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Steam rifle
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They are retained here for archive purposes only.
Steam rifle // Work in Progress
Post by Momaw // Jul 10, 2007, 7:43am
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Momaw
Total Posts: 21
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Been a long time since I felt the inspiration to do anything. :P
http://momaw.kikaimegami.com/dsrifle10b.jpg
Been going at this for a few days already. This is a steam rifle, a personal weapon that throws pointy bits of metal with great force, using steam pressure. Here I've given it a monopod for stability (the attachment is very temporary). The monopod also looks like it could be a pretty mean hand to hand weapon if you get overrun.
This falls under "steampunk", or "gaslight fantasy"... Sort of a fictional take on industrial-era technology. I've tried to keep the styling a little bit elegant, even whimsical, to reflect the design sensibilities of somebody building a precision machine by hand.
Here's the other side of it.
http://momaw.kikaimegami.com/dsrifle10.jpg
Still got plenty of smoothing and other modelling to do. The textures probaly don't need to change much, except for the wood, which was about 3 clicks with the default procedural wood.
I've tried to make sure that the design "works" as much as possible. All the parts fit together nicely. The bolt can open and close. The trigger and safety lever aren't modelled internally, or the valves, but everything is in a plausible location.
Anyway. First project after a long vacation, hope you're liking it so far. |
Post by auragreg // Jul 10, 2007, 8:15am
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auragreg
Total Posts: 44
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wow! that looks really cool!!! Reminds me of something you'd see from the Myst games. |
Post by MadMouse // Jul 10, 2007, 8:51am
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MadMouse
Total Posts: 1069
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Great Stuff :banana: Looking forward to more of this project. |
Post by Tugar // Jul 10, 2007, 11:59am
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Tugar
Total Posts: 68
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Very interesting. Only one thing I would change. In the interest of accuracy (both for the design and the gun), the front sight should be on or very near the end of the barrel. That will increase the sight radius and make a rifle that would be more accurate. The front sight should be less complicated than it is now. A simple blade or bead would do. The rear sight is the one that gets the adjustment if any.
What would be perfect ( in my opinion) is a set of old English express sights. All it consists of is a set of three (usually) progressively larger blades for 100, 200, and 300 meters. The 100 is always upright. The ones farther away from the shooter are a bit larger and you just flip them up for use. |
Post by jayr // Jul 10, 2007, 1:30pm
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jayr
Total Posts: 1074
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thats really nice work! I can almost see the character who uses it, some old, grizzled bounty hunter with a big beard and bigger hat! Seriously though, that is great design. |
Post by Tugar // Jul 10, 2007, 4:17pm
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Tugar
Total Posts: 68
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I meant to say darned good job too! |
Post by Momaw // Jul 10, 2007, 5:39pm
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Momaw
Total Posts: 21
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Interesting suggestions on the sights.
The front sight is actually there because the barrel slides to open the breech. Your gas is coming from the back here, so the chamber has to form a seal at the back instead of to the front like a bolt-action firearm. So everything ahead of that front mounting ring rotates and slides forward during reload. Plus a sight being in the middle of the barrel just looks unexpected and therefore is visually interesting. :D
On the shape, I was thinking about a grenade launcher, with its big ladder sight. This has little holes instead of ladder rungs. But you're absolutely right that the the graduated sight should be on the back. Had a brain lapse there, I guess. And the fold up blades style looks very interesting, and certainly the right level of technology. I'll play with that. I imagine there's a flat spring underneath, and the bottom of the sight blade has two flats ground on it to keep it either up or down? |
Post by Dragneye // Jul 10, 2007, 6:33pm
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Dragneye
Total Posts: 602
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Very nice Momaw.
At first, I thought it was a real pic of an old rifle design. Good work.
Jayr, I got a feel that it may belong on Wizards' airship :) |
Post by Nez // Jul 10, 2007, 10:47pm
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Nez
Total Posts: 1102
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I think you're right - I reckon this would look very 'at home' in W!zard's world.
I like the idea of an 'artisan' weapon, and it looks very good - asides from the sight issue, the other 'accuracy' related issue would be that the barrel seems a little short for a rifle - but I guess it depends what kind of range you're thinking of. I suppose this is somewhat limited as the gas pressure must be moderately limited (or it would be exploding the canister).
Nice concept, and well executed. |
Post by jayr // Jul 11, 2007, 12:44am
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jayr
Total Posts: 1074
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That's not a bad idea dragoneye, all gallions used to have snipers..... |
Post by Momaw // Jul 11, 2007, 2:53am
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Momaw
Total Posts: 21
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Minor update. Image linked rather than embedded due to dimensions.
http://momaw.kikaimegami.com/dsrifle11.jpg
Some smoothing of this, some bevelling of that.
Fixed up the monopod support point; a little hard to see from here, but it's a pair of shallow U shaped claws, one opening up (on the support), the other opening down (on the gun). I figure this would be a very quick way to set up a support. It wouldn't help you with the recoil, but it would certainly take the weight, while still leaving you free to aim. Notched sides of "knob" on support arm and rivetted the claw on.
Changed the sights over to the "express" type as suggested, and put them on in the right order. *mutter* I couldn't resist putting some little prongs on the individual blades though, it looked so dull with straight edges. :D
Lengthened twisted section of barrel at expense of some of the very large part of tubing. Changed handle shape for better hand shape, and changed from single body construction (the rims would be ridiculously fragile if turned of wood) to a wooden body with metal end caps.
Tinkered a bit with the materials but this is still in flux. I'll let that sit for a day or two and decide if the model is "done". If it is, I'll get the materials all properly assigned.
I'm glad to be considered in such company as Wizard... I tracked down the airship thread, and I liiiiike. It seems like they would fit together. Airships of any kind just scream steampunk. Of course, being steampunk doesn't preclude bounty hunters with big hats.... |
Post by trueSpaced // Jul 11, 2007, 4:54am
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trueSpaced
Total Posts: 544
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It's looking great!:banana: :banana:
-TrueSpaced:banana: |
Post by Tugar // Jul 11, 2007, 6:16am
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Tugar
Total Posts: 68
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MUCH better. I love the rear sight. It might be a tad bigger though. You might also consider having a barrel shroud that the barrel could ride in. That way the front sight could still be nearer the end of the rifle and not more in the middle. Or maybe a heat shield. Something like the link below. The first one with the sights on it is interesting. Keep up the great work. I am a big fan of small arms and miltary history and it looks like a real airgun. You might also find the real thing interesting. A link to the real air rifles for the 1800's. Very cool animations.http://www.lewis-clark.org/content/content-article.asp?ArticleID=1829
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://images.outdoorinteractive.net/mgen/283946_d.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.outdoorsuperstore.com/category.asp%3Fcat%3D41610&h=130&w=492&sz=9&hl=en&start=2&um=1&tbnid=kwMLeHfCP5_TJM:&tbnh=34&tbnw=130&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dventilated%2Bheat%2Bshield%2Bshotgun% 26svnum%3D10%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official |
Post by Momaw // Jul 11, 2007, 4:41pm
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Momaw
Total Posts: 21
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That's pretty awesome, Tugar! Thanks for the name. I plugged "girandoni" into Google and came up with all kinds of info, including some photographs of the thing.
Return favor, something that you'll like if this is your thing: http://www.lateralscience.co.uk/perkgun/ |
Post by Tugar // Jul 11, 2007, 7:22pm
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Tugar
Total Posts: 68
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That is so cool I have not the words to express my shock and awe. Too cool. |
Post by W!ZARD // Jul 12, 2007, 10:40pm
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W!ZARD
Total Posts: 2603
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A splendid invention! I'm a great fan of SteamPunk (and cyberpunk but that's another story :D ). "Steamboy" is one of my fav movies. I've always liked 'alternative history' type scifi, and particularly scifi that extrapolates from Victorian technologies into the present day.
As has been observed this steam gun would be right at home on one of my airships - assuming one would actually want projectile weapons on a vessel held aloft by big puncturable bags of gas!!
I quite like the idea of a battery of steamguns mounted along the rail of an airship, perhaps operated by steam piped from a central armoured boiler.
I recall reading some time ago that if the steam engine had been given as much scientific research and development as the internal combustion engine we would all be driving ultra efficient steam powered vehicles! (looks nervously over shoulder for evil agents of petrochemical cartels seeking to squash alternative automotive technologies!).
With regard to the steam gun modelled here I think that you've captured that blend of function and form to make a quite plausible weapon that also has an intrinsic beauty - a very nice job! |
Post by jayr // Jul 12, 2007, 11:40pm
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jayr
Total Posts: 1074
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I recall reading some time ago that if the steam engine had been given as much scientific research and development as the internal combustion engine we would all be driving ultra efficient steam powered vehicles! (looks nervously over shoulder for evil agents of petrochemical cartels seeking to squash alternative automotive technologies!).
Even weirder, the steam engine was invented thousands of years before it's offical date but abandoned because it's inventer couldn't see a use for it! imagine romans with steamguns! Now thats a scary thought. |
Post by W!ZARD // Jul 13, 2007, 12:11am
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W!ZARD
Total Posts: 2603
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Even weirder, the steam engine was invented thousands of years before it's offical date but abandoned because it's inventer couldn't see a use for it!
Yeah and they said that the telephone would never catch on either!
"I sometimes think the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that none of it has tried to visit us!!" Calvin and Hobbes. :D |
Post by Momaw // Jul 13, 2007, 1:28am
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Momaw
Total Posts: 21
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http://momaw.kikaimegami.com/cylinder2.jpg
It was pointed out to me that a psuedo-industrial-revolution society wouldn't have access to thousand ton hydraulic forging presses to make the kind of continuous, smooth-ended pressure cylinder like I had envisioned at first. Which is absolutely correct. So here's a stab at a welded and rivetted tank, which is much more historically accurate.
http://momaw.kikaimegami.com/cylinder2wire.png
Still deciding whether I like it or not. While historical accurate is good, and it's better from a plausibility standpoint (since you can clearly see how it was put together), it does add some more straight edges to a design that loves curves. So.... :rolleyes: |
Post by jayr // Jul 13, 2007, 3:05am
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jayr
Total Posts: 1074
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the rivets do make it look better, a lot more detailed. have you thought about what it's buring for fuel? How would that substance leave marks on the gun? Just something to think about for the textures. |
Post by Tugar // Jul 13, 2007, 6:45am
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Tugar
Total Posts: 68
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The rifle would not have to have a boiler. What about using the main boiler to pressurize containers to screw onto the gun? Like a giant CO2 container. |
Post by jayr // Jul 13, 2007, 6:47am
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jayr
Total Posts: 1074
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The rifle would not have to have a boiler. What about using the main boiler to pressurize containers to screw onto the gun? Like a giant CO2 container.
Or carried on a backpack maybe? Might burn your back though. |
Post by Momaw // Jul 13, 2007, 8:09am
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Momaw
Total Posts: 21
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Heh. I've always considered it as being a self-pressurizing design. :) In light of questions about how/what it burns, added more detail. We can always use more detail, right!
http://momaw.kikaimegami.com/dsrifle12.jpg
A cap for the fuel tank (probably kerosene), a long-stemmed valve to adjust the burner (no sense running it at full heat if you're already holding pressure), and hollowed out in the interior to put in a blue light to suggest fire. |
Post by dononeton // Jul 14, 2007, 12:40pm
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dononeton
Total Posts: 81
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Now lets see some of that steam! :jumpy: |
Post by Momaw // Jul 26, 2007, 10:19am
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Momaw
Total Posts: 21
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Some progress
http://momaw.kikaimegami.com/dsrifle17.jpg
Still little things to fix. Pretty happy with the light and materials now though unless somebody has strong feelings on that.
Not really sure what I want to do for a background. Just a stone or plank wall? |
Post by jayr // Jul 26, 2007, 10:53am
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jayr
Total Posts: 1074
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That looks superb, the only improvment i'd say so far is to round the edge of the table, it's too perfect as it is, and add a bevel to the table top so it has an edge to catch the light, should take you about 2 mins to do.
That really is a cracking image so far, keep up the good work |
Post by Momaw // Jul 26, 2007, 4:46pm
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Momaw
Total Posts: 21
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the only improvment
Ha! :P
- fix the smooth/faceted material types of the gun barrel (why is that even showing as faceted with auto-facet: it's a 16-sided cylinder...), the side of the receiver metalwork, and the stock where the plate is inset
- come up with a nicer bronze for the pressure guage
- fix missing/mis-textured triangle in sabre's hilt
- copy textured bullets into the rack on the side of the gun, replace plain ones
- background??
- sling?
- saber scabbard? |
Post by W!ZARD // Jul 26, 2007, 9:21pm
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W!ZARD
Total Posts: 2603
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Superb work Mo - mark me down as suitably impressed!
I had a thought about the background; I'm imagining where one would find such a fine weapon as this and I pictured a canvas background, (lit from the farside?) to suggest the inside of a campaign tent. You could even have some sort of military map or battle plan pinned to the canvas. Otherwise you could go for a battle scene or some sort of military steam powered tank but not only would that involve way more modelling it would also take attention from your wonderful steam rifle.
Whatever you do in the end I'm sure it will be great given the combination of your creative vision and your drive for perfection. |
Post by Momaw // Jul 27, 2007, 1:32am
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Momaw
Total Posts: 21
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Today's render: Gaslamp fantasy with a gas lamp?! So crazy it just might work! :eek: (do tell me if I get too spammy)
http://momaw.kikaimegami.com/dsrifle18.jpg
Still a crude version of this lighting solution of course. Will add in more lights in the lamp body to soften the cast shadows. Maybe even make the inside of the lamp's shade an emissive texture for the ultimate in masochistic render time? Will also add in a "psuedo-radiosity" light source/s to account for light scatter off the table, which help relieve those impenetrable shadows.
The lamp needs a mount, currently it's just hovering. I'll get to it. Since it's prety much all I accomplished aside from minor patching, here's a better look at it.
http://momaw.kikaimegami.com/lamp2.jpg
(also see some under-shade detail at http://momaw.kikaimegami.com/lamp.jpg)
I'm really digging the campaign tent idea. My idea as you can see was to just butt it up against a stone wall (I need a much better stone wall texture), and to have writing materials in front of the weapons. Candle, pen, paper, sealing wax, stamp. Call it "prelude to war" or some such. It seems we think on similar lines. A map sounds too busy, not to mention having to actually draw one, but a folding camp table with a few anonymous documents could be ideal. |
Post by Momaw // Aug 6, 2007, 1:54am
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Momaw
Total Posts: 21
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Still plinking away.
http://momaw.kikaimegami.com/dsrifle21.jpg
Added the lamp's stand, writing tools (hard to make out at this size; inkstand, inkpot, pen, stick of sealing wax, seal), improved the lighting more so that it's almost smooth now, added in secondary lights to simulate scatter off the table surface, and made a proper table. Apologies for it being small and jaggy, it's a draft render. Takes quite a while now. :P
Here's a a modeller screenshot of the table; it's not really the star in this project, but still... http://momaw.kikaimegami.com/dstable.jpg Sort of a Shaker design with ironwork and pointless thorns sticking out. :) The feet are dodgy; they aren't even visible in the render so I wasn't overly concerned with them.
Still to do, try and fill in some of that empty space on the wall! An officer on campaign would likely have a picture of his lady. A scabbard for the saber is seeming ever more sensible too. Could put in a wooden post, as of a pole holding up the tend, with both of these hanging off it. Add some seams or ties to the wall so it's more obviously a cloth tent. That and add in more background light. Currently it's 98% just the gas lamp, which leaves quite a bit in impenetrable shadow.
Anyway. Slow progress, but progress all the same. |
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