Hi guys i work in the short film industry and wish to share a little contraption that we use sometimes for a some fun. It is an improvised pistol flamer.

http://www.sickindividual.com/flamer.html

Also if anyone has got any links or plans for a hidden sleeve rail system for a handgun like seen in "Taxi Driver" it would be really handy for a movie

Not a bad idea.

My take on this design does without the caulk gun (which generally costs far more than it is worth, and you have to buy one that releases the pressure when you release the trigger for that design) and uses nothing more than an empty beer can from your recycle bin, a bit of wood, and the gas can.

Take your drink can (tin from here on in), and put it next to the gas can. Check the length is about right - the gas can should be about the same length. If it is too long, we can chop the tin down a bit later.

Get a drill bit that is the same width as the nozzle on the gas can. Now drill a hole centrally in the base of the drink tin. Test it by putting the gas can into the hole. When you push it halfway, it should catch, and start to spray. If you made it too big, get another tin and a smaller drill bit!

Next, chop the top off the tin (get the gas out first, though, if using power tools!) and drop your gas can in. Get it to line up with, and stick partly out of, the hole, just like in the test. Do a test squirt.

Now, you want to tune the length. Cut a notch wide enough for your thumb in the back of the tin, so you can push it forwards easily. Next get your bit of wood, and glue it to the tin, so that you can reach with your thumb, and have a nice pistol grip.

That's it! You can glue some kind of lighter system to it if you want, as a neat trigger, or whatever, or just use your free hand. The heat is great, but the rapid decompression keeps the nozzle icy cold!

excellent idea, thanks Jack. Our concept above is just an extremely quickfire approach and has been used out on the field occasionally veruy quickly.

Does anyone have an idea on that concealed handgun sleeve system I am researching?

The problem I had when I made one of these was switching it off. A caulk gun pushes the gas canister forwards then tries to lock it in that position. If a spring was added to the front of the weapon (between the gas canister and the metal plate) and the locking part of the caulk gun was suitably filed down, the gas flow could be controlled better.

A butane lighter refill seems to fit perfectly in the caulk gun that I have.

The only limitation of this weapon is its two foot range. Although, it is pretty intimidating :cool:

On sleeve handguns, you'd need a very small weapon, or giant sized sleeves :D
The Colt 25, airsoft pistol seems to be about the right size, although it's an airsoft weapon, but this would be fine for film purposes (if sound and a muzzle flash was added later during the editing process). A spring model costs around £15 in the UK, whereas a semi-automatic gas one costs about £25. A blank firing model may be available.

Just an idea I had, how about having the frame of the pistol attached to a rail which runs under the forearm. The rail is straight for most of the length, but twists near the wrist. The rail could, for example, be made of square section steel. When the pistol is further up the arm, away from the wrist, it is held flat against the arm. However, as the the rail twists near the wrist, this turns the pistol to an upright position. Naturally this is flawed, but just an idea...

I have never managed to come up with a decent design for one of those.

Nearest was a kid at school who tried with a draw slider, which wasn't too bad, and I tried a design for some predator "claws" along a similar design. Both were gravity drop with a catch.

I figure a simple gun strapped along the back of the arm would be better. Just make it so the muzzle is parallel to your finger when you point and have a trigger and a slide out "overbarrel" which would stop the bullet hitting your hand. The steel rod would double as a cosh, but don't do a "Pulp Fiction"!

thanks guys this is an awesome forum and friendly too :)

I built one of these this afternoon. I used an oven lighter, a caulk gun, a concave aluminium disk, and a can of Jaycar butane gas. The unit is very impressive for it's ease of manufacture.

The old caulk gun that I used had jammed up, so I decided to put some oil in the joints. Without thinking, I also oiled the extension mechanism. By doing this, I stopped the rear metal latch hooking on that causes the shaft to stay in the position that it is in when the trigger is released. The shaft returned to the position it started in as I released the trigger. However, when I manually extended the shaft so that it touched the can that was touching the disk that in turn touched the front of the gun, I found myself with an apparatus where I could regulate the flow of butane by the pressure I applied to the trigger! This provides much better control than the straightforward method of locking it in place. No spring was required at the front of the unit to achieve this.

When I first tried it, a third of the burning gas was sprayed back around the butane canister(:eek:)! This probably wouldn't happened with other lower boiling point fuels, but I feel that butane will give the most impressive flame. Additionally, the disk would occasionally slip up if I pressed the trigger too hard. To overcome these two things, I attached a suitably sized plastic fitting that the canister comes with in order to refill different appliances to the opening of the can. I let the nozzle that is normally inserted into the appliance being refilled stick through the hole in the aluminium disk, and the opening of the fuel can stay behind the disk. By doing this, I eliminated fuel being sprayed back at the gun, and fixed the position of the disk relative to the can.

Tomorrow, I will modify the oven lighter. I will loosen the fuel valve inside enough so that I can use the flame adjustment on the outside to allow and restrict the flow of gas. This way I wont have to hold down the trigger for the pilot light. These improvements make the unit much more enjoyable to operate.

An alternative to the oven lighter pilot light would be a pen sized gas torch (usually used for soldering). This may perform better in bad weather conditions. A full charge of gas will last quite a while (40 minutes in the model I looked at). Refilling is usually achieved using standard gas lighter refill.

There's an example of one here (http://www.maplin.co.uk/?userid=SearchEngine&targetmodule=3925)

Hose clamps or Jubilee clips could be used to attach the torch to the flamethrower. The pirce of the weapon would be increased, but the blue jet of the pilot light would make the weapon look much nicer.