DL-44 Denix C96 - Still services to make them more accurate?

[PVmodels]

Newbie looking for some advice. I recently acquired an ANH DL-44 that has a Denix C96 as the base. The rest of the parts look like they are from Blaster Factory. My plan is to disassemble it, improve it, and refinish it. I've looked at many posts here and videos. I am fine with most of the work like filing and sanding the mold lines. I'm also willing to learn how to Aluminum Black the parts. But there are a couple of areas that may be beyond my capabilities. Namely adding the mag plate cover lines on the bottom and milling the extractor recess in the bolt. I saw some posts from 10 years ago about people offering services to machine these items. Are there still folks who offer these services?

I have seen posts where the mag plate area was machined off and a mag plate cover made. Is it possible to do that and use a real Mauser plate cover? They seem readily available for around $40.

Some guidance would be much appreciated. Thanks!

 

[cwoodreplicas]

Newbie looking for some advice. I recently acquired an ANH DL-44 that has a Denix C96 as the base. The rest of the parts look like they are from Blaster Factory. My plan is to disassemble it, improve it, and refinish it. I've looked at many posts here and videos. I am fine with most of the work like filing and sanding the mold lines. I'm also willing to learn how to Aluminum Black the parts. But there are a couple of areas that may be beyond my capabilities. Namely adding the mag plate cover lines on the bottom and milling the extractor recess in the bolt. I saw some posts from 10 years ago about people offering services to machine these items. Are there still folks who offer these services?

I have seen posts where the mag plate area was machined off and a mag plate cover made. Is it possible to do that and use a real Mauser plate cover? They seem readily available for around $40.

Some guidance would be much appreciated. Thanks!

Youll find the Denix is very different in sizing to the real Mauser - so it probably wont work.

 

[Halliwax]

I haven’t seen the service offered since blaster factory opened his shop

May want to reach out to him see if he has any Denix already machined, maybe cheaper then having all the stuff you want done to yours

 

[PVmodels]

I haven’t seen the service offered since blaster factory opened his shop

May want to reach out to him see if he has any Denix already machined, maybe cheaper then having all the stuff you want done to yours

Thanks. I will check to see if the denix he supplies has that work done. I do see that he sells a replacement steel bolt for the denix. It looks very nice. I might just buy that and solve one of the items.

 

[Halliwax]

I know he use to sell machined Denix by themselves, but don’t see them listed anymore. That’s why I encourage you to reach out to him. Best of luck keep us posted

 

[thd9791]

I believe Boba Debt used to have the bolt and the frame recesses milled to sharper shapes, and a recess shaped like the bolt plate put in.

That involved an external shop with time to do it I think, and that deal dried up.

Now, Denixes aren’t that awful, they’re a little smaller today, I think they re-did their master mold some years ago. The metal is quite soft and it’s very much worth taking some time with metal files to sculpt shapes that you’d like to accurize. Some punches or a screwdriver and a little hammer can release the pins and there are only a couple annoying springs… surprisingly few parts in a denix compared to an MGC lol

I found doing the trigger to a sharper curve, and taking a little triangular file to all the ridges on the safety and bolt helped quite a bit

 

[PVmodels]

I believe Boba Debt used to have the bolt and the frame recesses milled to sharper shapes, and a recess shaped like the bolt plate put in.

That involved an external shop with time to do it I think, and that deal dried up.

Now, Denixes aren’t that awful, they’re a little smaller today, I think they re-did their master mold some years ago. The metal is quite soft and it’s very much worth taking some time with metal files to sculpt shapes that you’d like to accurize. Some punches or a screwdriver and a little hammer can release the pins and there are only a couple annoying springs… surprisingly few parts in a denix compared to an MGC lol

I found doing the trigger to a sharper curve, and taking a little triangular file to all the ridges on the safety and bolt helped quite a bit

I did see the posts from Boba Debt which was exactly what I had in mind. I bought this second hand at a reasonable price. It is the later denix (no diamond on the side. Made in Spain above the grip). I’m not looking to make it perfect. I will reshape some areas like the trigger. People here have shown how to do all of this. Which is a great help. I’ll probably buy the blaster factory bolt. The piece I’m lacking is how to do the mag plate cover lines or actual mag plate by hand.

 

[thd9791]

Ohhhh yeah that is hard. I would recommend a hanging rotary tool so there’s less torque on the hand piece and you can have a steadier hand. I have the 45 dollar one from harbor freight and I love it better than every dremel I’ve ever had.

 

[PVmodels]

Ohhhh yeah that is hard. I would recommend a hanging rotary tool so there’s less torque on the hand piece and you can have a steadier hand. I have the 45 dollar one from harbor freight and I love it better than every dremel I’ve ever had.

I will check that out too. I will be using files and the dremel sanding wheel and grinder for the other work. Wondered too since the denix is soft metal if I could use something as a die and stamp the mag plate half-circle.

There is someone selling an aluminum mag plate cover for the denix on eBay. Might be Field Marshall too.

 

[PVmodels]

I am also considering stamping serial numbers on some of the parts. There are lots of posts where people talk about adding numbers. Can you guys recommend a stamp set and the right size of the numbers? Are they 1/16” - 1.6mm?

 

[PVmodels]

Youll find the Denix is very different in sizing to the real Mauser - so it probably wont work.

I’m still researching while waiting for the blaster to arrive in the mail. I found a discussion here from 2022 where user Pedro uses a Mauser plate on a denix.

“I’ll add an interesting observation about size of the Denix. I recently cut 1/8” off the entire lower frame of a Denix to remove the entire floor plate (long story). I have a floor plate from a real C96, the plan was to use the real plate instead of scribing the detail. After carefully cutting out the T shaped opening, it slid right into place, a perfect fit. So the profile of the bottom of the Denix is near perfect. ”

 

[cwoodreplicas]

I’m still researching while waiting for the blaster to arrive in the mail. I found a discussion here from 2022 where user Pedro uses a Mauser plate on a denix.

“I’ll add an interesting observation about size of the Denix. I recently cut 1/8” off the entire lower frame of a Denix to remove the entire floor plate (long story). I have a floor plate from a real C96, the plan was to use the real plate instead of scribing the detail. After carefully cutting out the T shaped opening, it slid right into place, a perfect fit. So the profile of the bottom of the Denix is near perfect. ”

Somewhere on the forum Scottjua did a comparison of all three, real mauser, Denix and MGC.

I can speak from my own experience that the denix is just slightly larger than a real mauser, including the mag plate. People have done some amazing things with these however so Im sure there is a way.

 

[PVmodels]

Somewhere on the forum Scottjua did a comparison of all three, real mauser, Denix and MGC.

I can speak from my own experience that the denix is just slightly larger than a real mauser, including the mag plate. People have done some amazing things with these however so Im sure there is a way.

I appreciate the advice. I may buy the aluminum plate on eBay that says it’s for denix and the real plate. Can’t hurt to see how they compare and I can always sell the leftovers. I’ve convinced myself to cut it off rather than scribe the lines though. I like an adventure. And the finished product always means more to me when I’ve gone beyond my skill set.

 

[Darth Lars]

Somewhere on the forum Scottjua did a comparison of all three, real mauser, Denix and MGC.

This image? I hope it is available in a larger size somewhere.

 

[PVmodels]

This image? I hope it is available in a larger size somewhere.

Thank you. That’s awesome. A picture is worth 1000 words in this case.

 

[PVmodels]

The blaster arrived yesterday. I’m sure there are many people who haven’t read the 1000s of posts here (like I did) and would love to have this blaster as-is. I think my strategy is to work on it in sections. Flash and bullnose. Then the upper, bolt, & sight. Then the scope and mount. I’ll probably save the lower end for last. Still debating the grips. Could just add an escutcheon or replace them completely.

Also making a list of supplies and tools to buy. I’ve seen a couple references on gun sites about the serial numbers being 2mm. Can anyone confirm if that is the correct size?

 

[thd9791]

Denix grips are still pretty awesome. In order to add escutcheon remember they are sheet metal screws running into a solid part of the handle. If you burrow in with a drill you’ll lose the step in the grip hole and meat for the screw to grip!

 

[PVmodels]

Denix grips are still pretty awesome. In order to add escutcheon remember they are sheet metal screws running into a solid part of the handle. If you burrow in with a drill you’ll lose the step in the grip hole and meat for the screw to grip!

Thanks for the tip. The two escutcheon options I looked at replace the screws with a bolt and require removing some or all of the denix standard mount point. The blaster factory ones are interesting how they mount from behind. Looks like most replacement grips require removing the bolt mount too. This is all based on what I’ve seen available so far.

 

[PVmodels]

Spent today learning what works and mostly what doesn’t work with metal. I’m slow when building plastic models. I’m super slow working with metal. I’m working my way around the parts and leaving the upper and lower until I figure out the best metal techniques for me. The previous owner drilled extra holes to fasten the sight, flash hider and bolted a 1” washer to the side as the mystery disc. Patched those all up and did the hammer and trigger. Sanded the bull sleeve. Sanding the scope mount is next.

 

[PVmodels]

Only had an hour to work on this today. Cleaned up the bolt stop. I’ll round the corners off like the Mauser part when I take it apart again to aluminum black the upper.