ConvergenceProps SW Build and Research Updates: IG-88 & Bossk Madness!

ConvergencePro

Master Member
Latest update 10/01/2021

Very happy to finally be able to show this off.
This is my completed Found parts Boba Fett: Empire Strikes Back EE-3 Blaster rifle.
It was built using a combination of Original parts and 3D printed models designed by myself to replicate the still unknown parts as close as possible. I may still make some changes here and there down the road, especially if more original parts are ID'd, but I'm very happy with where she sits right now.



More photos are available on my page
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Original FoundParts include:
1917 Webley No1 Mk1 Flare Gun (with correct D-bracket lug variant)
ASI 4x20 Scope
MATE-N-LOK Molex Connectors (x4)
Revell Visible V8 Engine Connecting Rod (x2)
Vintage LMK/AM Aerial Earth Plugs (x4)
Vintage Unimax Fail-safe Type "O" Switch Housings (x2)

Replica Parts Include:
MPP Microflash Tube (Romans MPP Tube)
Walnut stock (so not to damage the 100yr old original)
Barrel Mounts (my own design and 3D print)
Scope Mounts (my own design and 3D print)
Breach disk (my own design and 3D Print)
Leather Sling (my own design, hand made)
 
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Re: Convergence Blaster works: ESB Boba EE-3

That is gorgeous!!! I love all the photos too. Great shots! Congratulations on a magnificent build.
& I can completely appreciate not wanting to damage the 100 year old wood stock :thumbsup. I found a real Engfield rife & was gonna buy it to turn into a Jawa Blaster. But after holding it, I knew I couldn't cut it down. 1: for the history of the whole thing, & the history its lived through (like The Red Violin) & 2: the wood stock on that thing was beautiful.
 
Re: Convergence Blaster works: ESB Boba EE-3

Phenomenal job!! I want to do this build in the worst way!


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Re: Convergence Blaster works: ESB Boba EE-3

Thanks guys!
Yeah, same here, as a vintage firearms collector I try not to do any harm to anything that has history attached too it. And seeing as this puppy went through the better part of a hundred years, including two world wars, till it ended up in my hands, it's more than earned that respect. Even my breach disc's are only held on with 4 thin rare earth magnets countersunk into the back. Nothing's permanent
 
Thanks guys!

Here's photos of my finished original Pulce 40.
Mines seems to possible be an earlier variant with the blue/grey plastic and all metal internals rather than plactic. But perhaps that was a later revision as well. All the holes including the grip were filled in using hard sculptors clay, and then glazed over with a paper thin layer of CA glue, so as not to make anything truly permanent should more photos of this blaster show up someday. I then sprayed it with Floquil Zinc Chromate Primer, which I think is the general consensus for the originals color. Then went over everything with some 0000 steel wool to give some natural weathering to some of the high spots like is seen in what few photos exist

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Honestly didn't think I'd be updating this thread anytime soon short of finding a MPP hahaha!
Managed to snag a pair of the recently discovered Unimax type "O" Fail-safe switches and took the time tonight to replace the 3D printed stand-in ones and update it in a couple ways. (I'm actually not that disappointed with how close my model was just going off that B&W photos lol)
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First, I chose to position the switches as they are in the Carbonite Chamber scene. The right-hand switch is facing upright as can be easily seen in the straight on production photo. Figuring out the orientation for the left side was a little trickier however... I went to the gallery references to find anything I could, and it would appear that the switch is on sideways like in the Cloud City hallway shots. You can see the slot for one of the connectors in the switch on top, and slightly closer to the back indicating that the top of the switch is facing the butt of the stock.They were airbrushed in Model Master: Aircraft Interior Black, which is pretty close to Floquils "Weathered Black" in color and likely the original color used to paint the parts I feel
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Now that everything on the stock is found parts and the positions and measurements being spot on, I decided to finally add the visible parts of the stock numbers sicking out from underneath the rear AM Plug.
"Stock Numbers" you ask? Well many surplus firearms sitting in depots had numbers hand painted onto their stocks (most often in yellow or white) for recording purposes, and it would appear that the Hero 1917 Webley was no different in this case. If you look at many of the hallway photos you can see these yellowish marks sticking out from underneath the rear AM plug. I believe these to be the Webleys depot ID numbers and that those numbers are "67". The top of the 6 and just a smidge of the 7 visible sticking out on top, and the tail of the 7 sticking out below the bottom of the plug. Unfortunately the the numbers appear washed out and almost non visible in many of the B&W Carbonite Chamber scene photos, so positioning needs to be done using mostly the hallway photos. But I'm pretty happy with how they came out after a few tries. For these numbers I wanted a muted/earthy yellow and went with Vallejo: Medium Flesh-Tone
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Again, Big thanks to Chris at Parts of StarWars for finally ID'ing this piece after all these years
Thats all for now! :D
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Tackled the Flash Tube weathering this weekend. This was actually a much bigger pain in the butt than I originally thought it'd be going in. I ended up doing it over at least a half a dozen times before I was happy with it, and probably another half dozen minor touch-ups after that LOL.
Tools used were my airbrush, Model Master: Aircraft Interior Black, medium and light grade Scotch-Brite (red & white), and a nice hand sewing leather needle for fine detail work.

The amount of weathering on the tube seems to change drastically over the course of filming, progressively rubbing off to the point where it looks like very little remains by the end of filming, but I decided to go with the early weathering since I think it looks the most natural on the blaster
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The key here was to keep in mind that all the reference photos are taken at a distance, and to be careful while you're up close painting not to add too much paint weathering so that when you stand a few feet back it just all looks like a big black blob mess. Just a very very light dustings of paint will do. That was then followed with the red and white scotch-brite pads respectively to get the core roughed up look, and that was then followed with the leather needle to add any fine nicks and scratches
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Also added the 4th vintage AM plug to the left side and replaced all the photos in Post 1 with current photos of the build
 
Finished up this new Technisub Pulce 40 the other day. Might play around with drybrushing a little more This will hopefully be my final one I think. Big thank you to Markus for helping hook me up with this one, as well as to Keegan for consulting on the paintjob!
Main paints used on this one were Floquil: Zinc Chromate Primer (Grip) & Floquil: Old Silver (Tube)

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Boba Fett Sidearm Pulce 40 Conversion Write-up
So in the years since I got my first Pulce 40 I've unfortunately become far more of a filthy purist like some of you guys in wanting to recreate the film props in the same way the film makers did with the Hero props, so I really wanted to try and figure out how they did this dumb speargun back while filming ESB for Bobas Side arm. Kinda difficult to do when the only photos that really exist of the damn thing are either the few well known photos of it in the holster, and Art Andrews gorgeous example painted by Keegan which he shared with us that revealed new info about the cut off front receiver band from a photo in a private collection.
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So I did the usual stuff with it such as filling in the bottom of the hollow grip, cutting off the front band and sanding off the logos, but one subject that's always been a question with this prop for me was "Just how much effort they really put into it?". Some bits like the filled in grip, sanded logos and such make it look like someones pet project, like so many things on Boba. Still others like the thin paintjob showing the bondo in the grip that make it look like a total hack job, as if they threw it together as fast as they could.
And one big question that's always remained was did they take apart and remove the small stainless steel rod that extends below barrel or did they cut it off.
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So with that I hope to help maybe bring an answer to that question.
I bring your attention to this closeup of one of the photos above...

Notice the shine from the nickel plated trigger at the top of the split trigger guard?
Then take a look at these comparison shots I made of my personal build. The first photo is with the Pulce 40's trigger in its normal Non-Pulled state, and the second photo is with the trigger in the Pulled state..

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As you can see, the ESB Boba Fett Hero Sidearm's trigger is in the pulled state in these Cloud City Hallway shots. Whether it stays that way throughout filming is unknown, and unimportant, but the fact that it's in the pulled state in these photos is actually very revealing to how the prop was probably made.

If one completely disassembles a Technisub Pulce 40, this is what you will find inside of it.
A stainless steel 3mm rod attached to the trigger and a sealed tube with an internal system of tubes and springs on the inside. It's really surprisingly not that complex at all, and surprisingly easy to disassemble
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But this is why the trigger being pulled is important. If you completely remove that 3mm Stainless Steel rod from the trigger block, then Gravity works against the trigger and forces the trigger into the Non-Pulled state when in the Nemrod holster.
BUT if you leave that rod inside of the Pulce 40, then the natural drag created between that rod and the 5mm x 4mm SS pipe inside the tube that it rides in will keep the trigger up.
So that means its almost certain that this 3mm SS rod still is inside the Hero Boba Fett Sidearm. This is true regardless of what material the trigger block is made of, be it plastic or metal. Ive both examples here and they behave exactly the same with the rod removed. Nothing creates the necessary drag needed save for that which exists between the internal rod and the internal tube

The length of the remaining rod inside the Hero Pulce 40 is certainly up for debate, but I am of the mind that if they cut and left this rod inside of the Pulce 40 instead of doing the incredibly simple task of punching out a couple pins and taking the nut off the trigger block, then its likely they never actually took this thing apart, and so likely cut the rod right at the end of where it sticks out.

So with that, this is what I went with for this build as its what I would do if I were the prop maker under the gun to get this ready for filming. The rod moves back and forth 5mm when pulled, so theoretically upwards of 5mm of rod could stick out of the Pulce 40 when the trigger is not pulled, or it could be cut somewhere inside if they did take it apart... but I suspect that probably this isn't the case...
I think the prop guy who made the Hero prop probably cut it off right at the end of where it sticks out fully assembled with the trigger in the non pulled state, and so thats what I went with. I unfortunately don't have a set of verniers in my box longer than 10" and had to use a ruler but I think I ended up with a total rod length of 10.8125" long give or take. It just barely sticks out past the end when fully Non-Pulled, and retreats 5mm inside the tube when Pulled. The saw cut end just helps add to the natural friction present and keeps it pulled even when swung around hahaha
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I then masked the appropriate areas and painted the speargun while fully assembled with a fairly thin coat of Floquil: Zinc Chromate Primer for the grip, leaving lots of general handling wear on high edges and such showing the original Pulce 40 grey plastic through in places. And then followed with Floquil: Old Silver for the tube giving it a dusty silvery grey all over that just looks bomb.. But there is no paint on the inside surfaces of the tube and grip. Then I sealed the whole thing with a few coats of satin clear cause the paint job is actually super fragile on these without one since there is no primer coat first involved by the looks of it.
Anyway I hope all this helps for some of you OCD guys concerning this enigma of a prop.. I know lots of people like to do springing trigger conversions on these, and I honestly like that too. Its what I did with my first Pulce 40. TBH though I think the prop actually looks a little sexier in the pulled state as weird as it is hahaha
 
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Thanks Markus!

Alrighty... think im gonna take a small break from Boba to change things up and start the rebuild/rework of this heap :p
To do List:
1.)Remove and rotate barrel a few degrees
2.) Print a more accurate replacement rear scope
3.) Correct errors and accurize main scope assembly, add reflector material to Single point casting
4.) Print all new bottom/front receiver details
probably a few other things too but those are the main ones
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Alrighty feeling productive so finally made some progress on the IG-88 DLT-20 Pluse Canon rebuild.

1.) Added the bolt handle stub detail with styrene.
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2.)Tweaked in the mystery MG barrel position by trimming in both my aluminum replica barrel shroud as well as cutting the MP44 cast back to the ejection port, so as to bring the holes nicely in line where they should be on the remaining MP44 cocking tube
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3.) Created a template to make a styrene backing plate to fill in the holes along the remaining MP44 cocking tube casting.
I decided to fill in all the partially filled holes seen on the real one. The original Empire Strikes Back prop is a giant piece of *****, and my goal with this rebuild is really to do a nicer, yet still screen accurate build on this blaster
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4.) Altered the position of the barrel to be Offset to the receiver.
I fought with this feature for a long while not sure if it was truly present
I’ve unfortunately never seen photos of the right side of this prop, but all the math that I and others have done on this prop points to the original donor mystery machine gun barrel shroud being somewhere around 45mm in diameter give or take.. Which is significantly wider than a MP44 receiver is, and so it is very likely offset to the right of the receiver on the real ESB prop where its flush with the receiver on the left side
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More soon! :cool:
 
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WOW....you´re taking this to the next level!!! very very nice :)
Thanks bud! I'm really just following in your and Kurtboys footsteps with all the research you guys have done on this thing! Your gorgeous MP44 cast is also proving essential! :lol:

More work to the IG-88 blaster

5.) Mp44/STG44 rifles from WW2 have a LOT of little variations to them depending on factory/month/year. The original Mp44/STG44 used in casting the Hero props for Empire Strikes Back had a short receiver rail stamped into it; a feature typically seen on very late war made rifles.
This beautiful Mp44 casting i got from Markus has the longer stamped rail present on it however, so I decided to shorten it by shaving away the extra resin to the correct length (about 64mm long give or take)
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6.) Next I screw mounted the barrel into proper final positioning. The holes along the left side now align cleanly along the remaining Mp44/Stg44 cocking tube section. This is still removable for now while I work on the magazine port area, but will later be permanently fixed in position and blended in with bondo
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7.) Started adding some of the “Greeblies”.
4x Vintage 1977 Revell Visible V8 piston halves. These are the 4 female sides, and I was lucky enough to get enough ones that have flashing covering the holes much like the originals that were cast into the real prop to replicate the look without any filler.
The weird long mystery panel greeblies running along the top bolt rail were also made by Markus, which I had attached on the first build. I don’t believe the real parts have been identified yet but I’m happy enough with these to just reuse them rather than design my own new ones. If they look sloppily attached, it’s because they are. I tried to replicate the positioning of these based on photos of the Hoth blasters of which I can see both sides.
The base rifle castings are identical so all Hoth blasters and IG-88’s, so since all the greeblies are cast in they should all look like this

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More soon!
 
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