My PKD Refurb (formerly Blaster original color scheme?)

[Combaticus]

Greetings, all. I've been a member at the RPF for a while and a huge fan of BR since its original theatrical release. (I went to Germany in 1982 and saw the German-dubbed international version and thought I was the coolest guy in the world.)

I'd never been a big prop collector but I'd always wanted a BR blaster, so on a whim I put a low bid on a built XEDCX PKD-1 version (sorry if I've committed a faux pas here; I've only recently started learning the version history) that needed some work, and I won. I just started refinishing the grips and stripping the grip frame, which looks like it was worked over by someone's kid brother.

I like the way it was finished (all gunmetal except for silver grip frame, butt plate, triggers and guard) but I've been considering refinishing it as a sort of "factory new" model, based on the hero version. Which brings me, finally, to my question (no luck on a forum search, so forgive me if this has been covered extensively):

Was the original butt plate all black? It seems reasonable to assume that because the grip frame on the hero is black, and the lower portions are rubbed off to reveal bare metal, and the bottom of the butt plate appears to have been black at one point, that the whole lower portion was once black, and the finish was removed by excessive polishing, whether accidentally during production or on purpose before shooting.

Obviously I'm the final arbiter of what to do with my gun, but I wanted to get your thoughts. Thanks.

[joberg]

Welcome Combaticus! Right place to be (imho) ...now as for the blaster I'm still learning about all the details, but as you'll see (and read) there are plenty of specialists here that'll help you with that question.
It seems to me that the bottom of the but was, at one time, black but with the wear and tear became what it is today (see pics of the real prop from Phase Pistol)...in the end, it's what you like that counts and since there's a lot of versions out there and all of them fit into that BR world, yours will be a nice addition to an already large amount of variations...good luck.

[andy]

Welcome Combaticus.

For the first part of your question, EDC stands for Earth Defence Corps and refers to Charles Wallace who bought the molds to Rick Ross's PKD-2 model and made them for a brief time, but unfortunately he continued to sell them without making them . So yes it is kind of faux pas to call any of the guns an EDC version.

About the hero gun's butt plate, it is of the belief of a few of us that the plate was always silver, but had the bottom painted to get rid of glare of the studio lights off the flat shiney surface. There is no evidence of any black paint on the rest of the butt plate, even in the crevices that I can see.

I would love to see anything you have of your version, so please post pictures, and any other info you have. It is all part of the history of these replicas.

Andy

[Combaticus]

[joberg]

Good stuff indeed...would be fun to upgrade the gun with metal parts (Don makes some kick-ass parts on this board)...keep up the good work.

[andy]

That is a PKD-1 and not a 2. You can tell most by the larger receiver, and the more pointed finger notches in the grip. EDC only made the PKD-2. The SDC on the gun itself stands for Shimago Dominguez Corp. Usually for the PKD's where the SDC is, it usually says PKD in the first version With a box around it. This looks like a later version before he started making the PKD-2 and he also used the SDC on those first ones of those, before he decided to get away from the movie completely and only put on the Pflager Katsumata engraving on them. It could also possibly be a combined model that was recast from several different Rick Ross PKD guns.

I need to get off my butt and finish the identification guide.

Andy

[Combaticus]

That's excellent news. I'm hopeful it's a legit PKD-1. Maybe this will be helpful: There's a serial number on the plate that holds the triggers in, as well as on the underside of the magazine box (on the gun, not the mag itself). As best as I can make out, it reads PKKP-OCC97. I tried searching for that to ID the gun, but no joy.

[andy]

I will look it up for you in my notes when I get home. It is most likely Russian, which Rick took classes in in school. He has a few different hidden codes in there including his birthday, and an ex girlfriends name.

Andy

[Combaticus]

Posted additional (not great) images:

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v381/Max_Deployment/BR%20Blaster/

My young son broke off the front trigger (twice); getting that repaired and repainted has been a little adventure in itself.

[REdYOdA]

You've got some work to do for sure, but it could be a very cool blaster to have with some TLC.

I can't believe someone painted the silver parts without taking the amber grips off first. They got silver paint on the grips

[Combaticus]

Does anyone have a front trigger for sale? If not, I'll have to expand my resin-casting skills. (Not that that's a bad thing.)

[Combaticus]

Here's where I am currently:





(More pix in the album.) I didn't really want to take it apart completely, but I've been removing one piece at a time so it might happen eventually. Or not.

Based on its general wonkiness, I have to conclude that this is a recast. That means more work, of course, but also more opportunities for greatness. The end of the Steyr chamber was not perpendicular to the barrel, so I removed the "finned" end cap and am filing the end flat. I want to replace it with a more accurate chamber/firing pin ("probe") setup. If I get really crazy, I can make a mold from my Off World.

The chamber release serves as the switch for the LEDs; I want to install a microswitch on the magazine instead. (Or maybe fake one.)

I cut off the butt plate and am reshaping it. I'm considering buying a metal buttplate for my Off World and using the OW buttplate on the PKD. I built up the bottom of the frame with Bondo.

I filled the big hole in the grip frame and used phase pistol's excellent Tomenosuke blueprints (and RAC's photo of the bare grip frame) to trace the shape of the Bulldog onto the grip, then Dremeled out the holes. I tried "routing" out a channel along the outline of the Bulldog grip, but it looked awful. Ideally I'd like it inset completely, but I have neither the tools nor the talent, so I may just fake it with paint. I'd like to make the top of the frame more like the Hero version. I think the trickiest part of this is going to be getting the grip panels to sit perfectly flush against the frame.

I'm also still rebuilding the front trigger, which I turned into Swiss cheese in a misguided paint stripping incident. (My attempts at molding and casting a new one were abject failures.) I want to add some thickness to both triggers and make the profiles more accurate; I'm still wondering how I can add grooves to the trigger faces.

So there you go. I'm learning a lot--not the least of which is how strong resin is. I didn't expect that. Onward...

[Staar]

Looking good mate and nice to see your PKD getting some REAL lovin' !

I think its no secret that Rick's version of the blaster is the most beautiful interpretation of this iconic piece of movie history and while not strictly screen accurate, its a marvellous tribute to one of the most gifted Blade Runner artists out there..

A word of caution is that the resin blaster can break at the place where the receiver joins the grip and this is primarily due to the weight of the top part of the blaster putting a lot of strain on the grip. May I suggest that when you pick it up from a lying position you don't pick it up via the grip but rather by the receiver? That way it will stay good and strong for many years.

While not the same model as yours, here is my own treasured Rick Ross PKD ..



Good luck and I'm looking forward to following your progress…

Regards

MARK
_________________

[jameth]

Did you make a blaster that looked like the auctioned hero blaster or is that photoshop???

[Staar]

[Combaticus]

That's fantastic. Very inspirational!

By the way, can you tell me about your on/off switch? I saw discussion in another thread but the links were dead. I went to my local electronics shop and asked for the smallest two-position slide switch they had, and it was close but not close enough. Is it a dip switch?

[joberg]

Thanks Staar for that gun porn (salivating while typing) I certainly can't get enough of your builds

[Gaff87]

Staar. Although I've seen your blaster many times it always blows my socks off.

Neil

[Staar]

[andy]

Check garage sales and thrift stores for old calculators and sometimes other electronics toys that will have the smaller switches. It is the only place I have seen ones that are even close.

Andy