Iron like Eastwood...
Well, it's finally finished.
I have now designed, built, constructed, and painted my model Caster.
For those who don't know what a Caster is, it's my term for an uber-powerful personal firearm.
Through one of my connections, I have access to an FDM (Fused Deposition Modeling) machine, which takes thin plastic thread and heats it up to a molten state, then squeezes it out even thinner to build, line by line, layer by layer, a three-dimensional model of virtually whatever you can design on the computer.
This machine is approximately #2 on my top 5 list of favorite things to play with.
You may ask, if this machine is so incredibly cool, what could possibly be my #1 thing to play with?
For the slow people who actually asked this question, I shall refer you to the second line of this entry.
But, for those who figured it out, let's continue.
The Caster.
Measuring a monstrous 13.25 inches from the end of the barrel to the back of the handle and six inches from end to end of the barrel, this 'Old-West-revolver' style beast is constructed of four parts (the handle/rear frame, the barrel/front frame, the cylinder, and the locking rail to keep the front and rear frames in line), and features the ability to unlock and open the weapon to load and unload the bullets into the cylinder. The cylinder spins when the Caster is open, and, when closed, a bump on the rear frame interlocks with pits in the cylinder to prevent it from spinning; that way when some hapless punk looks down the business end of my gun, they don't see half a bullet staring down the barrel at them...
Now, for the bullets.
Through another of my connections, I have the opportunity to purchase specialty metal parts. One of these parts is brass, and looks much like a bullet cartridge with a hole in the back end. The other part is stainless steel, and, with a pair of silicone o-rings, it fits perfectly inside the brass part to create a scarily good-looking fake bullet that's 1.25 inches long, a half-inch along the major diameter of the shell, with a 0.375 inch diameter slug.
That's right, I said 0.375 inch diameter slug.
That's a full three-eigths of an inch across.
Were this a real weapon, and you shot someone with it, they WOULD NOT be getting back up.
And, in the true Old West style, the revolver holds six bullets.
I currently have a stock of 12.
Harry Callahan would be proud.
Now, having painted the handle black, I could have continued and painted the rest of the model silver, but as I might not be allowed to bring a model that realistic to a convention, I have settled on keeping the main body the white color of the plastic.
And as for the name?
Well, every great gun needs a great name, and the Caster deserves nothing less.
In keeping with this tradition, the name 'Selene' has been selected in homage to Kate Beckinsale's character from 'Underworld', based on a number of similarities:
1. Both are pale and wrapped in black.
2. Both can be considered Deathdealers; Kate Beckinsale's character because that's her title in the movie, the Caster because it deals death.
3. Given enough bullets, they can both take out just about anything.
The next step in the project is to create a holster for the Caster which can be worn on the hip gunslinger-style.
After that, I think a number of specialty rounds are in order...
After all, regular bullets are fine and dandy for ordinary humans and even zombies, but what about werewolves, vampires, and other monsters that, while not necessarily real, one would love to take aim at with such a beauty of a weapon?
Borrowing a few ideas from 'Underworld', I think I'll create some AG bullets for the werewolves and UV bullets for the vampires...
And then there's the absolutely essential explosive bullets, tranquilizer and poison bullets, flashbang/flare bullets, freeze bullets utilizing the technology behind those glowing blue pellets from 'Demolition Man', green kryptonite bullets to handle evil Kryptonians, and perhaps a set of black hole bullets for eliminating large enemies...
But that's work for another day.
Now I'm going to go watch the 'Dirty Harry' movies, and quote all the good lines while striking poses with my new toy...
And eventually, I might get around to posting some pictures of Selene...
I have now designed, built, constructed, and painted my model Caster.
For those who don't know what a Caster is, it's my term for an uber-powerful personal firearm.
Through one of my connections, I have access to an FDM (Fused Deposition Modeling) machine, which takes thin plastic thread and heats it up to a molten state, then squeezes it out even thinner to build, line by line, layer by layer, a three-dimensional model of virtually whatever you can design on the computer.
This machine is approximately #2 on my top 5 list of favorite things to play with.
You may ask, if this machine is so incredibly cool, what could possibly be my #1 thing to play with?
For the slow people who actually asked this question, I shall refer you to the second line of this entry.
But, for those who figured it out, let's continue.
The Caster.
Measuring a monstrous 13.25 inches from the end of the barrel to the back of the handle and six inches from end to end of the barrel, this 'Old-West-revolver' style beast is constructed of four parts (the handle/rear frame, the barrel/front frame, the cylinder, and the locking rail to keep the front and rear frames in line), and features the ability to unlock and open the weapon to load and unload the bullets into the cylinder. The cylinder spins when the Caster is open, and, when closed, a bump on the rear frame interlocks with pits in the cylinder to prevent it from spinning; that way when some hapless punk looks down the business end of my gun, they don't see half a bullet staring down the barrel at them...
Now, for the bullets.
Through another of my connections, I have the opportunity to purchase specialty metal parts. One of these parts is brass, and looks much like a bullet cartridge with a hole in the back end. The other part is stainless steel, and, with a pair of silicone o-rings, it fits perfectly inside the brass part to create a scarily good-looking fake bullet that's 1.25 inches long, a half-inch along the major diameter of the shell, with a 0.375 inch diameter slug.
That's right, I said 0.375 inch diameter slug.
That's a full three-eigths of an inch across.
Were this a real weapon, and you shot someone with it, they WOULD NOT be getting back up.
And, in the true Old West style, the revolver holds six bullets.
I currently have a stock of 12.
Harry Callahan would be proud.
Now, having painted the handle black, I could have continued and painted the rest of the model silver, but as I might not be allowed to bring a model that realistic to a convention, I have settled on keeping the main body the white color of the plastic.
And as for the name?
Well, every great gun needs a great name, and the Caster deserves nothing less.
In keeping with this tradition, the name 'Selene' has been selected in homage to Kate Beckinsale's character from 'Underworld', based on a number of similarities:
1. Both are pale and wrapped in black.
2. Both can be considered Deathdealers; Kate Beckinsale's character because that's her title in the movie, the Caster because it deals death.
3. Given enough bullets, they can both take out just about anything.
The next step in the project is to create a holster for the Caster which can be worn on the hip gunslinger-style.
After that, I think a number of specialty rounds are in order...
After all, regular bullets are fine and dandy for ordinary humans and even zombies, but what about werewolves, vampires, and other monsters that, while not necessarily real, one would love to take aim at with such a beauty of a weapon?
Borrowing a few ideas from 'Underworld', I think I'll create some AG bullets for the werewolves and UV bullets for the vampires...
And then there's the absolutely essential explosive bullets, tranquilizer and poison bullets, flashbang/flare bullets, freeze bullets utilizing the technology behind those glowing blue pellets from 'Demolition Man', green kryptonite bullets to handle evil Kryptonians, and perhaps a set of black hole bullets for eliminating large enemies...
But that's work for another day.
Now I'm going to go watch the 'Dirty Harry' movies, and quote all the good lines while striking poses with my new toy...
And eventually, I might get around to posting some pictures of Selene...