Anyone know the Movellans Ray-gun Measurements & what it may be made of?

All I have is one close up, a distance from hand reference, & a blueprint pic, (I forgot were got it, or who I got it from).

That diagram looks like it's from the Doctor Who Technical Manual from the 1980s. The "emitter" I'd say is pink-tinted perspex for the "vanes", and clear for the discs, with a silver ball at the base and a clear rod for the central "core" of the emitter.

The hand piece? On the actual prop it looks like a piece of PVC pipe somewhere between 4 and 6 inches in diameter, with one of those domed pipe caps on the "business end". Either that or that "dome" on the end is a ball of some sort that has the same diameter of the pipe and was cut to match, and then had slots cut in it for the emitter vanes, and a small hole cut in the end for the central core's silver ball so sit in.

Cutting the back end of the pipe is easy enough: cut a smooth curve into the pipe, then cut a slot into the pipe, and finally drill a small hole in each side perpendicular to the slot and put a long bolt or some rod through it for the inner hand grip.

Again I'd try to come up with more ideas, but my brain is running on fumes now, but hopefully some of this has been helpful.

Dino.

I recall the Steve Cambden book "The Doctor's Effects" has a drawing of this prop, I can't be sure about measurements though.

I guess you could scale the Technical Manual drawing with your own hand.

Here's a picture which I believe is of an original:

Going by that last image, and the ones of the Movellans holding the weapon, I'm almost positive that grey part is 6 inches in diameter. So there is a good chance that the hand grip section was made in part from PVC pipe. The tinted and clear perspex, and the (frosted?) sphere in the center of the emitter are also self-evident. I'm not sure that the grey dome on the grip is made from, but I know I've seen that same thing used on barrier posts outside of some stores, and I'm sure other members in the States know what I'm talking about, so maybe one of them will jump in if someone knows what that sort of "end cap" is officially called.

Again, another great image, David! (You're starting to rival Kingpin with reference images! )

Dino.

Quote from: davidnagel on Mar 29, 2016, 09:58 am

I was doing a little web searching for the right pink acylic. Tell me what you think?

This is a Pink Fluorescent Gloss Acrylic Transparent Perspex Sheet

That looks like a good match.

I'd say that's a very good match, especially when you consider that, if the image David posted is of an actual prop, the pink of those vanes may have faded some over the last 40 or so years.

Yeah: a really good match with that pink perspex! Nice find, elkad!

Dino.

I found 4inch PVC drain pipe works good for the handle, as for the gray dome, I think half a 4" custom plastic charismas ornament from a hobby store, or vacuum formed sphere (which is much the same as the charismas ornament), or fiberglass molding (which they use a lot in the making of Doctor who props & devices).

As for the light emitter I would use a one of those transparent egg capsules from a store's plastic capsule toy dispenser.

[noimg width=570 height=398]https://img1.etsystatic.com/029/0/8129587/il_570xN.559537353_34i1.jpg[/img]

Here's a little help with that image, elkad, since the one you posted didn't come through for some reason:



When my kids were young, especially The Evil One, they used to call then "Treasures", and would snatch them up when they say one lying about near one of those dispensing machines. They used to be all over the house at one time. (The cat's loved to engage in battle with those capsules. And unfortunately if you don't see one, they do break really easily when you step on them.)

They do come in different sizes, from ones the size of a chicken egg to as small as a robin's egg, so one of those would be really good to look for to use in the emitter. Great idea! I'd get the different sizes and see which one fits in place the best.

Dino.

A couple thoughts, measuring the fins & cutting? As I work it out in my head, first measure the emitter on a cardboard cut out, make a bigger circle for the first ring, going form the bottom up. Then .... Balnk... I think, how long are the fins, how big is the last ring at the tip, & what is  the spacing of the rings. If I make 4 identical fins, how do I figure out how big the tabs are to fit each ring. If I'm off, the rings might not fit, or fit at an angel.

I was also wondering if the fins are cut around the gray dome or are they slid into cut holes & glued down, which would make fitting the fins easier than measuring & cutting an exact curve to the gray dome.

Taking this one step at a time:

Ring Diameter: The main body is 4 inches in diameter. The largest ring is just a little smaller - maybe about 3.75 inches, which makes a .125 (1/8th)-inch narrower "gap" all round the main body. If the decrease is consistent with all rings, then the next would be 3.5 inches, then 3.25, then 3.0, then 2.75, then 2.5, and the last ring 2.25 inches. (Try that with some cardboard to see how it looks. If it looks a little too large, then start with the smaller ring, make it the appropriate visual size, and work your way larger from there.) Once that's done you'll have to work out what the diameter is for the hole in the ring. (It's very hard to guess at that one from these images.)

Ring Spacing: Looking at all of the images we've got, using the Movellan's hand (resting naturally) as a guide, and my hand with a ruler for a comparison, the emitter looks like it's roughly 8 inches from tip to the first ring, which is almost resting on the grey dome. With 7 rings, almost evenly spaced from largest to smallest and leaving that extra space for the "point" on the emitter, the rings look about 1 inch apart.

Emitter Fin length: With the emitter being 8 inches from tip to the top of the grey dome, and the dome being a 4-inch diameter hemi (to match the 4-inch diameter "hand tube" of the weapon), add two more inches for the hemi since the fins stop where the hemi meets the tube and you've got 10-inch long fins. Then using the rings and the hemi as a guide, the straight part of the fins is 3 inches long - 2 inches to clear the top of the dome, and then 1 more inch to get to the second ring where the angled part starts.

Angle of the Fins: Looking at the prop, the angle of the fins doesn't match the decreasing diameter of the rings as the spacing between the edge of the rings and the outer edge of the fins gets thinner and thinner as the rings get closer to the emitter point. That one will have to be eyeballed in person using some cardboard to get the angle right, and then use the card as a template for cutting the fins.

Getting the rings even: Once you've got the fins measured and cut out, tape them all together in a stack, and tape them well so they don't slip. Mark out the places for the slots, starting 1 inch back from the pointy end and place another mark 1 inch back from that and so on until you've marked out the place for all seven rings' slots. Now if you've got access to a band saw it will make the cutting easy. Mark out the depth of each slot according to the thickness of its ring. (Remember the inner diameter of the rings' hole? The fins slot over the rings right to the edge of the inner hole.) Use the saw - band saw or carefully with a hand saw - and cut the slots in all four fins at once. This will ensure equal spacing and depth. Cut the slots a little on the narrow side because you can always sand or cut a little more away if it's too tight for the ring to slot in, but you can't put back anything if you've cut the slot too wide. (Test fit your rings after you've cut each slot to see if the slot needs more work.) Once you've got everything cut to your liking, then the slots will be evenly spaced and aligned on each fin, and the rings should sit level, provided the emitter is assembled level.

Now would be the time to assemble the emitter, minus the frosted dome and the center rod. (That comes later.)

Attaching The Emitter: Okay, now this is a really tough one. It's impossible to tell if the emitter fins were slotted into the dome, or if they were just glued on. You can't see any gaps where the emitter meets the dome, and unless someone took great care when they assembled this thing, you would see some gap on at least one of the fins. But all of the fins look like they're right on top of the dome. So, how to go about achieving that look... Best guess?

Method 1: Mark out as close to a perfect + as you can across the top and over the dome. Mark out the circle where the frosted dome inside the emitter fins is going to be. (Don't cut that out yet.) Then - again very carefully with whatever saw you're using - cut out the slots in the dome to fit the fins, stopping before you get to the circle for the inner frosted dome. (Test fit the fins to make sure they'll be snug.) Remember, you have to go all the way to the end of the large end of the dome, and with just that small area for the frosted inner emitter dome for structure, the grey dome is going to be weak and somewhat flimsy until it's permanently affixed to the weapon main body and the emitters are affixed to the dome. If the dome just happens to be rigid enough, use some strong glue (super glue) and affix the (by now completed emitter assembly) into the slots in the dome so the back of the fins is even with the large end of the dome as seen on the prop. (Make sure to let this dry/cure thoroughly.) While this is curing, attach your clear/frosted rod to the frosted inner dome and let that cure as well. Once everything is all dry and has some structural integrity, from the inside of the grey dome, cut out the circle for the frosted inner dome. Then push the frosted dome and rod through the hole into the emitter assembly to see if the rod needs trimming down. Trim as needed to give the inner dome a snug fit and glue it in place. Now the dome/emitter is done.

Method 2: Carefully cut out a cardboard template for the curve of the grey dome so it matches as closely as possible. Use that template to cut a curve in the fins of the emitter. Test fit the fins on the dome, sanding away at the curve until the fins sit on the dome with little to no gaps. Cut out the hole for the inner frosted dome. Now using that super glue attach the emitter fins to the dome, having the fins' curve just being glued to the top of the dome. Then put the inner dome and rod in place as above.

Both Method 1 and 2 have their pros and cons, so it's all up to what you feel the most comfortable doing to mate the emitter with the dome. The fins stand proud of the base of the dome just a little, so it is possible that they were slotted in, but without having a good image of the prop's inside, we're left to guess.

Anyway, I hope some of this rambling is helpful.

Dino. (My eyes are starting to bleed. )

Quote from: galacticprobe on Dec 28, 2016, 04:57 amAnd you know you can use the "Spoiler" Tag for surprises, rather than having to add all of those line returns...

I didn't, but now I do - thank you!

Yes, I've been keeping tabs on the Movellan gun build and, from what I can see,

Using Peter Logan's original design spec, plus a couple of decent props refs, I've put this together as a scaled visual - that's what I'll be working towards (obviously with 4 pink 'fins', not 2).

Ah, I see this was moved from the Christmas thread - makes sense. I guess there's no going back now, and I'll have to make it!

I did some measurements of my so far prop. Can anyone make a print out I can trace on the acrylic from these measurements?

If you use something like Microsoft's Paint to draw the parts at full size, you could print the plans for the parts out and trace them from those.

In order to ensure you get the plans full-size, you could use http://www.unitconversion.org/typography/pixels-x-to-millimeters-conversion.html .

This is a free program and tells you how many pixels you need to create a diagram at full scale. For example if you needed to draw a circle which is 60 mm in diameter, you would need to draw it at 227 pixels in diameter and then simply print it at full size.

Does that help at all?

T