From Mythbusters to YouTube, I’ve always enjoyed watching Adam Savage and his various exploits. He has an enthusiasm that is contagious. I learned about a month ago that he would be visiting Fan-X in Salt Lake City, and I thought it would be a fun opportunity to meet him in person.
I wanted to make something for him in order to make the experience hopefully memorable to both parties. About 5 years ago, he had a whole series of videos where he made the Samaritan gun from the movie Hellboy. It was something that was clearly very meaningful for him. I thought perhaps I could make an accessory to accompany that prop. I also wanted it to be a bit different enough that it would be something no one else would think to create.
I decided to make a tiny Samaritan gun housed within a full-sized bullet for the Samaritan. I think it’s kind of random, but has a good chance of being something Adam would find humorous.
Firstly, I needed plans. I had a hard time finding any explicit dimensions for the bullets. I know they are 22mm, and typically when referring to a round, the measure is applied to the projectile, and not the casing. With that in mind, I found a photo of a screen-used prop and made some measurements based off of the one known dimension.
The next step was creating a tiny gun. I was going to 3d print this, but I didn’t know anyone with a working SLA printer, and apparently you many online printing services won’t allow you to print anything gun-shaped (even if it’s less than an inch big)! I ended up sculpting it out of clay and painting it. It was fun to try to get it to be recognizable even without the ability to add as much detail as I was wanting in my head. In the end, I liked the result and it felt more heartfelt than just printing something.
The next step was turning some brass to be the casing. I used my mini-lathe and some 1″ brass bar stock. This was straight forward.
Once I had the casing, I could then create the buck for the bullet. I used some poplar dowel and turned it, shaping it by hand. I filled the wood and sanded, painted, repeat until it was as smooth as I could get.
I used the buck to create a mold. I tried 2 part molding putty, but it was not very successful. I ended up with some weird voids and bubbles. I purchased some silicone mould maker and it was very effective. I ended up with zero voids, and it had a real nice finish.
Last I needed to cast the resin bullet. Thankfully I was smart enough to test this before committing my tiny gun. The first time, I didn’t follow the instructions. I ended up with lots of bubbles and some soft spots. The second time, I followed the instruction which indicated to heat the 2 resin parts prior to mixing. This improved the flow and reduced the number of bubbles. 
It still wasn’t what I hoped for, so the final step was to use my brother-in-law’s vacuum chamber to vacuum out the bubbles after mixing, but before pouring. I suspended the gun in the mold using acrylic rod and a jig. I let it cure, and was very happy with the result. After polishing and clear coating, it looked as good as I could have hoped for.
The next step was to meet Adam and give it to him. I’ve never been to a con before, so I didn’t know what to expect. I purchased a photo op beforehand thinking that would be the best way to meet him. I arrived about an hour before my appointment to look around, and figure out what the line situation was. I saw Adam at his table, but was afraid to approach as it seemed it was necessary to pay to either get an autograph or to take a selfie. Neither seemed appropriate since I was going to get a photo in just an hour, so I didn’t approach.
The photo-op experience was not what I was expecting. They funneled us into a big line, and they had us going in, getting a photo, and leaving all within seconds. I was able to say “Nice to meet you”, and then they snapped a photo, and I barely had time to say “May I give you a gift?” Adam was nice, and took it but didn’t have time to open it then. I was funneled out as quickly as I had come in. Apparently this is the nature of these photo-ops, and being a con-newbie, I had no idea.
I was glad to have met him. I hope he is able to open the gift and appreciate it. He seemed like a lovely person. I hope someday I get to actually have a conversation with him.