tehguitarist
New Member
After 3d printing and painting a DL-44, I had a hankering for something a little closer to the screen prop. I have a few lightsabers (TCSS for a couple of customs, and an OWK, and TGS for an ESB/ANH hybrid Graflex) and thought it’d be cool to have a metal DL-44 (ANH hero) too! Whilst a Blaster Factory or Todd’s Costumes base would have been amazing, I’m in Australia, and importing even replica firearms (even the fully built blasters, toys or otherwise) gets you a very stern warning and the goods seized unless you hold a replica pistol licence, which is incredibly difficult to obtain depending on what state you live in.
What we do have (though still difficult depending on state) is access to buy Denix C96s locally - so that’s where I started!
The plan was (and continues to be) to use the Denix as a base, reshape & sharpen to be closer to screen, then use parts from Sabers Forever (electronics & sound), Blaster Factory (additional metal parts) & Todd’s Costumes (grips and greeblies - largely because they’re cheaper, but will source everything from BF if that falls through).
Whilst I would like it to be close to screen, the goal isn’t perfection (I won’t be shaping to get the perfect trigger curve by referencing against a 1:1 photo for example), but to get something close, that looks great, and feels great in the hand.
I’ll post pictures of progress below, and I’ve already made a mistake or two (some where JB Weld came to the rescue, another on the flippy site thing that I’ll just live with), but ultimately, it’s also just a fun project.
What we do have (though still difficult depending on state) is access to buy Denix C96s locally - so that’s where I started!
The plan was (and continues to be) to use the Denix as a base, reshape & sharpen to be closer to screen, then use parts from Sabers Forever (electronics & sound), Blaster Factory (additional metal parts) & Todd’s Costumes (grips and greeblies - largely because they’re cheaper, but will source everything from BF if that falls through).
Whilst I would like it to be close to screen, the goal isn’t perfection (I won’t be shaping to get the perfect trigger curve by referencing against a 1:1 photo for example), but to get something close, that looks great, and feels great in the hand.
I’ll post pictures of progress below, and I’ve already made a mistake or two (some where JB Weld came to the rescue, another on the flippy site thing that I’ll just live with), but ultimately, it’s also just a fun project.