DL-44 Blaster Props ANH to ROTJ a Guide

[Vanitas]

Also just to mention, but I think there is considerable evidence that the Naked Runner's C96 was not actually the same Mauser used to make Han's Hero Dl-44 prop. A fair amount of tells mark the two C96s entirely as different guns.

 

[thd9791]

thd9791 ya these blasters are like onions.. many layers to be pealed for sure! Is it possible the hex nuts on the greeblies are simply cosmetic? Also are you saying that you think the spacer is “bronze” simply because of a discoloration from glue possibly and the front is it’s original color of silver metal? Not trying to put words into your mouth., just trying to see if I understand u correctly?

One thing that keeps me coming back to what Mortifactor said (and saw) was he had no objective outside of simply reporting honestly. He was also very close to it as well so it’s hard to believe he possibly misunderstood what he was looking at?? I asked him once if it was possible that he made a mistake and if I remember correctly he said something along the lines of.. it was awhile ago but if that’s what I wrote then that’s what I saw.. kind of thing.

I guess it’s mostly just speciation at this point. ?

Yes. To me it looks very dull silver on Hoth and it gets worse over time. I mean, that whole thing with the exhibit got a little messy, the RPF treated him badly and he was looking for like 20 different details at once, something that was two different colors, behind glass, could have been surface color or separate pieces. Looking at the rest of the reference tells a different story over time. I'm not of the opinion the hex nuts are cosmetic, they have a stem in them and make much more sense to me as structural components they didn't think anyone would see filming outside

 

[chubsANDdoggers]

He was treated badly? That’s awful. I didn’t know that part.

 

[thd9791]

He was treated badly? That’s awful. I didn’t know that part.

It's in some of the ESB thread. People were NOT happy that the plate on the bracket was not a thorens thrust plate, and very outwardly challenged him, brushed off his gifts to us and bickered so much that mortifactor was like.... look, i'm not even building this blaster I just thought it would help.

On the topic of the nuts though, we used to think they were filled with glue because whatever is in there doesn't fill the nuts. This led me to discount sliced off screws, and instead that they held something from the other side. There isn't room for countersunk screw heads under the disc, given the placement of the nuts on the other side. You aren't left with many options of how it's held together.

here's my attempt, the disc seemed a little smaller than the spacer - please ignore the bad piston cast. my resin didn't cure properly

 

[chubsANDdoggers]

thd9791 You know I’m more of a cosmetic builder but will always try to make it as accurate (subjective obviously) as possible to the prop itself in its design. I’ve been looking at how this would work. It makes sense what ur doing and I’m going to rework my deign to see if I can incorporate what you did here. Would that be ok?

Here is what I did originally. You can see how I attached it..

But I want to see if I can create a template to get both sides lined up and attached similar to what you showed. The outside should look the exact same but the assembly will tie everything together as u just showed..

 

[thd9791]

thd9791 You know I’m more of a cosmetic builder but will always try to make it as accurate (subjective obviously) as possible to the prop itself in its design. I’ve been looking at how this would work. It makes sense what ur doing and I’m going to rework my deign to see if I can incorporate what you did here. Would that be ok?

Here is what I did originally. You can see how I attached it..View attachment 1560492
View attachment 1560493View attachment 1560494
But I want to see if I can create a template to get both sides lined up and attached similar to what you showed. The outside should look the exact same but the assembly will tie everything together as u just showed..View attachment 1560495

Yes go right ahead! I got machining help and tips from scottjua, so this is just a theory that I didn't come up with, but a good one. Also, the real nuts are TINY, so shrink them and your disc screw heads too. I think my nuts are M3 or something like that

 

[chubsANDdoggers]

thd9791 ya I generally would try and recycle screws I have on hand as it helped save time and money. These on my build are 6/32 I believe. They do look more to be in the 4/40 size though. I realize these blaster were probably built in the UK and they have different screw sizing but the 4/40 should work. Don’t think I’d want to go much smaller.. ?

The two center Philip 6/32 screws on the greeblie itself I think are accurate though.

 

[chubsANDdoggers]

I need to fix up some subtleties of my TFA parts but after that.. Let this new screw design adventure begin!

 

[DarthWilder]

A new drilling template would be a great outcome from this 3D modeling exercise. I have a feeling that the long bolts are not perfectly perpendicular through the receiver. What I mean is that there might be some slight bending/angle of the bolts going on through the magwell to the other side.

 

[thd9791]

Let this new screw design adventure begin!

I went to find my old really ham-fisted photoshop comparisons. With this gun, the lack of reference meant I got better results comparing things within the same picture rather than measuring. The bracket I think we're all sure is 3mm aluminum, or 1/8 generally.

The screw heads are like.. 1/6 the full diameter of the circle, and they're domed, the phillips heads are stripped. Similar size to the nuts actually.

 

[chubsANDdoggers]

This is how I will personally try and line up those screws. If this makes sense..

 

[chubsANDdoggers]

I most definitely appreciate the collaborative effort of what we are doing here so this isn’t a right or wrong. Just as an observation..

I’ll have to start another thread as to not take away from this on but I think you have your horizontal line a little off.. ?

 

[chubsANDdoggers]

A new drilling template would be a great outcome from this 3D modeling exercise. I have a feeling that the long bolts are not perfectly perpendicular through the receiver. What I mean is that there might be some slight bending/angle of the bolts going on through the magwell to the other side.

Ur probably 100% right but the truth is from pictures it will be almost impossible to actually figure that out. So what I’m planing on doing is going straight across the body itself. If it’s a conclusive conclusion that they should infact be off set it won’t be to hard to change in all honesty..

 

[thd9791]

Yes lets start another thread! I don't remember about that line... may have been traced from the other side of the gun, trying to "flip" the nuts and place them where they would sit on the other side to compare to the disc or something.

Ur probably 100% right but the truth is from pictures it will be almost impossible to actually figure that out. So what I’m planing on doing is going straight across the body itself. If it’s a conclusive conclusion that they should infact be off set it won’t be to hard to change in all honesty..

 

[scarf man]

Any new discoveries or edits I should add to the first few posts? Any pics of the Dagobah or Bespins to share?

 

[thd9791]

Hmm

There's a high probability the scope on the Alternate ROTJ blaster (and maybe the 2018 auction blaster) is a vintage Tasco 4x28. This hasn't been confirmed yet though, there could be a scope that isn't on the internet that matches better, but it's spooky close.

 

[v312]

I've noticed in the ROTJ section on the front page it says that the pistons are from the V8 kit, but on all 4 known rotj blasters the pistons are custom machined lookalikes and little different from each other. On 2 are held with screws, on one had rivets and on the stembridge they were just glued, didn't even had holes drilled. The MGC that is missing the front half of the scope I think was also missing the safety switch(?). Of course this is not new information and is visible also on the pictures posted here already, but maybe you can update the post so people don't get confused.

 

[scarf man]

I've noticed in the ROTJ section on the front page it says that the pistons are from the V8 kit, but on all 4 known rotj blasters the pistons are custom machined lookalikes and little different from each other. On 2 are held with screws, on one had rivets and on the stembridge they were just glued, didn't even had holes drilled. The MGC that is missing the front half of the scope I think was also missing the safety switch(?). Of course this is not new information and is visible also on the pictures posted here already, but maybe you can update the post so people don't get confused.

Thanks for the suggestions, you‘ve earned an editor credit.

 

[thd9791]

Oh my god it IS missing the safety!

 

[scarf man]

Anyone want to talk about Bespin and Dagobah DL-44 blaster props?