Props Metro 2033 Bullet Lighter (WIP)

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Trando434

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I love Metro 2033, it is a slow paced, at times frustrating game, but I have to admit, I go back and play more often than I do any other game.

For those of you who haven't played it, it is basically a Russianized version of Call of Duty. Your guns are fabricated from assorted weapon components, some no better than a pump BB gun, the best guns are Kalashnikov models, your night vision (unless you are lucky enough to find NVG's) consists of a fading flashlight that has to be hand cranked when it gets dim. And everyone has a Russian accent. [WARNING: Do not play this game for extended periods of time if you are prone to depression, it has broader spectrum of gray than both new style Fallout games combined, at times darker than Condemned, with an addition of almost no humor or upsides, and it has as much welcoming appeal as an inner city morgue. MINOR SPOILER ALERT with minor characters, in the wise words of Patrick Star, everyone dies, the end.] But overall it has a fantastic story, counting that the book it is based off of is only written in Russian, so if you are lucky enough to read the book then don't play the game.

Once of the most memorable parts in the game is the way you view your goals for the level, you hit your back button (Xbox only, but since this is a Halo Costuming site, it shouldn't be a problem) and you raise your clipboard to see your mission, to get some extra light, you whip out your trusty lighter, your bullet lighter. It is one of the coolest things I have ever seen in a game, period.

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So after I saw this, I immediately thought, "hey this is essentially trench art, I bet you can find this online for sale somewhere!" Well several years later, I found out you can't, anywhere! In fact the only place I found one at all was on youtube, and on Deviantart.

BulletlighterCARDMAN.jpg
(CREDITS TO cardman)

So then I thought hey, it can't be too hard to build one right? 7 and a half hours later, I had my answer. Here are this pics, I don't have all the steps up, I stopped taking pictures about half way through, just because it got so tedious and at times very difficult to grab my iPhone while trying to stir and apply the 25 second fast dry epoxy, while holding parts of the lighter in place, so please forgive me.

I started with an ordinary $7.99 Zippo lighter (well two) you can pick up at any Walmart, and an inert .50 AP bullet I found for $8 (BTW, anyone know where I can get them cheaper?) I picked up at a local Surplus shop.
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Next I dissasembled both the lighter and the bullet as far as I could. The bullet came right out of the brass which was easy. The zippo could be disassembled as far as you can see in the picture without using tools to cut it apart: the wick, rayon balls, flint and flint tension spring, and the insert itself.
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Next I took the bullet and cut right above the crimped part. This is to make the top part of the bullet act as a hinge like a Zippo.
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Now what I failed to know was that .50 caliber bullets are not lead core rounds... I thought I needed to take the hacksaw and do a simple 2 minute cut or so to get through the round. Well 10 minutes later I realized that a .50 is standard armor piercing, so it has a steel core, not a problem if you already knew your ammo types, but I am a be naive. To remove the steel core inside top half of your bullet, slam in in the ground a few times, it'll fall out, to remove the lower half, you need to hammer it out with a chisel or pick because the crimping around the lower half keeps the steel in place. I sanded both parts so they have a nice smooth edge around the cut areas.
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Next what I did was remove the flint tube, this is difficult on a normal Zippo because the tube is epoxied in the insert. If you have a Zippo Blu laying around, I suggest you salvage the tube from that: For once, it has the flint, steel, and tube all in one package, when you use a normal Zippo like me, you have to make your own frame to keep the steel, flint, and tube together which took at least an hour to construct. (sorry about the crappy flash, that is the flint tube thought)
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The next step requires you to take the brass and make it into the fuel holder.
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You will need a pipe cutter
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I went about 3/4 of an inch from the rim of the brass, just so it would fit a bolt so it could be screwed into the bottom again. Inside the top part of the brass I epoxied a nut so that the bottom half could just screw into it, creating a full round. After that I hammered the bottom half of the bullet back into the neck of the brass to give me less space for error when installing the wick insert.
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As I mentioned earlier, I stopped about half way through, it just got really difficult, and unfortunately my partner bailed on me last minute, so I didn't have the extra hands to take pictures. But I ended up completing the .50 cal bullet lighter at about 2:43 A.M. It lights, but it takes a while to, it leaks and doesn't hold much fluid, and the bullet lid fell off, so I think instead of using epoxy, I will rivet it to the hinge instead. You can change out the flint when it becomes necessary, and functions like a basic Zippo lighter, essentially it is a case mod. It looks like a crappy bullet lighter, which it is!
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Changes for V.2:
- Cleaner appearance
- Retains more fluid
- Instead of a screw, I want to try using a plug or stopper to create a better seal
- A better hinge, the once I use tends to open and close by its own will, I want it to stay closed, or stay open when I want
- better access to the wick and rayon balls, at this time there is absolutely no access
- Use a different form of "adhesive" other than epoxy, I tried some electrical solder but it didn't bind with the brass, anyone have any suggestions to bind brass and steel?

I'll keep everyone posted, I am going to try to crank out another bullet lighter next week, and keep doing it until I perfect it. So keep watching this post! Thanks for reading! :)
 
Interesting approach. You can also make a .50 cal round from copper (or plastic) plumbing pipe. Bit of brass coloured paint, and some weathering should make it more realistic. Just pop a cheap disposable clipper type (gas) lighter in the top, and you have an even quicker version of what you have just created.
 
Having a crack at doing this as an xmas present this weekend. Took forever for the .50cal to arrive. Plan on taking pictures and having a go at improving upon your design, using the bullet points for V.2, Trando434. If it goes well, all the credit for the ingenuity goes to you! I'll take pictures as I go.
 
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