DL18 blaster full conversion kits - research and production thread

[eethan]

Hello there,

I am opening this thread to keep track on my coming project and show all the things that went into it as well

I am currently working on bringing extremely accurate full conversion kits for the Jabba guard DL18 blaster. The kits are based on metal parts and greeblies cast from original accurate parts.

I think you guys are starting to know my work, and this is a slightly different project. I am still busy with my Vader stunt sabers and preparing my next big project, but this is something done more "on the side". I usually do absolutely all of my parts myself in my workshop in the south of France, and specialize in machined metal parts. This projects involves a lot of resin parts and several good candidates for laser cutting, so I have given some work to two of my fellow casting geniuses, Ryan Clinton and his wife Julie, and my own wife Julie, AKA Wonder Knight , as well as subcontracted some aluminium and delrin laser cutting

As usual, all other parts, the ones not based on a on hand real part, were 3D modelled and match on several references by myself and the kits will be extremely accurate to the original blasters

I was given extremely good references of a lot of key details of the blaster by two very kind souls that I won't name here as the references are sadly private as often. You know who you are, and I thank you so much for the input and photos, they were invaluable, and everyone will get to build a super accurate prop thanks to your help!

here is a photo of the current progress on the kits!

update on the project check list:
- aluminium side plates: DONE
- previously know as "marker cap" front greebly: DONE
- Delrin scope mounts: DONE
- 2x cast motor coil plates: DONE
- 2x cast falcon missiles: DONE
- Resin scopes with real 3.5mm jack: WIP, new mold done, casting WIP
- cast Bulgin buttons for the scope: WIP, mold done, casting WIP
- 2x 16mm hemispheres: WIP, Grey Plastruct parts on hand, Black cast part: mold done, casting WIP
option: RO72 conversion back aluminium cap: DONE

I will discuss all parts in the next messages
cheers all!

 

[eethan]

Hey again,

let's first discuss the real found part casts,

Those blasters have several plastic kit parts on them,
- 2x motor coil plates from the visible V8 engine model
- 2x missiles from the F-4E Phantom II model
- 1x Bulgin button at the back of the scope
- 2x 16mm hemispheres

The motor coil plates were cast from the real found part by my friend Ryan Clinton and his wife. As usual, they did an amazing job, the plates are super crisp, the back perfectly flat, the holes perfectly cleared I don't own the original parts and Ryan and his wife were the only people I knew I could count on to get perfect casts, so here we are!

next, I bought a vintage F-4E Phantom II model kit to cast the missiles from,

I first detached them from the sprues, cleaned the sides a bit:

then, I filled the underneath with tamiya mastic at the position they would be cut and cleaned the mastic flush to the bottom:

then, carefully cut each missile at the proper position:

Those missiles were then cast by my wife Wonder Knight, she is extremely meticulous and did an awesome mold of the 6 missiles:

We want the missiles to be cast in the same color as the original parts so people don't have to first paint them green from reference photos, then paint them black. Anyone that has done color casting of such small parts knows that it will be pretty difficult to reproduce the color, but Julie is working on it right know. the first test was too dark but I'm sure she's on a good path to get a really great color match on the second test

We bought a degazing machine and a pressure pot, so all molds are degazed and pressure cured, and all casts will be as well

the next part is the Bulgin button for the back of the scope. Those have a lot of variation and are often advertised as being found on old Emerson radios, but the truly accurate version is made by Bulgin and has a very pointy top and small radius on the 4 side details, they also have a larger set screw that what is usually found on the emerson buttons.
I'm pretty passionate about real parts and have a whole search routine every day at lunch, I ended up finding a set of 4 bulgin buttons a few weeks back with two of the correct buttons for that blaster

I had to fill the white hole on those as we researched it quite a bit with Teecrooz and couldn't see evidences of that on any of the screen used blasters. Only the set screw.

And my wife made a perfect mold of those again and started casting them in black resin with the pressure pot:

yay!

what else? those 16mm hemispheres!
there will be different theories as to what those are. I personally chose to go with Plastruct parts as those were used everywhere in Star Wars.
Sadly, Plastruct parts are difficult to source in Europe. I went through a whole thing for the plastruct parts I needed for my Vader saber run, and this time wasn't much better. I ordered from EMA models in the UK and it took a whole 3 weeks to eventually get those.

Alright, the thing is I specifically chose to order grey hemispheres as I thought I was seing some weathering on the part and some light color showing. But after I received them, I slightly changed my mind because the blasters are very weathered overall, and those are a raised detail, and they show as really black on most of the refs, so maybe they were actually just black from the start.

I'm unwillingly becoming the "options guy" with my runs as I always want to please everyone and end up doing 50 options that are super hard to keep track of on the website. Well, let's do an option this time again!
My wife is casting the parts in solid black resin and i'll give the choice when ordering the kit, grey plastruct parts, or black cast parts, that way, people get what they prefer!

 

[eethan]

The aluminium side plates!

or are they really pressure cast Zamac or something like this?

Those parts were matched from reference with the inkscape drawing program then cut by my usual metal laser cutter guy.
To get a really great price, I'm grouping parts with sprues between them, so, those then had to be milled and cleaned.
here with a batch of my steel display stand and a couple EE3 grips for my own personal use (no runs of those coming)

sprues cut:

all cleaned up!
the thin plates are protected by a plastic sheet, so they will be really clean. the thicker plates are not and were sanded with a rotating sanding machine by the laser cutter guy, so I sanded them a little bit more to get a pretty clean result as well.

now, lets get back to that injection molded zamac. This is just a theory. As you can see, there are two round slighty raised details on the thick plates.

some people will say they are flat rivets or something. Now, sadly, most of the references are pretty damn blurry, but given the great references I was given and have to keep private, sorry! I think they are injection molding sprues, so zamac or a similar alloy.
let me just post a super cropped detail that I hope is ok to share to have some kind of reference to go by:

In any case, we just want to get something really accurate and this is a really cool detail. I have tried several ways to reproduce this. It is slightly raised, so I'm not going to just mill a circle on the parts.
I have tried making a super clean 5mm hole and inserting a 5mm rod, but we can always see a black line around the rod when doing this. So the best solution I found was to turn on the lathe a fake nail out of aluminium, drill a 4mm hole instead and insert this super thin part.
On the left is a 5mm cylinder in a 5mm hole, on the right, the fake aluminium nail into a 4mm hole, Definitely annoying to do, but I think it works very nicelly.

Now, that will need to be done on all the parts. As well as the angled cut that is visible on all the thick parts:

 

[eethan]

The front sight greebly
previously known as the "marker cap", now most probably indentified as a vintage vacuum cleaner part!

I was given amazing references with close ups of the sight of the blaster and was able to model a super accurate 3D model of the part:

Here is one of the best public references for that part:

the part is grey plastic.
So, I printed it with our new resin printed which is impressively precise for half the price of my old (3years...) printer. Then I polished the parts with a polishing wheel to get a real plastic feel

another small part that needs to be done is the scope rail part.
The RO 72 pistols come in so many variations, it is incredible!
I think I am at 4 back sight variations going through my hands at this point. I have had at least 2 different front sight variation, the one in the photo above being the wrong type when the rest of the pistol is the super rare and accurate black version with proper back cap... it's crazy!
anyways, one of those even rarer variation seem to come with a thin black plastic scope rail!

And it is very most probably what they used!
again, on the super clear references, sorry, it's prety clear this is a 3mm black plastic plate. I modeled the plates from those references and then, by some chance, my friend Ryan apparently has one of those plates in hand and he confirmed exactly my measurement from his real part

So, I know that some people will most likely prefer something sturdy made from aluminium, but I'm kind of going with a super accurate, no concessions kit here, so I decided to have those laser cut from black Delrin
Now, believe me, they are plenty strong enough for our purpose here, just as strong as the original plastic parts in fact
I was also given a reference of a blaster with a broken scope! and we can see the screws they used to mount the scopes so I sourced accurate screws, with the same type of threads as the original screws from the RO72, that will attach nicelly to the base pistol, and even though they will be hidden by mastic by you guys to be completely acurate, you'll know that those are the right screws as well

so here we go for all the small greeblies and parts!
this is what they look like all together:

 

[SCREAMINYELLOW]

This is awesome!! You all did a fantastic job on those pieces!

 

[eethan]

Thank you Screaminyellow!

alright, now for the most complex part, the scope!

Same as the front sight greebly, I was given amazing references and reproduced this faithfully in 3D

I then printed this several times as it failed first, made a master as clean as possible, polishing it on my lathe.
The original scope is a shiny black plastic part that was painted flat black over. It has a very straight and clear molding line right in the middle. Again, I want to go fully accurate on this, and this includes having the scope in black plastic and having the same straight molding line on it. Molding line that they positioned completely randomly on the archive blaster and drilled through the part for the screws.
here we can see the molding line on the archive blaster I'm reproducing:

here completely at the top on another blaster:

alright, so for this, I did a completely over the top mold box with aluminium turned part to hold the scope level, hoping to poor silicone like water, that it would create a nice and flat line, then pooring the second part on top.
My wife laughted at my overkill box and decided against pooring silicone that way, and going instead with the very difficult plastiline base and all. thinking the silicone would not work that way.

alright, so yeah, my box pretty much wa useless. she worked very carefully making the plastiline as clean and flat as possible. I pissed her off nicelly as well going over it when she was finished and asking to correct here and there again after she spent 2 hours on it.
But eventually the result was super clean and she poored silicone.

and into the pressure pot!

alright, well... I didn't get a chance to take photos of the mold as she is pretty busy with everything. But, let's say that this parts ends here for now.
Sadly, after all of this work, she pulled the first cast today, and although her mold is really very nice, we discovered several issues with the master after the facts and we are basically starting over on this!

anyways, this is the first raw cast, with a rather nice mold line. but this is all scrapped and we are starting the master over.
As always, we are trying to have everything always perfect and it can have a great toll on us sometimes. It's the same for her and for me, we just can't ever accept something with a tiny flaw and we will start again over an over, sometimes loosing so much time and money. But it is what it is, we want everybody to be happy with the parts and we didn't feel this one was good enough!

so, to be continued! with a brand new scope hopefully soon!
In the meantime, Julie/Wonderknight is casting all the small parts nicelly and I need to finish the side bars and aluminium detail parts for the scope.

I'll be updating here in the coming days when there are things to show
cheers all!

 

[OdiWan72]

Perfection my friend! But I expect nothing less from you

 

[eethan]

Almost there with the missile color! Julie will add a little bit more yellow for the next batch and that should be it!
sunlight shows the difference, but they already look similar in artificial light

 

[Halliwax]

One of my all time favorite blasters, eethan and your wife are true masters of the craft

 

[bobasfett]

Great job here.....looking forward to the final product(s) for sure!

 

[eethan]

Hey there,

The wife is starting to hate me and my missile color. Fifth time will be the charm (there was another dark one before that she didn't have on hand)

other than that, new scope master is done, it is much better! The previous one was bent and had several small flaws, very stupid of me that i didn't notice before molding it!

I made a new production test for the round details on the side plates and started fabricating all those tiny fake aluminium nails, fun stuff!

cheers all!

 

[Vagabond Elf]

My pedantic soul objects to what is clearly a drop tank being called a "missile" but otherwise, this is all most impressive. Blaster replicas aren't my thing but I really enjoy seeing the work that goes into making them - or organising a "parts kit."

 

[BlandoCalrssian]

So if those round spots on the side plates aren’t flat headed rivets, were the plates simply glued on the original prop? Loving the progress, can’t wait for the kit.

 

[eethan]

So if those round spots on the side plates aren’t flat headed rivets, were the plates simply glued on the original prop? Loving the progress, can’t wait for the kit.

hey, sorry I dont have a definitive answer for this. Either glued or attached by something else hidden behind the greeblies.
something interesting is that on two blasters, the thin side plate is positioned different, either because they went fast and didn't care, or because one moved over time:

on the one from the archive, the tip is higher. Please also note that the motor coil plate greebly fell on that one. They must have used a very thick glue as you can see all the details from the back of the plate "molded" into the glue residue. And, you don't see any rivet or anything under the fallen greebly. So this might prove that at least the top plates were glued on.

cheers

 

[eethan]

My pedantic soul objects to what is clearly a drop tank being called a "missile" but otherwise, this is all most impressive. Blaster replicas aren't my thing but I really enjoy seeing the work that goes into making them - or organising a "parts kit."

thank you for your input,
I seem to recall everyone calling them missiles before, so I just went with it as well, I'm not knowledgeable about fighter planes.
Are you sure those are drop tanks though, aren't the drop tank the big ones still attached under the wings on the model photo there?
the ones I'm using have 4 fins and are circled in red below. TO be fair, they are probably more bombs than missiles I guess:

cheers

 

[Halliwax]

Love the custom jig, super clean

 

[Vagabond Elf]

thank you for your input,
I seem to recall everyone calling them missiles before, so I just went with it as well, I'm not knowledgeable about fighter planes.
Are you sure those are drop tanks though, aren't the drop tank the big ones still attached under the wings on the model photo there?
the ones I'm using have 4 fins and are circled in red below. TO be fair, they are probably more bombs than missiles I guess:
View attachment 1788302
cheers

Oh, you're right, I was misled by the sprue only having two fins. They are indeed bombs, either Mk 82s or Mk 84s - I'm not quite enough of a plane geek to be able to tell without more research than that's worth. Grammatically speaking, one could argue that a free-fall bomb is a missile, but in terms of jet aircraft the term is usually reserved for something that's self-powered.

And I didn't figure you'd made up the term yourself - it felt like one of those generic bits of jargon that communities like this develop. I just felt the need to be pedantic about it.

 

[eethan]

Hey there!

pretty happy with work today,
did all the bevels on the side plates:

just for the lols, my wife is always making those photos with her perfect hands and nails, so I thought I'll do the same today yeah, not the same story!

then, I started on those round sprues and I really like the result, so i'll be doing it on all side plates, seems like a killer super screen-accurate detail to do, I like it I hope you guys will agree!

those are some of the smallest parts I turned

I first drill a 4mm hole, then I push the nails I turned with the mill vice that we see here as well. Really crank it and it feels like it's part of the plate

well, this is all really taking shape
It's really just the scopes that needs to work now, but all the rest is moving forward, casting or machining and are almost ready.
cheers all

 

[eethan]

Hey there,
so, all side plates are done, and I really like the result!

so, update on the project check list:
- aluminium side plates: DONE
- previously know as "marker cap" front greebly: DONE
- Delrin scope mounts: DONE
- Resin/aluminium scopes: WIP, new master done, new mold almost finished
- cast Bulgin buttons for the scope: WIP, mold done, casting WIP
- 2x cast motor coil plates: DONE
- 2x cast falcon missiles: WIP, mold done, casting almost done
- 2x 16mm hemispheres: WIP, Grey Plastruct parts on hand, Black cast part: mold done, casting WIP
option: RO72 conversion back aluminium cap: DONE

 

[eethan]

Hello

First cast from the new scope master and mold came out great this morning

I'll show more photos when I get the time. it is screen-accurate, not idealized, that means the cast is as good as possible, but there is a center mold line as straight as possible. It's there on purpose, just like it was there on the original prop. Wonder Knight did a great job on the mold! That's the second master and second mold for that part, she can definitely be praised for her patience and for working hard providing the best parts possible for that run

while we talk about this, here is the current progress on the smaller parts, just a few for now, but now that the new scope mold is done, that will mean, 1x scope, 2x Bulgin button, 2x 16mm hemispheres casts per day
the casts are amazing, Julie's clean mold + the pressure pot gives really great casts

alright, next up, the freaking scope tips!
alright, so I tried to make a full part in aluminium to be sure it would be sturdy as there is a really thin detail in the front (that broke on most of the original blasters). Well, that is not realistically going to happen. My mind was off that day, so I ****** up the prototype of the fins, but it's a bit complicated to do all in one part, so i have to scratch that. I said no compromises on that run for the accuracy, and the originals are all black plastic. So we are going with a cast here, with a slight twist. It took me actually machining the part to realize that the broken front tip was actually a 3.5mm jack! so, the main part will be cast black resin like the original, and real 3.5mm jack tips will be included for the front detail

the failed prototype part on the left. several printed accurate tips for mastering.

master done! the print gets a thin lip at the bottom that needs to be cleaned up, as well as the very fine print lines (0.03mm resin print)
white traces are polish reisidue, before I clean the part.

here with a 3.5mm drill bit to show what it will look like. The 3.5mm jack is 14mm long and it will not go all the way, it can be seen on close up pictures that sadly, i'm not allowed to share, But I'm reproducing all the small details here
there is a small lip on the 3D printed master that will stop the jack at the right depth

well, I showed my wife the master and looking in a strong light, she wasn't happy with a few scratches, so I made one more pass on it ahah! damn, this project, I get corrections to do from my wife, it's been a long time someone corrected my work!

anyways, so this is all moving forward.
progress will be pretty straight forward from now, basically one kit cast per day, so 13 days left before the first batch is finished.
I did that small run because I wanted a set of super accurate parts for my blaster, and I did 12 extras in case people needed them, but I think I under-estimated the interest. So, even though this is all almost ready, i'll be opening an interest thread tomorrow with photos and final price to get a quick poll on interest and order a second set of laser cut side bars as those are the only parts that are outsourced.
That way, I get a better idea and can supply enough for everyone interested

update on the project check list:
- aluminium side plates: DONE
- previously know as "marker cap" front greebly: DONE
- Delrin scope mounts: DONE
- 2x cast motor coil plates: DONE
- 2x cast falcon missiles: DONE
- Resin scopes with real 3.5mm jack: WIP, new mold done, casting WIP
- cast Bulgin buttons for the scope: WIP, mold done, casting WIP
- 2x 16mm hemispheres: WIP, Grey Plastruct parts on hand, Black cast part: mold done, casting WIP
option: RO72 conversion back aluminium cap: DONE

cheers all!