DL-44 ESB Blaster Discussion - Greeblies POST 208

[Corellianexports]

The grips, mount and mount hardware were definitely painted. More than likely the flash hider was painted as well.

I doubt that the MGC Mauser was painted. The lines are too clean.

 

[Gerard2567]

Was there ever a consensus on whether the Hoth DL-44 was painted or not? I’ve seen replicas with the lower painted only and ones where it’s all painted?

Generally, the painter lowers' of the dl-44's are for the ANH hero.

Hoth have painted grips, mounts etc. The c96 is believed to be untouched.

 

[cwoodreplicas]

Generally, the painter lowers' of the dl-44's are for the ANH hero.

Hoth have painted grips, mounts etc. The c96 is believed to be untouched.

Reason I ask is that I thought it was unpainted (just the grips and other hardware on it), but then looking at some of the replicas scottjua made where they are 99% accurate, they have the lower painted but the upper clean. Perhaps a question best asked to him then.

 

[chubsANDdoggers]

Was there ever a consensus on whether the Hoth DL-44 was painted or not? I’ve seen replicas with the lower painted only and ones where it’s all painted?

No I dont think there is honestly. I have some really nice hi res last known pics and it doesn't appear that the MGC itself is painted? The grips though do look like they have been painted black since filming wrapped though. They appear black (with chipping) now but during filing I have a pic that shows them to be their natural brown.

 

[scottjua]

yeah the high res pics I have of the prop now make it hard to tell, but I'm 90% certain the lower is painted lightly. You can see it in the wear and scrapes.

The grips though, yes... like John says, they were brown during filming... but are now black. Curiously... there's a ROTJ version that was black during filming and now brown... I wonder if the grips got swapped for some reason.

 

[thd9791]

To be honest, they had to make vaders mask gray and black because the different black tones of a single color helmet under lights just got washed out on camera. I dont think they thought anyone would notice if they painted half a gun. Hell were having a hard time telling.

People would absolutely notice if the greeblies didnt match the surface they were on though. Painting up the areas yoi decorated with a close enough color makes sense

 

[chubsANDdoggers]

scottjua I’m not so so sure about those black ROTJ grips either honestly.

What’s interesting is from what I can see there are 4 known verities of the ROTJ blaster correct? (Not including the bizarro blaster). Two clearly with black painted grips and two clearly with with unpainted brown grips. I’m just not so sure if the black grip blasters ever did in fact appear onscreen in the film? Can that be confirmed at all. I’ve gone down a many black holes going frame by frame as well as internet searches but nothing comes back conclusive. But most lead me to believe that black grip ROTJ blasters were in fact not used at all while filming. ??

The two black grip blasters..
1- the Auction blaster
2- the blaster that is missing the front bell on the scope also with the uniquely uneven knurling on the flash hider.

This 2nd blaster that is missing the bell certainly didn’t originally appear that way. It must have had a front bell at one point but obviously has broken off. I think that’s pretty clear right? I’m also not so sure if it ever did get any screen time regardless. Maybe the bell broke before or during filming so it just sat on the sidelines there after. That’s just speculation obviously but what makes me believe this is that it was entered into the LucasFilm archives with this broken bell right after filming.

The Auction blaster with black grips appears very similar to that of the Endor blaster but the Endor blaster definitely had brown grips and most certainly did appeared on screen. Not so sure about the Auction blaster though. Any evidence that it (AB) got any screen time? To clearly make out the differences between these two similar blasters (forgive me if this is already known and obvious) is from the milled in greeblies and the brown/black grips as well.

Of course then theres the Stembridge blaster but that one also had brown grips and is the easiest to distinguish of the 4.

**Endor blaster is the one you see Solo pull when the Ewoks capture the Rebels.. I’m not sure if it already has an official name or not but this helps me personally to distinguish it from the other blasters. It could be called the bunker blaster as it appears inside the bunker but that makes it confusing with the Stembridge as it also appears at the bunker. If it has another name I mean no offensive calling it Endor nor am I trying to rename it. It’s just for clarification.

 

[thd9791]

I just went though Jedi last night looking for the MOM control box and other greeblies

There are 2 MGC DL44s on set in endor, plus the stembridge. When the rebels free themselves and start the battle, Han swoops down to 2 of his blasters on the ground and picks one. I dont remember though... the color of the grips

The scopes are weird, i think the gun with the missing front half is a real scope bell. Still unidentified also the auction blaster has a very detailed back half and I cant tell... but it feels like a real one.

confirmed from the guy who bought leftover resin bits from filming via an auction, the scopes with no lens retainer line around the rim and a thin/non beveled rim and a flat internal lens are solid lathes derlin. Neither the auction DL44 or the "missing scope" one have dark flat lenses... if this makes sense

 

[DarthWilder]

There are 2 MGC DL44s on set in endor, plus the stembridge. When the rebels free themselves and start the battle, Han swoops down to 2 of his blasters on the ground and picks one. I dont remember though... the color of the grips

And this can also seen in Empire of Dreams documentary.

 

[chubsANDdoggers]

I just went though Jedi last night looking for the MOM control box and other greeblies

There are 2 MGC DL44s on set in endor, plus the stembridge. When the rebels free themselves and start the battle, Han swoops down to 2 of his blasters on the ground and picks one. I dont remember though... the color of the grips

The scopes are weird, i think the gun with the missing front half is a real scope bell. Still unidentified also the auction blaster has a very detailed back half and I cant tell... but it feels like a real one.

confirmed from the guy who bought leftover resin bits from filming via an auction, the scopes with no lens retainer line around the rim and a thin/non beveled rim and a flat internal lens are solid lathes derlin. Neither the auction DL44 or the "missing scope" one have dark flat lenses... if this makes sense

There is some details or technical terms you mentioned that I honestly don’t understand.. MOM control box being one. Forgive me but I’m still learning. As far as the scopes.. they are subtly different when you look closely at the hi res photos that are available. The Stembridge for example is different from the Auction blaster. But I think that might simply be because when Stembridge made their ROTJ blaster they simply didn’t use all the parts that Bapty had originally sent over to them. So they ended up leaving off parts??

So the guy who bought the left over Stembridge parts may not have gotten all the original parts that’s were sent over to begin with?? I know Babty originally sent over two sets but Stembridge only made one blaster. I’m pretty sure that’s correct.

As far as the two Endor blasters go (Han grabbing one of the ground) take a look at this link below. Specifically the 4th pics (it’s actually a video). It’s a montage of all the times this Endor blaster is seen onscreen in ROTJ. The grips on that 2nd blaster that’s on the ground also look brown. That’s not to say the one Han actually pics up is not brown. Just hard to tell honestly..

Instagram

www.instagram.com

 

[chubsANDdoggers]

Or simply look at this. This is the best screen grab I could get..

 

[chubsANDdoggers]

“MOM control box”

Magic of Myth ... the Star Wars exhibition at the Smithsonian. Is that right?

 

[thd9791]

Magic of Myth ... the Star Wars exhibition at the Smithsonian. Is that right?

Yes! The switch on the Darth Vader stunt saber from Jedi is still a mystery. Given the parts that repeatedly crop up in set decoration... thought I'd be successful in finding it. I was not. haha

what else did I lose you on? I type fast sometimes.

 

[chubsANDdoggers]

Yes! The switch on the Darth Vader stunt saber from Jedi is still a mystery. Given the parts that repeatedly crop up in set decoration... thought I'd be successful in finding it. I was not. haha

what else did I lose you on? I type fast sometimes.

I reread it a few times and figured it out I believe. "the scopes with no lens retainer line around the rim and a thin/non beveled rim" this part originally threw me but I'm with you know. Thanks for the clearification as well. SW runs so deep in so many directions it can be extremely confusing if you dont know the lingo or source material being referenced. But I feel you in your quest as I continue to do it with these blaster.. watching and rewatching. Just when I think I can't go any further.. something usually pops up. That brings me back to my original questions with regards to the black grips. Hopefully some light can be shed on this as well. Again I haven't found any film evidence showing black grips but more eyes the better right. I dont have the 4k versions so maybe they will shine some much needed light?

Side question.. "Star Wars: Magic of Myth" book, is this worth picking up? Or is it a regurgitation of Chronicles, Costumes, etc..

 

[scottjua]

Some scenes even in 4K is just too dark to tell for certain. Sometimes they look black, but if you WANT to see brown, or have it in your mind they are... you start to see the brown. hahahaha at least for me. I can't imagine WHY they'd paint them AFTER filming..

I do have a photo of the auction one with the broken "scope" PRE-Production... as newly built and the grips ARE painted black... but if it wasn't on screen... it's hard to say. It's nearly identical to the other one on screen in setup aside from the left side milling... and that's near impossible to see on the film.

In any case the Stembridge gets more screen time than the MGCs anyway.

 

[MastahBlastah]

I reread it a few times and figured it out I believe. "the scopes with no lens retainer line around the rim and a thin/non beveled rim" this part originally threw me but I'm with you know. Thanks for the clearification as well. SW runs so deep in so many directions it can be extremely confusing if you dont know the lingo or source material being referenced. But I feel you in your quest as I continue to do it with these blaster.. watching and rewatching. Just when I think I can't go any further.. something usually pops up. That brings me back to my original questions with regards to the black grips. Hopefully some light can be shed on this as well. Again I haven't found any film evidence showing black grips but more eyes the better right. I dont have the 4k versions so maybe they will shine some much needed light?

Side question.. "Star Wars: Magic of Myth" book, is this worth picking up? Or is it a regurgitation of Chronicles, Costumes, etc..

To answer your question about the "Magic of Myth" book ... I personally bought the book at the MOM exhibit in DC back in 1997 and have had it in my collection ever since. It's obviously special to me, but I can say it's no where near as useful as say "Chronicles" when it comes to prop/costume/model/set photos. I wouldn't purchase it if that's what you're hoping to find. There are some good high quality printings of photos that are otherwise readily available, but nothing earth-shattering.

 

[chubsANDdoggers]

Some scenes even in 4K is just too dark to tell for certain. Sometimes they look black, but if you WANT to see brown, or have it in your mind they are... you start to see the brown. hahahaha at least for me. I can't imagine WHY they'd paint them AFTER filming..

I do have a photo of the auction one with the broken "scope" PRE-Production... as newly built and the grips ARE painted black... but if it wasn't on screen... it's hard to say. It's nearly identical to the other one on screen in setup aside from the left side milling... and that's near impossible to see on the film.

In any case the Stembridge gets more screen time than the MGCs anyway.

Ya ur right it’s very deceptive in what ones sees for sure. Strange why grips would be painted after the fact as well. I try to be unbiased in my “research” but sometimes you do end up seeing only what you want to see. That’s where this discussion definitely does become helpful. There is a tops trading card that shows this specific Endor blaster pretty clearly with brown grips as well. I think it’s tops but I could be wrong. Some pictures also show the blaster on display with brown grips as well but the problem there is none of the pictures show the left side so it’s hard to say which one it is specially. The scope itself leads me to believe it’s not the auction blaster though.

Do we actually know how many of each where made? For example we know they only made one Stembridge blaster. As for the Auction/Endor style blasters (same FH and two weavers).. do we know how many of these where made? The version with the broken bell has its own specific FH so it’s easier to distinguish but these other two in question are very similar and can only be differentiated by the left side milling work mostly.

I would say though that you can easily make out that left side milling in this one scene specifically. So it’s definitely not the Auction blaster and I know the picture has been over exposed (I did this originally to bring out the milling details) but the grips do have a certain shade to them as well. I’m not saying that are for sure brown but it does appear that way here anyways..

 

[chubsANDdoggers]

To answer your question about the "Magic of Myth" book ... I personally bought the book at the MOM exhibit in DC back in 1997 and have had it in my collection ever since. It's obviously special to me, but I can say it's no where near as useful as say "Chronicles" when it comes to prop/costume/model/set photos. I wouldn't purchase it if that's what you're hoping to find. There are some good high quality printings of photos that are otherwise readily available, but nothing earth-shattering.

Thanks! That certainly helps clarify this book for me. Would have loved to have catched that MOM exhibit myself. Hopefully when GL opens his museum a lot of this stuff finds its way into it.

 

[scottjua]

I think there were 3 MGCs made that I can tell, Auction, missing scope piece, and this one above which is also in the archives.

 

[thd9791]

Its funny the one with rivets/ no screws holding the greeblies on and a real scope piece doesnt show up on screen much. I thought that was the hero of sorts, with clean fasteners