"ANH" Tusken Raider Build (July, new Costume Pictures!)

Thanks nailuj ! And your wish is my command:

Side Panels

Made from 3 mm poplar plywood and screwed in place. I know, really unspectacular, but not everything can be creative.
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Those Things on the Sides

I have no idea what exactly they are and to be honest, as this is a free build meant to be a Cycler Rifle but not an accurate replica, I don’t really care.
So I made up my own. I used the front parts of two darts for dart and screwed them together with a small piece of threaded rod. Then I epoxied the electrical connectors to the tips of the spikes. Viola, and it actually looks like it does, well something, which is what I want.

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The pieces where then also screwed in place. Underneath I used small nuts as spacers and made the ends look nicer with brass screws and washers.

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Thats enough for tonight (i live in Germany so its currently 1 o’clock am) and now i am going to drink some homemade mead and then to bed.
 
The Triggerguard

First I took a piece of milled steel and bend it into the right shape.

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Next step was cleaning it up. I made the decision to leave it a bit on the rougher side and preserved some imperfections, as its what in my opinion is fitting.

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Then I drilled the screw holes with my drillpress. A tool that I never want to miss again.

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After a bit of a polish, the next step was blueing it gunmetal. Heating it up and rubbing the burning hot metal with wax. Rinse and repeat till I got the right color. Because if I am using steel, I can just do a real surface treatment instead of paint. Added bonus is that it will just look better the more scuffed it becomes as it is real wear.

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Fixing it to the stock was simple work. Just screwed it in place.

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Thank you Cameron!

As I am helping a friend to build stuff on her mobile Bath House and thus am away from home, there is not a lot of new stuff.

But I before leaving I managed to do some small experimentation.

First is a test for the finish of the wood. I am quiet happy with it and will do the same to the stock.
The Photo is sadly not really showing how nice the shellack makes the surface look.
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Second was a test of how to do the greeblies on the right side panel. I am still not sure if I will do them this way but it looks reasonably good.

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Finally back from Bath House building.

But after such a long drive I only had a little time. None the less I wanted to test the idea I had while sitting too drunk in too hot water. But I think that was needed for such a hilariously simple solution, so simple I cannot belive I did not think earlier of it.

So, what am I talking about? Fixing the blaster into the stock.
Well, at first I was thinking of doing it with pins. In the same way I do It for the real flintlock guns I work on from time to time.

But then I realized it. The screws that hold in the back end of the Side Things are exactly placed over a part of the blaster that has no imported or moving parts.
So I just drilled the holes a bit deeper and screwed in longer screws. Done.

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It holds very strong and finally makes it fully funktional while still being capable of disassembly. I sadly could not add the video of testing as the site does not accept the video from my iPhone. But suffice to say it works really well and I may add a youtube link if I find time to upload it.
 
Trigger Cover Plate

To clean up the look of the triggerwell and take the wiggle out, I decided to make a small cover plate. I went for brass as the trigger will be in constant contact and will be less likely to get stuck.

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The fitting took a bit of time to get the trigger to move correctly. It is held in by pressure from the Trigger Guard and as it is let in it won’t come out.

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So. Last bit before the basic tasks that have to be done before the finish are done.

First I made some placeholders for the “control panels”. (what I will call them as I will put dials on them)

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I used them to assure the correct placement of the screw holes so I will later not muck up the finish. (As I will use shellack I will probably let it age naturally)

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And now:

The Finish: Stain

Finally the finishing process of the wood surface can begin. I stained it with a light brow water based stain.
It might look a bit light now, but I know just how much UV light darkens this wood. (Dont know why, but i did test it) So a few days in the sun later on will leave it a few colour notes darker. So I just chose a lighter stain.

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Now its off drying and then the first layer of thinned shellack will be added.
 
The Finish: Shellack

Well, I may have gone a bit over board on the finish. But thats what I get for choosing to french polish it.

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I originally wanted to stop at a satin finish but got carried a away. So I only stopped when looking down to see myself looking back.:lol: I just never expected it to work that well. I expected hours of work, not one hour of light wiping turning it into a mirror finish. It may be because before starting the polish I added three layers of highly thinned shellack with a brush and then gave it a light sanding. May be a way to do a fast french polish or my standard for a “long time” is a bit skewed.
But as its a somewhat fragile finish I will just leave it. In a year dust, handling and light will have reduced the shine a lot.
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The Side Panels are done the same way, just not as shiny.

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Right now building is going pretty slow.
To much to do right now. As I start at a new job at monday and needed to do a lot of prep work and get a bit of a feeling for the shops own cnc programm. I also helped a friend in his forge and repaired his mig-welder. But i also got a few lessons on forging in turn. So, a pretty full week.

But now to the little bit I got done on my cycler. I finaly fixed the scope mount to the stock. Glued, pinned and the pins glued, just to be sure.
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I also finally made and mounted the bolt handle. Made from metal and blued to gunmetal. The same as the trigger guard. Its mainly fixed by just friction and suported/stregthened with epoxy putty.
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And last I finally found a perfectly fitting lens for the back end of the scope. It goes where once a magnet was placed. Hammered that out, fixed the lense with a drop of epoxy and screwed it in.
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LoadingPlatform If you liked that look at the next pics. Till now it was a store bought lamp after all.

Well, today I finally did more work. A lot of little stuff but thats always what really starts to pull it together.

The Scope

First of all I did the scope today. Removed that clear piece of plastic and replaced it with parts of another cheapo lamp. Just glued everything together as was already fitting together. I also added another lens to the front. Now it really looks like a scope.
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The Control Panel’s

Next were the panels going to the right side. I took some artistic freedom here as I am not the biggest fan of random junk that I also cannot reasonably reproduce. So I took the shape and changed it a bit. Looks similar but also functional.
The plates are Aluminium and the Dials are nuts from a yoyo.
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I also changed the bolt handle. The earlier version was in my opinion to pronounced and not as robust as I would have wished. The new version definitely is more to my taste. But we will se how well it holds up.
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Yoho.

So, while the Cycler Rifle is technically finished, I am not completly happy and some parts will get a rework. But that will take time as Work in the Netherlands takes up most of my time and currently I also am in Luxenburg and away from my workshop.

But! I finally have a few nice and new Costume picures for you, as I finally got to sort through the pictures of my last shooting.

So without further ado, have them:

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