Club Obi Wan

As some of you know, fellow COW member Burke Vader and I are planning a follow-up to our earlier fan-film. As we can't use real gun props in our holsters at some locations ( and I couldn't get any sleep the other night anyway ), I decided to look into making some inexpensive substitutes. If you have access to a band-saw and a table-top belt sander, you can crank a few of these out in no time.

I started by tracing the outline of the two pistols I needed on a scrap of 1/4" plywood, in this case, a S&W M1917 and a M96 Bolo Mauser. Trace the grip outlines ( both right and left ) on a piece of 1/2" pine, or other wood. Cut out the pistol outline and set it aside. Next, cut out the grip outlines, then contour them on a belt sander close to the final shape. Glue the grips on the plywood piece, then set aside to dry. When dry, finish contouring the grips on the belt sander, and finish up sanding by hand. Simulate grip screws by drilling a hole with a drill press, recessing both sides for the screw and nut to sit flush. Add a lanyard ring by screwing in a small eye bolt, then install a keychain ring or lanyard of choice ( the S&W ring was made from a piece of wire ).





The props are finished now except for stain and paint. Stain the grips in an appropriate color, then let dry. Paint the remainder of the gun black. Also, don't forget to paint the plywood black in between the grips - this simulates the metal frame the grips are attached too. Finish off with a light coat of varnish, or leave it a natural finish. I was originally going to carve in the checkering, but decided not to as it won't be seen anyway during filming.





That's it! Hopefully this method might come in handy for those of you looking for a cheap alternative to fill your holster.

Those look great.

If you ever did a run, I would consider getting one.


...just sayin...

Well done!

Absolutely brilliant!!!

HIGH regards! Michaelson

Geez, you're all makin' me blush! Thanks, guys. As far as doing a run of these? Maybe someday, but the interest would have to be enough to justify buying a sheet of plywood, more pine and some hardware. I just used what scraps and parts I had lying around - the only thing I had to pick up were the eyelets and a small keychain ring.

Huh....... Nicely done!

Mike

Those are very cool. And would be very useful for us guys in less gun friendly countries.

They are probably quite labour intensive to make aren't they?

Building the two props took about three hours, I think? The straight-sided Mauser grips went pretty quick, but the rounded contours on the S&W grips were a bit of a pain to shape corectly. I could only do so much on the belt sander ( especially the inside curve ) before having to finish it off by hand-sanding ( a drum sander would probobly work well for doing this job ). I made the recessed circles for the S&W medalllions with a Dremel as a test, but those didn't turn out as well as I would have liked - not flat and centered enough. If I were to do this detail again, I might try a sanding bit in a drill press for a better look. As it is, they can't be seen when in the holster anyway, so no biggie.

This is a very clever work-around.
I would paint the whole thing orange or bright blue apart from the grips to be sure of staying on the right side of the law.

Solent MKIII wrote:Geez, you're all makin' me blush! Thanks, guys. As far as doing a run of these? Maybe someday, but the interest would have to be enough to justify buying a sheet of plywood, more pine and some hardware. I just used what scraps and parts I had lying around - the only thing I had to pick up were the eylets and a small keychain ring.

Interest? All you'd have to do is make a run and offer it to the folks who go to the Cons all over, and they'll work you to death. I guarantee!

Regards! Michaelson

I'd have to hit someone around here up for a WG tracing to go along with the S&W pattern if I did make a run in the future. I don't think I'd have to worry about the Browning Hi Power, though, unless someone is planning to dress as "Morning on the 'Bantu Wind' Indy" and tuck it in their waistband!

enigmata wood wrote:This is a very clever work-around.
I would paint the whole thing orange or bright blue apart from the grips to be sure of staying on the right side of the law.

That is a very good idea - I'll definetly keep it in mind for the future if I make more.

It was made a good study.
Thank you.
Will I make even "round fan" from your idea?

moto

Excellent work! Reminds me of the wood guns my grandpa made for me as a kid.

One suggestion (taken from grandpa's design) is to add some half-round to either side of the S&W for the cylinder. It'll help fill out the holster better too.

Regards,

Indiana Jeff

Ha! That's EXACTLY what my dad told me tonight when he saw it. That, and maybe some half-round for the barrel as well.

moto wrote:It was made a good study.
Thank you.
Will I make even "round fan" from your idea?

moto

Thanks, Moto. Feel free to use any ideas or methods I put down here! I look forward to seeing your upcoming projects - your S&W revolver replicas turned out fantastic.

You sure could though I don't know how much difference it would make to filling out the holster.

Regards,

Indiana Jeff

Those are really fantastic, well done!

Was there a reason you didn't drill out the trigger guard?
You could use a spade bit or even a hole cutting drill bit (one of the large ones
with the saw teeth on the end).

Again, well done! They look pretty real in the holsters!

Russ

Thanks, Rook. I considered it, but since they weren't going to be seen, I skipped it. I may cut them out if I make more later - I need to get the scroll saw fixed anyway for future projects, or pick up one of those cutting bits.

Great job!

Solent MKIII wrote:unless someone is planning to dress as "Morning on the 'Bantu Wind' Indy" and tuck it in their waistband!

I think that's one of easiest Indy looks to pull off.

Now this was an awsome thread to come across. I'm going to the N.E. wizard world comic con in October and was wondering what to put in my holster. Now I no.
I like to work with wood so I think I'll start this project tommorrow. Thanks Solent MKIII.

Croft

Brilliant! Casting my vote for a Run in 2011!

Thanks, IndyMack. Maybe later in the year I'll try making a small run, after my buddy and I finish up our short film. My free time's taken up building prop and set pieces for this project - a little tiring, but fun.

As a suggestion, you could make an outline template that would be e-mailed out to people and they could do the cutting since getting the pattern correct would be the tough part. Not to take away for the possibility of you making some scratch on a run...

Regards,

Indiana Jeff

Just come across this thread. Fantastic idea and execution! Ideal for dressing up over here in the UK. Very well done!

Thanks, Satipo.

Indiana Jeff wrote:As a suggestion, you could make an outline template that would be e-mailed out to people and they could do the cutting since getting the pattern correct would be the tough part. Not to take away for the possibility of you making some scratch on a run...

Regards,

Indiana Jeff

Not a bad idea at all! I'll put a full-size pattern together for the pistol outline and the grips and post it up in the near future, along with the required hardware. I might try using some reproduction lanyard rings next time, too - give it an even more authentic look while in the holster. Here's how it looked during filming:



You can't even see it this clearly in the actual footage, but it did its job well.