I wanted to recreate these stunt blasters from The Empire Strikes Back to be FDM printed. I also know these are both commonly referred to as either the “muppet” and/or “Dagobah” as well but honestly wasn’t sure which was which but after a little digging some details emerged to hopefully answering at least one of those questions along the way..
Let’s start with this variant of these stunt blasters. For the longest time I’ve only ever seen this one pic of this prop and nothing from the other side..
But we know it went to auction so after some google searches I found some really great pics of both sides including the top as well as a video showing off this prop from all angles which definitely helped when recreating it..
Along the way while doing some deep dives I learned how this prop found its way to auction. Apparently Mark Hamill gifted it to this kid while appearing on the UK show “Jim will fix it”. You can see it holstered here..
I started to pull up some of the old Muppet Show videos off of YouTube where Luke makes a guest appearance and noticed a lot of specific similarities between the two props. Also an interesting fact is that the Muppet Show was shot at Elstree Studios (same as TESB) so Luke didn’t have far to travel..
Of those said similarities the biggest is the no reflective lens on the front of the m19 scope (just a solid casting) as well as it missing the front barrel protruding through the Flash Hider. So because of that moving forward I’ll simply refer to this prop as the “Muppet” and the other prop (with the reflective lens and barrel through FH) as the “Dagobah” to avoid confusion if nothing else. To be clear I’m not saying this IS the Muppet blaster but I am saying it certainly looks like it..
Taking all these details into account this is what I came up with for this Muppet Blaster replica.
*One thing of note was when recreating these props I wanted them to have all the functionality of the original c96 design. I still wanted to be able to pull the trigger to release the hammer, have the safety work along with the bolt side action. All of which obviously isn’t on either of the props being that they were original casted in solid resin. Yet at the same time though I definitely wanted them to maintain the “look” of the actual resin props in all their details or in some parts lack there of..
Now for the “Dagobah” version of this stunt prop. It’s obviously not so clear as to where this specific prop (with the two screws on the mount) appeared or if it did at all for that matter.
There is this video from the prop store taking about this specific prop which is helpful but certainly not clear if this is the actual prop from those dagobah scenes..
And obviously the scene itself which honestly doesn’t really tell you very much..
The only possible tell is those reflective lens on the m19 scope. They used those if I understand correctly so it would give the impression of lens (catch and reflect the light) when being filmed. So thats ultimately what I’m looking for in this scene..
Pretty much impossible to say for certain but there is this one pic which at least shows what looks like to be some reflection. It’s certainly not conclusive but it’s enough for me anyways to label this prop as the “Dagobah”. Makes it certainly less confusing than calling them “stunt 1” or “stunt 2” don’t you think?
Here are some more pics and videos of where these stunt props appear thought out the filming of “The Empire Strikes Back”..
Here I believe you can also see it in Solo’s Holster while shooting in Norway. Luke actually has the “Hoth” blaster holstered here I believe as well. The “tell” for Solo is the sight placement and the solid grip frame on the back while you can see the slot on the back of Lukes grip frame which the MGC had. But by relooking at it through Solo’s might actually be the “muppet” variant without the lens??
And of course back on Dagobah..
Let’s start with this variant of these stunt blasters. For the longest time I’ve only ever seen this one pic of this prop and nothing from the other side..
But we know it went to auction so after some google searches I found some really great pics of both sides including the top as well as a video showing off this prop from all angles which definitely helped when recreating it..
Along the way while doing some deep dives I learned how this prop found its way to auction. Apparently Mark Hamill gifted it to this kid while appearing on the UK show “Jim will fix it”. You can see it holstered here..
I started to pull up some of the old Muppet Show videos off of YouTube where Luke makes a guest appearance and noticed a lot of specific similarities between the two props. Also an interesting fact is that the Muppet Show was shot at Elstree Studios (same as TESB) so Luke didn’t have far to travel..
Of those said similarities the biggest is the no reflective lens on the front of the m19 scope (just a solid casting) as well as it missing the front barrel protruding through the Flash Hider. So because of that moving forward I’ll simply refer to this prop as the “Muppet” and the other prop (with the reflective lens and barrel through FH) as the “Dagobah” to avoid confusion if nothing else. To be clear I’m not saying this IS the Muppet blaster but I am saying it certainly looks like it..
Taking all these details into account this is what I came up with for this Muppet Blaster replica.
*One thing of note was when recreating these props I wanted them to have all the functionality of the original c96 design. I still wanted to be able to pull the trigger to release the hammer, have the safety work along with the bolt side action. All of which obviously isn’t on either of the props being that they were original casted in solid resin. Yet at the same time though I definitely wanted them to maintain the “look” of the actual resin props in all their details or in some parts lack there of..
Now for the “Dagobah” version of this stunt prop. It’s obviously not so clear as to where this specific prop (with the two screws on the mount) appeared or if it did at all for that matter.
There is this video from the prop store taking about this specific prop which is helpful but certainly not clear if this is the actual prop from those dagobah scenes..
And obviously the scene itself which honestly doesn’t really tell you very much..
The only possible tell is those reflective lens on the m19 scope. They used those if I understand correctly so it would give the impression of lens (catch and reflect the light) when being filmed. So thats ultimately what I’m looking for in this scene..
Pretty much impossible to say for certain but there is this one pic which at least shows what looks like to be some reflection. It’s certainly not conclusive but it’s enough for me anyways to label this prop as the “Dagobah”. Makes it certainly less confusing than calling them “stunt 1” or “stunt 2” don’t you think?
Here are some more pics and videos of where these stunt props appear thought out the filming of “The Empire Strikes Back”..
Here I believe you can also see it in Solo’s Holster while shooting in Norway. Luke actually has the “Hoth” blaster holstered here I believe as well. The “tell” for Solo is the sight placement and the solid grip frame on the back while you can see the slot on the back of Lukes grip frame which the MGC had. But by relooking at it through Solo’s might actually be the “muppet” variant without the lens??
And of course back on Dagobah..
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