ANH Hero DL-44 Discussion - Three ANH Greeblies Found
- Thread starter deadbolt
- Start date
You can definitely get a good finish if you are persistent about it... I redid my own FM Elite scope and managed to get it much more of a deep blue colour after a while (sorry for the crummy picture). I'll probably redo my scope mount soon; I'm convinced it was deep blued and not painted.
This isn’t an ANH hero but I was curious to see what TFA blaster could have looked like if Disney themselves payed closer attention to this thread itself. The only parts I had to rebuild from my ANH set was the bull barrel and heatsink themselves. The BB does need some reworking if I was actually going to finish this build. This is more of a template, experimental build more than anything as I was curious. It’s using the same HFC m712 airsoft LucasFilm used for filming..
deadbolt
Sr Member
Nice work, man! DEC Dave makes a nice set of the TFA parts to convert an HFC M712. The parts in the film were seemingly inspired from our project to a slight extent and a set of the DEC Mega-Run parts were also in the hands of a prop-maker for the film, but not actually used sadly. They ended up making something a tad closer to the 1st MR edition parts with the airsoft M712 instead of a C96.
..Would have been cool to see the DEC parts on film though.. =b
-Carson
..Would have been cool to see the DEC parts on film though.. =b
-Carson
Ya that would have most definitely been cool to see. Why where they not used?? That seems extremely strange. Only thing I can think of is Disney maybe didn’t want to use parts created by someone else and since MR was technically licensed by Disney they went in that direction? But that leads to the next question… why did LucasFilm not use the elite MR version parts??? Not perfect either but much more in line. That seems so bizarre.
As far as DEC TFA parts go.. I’m sure they are nice. I honestly prefer to do the designing and building myself. Sadly it was my first iteration of TFA blaster years ago some said I simply copied that DEC version. I’ve never seen those parts in person and the longer I’ve been doing this the more I realize just how lazy comments like that are.
I just got my new parts actually for the TFA build the same time I got the airsoft hero ones. I know a lot of people don’t like it but for me it’s one of the few times you can build an actual film prop using the same base Mauser. Really makes it special for that reason alone. Revisiting this Blaster was one of the motivations for me to get my own CAD program. I haven’t revisited it in years so it was great fun to deep dive into again. IMHO I think it’s pretty much perfect to the film used prop now. Give me a week though I’m sure I’ll feel different but right now I couldn’t be happier.
One thing I notice a while ago and was eager to incorporate in this new design is TFA blaster actually has an offset rail similar to the ANH hero.. but TFA is actually flipped just like the pre-production Bapty Hero was...
As far as the SOLO:ASWS goes I believe I solved that puzzle 4 years ago honestly. It only needs a couple parts. It does use the same grille as TFA but that’s about it. You can see it here if interested.. SOLO:ASWS Blaster Build
As far as DEC TFA parts go.. I’m sure they are nice. I honestly prefer to do the designing and building myself. Sadly it was my first iteration of TFA blaster years ago some said I simply copied that DEC version. I’ve never seen those parts in person and the longer I’ve been doing this the more I realize just how lazy comments like that are.
I just got my new parts actually for the TFA build the same time I got the airsoft hero ones. I know a lot of people don’t like it but for me it’s one of the few times you can build an actual film prop using the same base Mauser. Really makes it special for that reason alone. Revisiting this Blaster was one of the motivations for me to get my own CAD program. I haven’t revisited it in years so it was great fun to deep dive into again. IMHO I think it’s pretty much perfect to the film used prop now. Give me a week though I’m sure I’ll feel different but right now I couldn’t be happier.
One thing I notice a while ago and was eager to incorporate in this new design is TFA blaster actually has an offset rail similar to the ANH hero.. but TFA is actually flipped just like the pre-production Bapty Hero was...
As far as the SOLO:ASWS goes I believe I solved that puzzle 4 years ago honestly. It only needs a couple parts. It does use the same grille as TFA but that’s about it. You can see it here if interested.. SOLO:ASWS Blaster Build
And now, the wait for a new bull barrel begins!
I'm still trying to return the FM bull barrel I got (the one that was sized for a denix), though in the meantime I've decided to completely chop and drill out Field Marshal's steel barrel entirely (I just don't like the way the sleeve barrels look). The process will be about the same that my MGC went through, though with the hexagon already turned to point I don't have much wiggle room to move the contact point back if it comes out misaligned (my greatest fear).
Thankfully, someone great here gave me some pointers for how to fit a Todd's Costumes threaded barrel to FM's steel C96! I'm just hoping mine comes out as well as his did
Probably one of the hardest things I've done yet! I did make a mistake when drilling the barrel which I'm majorly kicking myself over, though it's too late for me to change now.
In a way, its slightly crappy misalignment is probably accurate to the film prop. Or at least that's what I'm telling myself to feel better about it lol
In a way, its slightly crappy misalignment is probably accurate to the film prop. Or at least that's what I'm telling myself to feel better about it lol
I wouldn’t worry about it or let it slow u down to much. Ur the only one who will probably ever notice to be honest. But I do well understand the agony of such things. Keep on trucking as they say! It will definitely be an epic hero once finished I’m sure.
The issue is that I actually had proper placement, when the bull barrel should have been offset.
It is hard to show, but the top bevel actually goes deeper than the top hexagonal portion area of the upper, which creates an ugly lip. It's deep enough to catch a fingernail in.
So I should have mounted the barrel offset upwards to compensate for this, as I wasn't expecting the bevels on Todd's barrel to be overly deep.
Honestly if all the bevels could be welded and redone then the whole thing would be fine, though as-is it REALLY urks me. :/
Oh I see. Those other pictures hid it pretty well but ya.. that’s tough. Sorry bud.
It is what it is at this point. Honestly I even tried to factor this in advance, as I actually drilled and tapped the upper slightly offset higher just in case... But clearly it should have been even higher than that.
I think this might be a quirk of Todd's new barrels, as an older one I had from him had bevels that were nowhere near as deep as this one.
I think this might be a quirk of Todd's new barrels, as an older one I had from him had bevels that were nowhere near as deep as this one.
As someone that has screwed up metal parts over and over.... it looks like you still have material, and may be able to hand-file your bevels to better match. They look smaller in diameter than the mauser flats, so if you file them down they will get bigger as you dig into the cylinder. In fact, if you only do the diagonal sides that may help even stuff out. Also.... JB weld can smooth out grooves like this. If you want to disassemble it, apoxie sculpt sculpted to fill the gap and then unscrewed, it will harden in the correct shape... idk, my vote is some hand filing to make it less noticeable. You may be able to lessen the unevenness!
I had considered using some type of metal weld, but I don't think it would convincingly blue like steel (I plan on refinishing the entire barrel). I would honestly think it could turn out fine if I strip the finish and just find somebody to weld the bevels out completely, as I don't mind hand filing them myself. But I'm pretty sure it would have to be in metal.
It is not that the bevels are too shallow, but that they go deeper than the actual hexagonal portion of the upper. So I have to 'raise' their lowest portions to be higher.
I think in this case, he would need to file the mauser side and top itself to have them match, not the barrel, no?
Another thing you could do though is to file or mill if you can the flat end of the barrel (cut 1mm of it if you will) so that all the bevels all get larger and match what you have on the mauser.
I have to say you did a pretty nice and courageous job though! so congrats no matter! how did you even make the bevels align with the mauser when you thread the pieces together?
Another thing you could do though is to file or mill if you can the flat end of the barrel (cut 1mm of it if you will) so that all the bevels all get larger and match what you have on the mauser.
I have to say you did a pretty nice and courageous job though! so congrats no matter! how did you even make the bevels align with the mauser when you thread the pieces together?
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