French Radar Ray Gun

[Tinplate6]

This is a very unique space gun, it was made by Vferre in France sometime in the 60's. It is a rubber band gun with the most complex mechanism I have seen in a toy gun. :huh: It's 6.5 inches long and made from a clear day-glo lime green plastic. The manufacturer wanted to make sure the action could be seen clearly so they made the internal parts red.

There is a loading rod at the rear of the gun, numbered 1-9, you pull it out until the number matches the amount of bands you want to shoot. To load the gun, there are two offset toothed combs that retract into each side of the gun, the bands are loaded across the three upper fins above the barrel and hooked into the combs. There is a sliding trigger with a catch rod and a cam on the bottom of it, on the top of the trigger, on the left side is a row of teeth that engage a gear at the base of the radar antenna. Now the action begins; as you pull on the trigger, it slides back, two things are going on; the trigger is pulling a piston back that begins to spread open the combs at the front, and at the same time rotating the antenna.

The combs expand, stretching the rubber band at the front, pulling it off the teeth, and at the same time moving the next band up a notch. As the trigger reaches the rear of its travel, the cam at the bottom hits a ridge, pushing it upwards. When the cam comes all the way up, it trips the catch rod, releasing the spring-loaded piston. As the piston travels forward, it closes the combs releasing the rubber band and bringing the next one into firing position.

Whew...I'm tired just explaining it , and it all goes off in the blink of an eye, incredible. :blink:

[Phil R]

Very interesting gun. Never heard of it. Sounds like something a kid can easily understand. :blink:

[Electric Robot and Son]

I was watching one of these on ebay about a month ago. Is that where you got it. Pretty cool looking!

[dratomic]

A great looking gun! I was watching this one and really debating whether or not to bid. In the end, I decided not to -- but if they'd posted all those pics and explained what a wild toy it is, I might have gone for it. Congratulations! :)

[Tinplate6]

Yes, this is the self same gun, in fact, there were two up for sale; this one and a blue one. The only thing that kept me from buying the blue one instead was that the radar antenna was missing :rolleyes: .