MacBeath
Well-Known Member
Ok - I know that there is already a thread for DEC build, but I though I'd do my own because...
a) I've not done a build thread
and
b) This may be of help to others who are in the same position I am...
Right - i consider myself pretty talentless, and would prefer to buy finished props. I also have the issue of living in a flat/apartment, which, whilst a decent size, only has one spare room which has to be a proper spare bedroom, den/playroom and study. Anything I do has to cause as little mess/smell as possible. I therefore tried to get a finished DL-44, and advertised on several sites, but to no avail.
I therefore decided to bite the bullet and, after reading all the how-to guides here, do one myself... actually, the plan was to build two. Having got a source of Denix mausers in the UK, I thought I'd go for both DEC's run and BobaDebts. Unfortunately, a late cost increase for the family vacation, the same week my job came under threat, meant I had to drop the latter...
As well as lack of space, I also have a lack of resources - this was done with my basic household toolkit of pin hammer, hacksaw, files, sandpaper and a cheap multitool I acquired some time ago.
Oh - and this is the aluminium/cast pewter version of the kit, not the steel etc one. I found the kit very easy to work with and it only required the minimum of clean up work - I doubt I spent more than an hour filing/sanding/washing and scouring with steel wool before I painted.
Anyway - first up, the Mauser... being in the UK, and not being a member of the right sort of group, I could only get this sprayed red...
This was pretty easy to get off with nothing more than course steel wool.
The gun also comes apart really easily, just like in the various videos posted by DEC and BobaDebt.
The mutlitool was easily up to the job of removing the Denix logo, and the hacksaw had no problem with the barrel or the webbing in the grip (I went for the wooden grips).
A file and the multitool were also enough to grind down the Denix barrel enough to properly fit the bull barrel. I did get some help at this point - I took the body to a friend's workshop in the hope that he could tap the bolt holes on the side but sadly he only had metric taps and they didn't match up. The bolts were therefore epoxied in.
I did find a source of bluing chemicals in the UK, but don't have the external space to use them. I therefore decided to see how far I could get with paint and steel wool. I started with the flash hider and over a couple of nights sprayed, left to dry and then rubbed back with the steel wool until I got something I was happy with. I then did a very light spray of the same black paint just to dull the exposed metal. The same approach was used for the rest of the kit parts. I had intended to do the whole gun in this way, but, quite liked the finish on the Mauser I had after cleaning off the red, and also felt the paint matched the gun's finish quite well.
For the mystery disc, I decided to mask off a circle and sand down to the base metal, again then applying a slight dusting of paint. Keeping in the Star Wars family, I used a ring cut from a sheet of replacement B-Wing stickers for the toy I got to spruce up my kid's ship! This was 24mm in diameter, and I think DEC said he'd previously done stickers that were 23.8mm.
And once everything was put together...
Is it perfect...? No! But, I built it and am very happy with it. I wanted a mostly metal DL-44 on my shelf and I have one. In fact, I'm delighted with it. If I had been offered this when I was looking to buy, I would have been happy, but knowing I built it made it better.
Did I make mistakes? Yes! Two rookie mistakes (at least!). The mystery disk if too low as I aligned the outer edge of the mask rather than the inner edge. D'óh!
Secondly, having been careful gluing the glass into the brass rings, I glued both the the scope at the same time... with the top knob screwed in... resulting in the superglue fumes having nowhere to go, so, in true CSI style, the glass misted up...
Both are easy to fix, so I'll get round to it... I probably need to weather it some more, and put more linseed oil on the grips... I also need to add the t-track etc... but for now, I've run out of time. The Edinburgh Festival is upon us, and my "workshop" has reverted back to being a spare room... all be it one with a DL-44 on the shelf for friends and family to admire!
a) I've not done a build thread
and
b) This may be of help to others who are in the same position I am...
Right - i consider myself pretty talentless, and would prefer to buy finished props. I also have the issue of living in a flat/apartment, which, whilst a decent size, only has one spare room which has to be a proper spare bedroom, den/playroom and study. Anything I do has to cause as little mess/smell as possible. I therefore tried to get a finished DL-44, and advertised on several sites, but to no avail.
I therefore decided to bite the bullet and, after reading all the how-to guides here, do one myself... actually, the plan was to build two. Having got a source of Denix mausers in the UK, I thought I'd go for both DEC's run and BobaDebts. Unfortunately, a late cost increase for the family vacation, the same week my job came under threat, meant I had to drop the latter...
As well as lack of space, I also have a lack of resources - this was done with my basic household toolkit of pin hammer, hacksaw, files, sandpaper and a cheap multitool I acquired some time ago.
Oh - and this is the aluminium/cast pewter version of the kit, not the steel etc one. I found the kit very easy to work with and it only required the minimum of clean up work - I doubt I spent more than an hour filing/sanding/washing and scouring with steel wool before I painted.
Anyway - first up, the Mauser... being in the UK, and not being a member of the right sort of group, I could only get this sprayed red...
This was pretty easy to get off with nothing more than course steel wool.
The gun also comes apart really easily, just like in the various videos posted by DEC and BobaDebt.
The mutlitool was easily up to the job of removing the Denix logo, and the hacksaw had no problem with the barrel or the webbing in the grip (I went for the wooden grips).
A file and the multitool were also enough to grind down the Denix barrel enough to properly fit the bull barrel. I did get some help at this point - I took the body to a friend's workshop in the hope that he could tap the bolt holes on the side but sadly he only had metric taps and they didn't match up. The bolts were therefore epoxied in.
I did find a source of bluing chemicals in the UK, but don't have the external space to use them. I therefore decided to see how far I could get with paint and steel wool. I started with the flash hider and over a couple of nights sprayed, left to dry and then rubbed back with the steel wool until I got something I was happy with. I then did a very light spray of the same black paint just to dull the exposed metal. The same approach was used for the rest of the kit parts. I had intended to do the whole gun in this way, but, quite liked the finish on the Mauser I had after cleaning off the red, and also felt the paint matched the gun's finish quite well.
For the mystery disc, I decided to mask off a circle and sand down to the base metal, again then applying a slight dusting of paint. Keeping in the Star Wars family, I used a ring cut from a sheet of replacement B-Wing stickers for the toy I got to spruce up my kid's ship! This was 24mm in diameter, and I think DEC said he'd previously done stickers that were 23.8mm.
And once everything was put together...
Is it perfect...? No! But, I built it and am very happy with it. I wanted a mostly metal DL-44 on my shelf and I have one. In fact, I'm delighted with it. If I had been offered this when I was looking to buy, I would have been happy, but knowing I built it made it better.
Did I make mistakes? Yes! Two rookie mistakes (at least!). The mystery disk if too low as I aligned the outer edge of the mask rather than the inner edge. D'óh!
Secondly, having been careful gluing the glass into the brass rings, I glued both the the scope at the same time... with the top knob screwed in... resulting in the superglue fumes having nowhere to go, so, in true CSI style, the glass misted up...
Both are easy to fix, so I'll get round to it... I probably need to weather it some more, and put more linseed oil on the grips... I also need to add the t-track etc... but for now, I've run out of time. The Edinburgh Festival is upon us, and my "workshop" has reverted back to being a spare room... all be it one with a DL-44 on the shelf for friends and family to admire!
