This is my Ecto-Delineator. There are many others like it, but this one is mine. My Ecto-Delineator is my best friend. It is my life. I must master it as I must master my life. Without me, my Ecto-Delineator is useless. Without my Ecto-Delineator, I am useless.
Well, this is my first blog, and also my first Steampunk weapon (excluding the obligatory, and highly recommended, Maverick). 0At this time I have not added all of the final touches -paint, electronic components- but the majority of the physical work is done. I may add a few cosmetic pieces when I have finished the electronic portions -who doesn’t like LED’s and copper tubing?
Getting Started
And I was going to throw this away...
This whole thing is actually much simpler than one might think. This contraption actually started out as a *rhymes with KAdisney* souvenir from Florida. I started out by removing the barrel, most of these older toys are pretty simple devices, not like those evil Nerf guns with a thousand pieces and countless screws all asking to be lost.
This bad boy was held together with a single screw on the trigger guard, and an ingenious pin at the end of the stock which held the barrel in. See my anger for this ingenious yet must have pin later.
The Sight
It does show images through the sight, but they aren't magnified. Still fairly BA in my humble opinion.
The site is actually three random pieces I found in the optic bin at American Science and Surplus, if you haven’t already discovered them, I would strongly suggest seeking them out. Outside of Illinois or Wisconsin? No biggie, they sell a huge selection of their inventory online -though the store is well worth a visit if you are passing through. *I took journalism in high school, so I know to put a disclaimer here for honesty’s sake: I worked at American Science and Surplus many years ago. All the same, I was a customer for many more years prior to my employment*
I’ll go into how I mounted the sight later own, but I figured you fine folks would like seeing the signature of this piece in its primordial stage.
The First Cuts
Anyone who’s survived those early years of scouting know the horrors of making a poorly measured cut. Those days pale compared to having pieces that cannot easily be replaced. That said, I couldn’t reach the tape measure so I just eye-balled all these cuts and marked them with pencil. I do not suggest this method, but avidly employ it myself time-and-again.
Cutting the stock was easy, it was a matter of discerning how long I wanted my barrel. After consulting images of pistols with sights I figured that out and made my cut.
Of course, after sanding away the awkward angle that I cut, it was a half-inch shorter... oops.
The metal barrel was a complete pain. Remember me mentioning the pin? Yeah, well the barrel would have extended too far past the stock for my tastes. So, I couldn’t make a single friendly cut, I had to shave off a piece from both sides.
This end -close to the pin-hole- builds character.
Easy end, oh how I love you.
Of course after all my cuts I filed down the rough edges -funny note here, it wasn’t the hacksaw that cut me, it was the darn file- and made things all smooth and -relatively- safe.
The Sight Mount
Admit it, this was creative.
Pfft, tape measure is for perfectionists, I'm more the go-out-and-injure-yourself-with-heavy-metal-tools type.
The sight mount was a eureka moment. I realized that I had all this extra material from the stock, so, I cut it down to size -based off the length of the sight and its position on the piece. After cutting some extra material to accommodate for the difference in height between the two ends of the sight I used super-duper glue to connect it to the sight mount.
After that it was a simple matter of attaching the mount to the rifle with screw ties. Cheap, but it somehow adds to the look.
The Blaster-Piece
This part was a complete pain in the you-know-where. I figured, ok, I’ve sawed metal in half, I’ve cut myself, heck, I even improvised a perfect mount, what could be harder? GLUING THAT STUPID NUT TO THE BARREL! I figured, after both scoring the nut and the barrel I would have no trouble.
Life is a learning process and I learned that small surfaces and
Gluing your fingers together is funny.
adhesives are a curse.
After that I put a bolt in, and attached a light bulb socket into the barrel -of course I had to get a second bolt, because the first was too long and the barrel too shallow after the pin. Also, I had to re-glue the nut on a few times… grrr, full of grrr- and walla, the Ecto-Delineator was born.
Epic-Awesome-Number-One-Success Time! Next time: The electronics, after that, my little sister details the rifle.
II hope you enjoyed this little blog of mine, and maybe it will inspire you like others inspired me. If you have any questions feel free to leave them in the comments section -hope there’s a comment section in this bad boy.
Steampunk Gunsmith 