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Handmade Steampunk Rayguns From the F/X Guys at Weta

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the zap-zap-pew-zap-pew-pew dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Wired is presenting a gallery of artwork that inspired Weta's collectible rayguns, plus exclusive photos of the retrofurist sidearms. The article offers more than just images; each weapon has a description of where they were inspired from, as well as possible uses. 'In this illustration by Greg Broadmore, a hunter poses with his latest kill and his elegant retrofurist rifle ... "I started drawing these things just for fun," says Broadmore. "I did dozens of designs, all really stylized and Flash Gordon looking. I remember those black and white serials playing on TV as a kid and the imagery always stuck with me. Really hokey, but really scary and weird at the same time. And, of course, if you're a fan of classic rayguns you'll see the influence of the old toy rayguns. The Buck Rogers disintegrator pistol -- of course directly referenced in Han Solo's blaster in Star Wars -- is iconic, and that original raygun, along with many others, inspired me massively.'"

3 of 103 comments (clear)

  1. I don't see it... by Loligo · · Score: 2, Informative


    Beyond the images in the article, I just did a google image search for "buck rogers pistol" and don't see anything significantly relevant to Han Solo's D-44... if anything, it reminds me just how little they changed the Mauser Broomhandle to turn it into a blaster.

      -l

  2. Han Solo weapon by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    Han Solo's weapon is simply an augmented Mauser C96 pistol.

  3. Careful with that capacitor... by mbessey · · Score: 2, Informative

    "The VDG is safer than a Tesla coil, so for a newbie like me it seems like just the ring thing."

    That's only the case because the VDG creates such a small current. If you start storing it, you're increasing the potential for a lethal shock. A square foot or so of capacitor can easily store enough charge to kill you, depending on the dielectric. At 30 KV or so, the discharges from my homemade HV capacitors sounded like gunshots - I got complaints from the neighbors.

    As for your other idea, I'm not convinced that it'll work the way you think it will. You probably won't be able to move enough charge onto an object to make much of a magnetic field when it moves. The amount of electrons "flowing" in a DC current is very very high. Take a look at the definitions of the Ampere, and the Coulomb to get some idea of the quantities involved.