separate piece on each side but no. Oh well, this one will just have to look like the all-black 'patrolman' versions from the background characters.

UPDATE; I sold this one for exactly what I paid for it, so I guess the value was spot-on when I bought it!



UPDATE: Looks like the few rubber Tomen's in circulation will be increasing in value. This post on the blog has announced that the molds are broken and the original is lost so there will be no more runs of this blaster.

[aeonpulse]

wow, beautiful work, thank you for sharing. looking forward to your future thread updates!

[veektohr]

The Tomen + CAW Bulldog is such a match made in heaven. You did a great job on those Sids! Eager to see more

[KramStaar]

Great thread

[Funky]

Wow! Your blasters look great!

[eethan]

great collection so far, but didn't expect less from the blade runner guy
hey, I have a really stupid question and I hope this will not offend, the "CAW bulldog" is also a replica made the same way that the Tomen no? I was wondering what was the point in converting that to a blaster, it's the same parts no? is it for the fun of trying to convert the trigger guard and all that to feel what it would be like with a real gun or something like that? again, sorry, I don't intend it as a critic or anything and I might not have used the appropriate words, but it's just out of curiosity.

looking forward to see more of your collection mate

[userd1402]

'the Blade Runner guy', I like it!

The reason for doing the rebuild with a CAW Bulldog frame is simple; I have always wanted to try a live-fire version of this gun but all live handguns are banned in the UK. Now I think that's a very good idea and I support it fully. Ordinary people don't need lethal firearms and we live in a safer society without them. Politics aside, here in the UK blank-firers and plug-fire replicas (with some restrictions to appearance) and deactivated real firearms (as long as you are over 18) are all legal so the only way to have a 'live fire' Blade Runner gun here is to use the plug-fire base revolver.

If I'm 'the Blade Runner guy' I suppose I should post more than just guns. eethan said 'great collection so far' but there has been more through my hands than just the guns, although they are the most important to me, so I am going to list all my non-gun replicas below and this post will be the only one with 'other stuff' in.

I think it's important to state that I am not a 'completist'. I don't really understand those collectors who just have to find and buy every single on-screen item 'because it's in the movie somewhere'. Let's be honest, a lot of stuff in the movie was crap, background clutter, completely irrelevant to the story and of no real aesthetic value but still some collectors seem to think they just have to have it. It's looking like the same thing with the sequel now too. I'm amazed at the fuss and bother over completely irrelevant (imho) objects like a small plastic food tray from a minor scene so here's just one post where all my non-gun bits are listed and by the way most of the items listed below are long-sold!.

Original Scripts;
#1. Not quite sure how long I had this but around two years I think. It spent most of it's life in a box in my shed waiting for the opportunity to be placed somewhere it wouldn't be in danger of Deterioration from handling or light-exposure. It's an original copy of the script from December 1980. This early draft differs from the final shooting script in several areas. It was written while the rights were still held by Hampton Fancher and Brighton Productions. In this version Deckard kills Rachael.
#2. This one was a little later, after rights had passed to Warner Bros. Not so valuable.



Jonnie Walker 2019 Bottle;
October 2017; I had one of the original run of Baccarat crystal bottles a few years ago but had to let it go when finances demanded (that's it in the first picture at the top of this thread, next to my first completed Sidkit). I regret that decision so I kept a close eye on the eBay listings and even missed a couple of pieces by a few pounds because they were overseas auctions ending in the middle of the night. Then Sarednab announced a final small run of plain glass bottles from the original mold which was used for the crystal version. Unfortunately the price was still high and so once again I had to let it pass. Then Sarednab offered me the chance to have an 'imperfect' where the thickness of the glass wall was not consistent and varied from thick at the base to thin at the top. I could afford this one so I snatched it up and asked my youngest son to buy me a Cibi tumbler for Christmas, which he did, cheers Tom! (He's 24 and already earns more than me so I don't feel at all guilty asking for such a nice gift).
TsingTau 2019 Bottle;
Just learned that this is correctly pronounced 'Ching-Dow'
May 2017; I had a Smirnoff de Czar no.63 bottle briefly too but the prices went crazy so I let it go for a healthy profit.



Three-button Microma watch;
This was an impulse buy and, as it turned out, quite an expensive one. I should have held out for a black one at the price I paid. When I needed to do a deal for something else I only realised half of what I laid out. Oh well.
Bronze 'Hintha Bird' Duck Opium Weight;
August 2016; I found a screen-accurate antique bronze opium weight online for sale as part of a set of three. Two of them were the wrong size and design but I recognised the smallest as being the correct shape and snapped up the set, putting the other two back on ebay and making my money back. It has a fantastic patina from over a hundred years of being handled by east-asian drug dealers. I love it and my wife is very fond of it too so this is one part of my collection I will never sell.



Holsters;
January '18; We have the legendary Phil Steinschneider to thank for finding the original Deckard holster. By reading hundreds of old catalogues and buying dozens of vintage holsters he eventually found that the Deckard hip-holster and the Bryant shoulder holster were both Safariland model 1001 holsters with the Deckard holster cut down for hip mounting and with new serial numbers stamped on each - model 2000 - so they are unique. Phils still finds the occasional model 1001 out in the wild and I got my first holster directly from him. This 1001 was made for a 10” Ruger and is quite ridiculously long. I think that if you turned up wearing this people would just assume you were over compensating for something and laugh at you, even in the land of the ridiculous handgun!
My second is a genuinely rare thing. The correct model and size but still in it’s original packaging! In all my years of collecting Blade Runner gun-stuff I have never come across this before. Anyway, I couldn't find anyone willing to take on the conversion in my part of the world so I eventually sold them and bought one of Karl Derrick’s excellent replicas instead.



Spinner;
03 April '18; I managed to find a direct-production-lineage 2" Spinner casting. The original 2" Spinners had white resin bodies and clear canopies. This piece was cast directly from one of those, so the detail is fantastic, even on the underside (better than my photo shows). I am displaying it simply, on a nail hammered into a resin Spinner badge which seems to suit it really well.
Profiles in History 2009 catalogues;
I thought that finding a copy of the original Profiles-in-History auction catalogue with the photos of the hero Deckard pistol would be an impossibility but I went online for a look anyway and there was a copy just waiting to be bought. There was also a copy of the Christmas catalogue too, with more Blade Runner original props in it. This is great reference material for a real-parts build.



Deckard's Briefcase;
This is a Zero Haliburton briefcase very close to the one Deckard's desk in his apartment but it turned out to be actually closer to the case used in 'Inception' (the exact and very rare model used) so I sold it with that film in mind.
Replicant Dossiers by Whitefall;
These were a full set of the original 2009 Whitefall Replicant Dossiers. With all the extras, prop replicas and hidden folders.



Pistol Case by Karl Derrick;
I got on the first run of pistol cases by Karl (skin-job) Derrick and supplied him with Steyr badges for his first ten boxes, of which this is one. Ultimately, although this was a fantastic piece of work, it wasn't the 'high-end German gun case' I wanted.
Nyzeki Newspaper;
This was one of the original 2009 run of Deckard's Independent Sentinel newspapers by the late Nyzeki.



Buddha Heads;
I found these two small Thai buddha heads online in the states. There are resin replicas available from a forum member here but I really don't like cast resin replicas so I spent the time and money to find real antique Thai bronze pieces.
Bryant’s shot glasses;
"I was quit when I came in here Bryant. I'm twice as quit now!". These are exact reproductions by Magonote in Japan. My wife and I use these when we make 'baby Guinness' shots.



Dazor model 2008 lamp;
Sitting on top of Deckard's piano is a bronze-grey Dazor 2008 lamp, with the lamp-head turned upside-down to create a subtle glow in the room. These tend to go for big bucks when pristine so the search for a reasonably priced one was long but I finally found one. It came from the states and is being re-wired with all new cable and a low-voltage LED bulb to bring it up to modern European standards (such as an earth wire for safety!).



Other stuff;
Too much to list really, water pistols, Mannlicher magazines, badges, concept blasters (yeah, blasters!), chess pieces, ID cards and paper ephemera etc...





J.F. Sebastian's Chess Set - a screen-accurate rendition.

June 19 2018. Although I usually make & collect guns I do make exception for some of the smaller iconic items from Blade Runner as shown above. I recently signed up for the J.F. Sebastian Chess Set from Gordon Gekko and since these will come in screen-accurate colours I really should display them on an accurate illuminated board. Another rpf member here in the UK is doing a run of illuminated boards for these but my concern is that they are a bit too small, with the wrong cabinet side-profile, the wrong wood colour and the wrong board 'layout'. Although screen-accuracy is not the MOST important thing it is still important and I want my stuff to look 'correct'. This means I will have to make my own board.

The story goes that the actual chess set used on screen was simply a commercial steel-cased light-box with the board pattern formed from paper squares stuck to the surface with 'spray-mount' glue. Some people have even claimed that you can see some of the paper squares moved out of position in some shots although I have never studied it with quite such intensity myself. When I went to art college in the early 1980's 3M Spray-Mount glue was used for just about everything and making a board this way would have been exactly the sort of thing I would have done myself for presentations, product mock-ups and photo-shoots. There is another concern with the boards being offered in that the pattern of squares seems to go right up to the edge of the board and I have noticed that the screen-captures show a distinct inch-wide boarder between the squares and the edge of the light-box. Luckily I am a glass-former and so I have the tools, materials and experience to make a more accurate board from opalescent art-glass which is also the perfect medium for lighting. I started by working out the dimensions of the chessboard squares and came out with 50mm (2 inches for all you Americans). 8 squares makes 400mm and then there's the border. I make it another 30mm all round and then another 20mm for the light-box 'edge'. This leaves me with a total width of 500mm or 20 inches (just the right kind of size for a commercial light box don't you think?).

The depth of the cabinet is another difficult issue to pin down accurately but I found a screen-capture which seems to show the full side profile of the box, albeit from a distance and fairly low-resolution, and drew around it on the computer. I then took this outline and scaled it up in proportion so the side was 500mm and measured the depth. It came out at just over 125mm or five inches. That's good enough for me and Sebastian, so I have my final cabinet dimensions of 500x500x125mm. I will also add four very small corner feet to raise the whole thing off the ground by a few millimeters for ventilation and to avoid scratching the table. I will look first for a vintage lightbox but I will probably end up having the case made to order. The whole thing will be made in wood, perhaps MDF, and painted gloss black all over. For the illumination I have the perfect thing, a new product from IKEA. The 'Spanst' range now includes 40cm LED-filled tube lights which run off a 1 watt USB power source. They come with clips for wall mounting so I can fit three of these onto a board which will form the base of the cabinet. I also decided to line the inside of the cabinet with sheets of mirror to reflect and scatter the light internally. Unlike the light sources available to the production during filming in 1981 which would have been 'warm' to say the least, these modern LED fittings produce almost no excess heat energy and so ventilation of the cabinet can be kept to a minimum. I intend to simply drill a few holes in the base sheet of MDF to allow some expansion of the air inside the box.

As a glass maker the most important part for me is the board itself. The 'base' for my glass board is a 475mm square of 3mm crystal clear art-glass (I never use window glass or 'float glass' in my work because it has impurities in, mostly iron, which give it a distinct greenish hue that I really don't like). On top of this base-sheet I will assemble the board using 50mm squares of 'Opalescent Warm White' and 'French Vanilla'. More Opal Warm White will form the border and the whole thing will be cleaned scrupulously with denatured alcohol before being placed in one of my kilns on a bed of ceramic fibre blanket. The kiln is then fired overnight, to a top temperature of 810 degrees C, and allowed to cool very slowly so it remains nice and flat. When the piece is back at room temperature later the following day the edges are ground smooth on a flat lapidary grinder to bring it back to the correct size (hot glass tends to spread a little as it softens). The glass board sits inside the cabinet in a groove which will be routed into the sides of the thick box walls. I also add a very thin bead of clear silicone assembly adhesive to ensure the piece is movement free in use. The base board, with tube lights attached, sits in a routed groove on the base of the cabinet and this is held in place with swing clips. The three USB light tube power leads are bundled together with spiral wrap and powered through a simple 3-USB plug head, again from IKEA.

My props display cabinet has a shelf depth of 40cm so a 50cm board won't fit inside. I will display my Gordon Gekko pieces in the cabinet and just bring the board out to actually play on or show off at special occasions.

[veektohr]

You can also special order triple cap rounds for that model!


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[userd1402]

Rick Deckard's Steyr Pistol; 'World-Con 2006' version (Sidkit #3).

May 21st 2018
I’m not a superstitious man but I think the stars were aligned for me today. I spent the morning trying to persuade a guy on the Propsummit Facebook page to trade with me for a Takagi ignition-type Deckard pistol, one of maybe only two in the UK, but he would only deal face-to-face and he was three hundred miles away with no way for me to get there so I had to let it slide. Then, just as I waved goodbye to that gun Michelle mailed me from Italy with news that he had a fresh Sidkit World-Con ready to go if I still wanted it. Perfect timing! We did the deal and it's in the post. I plan to build it using Karl Tate's photos from World-Con 2006 as my build-bible and weather it to be accurate to the way the hero was found. My inspiration for this is Mark Raats famous World-Con Sidkit build.

May 30th 2018.
The Sid' has arrived from Italy and although I'm really not a fan of 'unboxing' posts (especially the tedious videos people post about taking something out of a box... yawn!) I just have to share the amazing quality of the modern Sidkit with you. The gun is almost complete. The castings are crisp and precise. The assembly can be completed in under 30 minutes (plus wiring which obviously takes longer) and for devotees like myself the whole thing can be dismantled for weathering and bluing with just a screwdriver and a hex-key. Small screen-accuracy issues aside, you don't get quality like that with a Coyle kit!.








Update July 20th 2018
Not much progress gets made with prop stuff over the summer as it's my busiest time of the year but here's an interesting little aside; These are both genuine vintage posts removed, by me, from 70+ year old radios. An EE-8-A in brass (paint is not original) and an EE-8-B in standard nickel finish. The interesting thing, for me, is that Karl Tate's pictures of the hero gun show the binding post painted black with a brass colour showing through on the little groove under the cap. Now most people use the nickel finish post but what if it's actually the earlier brass one we should be seeking out?

[userd1402]

Rick Deckard's Steyr Pistol; (Tomenosuke #3).

June 20th 2018
Mune has accepted my request for one of the new licenced 2049 kits being released in July. I'm very pleased to have another kit on the way. The first kit I got was sold when the need arose and the second is the basis for my on-going 'live-fire-ghost' project so what to do with this one? I think I'm going to go for 'as-new' with everything blued and polished and a replacement steel cylinder & barrel.

July 09th 2018
Email notification of shipping, with tracking number, has arrived. Should be here by the end of the week.

Mune-san has posted on the tenshu blog that he is planning to offer, later this year, a conversion kit for Tomenosuke 2049 guns to make an all-black 'Patrolman' version of the pistol. He will not offer any more fully built patrolman specials which maintains the special nature of the original all-black edition of 300 pieces. The conversion kit will include new opaque black grips and a re-profiled black butt-plate. I have got to get a couple of these when they hit the market (this calls for the acquiring of yet another Tomenosuke).

July 11th 2018
Arrived in the UK...

July 17th 2018
"Customs charges raised. Addressee being notified". This delivery is really slow, it's been in the UK six days.
Customs paid and delivery scheduled for Monday 23rd.

[userd1402]

Blade Runner 2049 - Officer K's Pistol; 'Screen-Accurate' version (Brandomack Productions).

16th April 2018;
I have signed up for the all-metal reproduction of the sidearm carried by replicant detective KD6-3.7 in the new movie. Brandon has a reputation for very high quality work and I'm glad to be getting an all-metal replica of this piece. At the moment it's looking like a very accurate reproduction with just one possible exception; the pistol that Ryan Gosling is holding in the posed publicity pictures with Harrison Ford seems to have wire mesh panels on the sides, as does the gun Officer K places on the table in Sapper Morton's kitchen in the opening scenes (one of these mesh panels is even shown badly fitted in screen-captures of the kitchen scene)



but the photos of the prop doing the rounds on youtube (with Adam Savage on set talking to prop-master Doug Harlocker) and the pictures from SDCC show moulded solid panels which I don't think are the 'hero' pieces despite the wording on the prop department's carrying case.



Brandon seems to be replicating the moulded panels. We shall see nearer the time but truth-be-told I'm in two minds about this one. I liked Blade Runner 2049 but there are no props in it which make me genuinely excited like there were in the original. The time when hero props were made from actual vintage firearms and ex-military/aviation components which collectors could identify and seek out are long gone, everything is designed on computers and 3D-printed today.

As I'm all paid up it's just a matter of waiting. I may keep it or I may just sell it on and buy another 2019 gun...

[userd1402]

July 19th 2018
I'm planning something big. Something I don't think has ever been done before (not in the UK anyway).
If I just say 'flying car'...

[PAULH]

Great thread! I bought a Sidkit from you earlier this year (with Teddz steel barrel and, separately, a Steyr screw). Your thread has motivated me to put out some build pics.

[Eagle]

Subscribed! You have PM, too.

[userd1402]

13th June 2018;
After 16 years together I think the constantly changing pile of guns, whiskey bottles and ash-trays taking over our lounge was becoming an irritation for my wife so she bought me a cool art-deco IKEA display cabinet to fill with my toys.
Oh how I love that woman. This will be the ideal place to put that vintage Dazor 'flying saucer' lamp when it arrives from the states. hmm... I reckon I could fit nine pistols in this thing.




As you can probably guess I feel very protective toward this film and it's reception in the wider world. Today we also have Blade Runner 2049 which is a good film (although I doubt very much it will age as gracefully as the original) and along with it we have a huge Hollywood studio marketing budget and a global promotional campaign which has brought many new fans into prop collecting. Personally I have been obsessed with Blade Runner since I saw the original theatrical release in 1982, and in all those years I have never seen such a glut of replicas as there is currently available (and so many of them really bad quality too, I still cringe at the finish on most 3D-printed replicas). Those who 'bend with the wind' when it comes to movie memorabilia and replicas are swallowing it wholesale, driving demand and prices, and like the property market that can only lead to one outcome; a crash! And that's the only real upside to the story; in 12-18 months there will be a flood of unwanted Blade Runner prop replicas hitting eBay for the die-hard obsessives like me to sweep up before it all goes quiet again. Personally I can't wait!

[veektohr]

I have a gen 1 Don Parker cylinder that I tried on my CAW build. Didn’t fit on my initial try, but I haven’t revisited it yet...


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