Really Long Ray Gun

This is probably my new favorite raygun. It is every bit of 14 inches from end to end, which makes it the longest pistol I've made, so far. Its the third with the new wooden handles, though the second to be finished; I tabled the previous project to finish this one. While I think a lot of the base items are very obvious, they just fit so well together it doesn't matter.

This piece came together when I suddenly became unable to find the small champaign glasses that I often use for gun barrels. A new, simpler model was now out, and the more ornate ones were nowhere to be found. Once I stopped cussing, I picked up a few of the newer glasses and started tooling around with ideas. Very pleased with the result.

There are very parts to this one in comparison to some of my other work. Instead of trying to add textures or lines to show metal bolted together I just added a few brads as bolts suggest joined metal.

The other interesting thing about this piece, is that it marks a lot firsts for me. This is the first time I worked with plexiglass as a medium. While plenty of the work I do starts out with transparent ingredients, I though plexiglass would be a perfect item to make fins with; its thin, its durable, it takes paint well...its perfect. Plus, I had a giant sheet of it, from the old house, so it was double perfect.

Well...not so much. It can be very fragile, and its hard to cut with a jigsaw. Actually, the jigsaw goes right through it, but the heat fuses the plastic back together instantly, so you still have to break along the cut line with pliers, or whatever. Now, this may seem obvious to some of you out there, but it wasn't to me, at the time. Oh well, live and learn.

Once I finally got the fin cut out, I sanded it and added electrical tape and bronze paper fasteners as bolts. Plexiglass pretty much show every mistake that you make, but it all disappears after its painted...thankfully. Dispite the grief that it gave me, it is still pretty rugged and makes for a more rugged piece, overall. I will definitely use it again.

Another new thing that I did with this model was to inset an item into the handle. In this case, its a locket, that I turned into the power setting dial for the gun.

I had to bore a hole into the grip, without punching through the other side and then file down the cavity so that the locket would fit properly. I am totally unhappy with the cardboard insert, and will likely pop it out and make something cooler to fit here. Overall, its pretty cool.

UPDATE:

I did design a new insert for the locket; one that I am much happier with. I drew this by a hand at twice intended size, shrunk on the copier, and colored it by hand. It looks much cooler not zoomed in like this, but you get the genreal idea...

I poured through pages of victorian border design until I came up with this. This wasn't ispired by any one particular work, but is meant to imbody the classic ornamental asthetic of the time. Plus WAVE INTENSITY just sounds cool.

 

Here is a close up of the chamber. I love the mixture of opaque and transparent in my work and I think the repetition of elongated pieces just make this gun look very elegant. Also, I've added a pic of the front, since its very visible in the profile photo.

 

 

 

Hope you like it.