Blake's bounty hunter gun - all done

With the chrome and black tape applied, this gun is done :)
Had a great time putting this together and i've got even more respect now for Bill Pearson, who not only had just a day to come up with the original, but also had to put in the explosive charge plus buttons in the grip to fire it, as you can see in the top pic.
Respect!

The USS Austin - ready for weathering

So that's the USS Austin all basecoated, decaled and ready for weathering.
I've kept to a black/orange/white colour scheme, partly in homage to the Space:1999 Hawks, and the odd bit of gunmetals.
Looking forward to the next bit :)

Blake's bounty hunter gun - nearly there now

That's Blake's bounty hunter gun primed.
Or should that be "Gauda Primed"? (Ho ho)

Blake's bounty hunter gun - ready for priming

With the "pixie hat" shapes on, last thing to do is sort out the very end of the barrel.
The gun has two distinct things going on with that - there's how it appears in the forest scenes, with a closed off end and a small spigot thing going on.
When Blake is inside the base though, the ends been cut off to allow for the explosive charge to be fitted, making a large bore barrel affair.
I decided to go with the first version as it meant i didn't have to go to the trouble of cutting the end off.
But what to use for the spigot?
Thanks to top bloke Phil Stevens i now know its a shape that was inside the rear tube of the gun that held the D batteries in place.
Trouble is, the newer release of the gun, which i have, diesn't use D batteries in the main part but one 9 volt one in the grip.
So, no shape.
Instead, i've gone for an approximation, cutting down one of our daughters felt tip pins, which looks to be about the right diameter, and has a bit of detail at the end.

Blake's bounty hunter gun - almost there

Adding the strips of square rod to the rear of Blake's bounty hunter gun is where i slavishly follow what Bill Pearson did and move into conjecture as to just what was used.
First case in point, what's been called the "pixie hat" that sits in the blank area just above the trigger. Its called that for want of a better name as no-one has ever been able to figure out what was used - doorbell buttons, "Frustration" playing pieces have been put forward, but been discounted.
I've got some plumbing piping that was the correct 14mm diameter, so cut two pieces the correct 9mm height, filled them with P38, sanded the tops flat then glued both to washers to give the rim around the bottom.

Blake's bounty hunter gun - bits added

With Blake's bounty hunter gun assembled, its time to add the details.
Photo 2 is i'm guessing part of the sight mount and is made from EMA's "Structural Flange".
Photo 3 is the ribbed detail on the underside, made from four of EMA's "Beam Splices" laid in a row.
Photo 4 is the rear of the gun, made from a disc of ABS. This is the first time working with the material, and i found it a bit of a bind - very tough to cut and shape, but pretty easy to sand. Its detailed with a couple of EMA's "Ladder Supports" cut down.
Photo 5 - Directly in front of the rear disc is a row of square rods, ended by a curved shape just above the rigger. That has to be the 3.3mm of the square rod and the rear disc.
So i cut out one from the ABS and then tried to heat it to make it bend to match the curve of the gun.
Nope, wasn't having it.
So then i tried multiple layers of Plasticard until i got my 3.3mm, heated up and bent.
Nope, wasn't having it.
But then i realised the off-cut of 40mm piping i was using as a former to bend the shapes on looked to be about the thickness i was after. So crudely cut a bit off and, sure enough, it lay on the gun no rpobs.
So off i go to B&Q to buy a 40mm joing pice for the price of £1.08 and cut me a ring from it 2cm wide.
Photo 6 is the cut down ring now attached.

Blake's bounty hunter gun - assembled

With the EMA parts landing on my doorstep this morning, its time to get Blake's bounty hunter gun ready for them.
So, with all the lettering sanded off, the open area where the scope mount was covered up, the last thing to do was stick what was formerly the rear end on the front to make the barrel.

SF Plague Doctor

There we go, a Plague Doctor mask done in a Cursed Earth style

Blake's bounty hunter gun - rubbing down

With the rubbing down of the lettering on the side of the Star wars blaster, i then copied what bill Pearson did - covered up the top where the scope used to be with Plasticard, along with the side panel that had the slots to allow the sound to come out.
I've used Go-Fasta stripes for the panels on top of that for ease.
Though i want to try and replicate as far as possible what Bill did, i've a bit of a head scratcher when it comes to the area just above the "safety catch".
At first i took it to be a case of Bill putting a piece of Plasticard, with a slot cut out as detail, over the lettering i'd just sanded off - after all, he had just a day to come up with the gun and maybe didn't have time for sanding.
But, look at the original.
If he DID add the slotted panel, then he's cut off the safety catch and then perfectly glued it back onto the new panel.
Would he have time to do that, i wonder?
So thinking its an original detail, lost when the blaster was reissued.
But, it looks like there's something going on under that slot, as if it is indeed covering up a lower layer.
So what's going on?
No idea.
Just have a quandry now - do i leave it as is? Cut off the safety catch, put in the new panel then bung it back on? Or put on a new panel that's made to go around the safety catch?

Blakes 7 - Blake's bounty hunter gun.

Never being one to finish one project before starting another, and still on a Blakes 7 kick, minds turned to what i can do next.
And my eyes have fallen on the blaster Blake's armed with in the very final episode of Blakes 7, when we find him in the guise of bounty hunter.
It got my attention as:
(A) It seems a pretty simple conversion of a toy Star Wars blaster - a case of needs must as Bill Pearson only had ONE DAY to come up with a functioning weapon for the episode!
(B) The Star Wars blaster and me have a history, as i accurised one when i was making my Sandtrooper outfit.
Anyway, bought one quite cheap and first job was to saw off the barrel at a certain point, along with the rear at another certain point.
I then removed the sights and the trigger gurad. You can see that the removed rear part is moved round to become the barrel.
Next up, remove the ridging at what remains of the original barrel, get rid of the stickers, and sand off the raised writing on this side.

The USS Austin - basecoated

Back to the USS Austin and i've got to hurry up on this - know its been a good 35 years or so since i started the build and it could wait a while longer, but i've other projects on the go, with more just about to start, so i have to clear the decks.
So, he she is finished, primed and base coated in "Ford Diamond White."

Dan Dare has landed...

... and Bertie is one happy Biog to see himself in print.

Cursed Earth Plague Doctor

More work on my SF Plague Doctor - to get away from its medieval routes, i'm going for a yellow/black chevron colour scheme, so here's it being applied.
Next up, work on the metals and its done.