More Cheap & Cheerful Star Wars Blaster Replicas

Geohazard,
I ordered a few of the plastic ones to find out that they were maybe 3/4 scale :(

Are yours 1:1?

I ended up picking up 2 Denix mausers also.

If they are 1:1, would you mind possibly pm'ing me the seller Id on eBay here please?

Thank you,
Brandon
 
Thanks for all the encouragement guys!

I went down to the Home Despot this evening and found some potential replacement parts, in the form of a short length of 1/2" copper tubing and a PVC reducer slip coupling. I haven't figured out how I'm going to attach the coupling to the barrel yet, as there is plenty of wobble room between the id of the coupling and the od of the tubing. I've a few ideas, spot putty, chemical A+B foam, or modeling clay.

I also found some suitable plastic greeblies to modify & attach to the other side of the airsoft, and I'm going to use a bit of zip-tie and some spot putty to add a non-functional stun/kill switch in the correct position. Hooray for random greeblie finds!

Also grand is the copper tubing is a perfect fit to where the plastic barrel would have gone, without having to do any modifications!

No more work tonight. I've got a bit of a headache coming on, and the glue and spot putty needs time to cure before priming.
 
Thanks Bru!

We're now on the downhill stretch. I got a lot accomplished today, as far as getting greeblies and things mounted. Things are starting to get a bit more expensive, and I'm far over my budget of $25, but now I have some of the materials on hand, for the next project.

Today's materials:
Walnut tone spray: $8.13
5yd 12-gauge Aluminum Floral Wire: $2.39
Black Sculpy Clay: $1.29

1) Sanded & primed grips. It looks like the Rustoleum primer I'm using sticks to the plastic just fine, and one coat is good enough!
2) Cut, sanded, & drilled small dowel bit for the "scope". Glued to the airsoft.
3) Twisted Al wire around 1/2" Cu-tubing, trimmed edges to fit placement for "scope power cord". I wanted something a bit more rigid than your average curly-cord, and this stuff works great.
4) Filled PVC reducer with clay, cored to od of 1/2" Cu tubing. Baked in oven at approximately 275° F for about 12 minutes (the directions on the clay said 15 mins per 1/4" of material). Unfortunately, I found out that PVC shrinks during this process. The Cu-tubing no longer fit inside the core. No problem, that's what Dremels are for!

***Be careful when cutting/grinding/heating PVC! Chlorine gas is no fun!***
 
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Mid-day Update:
I managed to get two coats of primer on the main body of the airsoft and sand & touch up where I goobered one of the grips. I also cut & reamed the Cu-tubing to the desired length, and attached the flash hider cone with superglue (I'm concerned about the longevity of the bond between the copper and the plastic, given the small area of contact between the two surfaces. If anyone has any tips I'm willing to entertain other ideas). The clay inside the PVC reducer fits the tubing pretty tightly, so I'm not going to glue it on.

Next up: mix glue & acrylic paint, brush onto grips, and spray on walnut tone. Sand primer and apply first coat of black. Sand glue residue from barrel and flash hider join & prime.
 
Evening update:

Learned a lot today. Instead of using latex paint, I bought acrylic (being available in smaller amounts), and mixed in proportions of approximately 1:2/3. Something about the chemistry between the two elements formed a gooey glob with the consistency of bread dough (see the pic). I'm not sure if latex reacts in a similar way, but my first attempt at painting grain lines ended up having to be wiped away. I then attempted to drybrush the goo on, with more success. We'll see what it looks like when dry, whether or not I go after it with the sandpaper and try again. I'm optimistic.

1) Assembled flash hider and connected to barrel, sanded down glue globs. Primed.
2) Touch-up primer, first coat of black.
3) Rigged up jigs to paint wood grain effect on grips, mixed paint with glue, drybrushed mixture onto grips.

Pictures:
1) Finished flash hider/barrell combo
2) Painting jig- Flash hider
3) Painting jig- grips
4) Acrylic paint/wood glue mixture
5) Drybrushed grips
 
Wow, yet again, the flash hider is comming along famously and I cant wait to use this methode for my build, and the i had the idea of using pvc as well. Good to know it works well with the funnel, looks great too. Did you have to shrink the width of the funnel at all?
 
Wow, yet again, the flash hider is comming along famously and I cant wait to use this methode for my build, and the i had the idea of using pvc as well. Good to know it works well with the funnel, looks great too. Did you have to shrink the width of the funnel at all?

Ginyu-
No, I didn't have to trim it much at all. The tip of the funnel matched my copper tube almost exactly. I cut the funnel at the point where the angle changes to the bowl part, and it makes the perfect shape for the cone.

BTW, if you are going for screen-accurate, my flash hider may not be the way you want to do it, at least the way I'm setting it up. I'm going for a custom look, not the stock blaster look.

More painting tonight!

The first coat of walnut toner looks great on the grips, and I put the first coat of flat black on the two halves of the airsoft & the barrel/flash hider.
 
Well yea, i was going for the screen accurate model. But yours works very well too. There are just a limitless amount of possablities with this build, its great.
 
Well yea, i was going for the screen accurate model. But yours works very well too. There are just a limitless amount of possablities with this build, its great.

In that case, if you use the type of PVC reducer I used, you'll want to grind or cut the rim flush, so that you have a perfect cylinder. I found that with 320-grit sandpaper, the PVC grinds down quickly.

Personally, the next time I attempt to work on a broomhandle, I should like to build off of a Denix, with resin or metal greeblies. It makes much lighter work, if not making my pocketbook lighter as well. :facepalm

I'm thinking a Greedo-Killer.
 
Update:
Final coats of both black and walnut toner are on. As soon as dry, it's time to assemble! Now where did I put all those little screws... :confused

Now I guess I need to learn how to use a leather awl so I can make a decent holster for it.
 
Well if i were to make the flash hider, i may not even use a PVC reducer, i would just cut a piece of pvc that is the right size, because on the Greedo Killer, the flash hider is pertty much just the "funner" shape. A thicker portion for the base which you could use the pvc for that, and than use a tightner and a wingnut to give it that look it needs. It really shouldnt be too hard to make, But good luck with finding the screws and I hope you do make a greedo killer, than we can help eachother out, that is if you want to help :D
 
This weekend was DunDraCon 37, and I had a blast. Had the opportunity to try out the Fantasy Flight Beta of Edge of the Empire, the new iteration of Star Wars roleplaying. A lot of fun, yes, but being away from home, not a lot of work was done on this project.

However, I did manage to get four 1oz pyramid weights glued on, polishing off the last of my bottle of glue. The blaster now has a decent amount of heft to it, and feels good in my hand. I also decided to drill the holes in the flash hider cone after all, and noticed that the waste plastic behaves itself better with a few coats of paint.:lol

All that's left to do is finish assembling the two halves, add the barrel/flash hider, and dry brush the weathering effects. So exciting!
 
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It's not finished, but sure looks like a blaster to me! :cheers:

Things are a bit fragile. The screws don't bite the plastic as well as they did the first time the base airsoft was put together, so there are gaps in places that are only noticeable upon close inspection. However I know they are there, and the perfectionist in me wants everything as perfect as possible.
:facepalm
Personally, I'd like to take out the trigger and replace it with a rubber oval as shown in the pic, as well as adding some of the other little tchotchkies. Maybe if/when I decide to get serious with a Denix, I'll do it that way. I'm hoping to have access to a 3D-printer to be able to shape some of the harder to produce greeblies.

The only thing left to do is to drybrush the steel testors for wear effect and put together a holster.
:thumbsup
 
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Looks great! Does that mean that you are dont? And whats this edge of empire you talked about?

I'm not done with it, just because I'd like to fix some of the gaps and give it a worn, used look. However, it is complete enough to take out on a trooping.

Edge of the Empire is Fantasy Flight's new Tabletop Role Playing Game. When Wizards of the Coast's license lapsed, FF bought it, and this is the result. It's been in Beta for awhile now (the version I played saturday night), and is scheduled to be released some time later this year.
 
That's a nice-looking blaster you have there, and it'll really stand out amongst the DL44s when you troop with it. It puts my old cheap'n'cheerful to shame. Well done, mate. (y)thumbsup:thumbsup
 
That's a nice-looking blaster you have there, and it'll really stand out amongst the DL44s when you troop with it. It puts my old cheap'n'cheerful to shame. Well done, mate. (y)thumbsup:thumbsup

Thanks! This has been really fun, and I'm already looking forward to the next project. I'd like to make a Senate Guard Ceremonial Rifle. I'll post shots of the final paint job on the Power-5 when it's finished. It feels too black right now for my taste, needs some scuffing up. I'm also over-budget so I'm going to make two tallies, one for straight money spent on project, and another minus materials I can use on other projects, or had lying about already.
 
This looks fantastic, nice job using pyramid weights, I'll have to remember to add weight to mine
 
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