I’m sure you’ve sat at a business lunch–one that isn’t going so well–with the scene quickly reimagined as you screaming, “Tell Jabba…” and firing a blaster beneath the table to take our your would be assailant. (Yes, Han shot FIRST.) In December, Han Solo’s blaster from Star Wars was auctioned off to an anonymous buyer. The iconic prop fetched $200,000; was slightly worn, slightly dusty and yes, not in the slightest way functional. Some thought this ridiculous, yet it is a movie prop permanently etched in movie history and our minds. The shape sets it apart and for the collectors or sportsmen sci-fi-sters in the audience, a full-blown, laser-firing BlasTech DL-44 HEAVY BLASTER PISTOL would be the ultimate prize. For Bob Boyd, the same holds true and even though we’re not quite there with lasers, his article details the adventure of everything that goes into recreating a live-ammo-firing Han Solo Blaster.
“Armed with a detailed technical manual I found online (which was essential—especially for a handgun containing a single screw) it took several weeks of sporadic tinkering through trial and error,… I focused on learning about each of the components that gave Solo’s blaster its eye-catching aesthetics.”
Little did he know at the time, there were others out there, who were not only fanatical about the weapon, but had gone over images, screen captures and sketches with incredible detail. It was through a friend, that he came across the Replica Prop Forum.
“…the replica prop forum (or RPF, where members produce props from various forms of media: comics, films, TV shows), [was] another source of invaluable information for my project. To describe it as the epicenter of the replica prop community would be an understatement of cosmic proportions. It was there I found a 68-page forum thread authored by Carson Case and Pat Matera (also known as Deadbolt and Kpax) who spent 18 months studying every detail and dimension of the original prop by examining every photo, screen capture and sketch with a level of scrutiny that would make crime-scene investigators envious.”
With the passion of the prop-making community and that much detail, you would think the process of completing it simple. Well, more simple. Even with the gun ready and able to fire, there were still the ‘greeblies’ to sort out.
The little things that make up the Han Solo blaster are of equal importance, so much so they have their own word in the prop-making community: greeblies, which is defined in Industrial Light and Magic founding member Lorne Peterson’s book “Sculpting a Galaxy: Inside the Star Wars Model Shop” as, “miscellaneous mechanical details that add realism to a prop, model or set.” There are heat sinks (commonly referred to as the grill) that wraps around the front edge of the blaster’s magazine well, a circular-shaped silver disc on the left side of the magazine well, which some theorize wasn’t adornment but a mere reflection from a camera flash when the prop was being photograph—hence its innocuous name “the mystery disk.”
Now imagine actually shooting a Blaster… but with no laser, muzzle flash or memorable “Bzzrrrt!” blaster sound. Somewhat disappointing huh? But, no less a fulfilling experience for Bob, and an exercise that ended with money in the pocket and a Star Wars Blaster that works much better than a life-like prop to fend off bounty hunters.
To describe shooting the live-ammo-firing Han Solo blaster as a fulfilling or a rewarding experience would be grossly understated. Minimal recoil and the absence of malfunctions left me craving a supplementary means of celebrating my firearm-oriented finale, whether it be the funky tones of Figrin D’an and the Modal Nodes, the urge to send out a casting call of storm troopers clad in their black-and-white best, or, perhaps targets of joyous Greedo green… “Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side, kid.” But having a blaster that is not only a replica of one of the most iconic sci-fi props in cinematic history—one capable of firing live ammunition—now that gives you the means to back it up.
Via: Shooting Illustrated
Image credit: Mauser 9mm variant
