ToothTech wrote:
Now that the contest is over, we can finally reveal all the info about the entries.....
If you had an entry in the contest, feel free to post additonal pics here---if you'd rather start a new thread, go for it!
pulseriflefan wrote:
Hello to all, I`m new here.
What can I say ?
My name is Stephan from Germany and maybe some of you know me from the Aliens Legacy Board.
First big thanks to Tommin who posted the info about this board and contest !
Well, I never built a custom blaster before, just some movie replicas (Aliens, Logans run, Space 1999, ST etc.), so it makes me really proud that you voted my first try to #1.
It was a ton of fun to built it up - specially because I didn`t have to hunt any original parts as usual.
Here are some detailed shots :
I used the gutted casing from a cheap Steyr AUG airsoft because I needed the inner Airsoft parts for a current project which I`m working on since a year. I`ll post that "thing" when it`s done....
BTW: the trigger on the blaster was basically the magazin release of the AUG - the original trigger is in use on my new project as magazin release LOL
I never throw anything away ( sorry to my wife here ), so I have some big boxes of junk which are perfect for blaster building.
The upper front part is removable with one "click", so I have an easy access to the batteries and electronics.
Feel free to ask about anything
Stephan
wuher da brewer wrote:
What a great entry Stephan. Looks very scifi. Congratulations.
Fried Mon Calamari wrote:
Man, That is one freaking awesome design. Congrats! Well deserved win.
I think the biggest thing that caught me was the believability of it. I was sitting here last night really looking at it and everything on it looks like it has a purpose.
The peep sight on the base of the lighted sight was a brilliant touch.
OK, so what was that lighted sight/ rear receiver from?
ToothTech wrote:
tommin wrote:
Well done Stephan, Brian and everyone that entered this contest. Honestly, I'm still a little floored by the high quality and creativity of each of these entries. Amazing, really. I may have mentioned it earlier but, this was the most difficult contest to vote on. All entries would have a nice home in my weapons locker.
Stephan, please do post up some pics of that "thing" you are talking about. If it is anything like your pulse rifle and other wood work, I know it has got to be top notch.
Cheers all!!!
wuher da brewer wrote:
I'd love to hear ideas on how to improve my blaster. I usually go with a black blaster, but I thought the blue would make this blaster stand out. I had some ideas like painting the trigger black and applying some aluminum black to the front of the muzzle. I also considered this muzzle:
ToothTech wrote:
I really like the second version Evan--has that James Bond feel to it! At first the blue color kinda threw me, but the more I see it with that bright silver scope and muzzle, the more I think it suits it.
I also loved your use of the rubber mat material was inspired---very offbeat idea!
thedap wrote:
the blue color threw me too, I thought it would look better if you did various silver colors, to give the effect of different types of metal. just blue in the grips.
otherwise a very sharp gun!
I thought the luger based gun was pretty cool too, had a nice fat BSG look to it.
one of my guns was the grenade lobber, I already removed the SMG and did a front handle. I need to redo the cocking knob and to age it a bit.
the second was the flamer, A friend has it now, he is going to tear it apart and re-configure it. he had some good ideas for it.
I really needed to work on both much more before entering them, but I have too many irons on the fire already!
pulseriflefan wrote:
I really like your blaster Brian. Specially the paintjob is superb !
Here are some parts I used on my one :
The light was a very bright "glow" lamp which is activated via "spring" switch inside of the sight, it lights up when the sight is completly opened.
I used 10mm perspex for the sight and milled a small hole in the bottom for the lamp. The lamp color was white, so I used a small bit of yellow transfer foil from my thermosub printer.
The sight was the frame of magnifying loupe from a broken slide mounting machine. The rear part where the sight is attached was the casing of an old "light pointer". The energy cell/clip was a half of a Racal headset push button thingie. The front barrel was part of a metal plug (same headset).
The other small parts are camera related too : tripod parts, camera release buttons, instant camera release button, pop gun parts for the rear section and pinhole sight.
All together greatest fun ever to build the blasters - I think I have a new hobby now
Of course I`ll post some images of my "thing" here. It`s not really a blaster but a completly custom made Aliens related weapon
Stephan
Fried Mon Calamari wrote:
aagghhh, too many cool designs!
Evan- I personally liked the grenade muzzle/ silencer, but have to agree with Brian, the other design seems to flow better. The gun as a whole is really cool, simple and effective. And like Brian mentioned, the matting worked great as a grip material, I gotta remember that!
Brian- Man, you know how much I hate those Lugers.
Already told you, as have others, but that was one bad mama-jama. The weathering was killer although I have to question destroying a saber hilt for it.
Doug- I dug the hell out of the grenade launcher! Best use of a cookie tin ever! And the flamethrower looked exactly the part. I loved how you rearranged it. Everything worked much better than the original layout IMO.
Quote:
I really needed to work on both much more before entering them, but I have too many irons on the fire already!
Guilty!
Mine was the silvery monstrosity.
I ran into a bad case of builders block and ended up just doing a basic mod. I have a ton of V-8 engine parts collecting dust, so there's a lot of those pieces on there (oil filter cover for the front body of the sight, rocker arm mounts along the barrel, rocker arms and lifters above the grip) , and I couldn't pass up using the snowspeeder parts for the front emitters or whatever the hell they're supposed to be. As I was building it, I stopped and asked myself, "How in the hell is this thing supposed to fit in a holster?
"
I would have liked to have put a lense in the back of the scope, but that had to go on hold.
A cool little bonus is the gun is still functional as a pellet gun. Still cheesy little yellow pellets, but what the hey!
Thanks for the votes on it! It was fun to build and I'm looking forward to doing the next one, well,
after I get my shop cleaned up from
this one! I gotta do a better job of cleaning as I go.
Capt MarVell wrote:
Congratulations, Stephan, on your win. I had a real tossup - I actually voted on your other entry. It was mostly a coinflip choosing between the two. Toothtech, excellent entry as well.
Mine was the retro-looking raygun SMG, #7. I'm sorta bummed out, I figured with the recent interest in rayguns I'd get at least a vote or two. Oh well, I had fun anyway. I really would be interested in knowing what others might change about my entry to make it more vote-worthy. The entry I posted was done in the last few days I had available (let's just say I had a rather busy summer), and was driven largely by finding that thermos at a yard sale for $2.00; it sort of designed itself. Most of the rest of the parts I already had, and the Tec-9 was going to be the base for my second idea anyway. I wanted to wire up lights for the emitter and for the skull (to act as a sort of tactical flashlight), and I wanted to put a fin edged with EL wire on top, but again, no time. I submitted my entry in the middle of the night just a few hours before leaving town as it was! I'm probably going to do some add-on work to my raygun, doing the fin and lights and a couple other details.
Jim
ToothTech wrote:
We had a great batch of entries--like I said earlier, I'm actually glad I wasn't allowed to vote because it would have been a real tough decision... :|
Thenks for more info on the parts Stephan--can't wait to see what the secret project is!
Doug, the grenade launcher was so over the top, I loved it!
Don't worry about the resin Obi, Chris---it was a verrrrrrry bad casting!
Your entry reminded me of Chewie's bowcaster (maybe a pistol version). Nice scope piece there...
Jim, I have a fondness for the "retro rayguns", so your entry really appealed to me. I was thinking "WOW, that would make a cool lightsabre..." and then your final pic holding it loaded up and I realized how big that puppy is!
tommin wrote:
Again, these are some stunning entries. Congrats to everyone that entered. Seeing the additional pics is the icing on the cake and Evan, I really like both versions of your blaster. Now that I've been, recently, drawn in to the world of sabers, seeing that machined grenade is very interesting.
On another note, would anyone care to share some of your weathering tips & tricks for a weathering newbie like myself. This is an area that I've not really jumped in to but can already see some styles in it. PRF's entry, has some gentle weathering as if it is a late model weapon that has seen some light combat in its day. Brians weathering is like that of an antique weapon that if could talk, would have some great stories to tell. Chris' weathering is like that of a weapon that has been rode hard and put up wet over the years. An outlaw's gun, so to speak. Each of these styles work with the blaster that sports it. I'd just like to know how you all do it and make it look so effortless.
ToothTech wrote:
Well, this was my first attempt at weathering, so take it with a grain of salt!
I sprayed about 3 coats of primer, and then 3 coats of silver (not sure which "color" of silver). I then put on 2 coats each of a fairly light colored gray/gunmetal, then a medium gray/gunmetal, followed by a darker gray/gunmetal, and finally a very dark gray/gunmetal. (I don't remember the exact shades, and my paint cupboard is blocked by a "temporary" project
).
I then used synthetic steel wool to scuff the darker colors off until I liked the effect. I also held the gun and noted the areas where my hand rubbed. I also took into account where switchs/levers would "rub" if it were a functioning firearm---same with "holster wear".
I should have probably used moer layers or scuffed with a lighter touch as I went to the yellow plastic in several areas and had to use Rub N Buff and a silver marker to cover them up! I also need to shoot a coat of clear over the whole thing, but I was in a hurry!
thedap wrote:
hey don't feel bummed Jim!
I was giving the "thermos special" second place on my scorecard!
that fatboy looked fine to me.
both retro and techie at the same time.
all it needed was a wire stock like the old smith and wesson SMGs from the seventies (all the bond baddies armed their grunts with them)
I can picture Flash Gordon in the old B+W films, snapping and going postal with it.
"hello Ming!.....Goodbye Ming!!!"
the skull was a nice touch.
really the only thing that I would look at would be moving the thermos forward on the gun frame a bit. I think it would look more agressive that way.
it would be a good gun for the mutants in "my science project" to wield.
pulseriflefan wrote:
the raygun was my second choice and I thought after you posted it : damn`d ! THAT`s a cool gun ! I can be happy to get one vote on my "conventional" entries.
Well, paintjobs and weathering are the week points on my props to be honest. To keep it fast and simple I used "Rallye" spray, that`s what they use for cars in races to cover "rockfall" marks (sorry wrong word I guess).
It`s flat black and dry in 10 minutes (do NOT use it inside a room without a gas mask LOL), it`s only one coat. The weathering was simply applied with a hard brush with some Revell oil paint (alu).
I have to improve my painting skills soon
Stephan
Capt MarVell wrote:
Thanks to those that responded about my raygun (hope I didn't sound whiny...). To address those that did:
Toothtech - yep, it's not a little weapon. The Tec-9 isn't really small, and the thermos is kinda fat. And it's somewhat heavy too, the thermos and all parts attached to it are metal. The only plastic is in the Tec-9 frame.
thedap - a telescoping stock was originally part of my design for the 2nd idea I had, which would have used the Tec-9 as a base. It was a custom variant of a well-known blaster, but I left myself no time to produce it. I might still add a simple wire stock to it; I love the idea of making short barrelled rifles as props; probably a personal backlash against the BATF's nonsense :devil . Glad you liked the skull too, that was originally going to go onto the butt of a raygun pistol I'm working on, then I got the idea to put it on this. As far as moving the thermos forward, I don't think I can make that work; the back end of the Tec-9 is rounded to match the thermos body, and the cap isn't as large in diameter. My thinking is to be able to screw it off to put in "atomic batteries" or have access to sound/light circuitry. For that, it works better being set farther back so that the cap is entirely behind the frame. I might come up with a spacer between the thermos and dish to move that part forward though, or at least try it out.
pulseriflefan - thanks for the compliment. That's pretty much what I said when I saw your entries. Pretty cool the way you managed to use so much of the AUG on two projects. The SPAS leftover was nice too. And, I really liked the stock on your entry. Also liked your weathering.
Jim
pulseriflefan wrote:
Thank you Jim
The thermos on your gun is brillant !!! As the guys said it looks like a perfect Flash Gordon weapon !
I actually used the AUG for three projects (the scope on my second entry), ya know "recycling rules" lol
The SPAS parts were left from my PR which you can see on Phil Steinschneiders custom section :
http://nt1.pressroom.com/philips/pulser ... custom.htmI`ll build my hero PR soon, so some more SPAS parts left for custom blasters
The metal part on the the barrel of my second entry is a SPAS part too, it`s from inside of the cutted pump grip.
Here are some details :
I also used the remaining bits from a broken tripod for the stock and scope attachment on the back.
Stephan
wuher da brewer wrote:
Great blasters guys! The problem was there were to many great blasters.
I did some more work on my entry today.
wolverine solo wrote:
I thought every entry was really great and showcased alot of talented people, that made my voting even harder. I didnt do that much to the one entry I turned in, just kinda getting a feel for it first, my water blaster entry will be better.
Fried Mon Calamari wrote:
I'm with them,
Jim,
The Raygun was immediately eye catching.
Na, doesn't sound whiny, we're our own worst critics. I laughed out loud and literally said "That's great!" when I saw yours.
I'm still behind the curve there in seeing the everyday items and finding a way to turn it into something different like you did.
wuher- nice looking mods. The weathering on the grenade helped mellow the "shiny-ness" of it a lot.
Stephan- The more I see those, the more I don't like you anymore.
ToothTech wrote:
Well, I finally got the "little somethings" done!
Each entrant will get one--I
hope to get these shipped out this weekend
Capt MarVell wrote:
Now that's just cool.
Jim
ToothTech wrote:
Thanks
