New Ray Gun

This is the newest addition to the arsenal, and is one my favorites. Its mostly a repaint of a toy gun I found at the store, with some additions fastened throughout. I started working on it around the time that I made the first batch of guns, and it looked more like this:

There had been a slit in the back of the casing where a tension lever stuck out to help propel darts. I took the lever out and covered it with electrical tape. I then added adhesive brads to the tape to resemble bolts.By the time I painted it, it looked pretty good. Still pretty cool, but I wanted to add some more to it; the hole in the grip was bugging me a bit.

 The green nodes are screw covers stuck to a decorative coat button, with little metal doodads glued to the ends.

I added a washer and a toy antennae-ish thing to the barrel. I found a cool meshy material that fit over the gap in the handle, and the gun started coming together. There was a fin at the front of the barrel that I shaved off so that it would holster better.






Overall, it came out pretty good.

Steam-Bot!!!

I call this guy Steamhead, and I built him about a year ago, but just finished the paint job recently. He is truly an assemblage piece, using all sort of plastic odds & ends and mostly held together by a bunch of wire, and some good fortune.

I love the pot-belly stove look and the steampipe for a head. The face came out rather well, and definitely has a victorian gentlemanly look. The mustache cracks me up...

Again, a bunch of random pieces and clippings from other items. The mouthpiece is actually part of a foil doily (I think).The head was originally going to hang from the chest on a rod and look much more menacing. I'm glad I went this way with it though; he looks much cooler like this.

For some reason, I don't have pics of the back. There is keyhole in the back, that actually fits a small key. Sadly, the key doesn't really do anything; you'll just have to use your imagination.

Book Cover Above the Aether...

The premier of my friend Win Strock's steampunk novel is quickly approaching and now has a cover (which sadly, I didn't provide), but it is pretty good nonetheless. Very excited...

He also runs a cool blog as well, and is worth checking out:

http://adventures-above-the-aether.blogspot.com/

Cheers.

Steampunk Art Groups

I've been on deviantArt.com for a while now and some of my work has been added to a couple of retro sci-fi groups; a very awesome community. Some very cool steampunk and related objects of curiosity there. Check them out...

http://dieselpunkmachine.deviantart.com/

&

http://nikola-teslapunk.deviantart.com/

Retro Rocket

Just came across this in a file on my computer. I did this about four or five years ago as a set of decorations for a kid's room. Thought it appropriate, so here it is...

Now on deviant ART

I now have a gallery on deviant ART. If you're not familiar, this is a great online artistic community and you can spend a lot of time surfing the galleries. I will still post everything here as well, along with other steampunk/ray gun related stuff.

My gallery is at:

http://kenlaber.deviantart.com/

Keep zap'n!!!

New Batch

Here are the latest ray guns. Some of these ideas had been rolling around in my head for a while, and was able to finish them during my vacation last week. Also, got a chance to use the new light box my wife got me for Christmas; the quality of photo for these latest customs are undeniably better.

The barrel is put together with some plastic toy parts and a shaped wooden craft dowel. In case you didn't know, it can be very tough to make wood look like metal. Didn't seal the dowel first, which I should have to keep the paint from being absorbed by the grain; but, live and learn. Hit it with multiple coats and it eventually went in the right direction.

Also, tried a new method of adding fins. Instead of anchoring the fin halfway inside the gun base for stability, I created two 1/8 inch tabs at the bottom of the fin while cutting it from the plastic. I drilled two holes at the top of the gun and then glued them together. This worked great, and was a lot easier.

The tricky part here was that the top of the gun was rounded, so I had to keep going back to get the curve at the bottom of the fin right. Also, the tabs have to extend at an angle to compensate for the curve of the gun. I used goop to fill the holes and any gap between the gun and fin, then hit with some dry brushed paint. Came out great.

This gun is all handle. Not a lot to say here, though I was really happy with the result.

I keep coming back to this basic design; I just love the techo-elegence of it. I've added some a few new elements to it, including a movable setting dial (which is kind of hard to make out in this photo) and a cool tesla antennae thingy in the glass chamber (also difficult to make out). Sorry. I will try to get some better photos of this.

This gun is a testament to what you can find in those cardboard drawers at the hardware store, when you have the time to browse.

This is my first time using a cowboy gun base, which can be beautifully ornate and decorated. I fooled around with this one for a while, trying out a few different barrel ideas. It took a while, but the end result was pretty cool.

The biggest triumph here was getting away from gluing everything and using more screws and bolts. Some of the pieces are pretty small, so using hardware can be prohibitive. This one worked out good and is a lot more sturdy than some of the other ray guns.

Its sometimes important to show both sides. I love non-symmetrical design, so you really have to flip a gun around to see all of the features.

That is it for now. There is one more gun from this set that is nearly finished and I will post a pic when its done. Also, the rifle is coming! Hopefully soon.