When I was commissioned to build Sasha, I was also asked if I could build the Backburner at the same time, with the same deadline of a month. Again, I said yes.
Any questions regarding my sanity should now be clear.
The Backburner is one of the weapons the character Pyro uses.
I admit that after watching the video, I wanted to make the bubbly flamethrower too.
Going off of the reference images, I could break down the parts of the Backburner:
Gas pump handle
Fuel tank
Pipes
Hose
Headpiece
Looking at it that way made it a bit more manageable. Plus it didn’t hurt one bit that I already had a gas pump handle sitting around.
What? You mean everyone doesn’t keep antique gas pump handles around just in case you ever need one? Actually this one was bought a long time ago and was supposed to become a Bioshock Adam syringe.
The fuel tank was a bigger challenge. I couldn’t use an actual small capacity propane tank. Just too heavy and I’m sure con security would flip out seeing one walk in. I’d seen where others had used garden pressure sprayers as the fuel tank. Not a bad place to start.
Bit of modding with some PVC pipe fittings and the look is getting there.
Some fiberglass work to get it all looking like one piece.
Bondo, sanding, prime, bondo, sanding, prime, rinse, wash, repeat.
The holes were made with a 1 inch spade drill bit, and were the most frightening thing I have ever done. Spade bits + PVC = PVC part flying all over the place when the bit catches or the drill spinning out of control and trying to break your wrist.
I hate when seams are visible.
Now about this time, the weather took a cold snap, too cold to work with Bondo. On to the body parts then.
Honestly, these are just a few pieces of PVC pipe and fittings. The custom cuts were all done with a Dremel.
I really don’t know why, but the small fuel nozzle under the main thrower was my favorite part of this whole thing. To get the bend in the pipe, I just used a heat gun and a lot of patience.
Now came the hardest part of this whole build: strapping all these pieces together. Wrapping aluminum straps around three different round objects was more of a challenge than I ever thought.
I hate this picture of me, but I love that Remus is right beside me. He was no help at all, really. Cats suck at prop making.
Fun thing is that the hose that came with the garden sprayer worked out perfectly for the fuel line.
As you can see, this thing is huge, and needs some paint.
Please forgive me for the mess that is my workshop. I’m trying to clean it up a little, but it gets seriously trashed during the winter.
This headpiece was the most intimidating part of this build. I went through several ideas and trial versions before I stumbled across a solution.
That is part of a milk jug. Well, sweat tea jug actually. It had just the right curve and angles. The textured bottom even gave the nose a scale like surface. I started calling the Backburner Jug Head at this point.
For the details, I thought about just painting them on, but that felt like a cheap cop out. Instead, I sculpted them out of Apoxy Sculpt.
Lastly was a lot of hand painting for the details.
Once all the weathering and touch up had been applied, it was done, and just in time too.
Thanks for reading through all this. As a bonus for sticking around, here’s Sasha and Backburner in action at Chattacon.
