The Lady's Steam Blaster -
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I wanted to build a Steampunk weapon. I took my inspiration from Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers. The first thing that presented itself was a child's microscope I brought from a car boot sale, the elegant curve of the neck suggested a stylish hand grip. The barrel and side scope are some old brass garden hose fittings I found rummaging in the garage. I built a small pen torch into the scope. The pressure chamber on top is made out of the body of an alarm clock I had already stripped and a steel sugar bowl from a charity shop. The muzzle reflector was the alarm clock's own bell. Putting it together was easy enough as the pieces suggested themselves but the whole thing lacked some style and bizazz until Nikki suggested that I decoupage the hand grip using some Victorian inspired paper. I glued this over the metal and then lacquered it to protect it from wear.
It's got a really nice feel and balance and I think Gordon and Flash would have loved it. For information about the carrying strap in the picture please see the Other Things page. (Sold) |
The Steam Glock -
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In Abergavenny flea market we came across a beautiful rose wood box containing a set of brass mechanical bits, I didn't know what they were but I wanted them. It was a wonderful Richard's Engine Indicator from the late 19th C. made of solid, engine grade, brass.
The pieces themselves shouted out to me they would make wonderful Steampunk gun parts, including the main part with what looks exactly like a barrel breech. Because I loved the look and feel of the pieces I decided to go with as minimum re-engineering as possible. I found an old airgun pistol in the shed, repainted the wood, and mounted the brass parts on to it. The leather on the hand grip was from an old belt in my leather bits box, the other fittings also came out of my clock bits box. The brass butterfly roundels were left over jewellery bits. I loved the patina of the old brass pieces and the copper cowling over the barrel. By not cutting the original parts about too much it allowed for moving parts to remain functioning. The whole strange arrangement on the back functions, pulling the internal spring and "firing pin". It's heavy, well balanced and looks and feels like a real pistol. (Sold) |
The Steampunked Blunderbuss -
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I came across this replica postman's blunderbuss in Fab 'n' Faded in Gloucester. It had just arrived with two other nice replica pistols. If I had had the money I'd have bought them all but this was the choicest piece.
I needed to fix the mechanism and rubbed black paint and boot polish into the wood, metal and filigree to bring it to life and give it the rich colour you see in the picture. I wanted to Steampunk it but without hacking it about too much and losing it's style. So I decided to simply mount a small telescope that Nikki brought me as a gun sight on top. The fitting I used to mount it on the gun was a left over part of the brass Piston Calibration kit I used to make the Steam Glock. The result is a formidably realistic looking weapon. You wouldn't mess with Postman Pat if he was carrying this. (Sold) |