Introduction: PROP the Hellboy Samaritan Gun

You can buy a replica of the Good Samaritan from the Hellboy movies but there's no way to import anything even remotely gun shaped into Australia. This is my attempt to build a prop that looks as real as possible. NOTE: This is a REPLICA AND WON'T OPERATE AS A GUN - even tho it opens, the trigger and hammer move and the cylinder spins!!

Step 1: Requirements

First task was to find as many pix from as many different angles as possible and draw a set of top/side/front and rear views in 1:1 scale.

Tools needed...
sharp hobby knife & blades
Pallette knife
sandpaper, dremel/drill various tools,
small pieces of sheet metal
wood - i had some stuff that was 42mm wide and about that was perfect.
L shaped brackets and various screws, washers and bolts
sheet foam - the stuff that aircraft modellers - balsa wood or stiff cardboard at a pinch
various glues - foam glue, superglue, epoxy
brass or aluminium tubes of varying sizes - 2.5cm aluminium tube x 70cm or so
water putty and black acrylic paint or ink
vaseline or oil to use as a release agent
air drying hobby clay / fimo
lead fishing weights or scrap small pieces of metal.

Step 2: The Cylinder

mark out a circle in foam panel as the base of the cylinder. It's possible to use stiff cardboard or a hacked up soda bottle. The alumium tube is cut into 4 sections just higher than the cylinder tube. The remaining section is used to cast the barrel. Glue the 4 tubes (covered with oil/vaseline) and a centre tube just wide enough for a long bolt to pass through. Make sure these are level and correctly spaced or the cylinder wont spin properly. Make sure that a narrow band is is glued to the top of each tube - this acts as a lip that stops the shells falling down the barrel!
Mix water putty and water to a thick paste and add enough black paint or ink to colour the water putty to a dark grey. Any air holes can be filled with extra putty when the tubes are removed from the partly dried cast after an hour - any features not cast can be carved into the cylinder whilst still semi dry. A small spacer cut from tube makes sure the nut that holds the cylinder in place doesn't stop it spinning.... locktite would do the same.
A - B

Drill a hole and mount the cylinder on a piece of wood that making sure the when the cylinder spins there's enough clearance to insert the long piece of alumium tube into the topmost chamber. The barrel is cast around this so anchor the cylinder with plasticine to prevent it moving.
The upright wooden post sits on another piece of wood of the same width. I made the hinged mechanism out of narrower aluminum tubes which i attached and reinforced out of water putty.... cut the shapes out of wood or use metal putty to build this part of the gun as there's a lot of stress here.
I added some extra alumium to make sure the armature could support the additional weight of the considerably large barrel.
- Barrel
The hexagonal barrel is made by taping 6 narrow strips together around the aluminium barrel tube. A hexagonal shape of foam is fitted over each of the tube and grey coloured water putty pressed into the resultant space.
The rail on which the sights (metal putty again) is cast in water putty seperately and then glued in place onto the barrel
A smaller block of the same width is cast in the same manner. Panels of aircraft foam are rigid enough to support the putty while it dries without distorting. The putty can be carved or grated easily when damp but a dremel and sandpaper is needed when it's dry. A narrow piece of three ply wood seperates a plastic tube that has been sealed with metal putty and filled with several lead weights.

Step 3: Barrel

You can see where the lower section of the gun has been joined to the barrel.
A strip of metal with a piece of tube is glued in place and rests on a wooden upright so that the cylinder is enclosed in a wooden frame that allows the cylinder to spin unimpeded and open easily. Build a simple foam "shell" around this part of the gun and fill with water putty...shaping or adding to the partly dry casting.
A cut down cola lid is glued to the base of the plastic tube and an L shaped bracket screwed underneath the gun - this is reinforced with epoxy glue. The stock of the gun is affixed to this so solid is the word... a piece wood would serve the same purpose.
The trigger mechanism, like the hammer is formed by cutting down a spring clip and molding metal clay and trimming it with the hobby blade. The other side of the spring clip is glued/screwed to the wood base.
Items like the spring cylinder release and the trigger guard are made by cutting a strip of metal and bending to shape. Metal clay is rolled flat between two strips of balsa and cut to width with a ruler and hobby knife and then superglued on the metal strips.

Step 4:

The underside and rear of the gun are formed by protecting the attached trigger/hammer with plasticine and foam. The rule of thumb is that larger solid pieces (barrel, cylinder) can be formed in water putty - this stuff doesn't work well for thinner more delicate pieces tho. The semi circular pieces behind the barrel were made by sandwiching water putty between foam cut to size, smoothed with a pallette knife and epoxy glued into place. The release arrangement on the side is made with the metal strip/rolled metal clay method. i sank a small spring from a ballpoint pen just below the pivot point so that the mechanism works... but used a bolt that runs through the tube/nut i'd earlier attached with metal clay to be sure the thing locks.

Step 5:

Step 6:

Step 7:

A few screws countersunk into the appropriate areas of the gun add to the authenticity.
The butt is formed by molding air drying clay. A spray with black satin paint and sanded back/silver paint highlights in the worn areas. Covered with a clear spray.
Bullets formed with the same aluminium tube used to cast the chambers… ‘silver’ was carved out of semi dry water putty that had been extruded thru that same tube and carved sanded to shape. Cast in a gelatin mold several times (in bondo) and fitted to the base of the bullet. Inserted a small lead sinker to each shell – lead sinkers added thru out the construction of the gun too.

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Step 10:

When I make another one i will mock it up in clay/aluminium etc and cast it, probably in resin. Not thrilled with the finish on some parts and resin would mean the whole thing would be strong++ with finer tolerances. credit to the Water Putty, its good stuff but I would add iron to resin and cast that or use a metal powder based paint and spray that on to cast resin..

Step 11:

PDF file with some clarification of steps involved and some basic blueprints. All scales are in inches on the plans 1:1