M41-A PULSE RIFLE

Check it out! at long last the pulse rifle mod i have been working on is complete ,here is just a short note and some pictures of the finished model,i will be doing a better review and some video in the new year (just don't have the time now ).

This pulse rifle was made trying to make it as screen accurate as possible using modelguns ,i wanted it to fire both thompson and m870 shotgun rounds as well as have a working cartridge counter .

Model used were:-
Hudson m1a1 thompson with custom steel bolt and screw on barrel extension
Tanaka full metal m870 shotgun,converted to fire Tanaka pfc shells
real steel Spas 12 shotgun heat shield and pump grip
Matsuo shroud
SD Stines barrel vent and greanade end cap
Hyperdine labs deluxe counter

OH you get the idea lots of different parts went into this,basicly what i wanted was a firing model that when the trigger was pulled the carts fired off and the counter counted down....and it works a treat (wait for the video!)

Here are some pictures of the finished model,note to all Aliens fans i did use the brown bess colour paint on the shroud as seen in the movie but it looked crap ,so i changed it to the more common olive drad ,and the best thing about this model is the more you bash the paintwork the better it looks

"Check it out"!


Sorry aout the kitchen in the background














Ain't she great

Kickback

Ah tis a beauty you'll have to bring her round next time

WoW THAT IS COOL!!!!!
I LOVE IT, I NEED IT!!!!!!
Well Done Mate Brilliant !!

just 1 word Chris: WOW!

.........speechless...

I too have to hand it to you Chris, this gun looks great, you really do come out with some great stuff! I have just two questions for you though, firstly is reguarding the round counter, I was just curious where the batteries and on/off switch are, or whether it comes on automatically when you start using it? Secondly is how many rounds does it hold in the magazine, is it the 20 round jobbies?

Excellent conversion Kickback...so one question from me - is the modification permanent (i.e. can both the Thompson and the M870 return to its original state)...ask this question because I'd learnt that Bapty had most of their guns for the Pulse Rifles returned to their original state: the patent/copyright issues prevented other filmmakers to hire these for their productions.

Hi Guys,

Thank you for all your kind words .The pulse rifle has been a long over due project of mine so i am just a glad to have finished it as you all are to see it .

Spencer-man,the magazine is indeed the standard 20 rounder.....95 rounds would be a tight fit so a little bit of imagination has to be used ,as for the round counter,it has an on/off switch located inside the mag well so it can be turned off for storage and to save battery life,but once turned on,there is a micro switch in the base of the mag well that activates the counter when the mag is inserted and another micro switch that is attached to the trigger group that activates the count down,oh and the battery is hidden within the shroud (i hollowed the resin out to accomodate a small battery holder)

Jim, the Thompson would be able to convert back to itself (just screw on a front sight) but the m870 has had the barrel and mag tube cut right down,but if replaced then yes it too would again be its normal shotgun

I hope this info helps

Kickback

OH YES, this has definately been worth the wait Kickback

This creation looks absolutely superb mate The short taster video you posted several months ago showed how well this model fires, the shotgun in particular, I can't wait to see a full length video showing more and more of it.

Fabulous work mate

I went round to kickbacks today and saw this pulse rifle and man its something else the time and work that has gone into this is something else, finding all the bits then making them fit and work so well is beyond amazing i bet it looks better in the flesh than the ones in the film, but guys i tell you this is one heavy piece of kit and i mean real heavy no one hand holding here but it sounds great as well the shotgun sounds lovely when you wrack it back and the caps are suprisingly loud and the rounds counter works superbly.
this may look good in pics but when you hold it its even better. great job kickback mate worth all that time and hard work.

Fantastic model Chris , and great to see one of these in modelgun format .

I have seen one or two airsoft variants , but this is better .

One of my very favourite screen weapons along with the Bladerunner blaster , and the " Full auto Bereeta !! " as portrayed in the superb Starship Troopers movie !

Just in time for the Colonial Marines game imminent release on Xbox 360 too !!

" Game over man , game over "

Carl.

So.... the next one would be an M56 Smart Gun, right? ;-)

Here's a link back to Kickback's original "taster" video of this marvel...

Ok,I have been asked by a few poeple to write a better review about the construction of the M41A pulse rifle modelgun that i have recently completed so i thought i'd give it a try...and try i mean,as i am by no means a great writer so beware .

The pulse rifle was originaly designed by the Bapty props ltd in the UK,after the original design that used a HK Mp5a3 was rejected by James Cameron as the muzzle flash was not bright enough!
I as a Huge Alien fan decided that i wanted to make my own Pulse rifle,so where do i start

After searching through lots of web sites that dedicated themselves to the props used in the Alien films i found all the info that i needed,and most of all,all the weapons that i needed to make the best sci fi weapon out there!

The list was as follows :- m1a1 thompson
m870 shotgun
spas 12 heat shield and pump grip
shroud
barrel vent,stock and grenade launcher end cap
digital counter
nuts, bolts, screws,metal plate and lots of tools

So to begin.....in a Galaxy far,far aw.....ooops wrong film .I had to get the models that i needed to construct the pulse rifle,firstly the m1a1,that was easy as the readily available (well it was then) Hudson was just the ticket and with a custom fitted steel bolt ..thanks to 8aces skills.thanks...it fired just as i wanted it to


Then was the m870 shotgun,it had to be full metal and work without the need for any external power scorce but where to get one
After some 8 months of my searching Tanaka released their version that fitted the bill completely,and with a little help from our good friend Francky i managed to get my grubby hand on one


Next was the Spas 12 heat shield and pump handle,this proved to be even harder to come across,but after stumbling across this website http://matsucorp.yuku.com/ i found not only a place where parts could be found,but a site full of really helpful people who had constructed their own pulse rifle albiet they were resin ones,so a shield and pump where found from an armourier in the UK,Then the grip,shroud etc fell into place



But how did it all fit together?,that was when i found yet another great site dedicated to pulse rifles and found how the original Bapty prop was put together.
As you can see that with the aid if nuts and bolts and a bit of welding the thonpson,spas cage with the m870 inside all fitted together nicely

so now i knew how it went it was just a case of doing it!!

I decided to make the greande launcher first ,and after cutting the spas cage and pump down as seen here http://www.m41a.com/a_2005/articles/spas_12/index.htm i knew how short i had to cut the barrel and mag tube on the m870 shotgun.
The shotgun was a tight fit inside the cage but i tapped in a few grub screws to hold it in place and with the fitting of the greande front block it all worked great,but airsoft! it wasn't good enough so i decided to convert it to a pfc firing model .Tanaka's 1897 pfc shotgun shells fitted great,so after stripping the m870 down i realised that it used a centre fire firing pin ,so only the cartridge had to be changed so that it would work.After a lot of thinking i came up with the solution (well it worked for me) inserts into the catridge to make up the space inside the shell and to be used as the firing pin too,I made up these inserts from a nylon rod and turned then down until they were a snug fit




So as the chamber did not have to be changed i can use the pfc or airsoft cartridges as desired

Next was the m1a1,the barrel had to extended as to fit the barrel vent,and i done it the same way that the working hero version was done ,i removed the front site band,tapped the barrel and made a custom extension to make up the difference,the joining line can still be seen here-


the pistol grip simply replaced the wooden grip,and after removing the rear site on the thompson the metal stock could be screwed into place.

The spas cage was fitted using the screws that held the bypass plate on and with some small spacers it gave a snug fit,then the m870 could be refitted

The digital counter was yet another problem as i wanted it to work ,most are static numbers set to "95" but i wanted mine to count down as the rounds were fired.I found the counter that i needed at http://www.hyperdynelabs.com/home.php.Now how to fit it The counter face obviously fitted to the right hand side of the shroud,but how could i get it to work.
I decided to use micro switches to actuate the function,one to turn on the power as the mag is inserted

and one in the trigger mech so that when its depressed it starts the countdown


Video of actual counter working
https://s167.photobucket.com/albums/u141/kickback_02/?action=view&current=pr003.flv

so once grooves were cut into the lower reciever to allow the wires to pass through,and in the shroud so the wires can go up to the battery sectio that was cut in the resin,preety straight forward really,but the only problem now is that the shroud and the lower reciever are permantly joined with perhaps 4 inches of slack ,but hey now they are fitted they only need to be opened to changed the battery every now and then


I will add the rest of the pics and some video soon,and please ask any questions and i will try to answer them

Cheers
Kickback

Fascinating read!

I did not know how M41A was constructed, but all that information and pointers to other websites will surely drag me into a lot of reading now :-D It's cool that construction of the prop has been documented so well by the enthusiasts and can be recreated with models.

It's an excellent review (or a construction diary), I enjoyed to learn about all the details of what had to be done. Very clever how you converted Tanaka, a neat solution :-)))

Thank you for taking time to write it all down :-)

Quote :

Sorry about the kitchen in the background

I don't think anybody noticed any kitchen ;-)

I have seen it in the flesh and it weighs a bit to

It's a regular pilgrimage now ;-D

Superb build!

Im currently doing this same project, but with a MGC REM 31.

I wanted exactly the same set up as your but have the replicant counter with sounds (incase i want to use it without caps).

I've had some custom work done to the thompson, and unfortunately i had to have a permenant extension as the barrel wasnt perfectly round.

Anyway, its been in the works for a long time. Currently adding microswitches to it. Found some tiny ones from the USA 2x3mm.

Anyway, looks great....videos please!

lewis

kickback,

So...

...when do you plan to make a modelgun flamethrower? ;-D

(for starters it seemed to be an M16, a grenade launcher and plenty of other parts...)

uummmm now you've got me thinking