Tom's ESB DL-44 Blasters - Hoth & Bespin Hero

thd9791

Master Member
RPF PREMIUM MEMBER
Hey everyone,

I'm starting a thread for these projects which will occur simultaneously: A Hoth DL-44 blaster and a Luke Bespin blaster. Both are based on Denix's and will use Boba Debt's parts run.

The Bespin is a full kit from the run - and I have a real M19 for it! That will come last, as the Denix's are at the shop still.

I got some Hoth parts early, and I'm using my own Denix. It's from a toy place on Ebay that seems to have small, wonderfully detailed Denix's that put most others to shame. You'll see how tight the upper rail hugs the lower. Also, I installed MGC grips (since the Hoth was an MGC) and only had to do inner adjustments....the frame nearly exactly matched the MGC grips. All I really had to do was hacksaw the tapped holes and drill out the center.

Here is the inside of the grips. I ground the rear of the gun's grip from the inside, but in fear of grinding through the stock recess, I did more to the grips themselves. I ended up filling the inside with putty and sculpting a tighter fit too - since the rear inner ridge of the MGC grips had to be nearly sanded away for it to sit without hanging over an edge.

fun fact - you can get a good shape by smushing the puttied grips into the frame to get a stamp of the grip, letting that dry and sanding it down to finish.
DSCN3834.jpgDSCN3836.jpg

Also, I'm working a theory that the mystery nubs on either side of the Pistons are not screws.
ESB_hoth_real.jpg Image courtesy of Scottjua

I think they're nuts. Hex nuts. I think the pistons cover the upper nut and the bottom two are exposed. All three extend to the Thorens disc on the other side.

I'm not sure about an MGC body but on my Denix the mystery parts are only 1-2mm further apart than the adjacent M3 bolts. So, I adjusted.

After measuring seven times, including two types of resin pistons, real pistons, a thorens disc and Boba Debt mount...

I ran 1/16 drill bits all the way through the gun for pilot holes. I then flipped it over and expanded the holes so they were large enough for M3 bolts. I think one may be off but I have a bit of wiggle room. Right now, I have three holes for the disc and I only have two drilled completely through while I wait for 40mm bolts from China.

DSCN3816.jpgDSCN3819.jpgDSCN3828.jpgDSCN3832.JPG

I should also add @redbutton and @silentZ94 helped me line everything up and sculpt the grips.
 

Attachments

  • DSCN3819.JPG
    DSCN3819.JPG
    2.4 MB · Views: 192
Last edited:
I drilled through all three Thorens holes and installed 40mm screws! Gotta dremel them down, but here's a plastic piston in a test spot, un trimmed. I like it :)
 

Attachments

  • image.jpeg
    image.jpeg
    827.4 KB · Views: 220
  • image.jpeg
    image.jpeg
    171.5 KB · Views: 202
  • image.jpeg
    image.jpeg
    545 KB · Views: 221
  • image.jpeg
    image.jpeg
    637.6 KB · Views: 239
Looking great!

Somehow I was unable to line up the two lower screws of the Thorens disc with the V8 pistons on my build, that´s why I did not go that route...maybe my bracket is sitting to high/ low? :confused
 
Very nice! I think youre on to something here. Do you remember if they were M3 x 40? I have a bunch of Thorens caps but no screws
 
Couldn´t find any correctly sized domed hex-screws (head was too big) in the proper length myself, but yes...M3x40 sounds about right
 
Well done Tom. This is the way I have also been planning on doing it as have a few others I've discussed it with.

It's a shame the BD run just completely bypassed this detail which was a revalation as far as I'm concerned. With the incorporation of the thorens disc it was completely wasted on those newly invented 'piston discs'.

Piston discs???? WTF!?

And enough with the solid pistons as well!
 
Yeah, what was up with that piston disc/plate thing? This is the way to do it. Pay attention, blaster builders!

Looks great Tom!
 
This is the way to do it. Pay attention, blaster builders!

No.

Opinions come, opinions go - with each new discovery, or what people think it may be.

I don´t see any nuts under the pistons. Nonetheless it may be (as anything else), but without better proof i will not waste a MGC for this.
 
I drilled through all three Thorens holes and installed 40mm screws! Gotta dremel them down, but here's a plastic piston in a test spot, un trimmed. I like it :)

Looks perfect to me. I used to remove the excess threads on a screw with a short length of pipe that the inner diameter was just big enough to slide over. I would then rock the pipe back and forth to bend and break the excess off. It would usually break cleanly near the nut.
 
Very nice! I think youre on to something here. Do you remember if they were M3 x 40? I have a bunch of Thorens caps but no screws

Couldn´t find any correctly sized domed hex-screws (head was too big) in the proper length myself, but yes...M3x40 sounds about right

Thank you guys, Yes I used M3 x 40 mm screws, Basically, I got Boba Debts Hoth parts early and he used M3 screws (I think he nailed that) so I just ordered longer ones. I DID learn that the allen socket on top of the screw is not the same as the threading :lol

Well done Tom. This is the way I have also been planning on doing it as have a few others I've discussed it with.

It's a shame the BD run just completely bypassed this detail which was a revalation as far as I'm concerned. With the incorporation of the thorens disc it was completely wasted on those newly invented 'piston discs'.

Piston discs???? WTF!?

And enough with the solid pistons as well!

Thanks! I was a little disappointed too, with that disc route, but everything else he came up with has been over the top beautiful. (The Bespin flash hiders, brackets, knurled knob) so I kinda said "meh" I'll do my own thing. Lichtbringer has a point though, some of these parts, like MGCs are so expensive, doing this without proof is a tad risky. This is actually a really REALLY nice Denix. The grip frame actually matched the MGC grips I put on. Blew my mind.

Also, I do think they used a 2nd or 3rd generation cast of pistons on the real MGC blaster. Compared to the gun's rail, the real thing is much smaller than my plastic revell parts. They may have just drilled/ground out a hole for the top nut and cut spaces for the side ones.

Looks perfect to me. I used to remove the excess threads on a screw with a short length of pipe that the inner diameter was just big enough to slide over. I would then rock the pipe back and forth to bend and break the excess off. It would usually break cleanly near the nut.

Thanks for this tip! thats really clever

Also folks, I measured 28 times and cut once. I drilled a pilot hole straight through and flipped the gun over to drill the larger holes. Good thing too, because one of my pilot holes was off and I had to grind out the correctly placed hole - and THEN I had to do a bit more grinding because the screws would slide through, but at weird angles. That was all feel and eyeball correcting.
 
No.

I don´t see any nuts under the pistons. Nonetheless it may be (as anything else), but without better proof i will not waste a MGC for this.

Maybe they just tapped threads into the MGC body and it's just the end of the bolts along side the pistons.


Although, after looking at the pic of the real blaster, bolt ends would be smaller than what's there. :unsure
 
Last edited:
Interesting theory and cool build. Who's your ebay seller? I need another Denix for my Bespin Luke build. :)
 
Before Star Wars: Visions ends in late August I am thinking of going back to look at this Hoth blaster. 1 side is visible, it is elevated a little. If I get down really low I can see the gun from the bottom straight on. Do you think I would be able to confirm/deny this bolt/thread through thing? Are the nuts/whatever else they are visible from the bottom? The 3 screws were phillips pan heads, but I guess they do bolt versions of those too.

Also I am gonna check if the "thorens disc" has the indentation in the centre. It looks like the thoren's disc was only identified from the 2007 magazine picture. The gun in that picture is 100% the same as the one in the exhibition (paint flakes match up on all visible parts). If it isn't a thorens disc, it might be interesting. It looks too thick to be a thoren's disc imo, but I don't wanna guess from memory or blurry pics.
 
Before Star Wars: Visions ends in late August I am thinking of going back to look at this Hoth blaster. 1 side is visible, it is elevated a little. If I get down really low I can see the gun from the bottom straight on. Do you think I would be able to confirm/deny this bolt/thread through thing? Are the nuts/whatever else they are visible from the bottom? The 3 screws were phillips pan heads, but I guess they do bolt versions of those too.

Also I am gonna check if the "thorens disc" has the indentation in the centre. It looks like the thoren's disc was only identified from the 2007 magazine picture. The gun in that picture is 100% the same as the one in the exhibition (paint flakes match up on all visible parts). If it isn't a thorens disc, it might be interesting. It looks too thick to be a thoren's disc imo, but I don't wanna guess from memory or blurry pics.

I and I think all of us would greatly appreciate it :)

Seeing it in those photos makes me believe it isn't a thorens disc either, which is kind-of sad :lol The spacers were certainly a discovery! I'm still okay with using three stand-offs. It's not as far off the gun, but it's a hardware store solution before we ID the spacers

I think you should be able to see deez nuts, I mean, these nuts from the bottom. Since they poke out from the side of the pistons. Can you also give a rough estimate of the width of the pistons compared to the flat magazine area? I have a feeling they didn't use real ones, but resin castings, since my real pistons are rather large compared to the magazine well area. 2 or 3 generations of resin casting would reduce the size a bit.

I have since finished the body of my blaster. I originally sculpted 3 or 4 pistons trying to get it right, then superglued two together by letting a drop of CA glue run down the inside, where the two join. Then, as a solid piece, I drilled two holes, filled the pistons with putty and screwed them into place.

I actually drilled one of the holes a little off, so I used the "other" half of the pistons, then part thats identical but with no hole, and drilled an off center hole myself. Now, you really can't tell :)

I also decided to use distributor rings. I kept cutting up motor coil plates and being dissatisfied, and then I realized I had 5 distributor ring castings that were beautiful and wanted to use them. That's what they were supposed to be right?
 
Here are some pics, notice the nuts, I accidentally got some glue/putty in them.
 

Attachments

  • image.jpeg
    image.jpeg
    666.2 KB · Views: 204
  • image.jpeg
    image.jpeg
    674.3 KB · Views: 228
  • image.jpeg
    image.jpeg
    808.6 KB · Views: 228
  • image.jpeg
    image.jpeg
    963.9 KB · Views: 230
Re: Tom's ESB DL-44 Blasters - Hoth & Bespin Hero

Did the same thing with my nuts. Filled them a little with some glue. Looks very convincing!

It's amazing how the hexagonal shape can easily be seen as circular.
 
Re: Tom's ESB DL-44 Blasters - Hoth & Bespin Hero

Well done Tom. This is the way I have also been planning on doing it as have a few others I've discussed it with.

It's a shame the BD run just completely bypassed this detail which was a revalation as far as I'm concerned. With the incorporation of the thorens disc it was completely wasted on those newly invented 'piston discs'.

Piston discs???? WTF!?

And enough with the solid pistons as well!


Yeah, what was up with that piston disc/plate thing? This is the way to do it. Pay attention, blaster builders!

Looks great Tom!




I'm a little offended at the tone of some of these comments.


We discussed these parts over a year ago and I can not be responsible for discoveries and revelations made after the parts have been machined.


My mantra is "Accuracy is in the eye of the Builder" which is why I offer variations of the parts.

It's aggravating, time consuming and if I didn't possess mad organizational skills I would be able to make it work.

After reading some of the comments in this thread and after having to deal with some on the members of this forum on this past project I am really considering being more selective of who I work with on active projects.
 
Last edited:
This thread is more than 6 years old.

Your message may be considered spam for the following reasons:

  1. This thread hasn't been active in some time. A new post in this thread might not contribute constructively to this discussion after so long.
If you wish to reply despite these issues, check the box below before replying.
Be aware that malicious compliance may result in more severe penalties.
Back
Top