Notes from the Armoury

Notes from the Armoury of the Independent Airship, Reluctant...

A weapon guaranteed to stop Airship Pirates, Charging Rhinostrahorses, Hungry Venusian Swamp Rats, Wild Bantha's or the occasional run away Steam Train!





I've always been a big fan of the rayguns as portrayed in the pulp magazines of the 20's and 30's, so when I got a chance, I made one. At least I made my version of one. To that end, I give you my latest creation, The Barsoomian Blaster!

This started out as a collection of various sizes of brass bar and a frame from a Crossman Model 130 air pistol that I found in a pile of junk parts at a garage sale. All that was left of the air pistol was the frame, black plastic grips and compression tube. The barrel and all associated parts were on the missing list.

I made a new set of grips from Purpleheart and then started turning brass. There are twelve turned pieces including the scope mount which I dovetailed to fit a set of scope rings I found in my "possibles" box. Everything else is hand made by me from solid brass.

Now any raygun isn't worth it's salt unless it actually "does" something so I added a "Carolinium" power cell. (Now anybody who recognizes where the term "Carolinium" comes from gets 500 imaginary Interwebz bucks and the label of "complete science fiction geek.")




It might be a bit hard to see in this photo but the "Power Cell" is on in the picture above, and glows with a wicked red glow even in daytime. In the dark, the effect is more dramatic obviously. I'm not quite ready to disclose my "Sooper Seekrit" power source but I'll give you a hint. Go to Pet Smart and look for laser cat toys. Now, how I made it glow is my secret for the nonce. In the dark it looks more like this. The power cell is controlled by twisting the knurled knob at the rear of the barrel.

I think it's pretty cool, but then I may be a bit prejudiced. All in all it took me about 50 hours of shop time to make this thing.

It's not a small gun, as it's over twelve inches long and weighs about as much as a .45 automatic.

I want to have this on my hip for Steam Con in Seattle this October, so I guess I'll have to start making a holster for it. That should just be a ton of fun!

A woman's work is never done I guess.