DL-44 Builds - Real Parts ANH, ESB - MGC ROTJ, FM Greedo

cwoodreplicas · May 8, 2018

Over the past year, I’ve been heavily inspired by Scottjua’s builds of the variations in DL-44 and just shy of a year ago, I decided to look at building one myself. I managed to source a gold MGC in the U.K in August 2017 and was thrilled to pick up a set of Steel DEC parts in january. Hours of sandblasting and sanding later and I had my ‘grail’, or so I thought.....

Last week I was contacted by a relative (who is also a firearms dealer in the U.K, specialising in Historic firearms) saying he had managed to get his hands on a fairly reasonably priced deactivated Mauser C96 for me. Just a month after I thought I had finished my DL-44, I found myself back in it all. The pistol just arrived and I’m pretty thrilled with it! As there aren’t any deactivated builds (from what I could find) I thought I’d start up a thread and hopefully inspire others how members on here have inspired me!

The Mauser is in pretty good condition, with general light pitting all over and some particularly heavy spots, mainly on the front magwell (helpfully covered by the pistons) and sight. I plan on replacing the sight with another, in better condition, which will thus solve the problem. The rest of the body will be lightly sanded and then cold blued. I don’t want to make it ‘new’, just remove a lot of the surface problems. I’ll need to be careful not to sand out the deactivation stamps, or I’ll have to get them re-done! They’ve also cut out some parts to meet deac specs, I’ll aim to fill these in and sand them down, perhaps paint and graphite just to finish off. They’re on the underside of the barrel and most are covered by the bull barrel.

The wooden grips aren’t too bad but I’ll need to look how to go about cleaning up and perhaps restoring a little? What’s people’s thoughts?

The barrel will have to be filed slightly, like the live fires, to get the sleeve over nicely.

The sight rail holes will need to be drilled and tapped, shouldn’t be too bad to do on my mill/pillar drill.

When I can, I’ll post on here the work I’ve done and slowly turn it around!

P.S, they’ll be a nice ‘ready to go’ MGC for sale at the end of this all....

Lichtbringer · May 8, 2018

Never sell a MGC without need.

Prices know only one way, up up and away.

scottjua · May 8, 2018

isn't the scale difference crazy? The proportions and size are generally the same, but the MGC even looks weirdly big compared to the real thing. Stuick a denix there and it's ridiculous how weird the denix looks.

Very cool!

cwoodreplicas · May 8, 2018

scottjua said:
isn't the scale difference crazy? The proportions and size are generally the same, but the MGC even looks weirdly big compared to the real thing. Stuick a denix there and it's ridiculous how weird the denix looks.

Very cool!

i have noticed that yes! Very odd! The feel of the real one is 100% better though. From inspection it all seems to be matching numbers, even down to the grips which are stamped 157 (serial no. 30157). I’ve given the grips a quick clean with soap and water which has completely changed them. I suspect I need to research into re- finishing wood grips....

cwoodreplicas · May 9, 2018

Step 1:

Nice 24 hour soak in some diluted White vinegar helped remove a lot of the deep rust. The handles have simply been scrubbed with soap and washed with white spirit! They need a good sand, some re-tooling and then finishing with some Birchwood Casey. I’ve decided not to fill in any imperfections on them as I feel it just wouldn’t be right!

Next stage: sanding, sanding sanding....

H0llyw00d · May 9, 2018

CWOODREPLICAS said:
Step 1:..

Did you have any problem breaking it down before you gave it the vinegar bath?

cwoodreplicas · May 9, 2018

H0llyw00d said:
Did you have any problem breaking it down before you gave it the vinegar bath?

Being a deac, it’s been fixed shut so you can’t take it apart. I soaked the handle in and the rest was just done with wet cloths. That way I wouldn’t gum up the interior. It was then cleaned off, baked for a while and re-oiled!

H0llyw00d · May 9, 2018

CWOODREPLICAS said:
Being a deac, it’s been fixed shut so you can’t take it apart. I soaked the handle in and the rest was just done with wet cloths. That way I wouldn’t gum up the interior. It was then cleaned off, baked for a while and re-oiled!

Oh thank goodness... I had a nightmare image of it in a bowl of vinegar...

cwoodreplicas · May 9, 2018

H0llyw00d said:
Oh thank goodness... I had a nightmare image of it in a bowl of vinegar...

I made sure it was well diluted, just really wanted it to remove the larger bits on he handle.

cwoodreplicas · May 11, 2018

Cleaned, bleached (to removed the dark stains), lightly sanded, sharpened and now staining / finishing.

From my research the originals were finished with the same method that gun stocks were finished. Fortunately I have everything on hand from my shotguns to perform the task! The walnut dye has really brought the colour out!

chubsANDdoggers · May 14, 2018

Look forward to seeing this build progress [emoji482]

kickman88 · May 14, 2018

Following with anticipation!

cwoodreplicas · May 14, 2018

Little bit of an update for those interested:

The grips are well on the way and on their last coat of tru-oil. They then need to be cured for 7 days and finally dulled down with some sheen which will take the really glossy finish off and leave them as they should be!

The actual pistol is currently under-way and I’ve been getting a lot of professional opinions on it. The plan is as follows:
1. Draw file any big pits out (within reason)
2. Clean up any soft lines and edges
3. Fine bead blast
4. Sand/ Grain
5. Cold blue (will make it look dirty, like the prop)

The bead blasting is necessary to kill off any residual pitting and prep the surface for the sanding (graining). This will stop the pistol from further rust and will aid in its longevity. I have a friend who works on specialist car restoration who will be doing this for me as it’s out of my hobby beadblasting paygrade!

The sight has been ordered and is on its way so I can replace that with a vintage piece!

For now, it’s some long nights with needle files and some Netflix.

In the mean time:

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Keith · May 14, 2018

I was about to say have it bead blasted before reading your last post.

I had a WWII aircraft relic that i spent hours and hours cleaning up by hand because i thought bead blasting would be too rough and remove surface detail like machine marks. In the end when it was clear that there was no way to properly clean out the pitted areas i decided to take it to be bead blasted and i'm so glad i did.
I asked the bead blaster guy the cost and when he said £20, i said i'll give you £30 if you take your time with it. He then offered to let me blast it myself, so i did and i spent a long time doing it too, hitting the pitted areas from every angle. I was so pleased with how it turned out, as the item had a nice even finish all over and i was left very confident that the corrosion had gone and won't come back.

When the bead blasting is finished, remove it from the blasting cabinet wearing gloves and don't touch it with your bare hands until you have treated/coated it.

cwoodreplicas · May 14, 2018

Keith said:
I was about to say have it bead blasted before reading your last post.

I had a WWII aircraft relic that i spent hours and hours cleaning up by hand because i thought bead blasting would be too rough and remove surface detail like machine marks. In the end when it was clear that there was no way to properly clean out the pitted areas i decided to take it to be bead blasted and i'm so glad i did.
I asked the bead blaster guy the cost and when he said £20, i said i'll give you £30 if you take your time with it. He then offered to let me blast it myself, so i did and i spent a long time doing it too, hitting the pitted areas from every angle. I was so pleased with how it turned out, as the item had a nice even finish all over and i was left very confident that the corrosion had gone and won't come back.

When the bead blasting is finished, remove it from the blasting cabinet wearing gloves and don't touch it with your bare hands until you have treated/coated it.

Certainly does feel like the only way to go! He’s a specialist media blaster also which gives me full confidence. Takes his time but uses a fine grit to really get a nice finish.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Keith · May 14, 2018

I wanted to do blasting for a living after i had a go at it. Great job satisfaction.
When i blasted my item, it was just like i was spray painting bright silver paint onto it while giving the feeling of healing/curing the item of a deadly disease.

cwoodreplicas · May 18, 2018

Whilst I scour the internet for all the photos to try and match finished (though Ill probably go for a full blued body rather than painted, anyone noticed that the scope mount has one drilled notch for the screws, and the other not notched? Surprised me a little...

Should have some photos up this week of the cleaned body. Its off to the bead blasters on Monday for a 2 week overhaul!

cwoodreplicas · May 20, 2018

Pre-bead blasting.... as much sanding as I dare do! I don’t want to loose the character, just remove a few big spots as easily as I can without changing the look. The bead blasting will help the rest even out nicely before graining!