Blade Runner Snub Nose Blaster Project

[DaveG]

More work on the metal Snubbies! I've cleaned up and painted the resin frame and clip casting with Krylon Semi-Flat black. The cast metal parts were sanded smooth with 320 grit sandpaper, then tumbled with fine abrasive media. The barrel are turned steel.

One of the thing I'm doing differently on these build ups is to insert threaded brass bushings in the the frame for the grip attachment screws. As I started to trade grips back and forth (what with the new cool hardwood grips and all!) the threads started to strip out of the resin castings. Unfortunately, since the frames are slightly less than 1/2 inch thick. I couldn't use off the shelf electronics stand offs. So custom ones had to be machined in brass. The holes in the frame were drilled out to 1/4 inch and the inserts epoxied in place.

Here is a comparison of the plain polished receiver (top) and one chemically blackened with Jax Pewter Black (bottom).

And a test assembly of the parts. The steel barrel has been treated with gun bluing.

 

[Daddy Solo]

I think I just soiled myself. These newer mods/ grips make my resin build look like poodoo. amazing work, as usual!thumbsup

 

[Finnlock]

So sexy!

 

[ixtore]

Perfect. A beautiful piece (pun intended).

 

[Tw17cH]

Absolutely beautiful. Amazing work mate!

 

[juliet76]

Love this build DaveG! Love the snub nose, love the timber grips (ESPECIALLY the Curly Bubinga!) just love it all. Fantastic work!

 

[JBradley]

This is simply incredible work!! I am in awe! Thank you for all of the extensive updates. You've inspired me to design a snub nose version of a different Harrison Ford gun. Keep up the stunning work!

 

[DaveG]

Thank you all! Building up metal version of the Snub Nose is turning out to be a really satisfying project. Holding one that has the look, weight and cool surface feel of real metal just brings the fun to a whole new level!

Several of you have inquired about the availability of metal kits, metal upgrade parts or finished build ups. I am not going to be offering either metal kits or parts. Casting metal parts to a standard I am happy with takes a lot of time and effort. Doing a few sets is fun, doing a bunch for kits... not so much! As of now I have cast four sets of the parts as you've seen here and am currently working on two built up Snubbies from those parts. I will certainly build up the others later. Some of these finished Snub Noses will be offered for sale, but I have no idea what the price will be or how and where I will sell them. There is no list, or pre-ordering. If you are interested in one, please keep watching this thread.

One of the fun things is going to be exploring variations in finishes and details. These first two are based on the hero "World Con" blaster but I'm toying with some other ideas including nickel and gold plating.

Stay tuned!

 

[DaveG]

Rather than epoxy the steel barrel in place I've elected to secure it with a cap screw through the butt end, into a threaded hole in the front of the frame.

In addition to being a clean elegant way to secure the barrel, it also makes it removable and interchangable with other barrels. Rick Ross has been kind enough to allow me to make a supressor for my Snub Nose based on his design for the Pflager Katsumata Enforcer. This is 100% Rick's design and I give him full credit for how cool it looks! This is also a one off just for my collection. Sorry, I promised Rick I wouldn't make them for sale.

Here is a machined steel barrel, extended with the threaded end. Rick was also gracious enough to send me the digital model file for his barrel adapter which I am going to scale down (Rick's Enforcer is .44 cal, my Sub Nose is .38 cal) and have 3D printed to go at the front of the receiver, just behind the threaded portion of the barrel.

The body of the supressor is turned in acrylic and will be painted. Although the metal parts are looking so cool I might have to try to machine one in steel!

 

[Finnlock]

You sire, are a tease!
the work on display here is byeond awesome.

thanks for sharing it! maks me wish I had a shop to build this kind of stuff in.

 

[wulf3n]

Very nice kit.

Have any Australian Members purchased this? were there any issues with customs?

 

[DaveG]

I sold two kits to members in Australia. One of the kits was split into two shipments, the other shipped normally. Both arrived without any problem. Although as they say on financial prospectuses "Past performance is not a guarantee of future earnings!" I've also shipped to the UK, Canada, The NEtherlands, Italy and Japan without any problems, except that the Italian order took about 6 weeks to arrive.

 

[DaveG]

Adding Weight

The metal parts made the Snub Nose very front heavy and un-balanced. Not comfortable to hold. The solution was to add weight to the frame, sandwiched between the grips.

The first step was to mill out a hole in the frame using the CNC router. A jig was made to hold the frame in precisely the correct position using the threaded holes for the grip screw. It would have be nice to have done this before paint and assembly but in the end it really didn't make any difference and didn't harm any of the visible painted surfaces. In fact it worked so well I went ahead and milled out some raw castings and the all resin build-ups I had done.

The same hole profile was used on the CNC to route out a mold from MDF.

The mold block was clamped to a plain flat block of MDF and molten lead poured into the cavity.

Here's the finished weight and milled frame. The lead weight adds about 200 grams, just under 7 ounces, to the Snub Nose.

And the weight epoxied in place. Since the grips on these build ups are clear amber I'll have to paint the weight black so it doesn't show through. It really balances out the Snubby, and adds a nice little heft to the all resin version too.

All future kits are going to include this upgrade as a standard feature and I'll be offering the milling service and weight as an upgrade for those who already have a kit, built up or not.

 

[ecl]

Drooling. That's just so beautiful.

 

[C0mmand3rC0dy]

Do want... badly!

 

[DaveG]

Finished!

The first two metal Snubbies are finished! I'm thrilled with how they came out. they just feel so good in the hand.

 

[masterjedi322]

Wow, so perdy...

Sean

 

[ecl]

GORGEOUS..

 

[Ryan797]

Very Nice indeed!! Extremely high quality work and a fantastic looking finished gun!!

 

[aeonpulse]

Damn. DAMN. That is beautiful. Amazing work!