I hear you but if you look at this one picture alone, tell me it doesn’t look like it’s all the same “blued” color?? Especially the grille’s color being such a strong contrast to the body itself..
ANH Hero DL-44 Discussion - Three ANH Greeblies Found
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kpax
Sr Member
Rail post and knob?
Do you mean the crossbar, threaded rods and thumbscrews? If so... the crossbar is aluminum and most likely painted and then scratched and gouged. The end of the rods may have been dabbed with paint just so the cut off ends would not be so bright. The knobs most likely were factory iron oxide coated thumbscrews and do chip and scratch. It seems to me the thumbscrews were tightened with pliers. Look at the Mauser body under the front mag well area. There are circular gouges that suggest they scratched the frame while tightening the knobs.
For the body of the blaster, I used the best color images of the blaster and oversaturated the image to see what colors pop. There seems to be a distinct difference in color tone between the grill. which we know is BLACK plastic, and the frame which seems to retail a bluish hue.
Of course the "bluing" was not like COLT blue. It was a blue/black so hard to see the difference for sure.
The current TFA and SOLO versions went with flat/satin black overall. Painting is not a bad finish as a "newer" version. Scuff it up and it will look great.
I agree and not just the fact that you can see a difference between the grille and the frame but that you can’t see a different between the top and bottom parts of the gun. The whole thing looks to be the same color while the grille looks different in color. You think you would see some difference in even the shade?
In this picture (link) which I won’t post here out of respect to scottjua but you can again see that everything (including the scope and mount) are very similar in color except the grille..
https://pin.it/cte6luagjtsdri
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H0llyw00d
Sr Member
Technically speaking the scope is attached to a scope mount that is in turn attached via a Weaver mount to a scope rail that is attached to the Mauser lower by two posts... those are small arms terms but we use our own vernacular so fine, as long as we all know what we are talking about...
Yes there will be a difference between how the paint takes to the plastic of the grill vs. the body of the gun itself. The plastic was matte and the gun is polished. There is also no way they didn't paint the FH since it's not that rusty blued or, as I contend, parkerized...
I don’t think the grille was painted honestly. I think it was just the 3 cylinder’s cut up and attached to the Mauser. The cylinders themselves are already a black colored plastic. But who knows.. ??
kpax
Sr Member
The scope is held by, as far as we know, a one off custom scope mount cradle and rings. In all these years, no one has ever found anything that matches this mounting system.
The scope mount cradle and rings are attached via a dovetail rail which is attached to a custom made aluminum bar which we call the crossbar. Clever right!. And held in place with a center thumb screw This aluminum crossbar is attached via two threaded rod’s and thumb nuts which are attached to the C96 lower receiver.
There is no Weaver mount that I am aware of on the ANH hero.
A weaver mount is in fact used on the Greedo blaster version which has an entirely different mounting system and scope.
The black plastic grill parts are actually gloss finished having been injection molded in a steel tool. I believe there is still an image of it on the first page of this thread.
For the flash hider, there are some here that have been lucky enough to find actual MG 81 ( if I remember correctly) flash hiders. As far as I know, the images I’ve seen of these have in fact been either blued or perhaps iron oxide coated. Not sure of the finishes used back then in Germany. Not sure if A parkerized finish would match.
On my model, I try to replicate the exact look and think I came very close as the photographs can attest. Basically I allowed the steel FH to rust a bit then removed the rust and blued it. I used abtorch to overheat the FH as if it was actually on a machine gun being fired. This burned off a good bit of the bluing. I then used steel wool and weathered the outside and inside with scrapes and damage consistent with Machine gun use. I wore down the edges as if it had been twisted on and off a real machine gun barrel. The end result, to my eye looks astonishingly like the hero images. Same color and tone.
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kpax
Sr Member
Oh, for the love of Pete...Historically, a dovetail mount without slots to stabilize the mount has been called a Weaver mount while one with slots is called a Pickatinney mount but I will concede your point. Touche, brother.
... but since this mount was made way before Weaver was born...
; )
Just to be clear you are not saying the grille was painted correct? It’s base color of the plastic is already a gloss black. Sorry if I’m having you repeat urself.
kpax
Sr Member
Anything is possible. But since it was glossy black plastic, no real need to paint the entire blaster. They could have simply brushed some paint over the glue areas and weathered it in and around.
They certainly could have given the whole frame a little paint.
What we don’t see, is paint flaking off the body and frame of the blaster the way we see it flaking off the aluminum crossbar. With all the handling and holster wear and tear, paint would have probably left more flaking and visible clues.
The enhanced images seem to show a distinct difference in color/hue between black and blue-ish.
Every builder needs to decide for themselves which way to go. Either way seems to make a nice looking blaster that suits the intended purpose
BTW , You did a nice job replicating the sloppy grill !
; )
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That’s what I figured. The grille would not have been painted probably but who truly knows.
I never thought of this but of course! If it was painted there would be a strong possibility of chipping on the lower receiver as well. Very very true!
This is what prompted me to ask this question. I was curious as to what others saw.
Thanks! Thats a very rewarding complement considering the amount of research and attention to detail you urself have shown and shared over the years. Very much appreciated!
Working on a HERO build and it’s coming along really quite nicely. Still have some ways to go but all the hard stuff is behind me. Denix and grips fully modified along with the mount sanded down. Just need to build the heat sink and finish painting/weathering..
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Mine has chipped, semi-gloss paint on it.
I believe kurtyboy has a similar one, from which he cannot remove the paint.
I've not tried yet. I've thought of sending it to the shop to be bead-blasted,
but don't like the idea of something this rare & valuable leaving my house.
kpax
Sr Member
I don’t blame you! That’s why I prefer accurate reproductions. Takes the worry factor down a notch!
Many of the old German parts look to be “ painted”. Even some scope photos. The coating seems to chip like paint rather than wear like bluing.
Have you tried chemical paint remover? I bought an older repro made for the actual mg81 and it had a similar baked in finish. Very tough. I had to soak it for quite a while and scrub with steel wool to get it off.
Maybe if Lichtbringer is still around he can give some thoughts?
Progress pics. Slowly but surely it’s coming along..
Some are. The denix is fully reworked by myself (trigger, hammer, filled all holes etc) including a two set extrusion mark. I milled in the space then added the mark itself. The grips are DEC. The scope and mount are FM. We worked extensively together in designing the mount itself but I’ve reworked it even more. Thanks to what I saw Dann doing with his I sanded it but I also added the flats on the back. The bull barrel is my own designed part. I like it’s over all length, the ledge it creates and how Im able to get it to fit snug. And the flash is Todds. I’m going to add the antenna greeblie and grille, both are directly from Reade’s in the UK..
If I’ve missed anything forgive me.. oh ya and I used kpax info on added the one antenna greeblie. Not sure if I have it exactly how he discribes it but I think it’s close. Just missing the glue residue from the track? Going to post those pics below.
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