Phase 2. My Blade Runner replicas.

[userd1402]

This thread is just going to be an area for me to place descriptions and photos of my Blade Runner (2019) prop replica builds. I'm not trying to start a convo, that's for other threads. I'm just listing my own stuff as I research, source, build, upgrade and replace it, so it's all in one place and I can refer back to it. The posts in this thread will also NOT be in chronological order because I love to go back and edit my old descriptions or replace old pictures in posts so things at the end of the thread may actually be older than things near the beginning because I've been fiddling. Sorry.

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 (plenty of these out there since 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 with lots of clunky ray guns and dodgy special effects. Superman and Star Wars raised the bar for effects (if not acting) but it was still mostly brightly coloured pulp sci-fi on offer. Then one weekend in 1982, at the age of 17, I saw a new sf picture, in the independent, that changed everything. The effect it had on me was profound. I went to see it again the following Monday, and again on Tuesday and again on Wednesday. It didn't have a long run. 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 1985 and 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 replica guns so it seems natural that Blade Runner pistols will form the heart of my display.

Things you won't see in this thread? Well, I don't like replicas which don't display the functionality of a 'real' alternative. I don't like painted 'faux' finishes or resin casts or 3D printed plastic. I make guns based on real guns (deactivated here in the UK of course) or functional metal replicas, such as airsoft or plug-fire, or metal replica castings like the ones you will read about below.
I have high standards and I make things for ME. I am not a 'completist' and I really don't understand the collectors who simply have to find and buy every single item 'just because it's in the movie'. Let's be honest, a lot of stuff in the movie was crap, background clutter, completely irrelevant to the story and of no aesthetic value whatsoever but still some collectors seem to think they just have to have it. That's not me. If you go to the trouble of reading all my long-winded 'guff' below you will see I am collecting and building the iconic Steyr pistol over and over again, and a few other iconic pieces such as the holster, wallet & whiskey bottle. I also have plans for a few other chosen high-end props eventually such as the Sebastian chess set, Vid-Phon cabinet and VK machine.



As you read the following build-logs you may notice I always refer to the Blade Runner guns as pistols, never as 'blasters'. I really wish everyone would stop calling these guns blasters. Blasters in sf 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 a revolver, and let's not forget that under the 'dieselpunk' cladding Deckard's gun is a .44 special revolver!

Right, here we go!

[userd1402]

Rick Deckard's Steyr Pistol; 'hero' version (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 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 spent a few hundred on a Sidkit instead of 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 previous build 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 visited my friend in Plymouth 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 and held 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.

[userd1402]

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 '18;
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. I think the frame may be bent a little off-true as well now. I'm gutted. I think I'm going 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 Michele and ask him to pour me another kit.

[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]

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've 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 earns more than me so I don't feel at all guilty asking for such a nice gift).



EDIT: 03 April '18
I have managed to find a direct-production-lineage 2" Spinner casting. The original 2" Spinners had clear canopies and this piece was cast directly from one of those so the detail is really good. Even on the underside. I am displaying it simply, on a nail hammered into a resin Spinner badge which seems to suit it really well.

[veektohr]

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


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[userd1402]

November 2017: This is the space for the screen-accurate build of a Tomenosuke 2049 from HCG due April '18.

UPDATE: 11 April '18
Just had the notification that my final payment has been cleared and the Tomen has been dispatched from Florida by HCG.

UPDATE: 14 April '18
I'm sat at work this afternoon and there's nobody about. I haven't seen a customer all day so I log on to the web and just as I do someone listed a pre-Alcon-licensing Tomenosuke on eBay for £600 with postage for only a tenner. Since it's within the EU there's no tax to pay. Seems the guy bought it from Japan in February and never took it out of the box. Well, I had to buy it didn't I? These things usually sell for £800-£1,000 so even if I turned around and re-listed it I would still be in profit.




So, this means I have two Tomens on the way to me. After some deliberation I have decided the best way to proceed is to sell the new Alcon/HCG Tomenosuke as soon as it arrives and keep the older gun from eBay. I will get more money back that way. The pre-Alcon gun from Poland will be made into a full screen-accurate piece in Kazuriro Sato's World-Con style (as per my original plans for the HCG) and I will also do a live-fire conversion on it with the plug-fire Bulldog revolver I have tucked away in the shed.
As my wife would say "sounds like a plan!".

UPDATE: 18 April '18
I must say how impressed I am with the HCG delivery tracker. Real-time movements and animated journey graphics just make the speed of delivery even more impressive. Exactly one week door-to-door from Miami USA to Cornwall UK, including customs clearance and duty paid. Pity I'm not going to keep it...

[userd1402]

Rick Deckard's Steyr Pistol; 'rubber stunt' version (Tomenosuke)

A couple of years ago Tomenosuke did a limited-edition black rubber stunt gun. This is the version of 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, 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 kicking it. At the time of release in 2015 I was between jobs and couldn't afford one 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. Unless you know of someone who could remove these for me?

[userd1402]

Rick Deckard's holster; 'hero' version.

It was the legendary Phil Steinschneider who did all the work tracking down the actual holster used by the Blade Runner production. He discovered, after years of searching, that the hip-holster used by Deckard and the shoulder holster worn by Captain Bryant were both Safariland model 1001, made in California. The model 1001 was produced for less than two years so it was only by buying dozens of old holsters and hundreds of old catalogues that the actual piece was finally identified. The Bryant shoulder holster eventually resurfaced at auction and confirmed it was a Safariland 1001, plus a 'stunt' holster/pistol combo which I think is now on display at the science-fiction museum in Seattle (set up by Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft). The Bryant shoulder and Deckard stunt holsters were both confirmed as right-handed model 1001 shoulder holsters for 4-5" S&W revolvers with the Deckard holster being cut down for belt mounting. New part numbers were stamped on the back by the factory - model 2000 - so both are unique.

Phil still finds the occasional Safariland 1001 out in the wild and I got my first one directly from him. This one was made for a 10" Ruger revolver so as well as having it's 'ears' removed like the Deckard hero holster it also needs it's bottom trimmed to achieve the correct length. Looking at these pictures I’m surprised this ever got made. Even in the crazy land of the handgun, who would ever use a revolver with a barrel that long? I think if you turned up with a holster that length people would just assume you were “over-compensating for something” and laugh at you...



My second 1001 was a real find. Take a look at the photos because in all my years of researching Blade Runner props I have never seen a vintage 1980/81 holster still with it's original packaging. This beautiful 4" model 1001 shoulder holster is pristine and unused after 36 years! I think this is exactly what Captain Bryant wears.




Unfortunately neither of these fine pieces of cow-hide really achieved the look I wanted so they were both sold in April '18.

[userd1402]

Dave Holden's Steyr Pistol; 'ghost' version (Tomenosuke 2049 assembly kit).

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, directly from Mune-san in Japan and ordered a new barrel from rpf member 'Teddz' in polished stainless steel! Then I managed to snag the first set of mahogany grips from rpf member DylanRose and finally a steel replacement cylinder from Don Parker over at propsummit. That should be a good enough set of parts to create a good looking (and decently heavy) gun.

I decided the final 'look' for this gun should be a solid black area through the middle with silver/polished parts on top and bottom. So I'm polishing the upper-receiver to go with the stainless barrel and give a strong silver upper. The black plastic magazine housing is very clean and I will polish this further to remove any moulding lines or flashing. The cylinder covers will be polished first before I decide whether or not to paint them but will probably end up gloss black. I've done some research and a lot of people seem to change the LED colour on 'ghost' builds to blue instead of red 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. I am also going to try adding a small 3mm laser-diode module from a 'Predator' movie replica helmet to the side where the 'binding-post' would otherwise sit. Whether I will be able to insert it inside a binding post or whether it will have to sit alone on the side of the gun I'm not sure yet. That is for a later stage of the build.

I got the kit in July '17 and collected the other parts over the autumn and winter and only started actually assembling things in February '18. There are more parts being added too, a fancy Tomenosuke LED sight rod from Kazuhiro Sato for instance, so the build will be on-going over the spring and will hopefully be fully complete by the time my HCG Tomenosuke arrives in April...

Progress pictures;

[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]

12 Jan ‘18
I had a delivery of two replica Charter-Arms Bulldog cylinders, machined for me in steel by Don Parker. These are direct replacements for the ABS plastic Tomenosuke cylinder. I’m going to use one cylinder in my Holden Ghost build above. I may also use one of these in my planned CAW/Tomenosuke live-fire build, if it's possible, to eliminate the 'washer' used as blockage in the pfc gun cylinder.



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 Sato who created the limited edition ‘World-con’ version of the gun released at Tokyo Comic-con this year. Just 35 sets are available worldwide and when I saw the announcement I knew 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 the Holden ‘ghost’ build 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 Sato sight-rod has arrived and I have installed the red Milite LEDs...

[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...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk