Thisisaaron
New Member
I'm definitely in for a full kit!
-
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Interest DL18 full conversion kits - Jabba guard blasters
- Thread starter eethan
- Start date
Interested in a kit PLUS end cap -
Hello there,
thank you all for the interest!
I'm placing orders for the jack tips and extra laser cut parts tonight, so I'm basically closing interest so we can get the run moving.
This project will be a direct release on the website, the list is not a reservation. We got 23 sign up so far and I'll go with 32 kits, so there should be enough for everyone.
Julie Wonder Knight is making great progress on the black cast parts and they look awesome
regarding timing, the release will be in two parts as I first went for 12 kits before the interest request, so those 12 kits will be released first when the casts are ready. They will sell out (normally), and there will be a second release a couple weeks later, no worries!
Small teaser as well, there is a small upgrade surprise for the run that is currently in the mail and hopefully will be in hand soon. This will delay the release slightly as well but I think people will be excited! I'll post a second update and timing update when the part is in hand.
I think that's it, I'm always there to answer questions and PM, don't hesitate if I can help!
cheers
thank you all for the interest!
I'm placing orders for the jack tips and extra laser cut parts tonight, so I'm basically closing interest so we can get the run moving.
This project will be a direct release on the website, the list is not a reservation. We got 23 sign up so far and I'll go with 32 kits, so there should be enough for everyone.
Julie Wonder Knight is making great progress on the black cast parts and they look awesome
regarding timing, the release will be in two parts as I first went for 12 kits before the interest request, so those 12 kits will be released first when the casts are ready. They will sell out (normally), and there will be a second release a couple weeks later, no worries!
Small teaser as well, there is a small upgrade surprise for the run that is currently in the mail and hopefully will be in hand soon. This will delay the release slightly as well but I think people will be excited! I'll post a second update and timing update when the part is in hand.
I think that's it, I'm always there to answer questions and PM, don't hesitate if I can help!
cheers
Mr_Sparkle
Well-Known Member
In for a full kit as well!
Hello there,
alright, here is the promised update and small reveal
first off,
- casting process is in very good way, Julie is making a really great job with all the parts
- real 3.5mm jack casings for the front tip of the scopes are shipped
- second batch of laser cut aluminium side parts are ordered and should be there in the next 7 days. they will then require to be machined to specs.
- full run for now will be 32 kits + spare parts
and now for the upgrade reveal!
Courtesy of teecrooz a huge thank you to him for his help on past and current runs and for providing that part for the run! more details below
As some of you may know, the front sight greebly, "not a marker cap", after being unknown for 40 years, last december, something happened in Dann's thread here:
www.therpf.com
Someone posted a pic of a part that was really close saying that years ago, he found an old vacuum that had a really close part to the DL18 greebly and used it as such. The part was not exact but was the closest ever found.
A few hours later, several people had found that same close enough part
At the time, like I explained before, I was provided with extremely good references of the original blaster and had already modeled, printed and polished a batch of those parts for the run. The part found was still not an exact match and was pretty rare, so I continued on the run, thinking I would use my resin printed part as they were still much closer.
Well, fast forward a couple months and Teecrooz found a couple of those parts that were an exact match to the screen-used example! As always, there are variations in those vintage parts and it seems that you can find those parts with various length of fins and a slightly different shape.
correct on the right:
The first one that Teecrooz found was slightly too "used", but the second one was a bit better (considering the age and use of that part) and Teecrooz always nice and helpful, actually sent the part to me for the run!
The best I can say is that this part is from an old vacuum cleaner. it's used on the power cable, I don't know much more than that, all of the public info is in Dann's thread, and please don't annoy Teecrooz with those, really! scour ebay as usual if you feel like it but please respect the other members as always Those parts are rare and hard to find and Teecrooz was extremely kind to help for this run and provide this part so everyone can get a kit as close to the real deal as possible. He has always been very helpful to me and my work, so please don't annoy him as I'm sure we all want him to keep helping for future runs
The exciting thing for me is how close my part is to the original, even though I modeled it from photos when the part was not known yet, it's pretty spot on, apart from the color sadly!
SO.
I received the part this morning and immediately went to work to create an adapter for the blaster and give the part to my wife so she can start casting right away!
Those will be cast very carefully by my wife and will be offered as an option in the kits for a small additional fee or as standalone parts
You will be able to choose from my clean resin print or this cast from the original part, both will be available on the website.
They will be cast as is and come with all their battle scars! We will try to match the color as best as humanly possible.
I was asked by several people over the last couple months if I would cast an original part for those, at the time there was no accurate part found, so I said no. Well, now this is happening with a 100% accurate part, I hope you guys will be excited by that final accuracy addition to the kits
Regarding timing (and future work with Wonderknight),
We almost have enough cast parts for the first batch. The mold for the new part is in progress tonight. Julie will do two molds, one today, one tomorrow and start casting those from tomorrow if all goes well.
Slightly off topic but please read, my wife Julie, owner of wonderknight.fr, is starting on a new job on Friday (2 days from now) as she is not making a living with the awesome props she offers sadly. She has been trying really hard for 4 years, she does an amazing job, I don't know what's going on exactly, but she doesn't get much success on her runs. She will continue working on things when she can during days off or evenings but she will now be working full time somewhere else. I want to thank from the bottom of my heart all the nice people that supported her during the past few years and hope some of you will still show her some support as i would really love for her projects to get the success they largely deserve
Luckily for this run, things are well advanced now, so it shouldn't delay things.
So, I expect the first batch of 12 kits to be released in about a week.
Then the next batch of 20 and spare parts in about two more weeks.
sorry for the long message, I know it can be annoying to have that many informations. I hope I was clear enough in my credits, did my best to try to explain everything, I want to thank Teecrooz again for his invaluable help! and there was a lot of other informations I needed to share, so yeah, slightly long message...
cheers all!
alright, here is the promised update and small reveal
first off,
- casting process is in very good way, Julie is making a really great job with all the parts
- real 3.5mm jack casings for the front tip of the scopes are shipped
- second batch of laser cut aluminium side parts are ordered and should be there in the next 7 days. they will then require to be machined to specs.
- full run for now will be 32 kits + spare parts
and now for the upgrade reveal!
Courtesy of teecrooz
a huge thank you to him for his help on past and current runs and for providing that part for the run! more details below As some of you may know, the front sight greebly, "not a marker cap", after being unknown for 40 years, last december, something happened in Dann's thread here:
Dann's Blaster Projects - (Latest) FM ANH Hero Project from Nov 2022
Just wanted to make sure I had these updated photos of DL-18 #6 in my blaster thread.
www.therpf.com
A few hours later, several people had found that same close enough part
At the time, like I explained before, I was provided with extremely good references of the original blaster and had already modeled, printed and polished a batch of those parts for the run. The part found was still not an exact match and was pretty rare, so I continued on the run, thinking I would use my resin printed part as they were still much closer.
Well, fast forward a couple months and Teecrooz found a couple of those parts that were an exact match to the screen-used example! As always, there are variations in those vintage parts and it seems that you can find those parts with various length of fins and a slightly different shape.
correct on the right:
The first one that Teecrooz found was slightly too "used", but the second one was a bit better (considering the age and use of that part) and Teecrooz always nice and helpful, actually sent the part to me for the run!
The best I can say is that this part is from an old vacuum cleaner. it's used on the power cable, I don't know much more than that, all of the public info is in Dann's thread, and please don't annoy Teecrooz with those, really! scour ebay as usual if you feel like it but please respect the other members as always
Those parts are rare and hard to find and Teecrooz was extremely kind to help for this run and provide this part so everyone can get a kit as close to the real deal as possible. He has always been very helpful to me and my work, so please don't annoy him as I'm sure we all want him to keep helping for future runs The exciting thing for me is how close my part is to the original, even though I modeled it from photos when the part was not known yet, it's pretty spot on, apart from the color sadly!
SO.
I received the part this morning and immediately went to work to create an adapter for the blaster and give the part to my wife so she can start casting right away!
Those will be cast very carefully by my wife and will be offered as an option in the kits for a small additional fee or as standalone parts
You will be able to choose from my clean resin print or this cast from the original part, both will be available on the website.
They will be cast as is and come with all their battle scars! We will try to match the color as best as humanly possible.
I was asked by several people over the last couple months if I would cast an original part for those, at the time there was no accurate part found, so I said no. Well, now this is happening with a 100% accurate part, I hope you guys will be excited by that final accuracy addition to the kits
Regarding timing (and future work with Wonderknight),
We almost have enough cast parts for the first batch. The mold for the new part is in progress tonight. Julie will do two molds, one today, one tomorrow and start casting those from tomorrow if all goes well.
Slightly off topic but please read, my wife Julie, owner of wonderknight.fr, is starting on a new job on Friday (2 days from now) as she is not making a living with the awesome props she offers sadly. She has been trying really hard for 4 years, she does an amazing job, I don't know what's going on exactly, but she doesn't get much success on her runs. She will continue working on things when she can during days off or evenings but she will now be working full time somewhere else. I want to thank from the bottom of my heart all the nice people that supported her during the past few years and hope some of you will still show her some support as i would really love for her projects to get the success they largely deserve
Luckily for this run, things are well advanced now, so it shouldn't delay things.
So, I expect the first batch of 12 kits to be released in about a week.
Then the next batch of 20 and spare parts in about two more weeks.
sorry for the long message, I know it can be annoying to have that many informations. I hope I was clear enough in my credits, did my best to try to explain everything, I want to thank Teecrooz again for his invaluable help! and there was a lot of other informations I needed to share, so yeah, slightly long message...
cheers all!
Last edited:
Hey,
for the people in the UK or US looking for a RO-72, our friend cwoodreplicas is selling one in the junkyard right now:
www.therpf.com
for the people in the UK or US looking for a RO-72, our friend cwoodreplicas is selling one in the junkyard right now:
Star Wars - RO-72 for DL-18
FS: RO-72 ‘Close enough’ Selling an RO-72 close enough for the DL-18. I say close enough, as it’s missing some stamping on the body! Think it’s a different model (.22?) The front sight is slightly cracked, but this can be glued/filled and repaired (see scottjua’s latest video). Will ship...
www.therpf.com
Please add me to the list for a full conversion kit, as well, if you are still gathering an interest roster.
Progress update on the kits, almost there!
firs the slight bad news,
I said I ordered real 3.5mm jacks for the tip of the scope, well I received them and it's not working. It really looks like they used this as the shape and size are the same, but doing a run with those is not going to work.
When you disassemble the jacks, they fall appart, so it's not really doable to reattach them to our scope tip.
I have tried below, I replaced the thin sleeve in the middle here with a turned aluminium rod with a hole in the center, it takes a lot of time and I'm not super happy with the result in the end...
this is the result, it's a lot of work for a 2 part thing that looks like it's just one part on the original:
so, this was just a waste of time and money sadly, just got excited for a minute when I figured out it was most likely a jack, but I'll just turn those entirely from aluminium, it will be a better result and easier to assemble:
Alright, now for the good news!
first cast of the Vacuum cleaner part, they look awesome, here with an original, either on the left, or on the right, ahah! it's like holding the real part!
the inside detail came out great as well!
here you can see the original injection molding mark:
the printed part was a real adjusted fit with the RO-72 front sight, those ones will require a bit of glue to hold nicelly, I tried to anticipate the proper size for a perfect fit, and especially didn't want something that would need to be sanded, but those are a nice fit to the sight, but won't hold in place without glue.
once again, a huge thank you to Wonderknight for her amazing castings!
there you go! really cool added realism to the kits, it's not going to get any more authentic that this I think, really happy with how everything turned out
Just need to cast a dozen of those (and turn the aluminium scope tips) and the first batch of kits can be released
firs the slight bad news,
I said I ordered real 3.5mm jacks for the tip of the scope, well I received them and it's not working. It really looks like they used this as the shape and size are the same, but doing a run with those is not going to work.
When you disassemble the jacks, they fall appart, so it's not really doable to reattach them to our scope tip.
I have tried below, I replaced the thin sleeve in the middle here with a turned aluminium rod with a hole in the center, it takes a lot of time and I'm not super happy with the result in the end...
this is the result, it's a lot of work for a 2 part thing that looks like it's just one part on the original:
so, this was just a waste of time and money sadly, just got excited for a minute when I figured out it was most likely a jack, but I'll just turn those entirely from aluminium, it will be a better result and easier to assemble:
Alright, now for the good news!
first cast of the Vacuum cleaner part, they look awesome, here with an original, either on the left, or on the right, ahah! it's like holding the real part!
the inside detail came out great as well!
here you can see the original injection molding mark:
the printed part was a real adjusted fit with the RO-72 front sight, those ones will require a bit of glue to hold nicelly, I tried to anticipate the proper size for a perfect fit, and especially didn't want something that would need to be sanded, but those are a nice fit to the sight, but won't hold in place without glue.
once again, a huge thank you to Wonderknight for her amazing castings!
there you go! really cool added realism to the kits, it's not going to get any more authentic that this I think, really happy with how everything turned out
Just need to cast a dozen of those (and turn the aluminium scope tips) and the first batch of kits can be released
Just need to cast a dozen of those (and turn the aluminium scope tips) and the first batch of kits can be released
You should probably create a sale post and not hijack this thread - but I've had success sending these to the US now. So when you create a listing, I'm happy to share the secret
Ah, apologies - I didn't intend to hijack this post. I'll create a sales post as suggested (thanks CWR).You should probably create a sale post and not hijack this thread - but I've had success sending these to the US now. So when you create a listing, I'm happy to share the secret
Hi there,
We are almost done with the first batch of kits. Just waiting for a couple last vacuum cleaner parts casts. One of the two molds broke already as there are super small details inside the parts. It's a bit tough for my wife with her full time job now so progress has been slower, but yeah, almost there!
I have spent the last couple days cleaning up thoroughly all the cast parts, removed all the flashing on the bases, sanded them (more) flat and polished the missiles to get the same shine as the original parts
I don't usually offer resin parts, so, please rest assured that my wife and I both made sure that those were the best resin parts possible and i'm really happy about the kits!
same here, removed flashing, sanded flat on the base and glued the jacks with a tiny bit of superglue
color matched as best as possible, cleaned up, polished missiles
I have kept for last drilling the holes on the scopes as I have been worried all along with the fact the original blaster has the cast lines oriented diagonaly, and although I wanted to reproduce that, it always worries me that some of you guys will want to idealize this.
Anyways, I'll drill them as they were for the first batch. If someone doesn't like this and wants to idealize, either sand the cast lines or contact me for the next batch if you want a different alignment for the cast lines
First batch: so, Julie is casting the last vacuum parts this week end, those don't require cleanup. Today, I'm going to drill the scopes, take photos of the parts, prepare everything for the website and I think we are set for a first release on Monday or so
Second batch: I have received the seconc batch of laser cut side plates already, a part of them, because there was a problem on 25% of them, but I can start working on those as soon as possible. So, the wait will be all the new casts to do. Since Julie now has a full time job + taking care of an elderly lady on Saturday + her own projects to finish + life + the casts, it will take a bit of time, and I kind of need her to stay alive if at all possible. So, I think i'll be making two more releases. When the next 12 kits are ready in a couple weeks or so. then a final release when the final 12 kits are ready a couple or so weeks later.
cheers all!
We are almost done with the first batch of kits. Just waiting for a couple last vacuum cleaner parts casts. One of the two molds broke already as there are super small details inside the parts. It's a bit tough for my wife with her full time job now so progress has been slower, but yeah, almost there!
I have spent the last couple days cleaning up thoroughly all the cast parts, removed all the flashing on the bases, sanded them (more) flat and polished the missiles to get the same shine as the original parts
I don't usually offer resin parts, so, please rest assured that my wife and I both made sure that those were the best resin parts possible and i'm really happy about the kits!
same here, removed flashing, sanded flat on the base and glued the jacks with a tiny bit of superglue
color matched as best as possible, cleaned up, polished missiles
I have kept for last drilling the holes on the scopes as I have been worried all along with the fact the original blaster has the cast lines oriented diagonaly, and although I wanted to reproduce that, it always worries me that some of you guys will want to idealize this.
Anyways, I'll drill them as they were for the first batch. If someone doesn't like this and wants to idealize, either sand the cast lines or contact me for the next batch if you want a different alignment for the cast lines
First batch: so, Julie is casting the last vacuum parts this week end, those don't require cleanup. Today, I'm going to drill the scopes, take photos of the parts, prepare everything for the website and I think we are set for a first release on Monday or so
Second batch: I have received the seconc batch of laser cut side plates already, a part of them, because there was a problem on 25% of them, but I can start working on those as soon as possible. So, the wait will be all the new casts to do. Since Julie now has a full time job + taking care of an elderly lady on Saturday + her own projects to finish + life + the casts, it will take a bit of time, and I kind of need her to stay alive if at all possible. So, I think i'll be making two more releases. When the next 12 kits are ready in a couple weeks or so. then a final release when the final 12 kits are ready a couple or so weeks later.
cheers all!
I forgot one thing, as already said, I'll be offering 2 finished blasters, Europe only, around 500€. I won't have time to finish them for the first batch, but if you are in Europe and are interested, you can get in touch now to reserve them so you don't have to buy a kit first and not end up using it.
Cheers
Cheers
Hello there!
Took all day today (was it Sunday? no idea! ahah), but the first batch of kits is ready for a release tomorrow at the same time, 8PM Paris time, exactly 24h from this post timestamp
There is no need to rush, if you miss your kit tomorrow, there will be 12 more in a couple weeks or so, and again 12 more in another couple weeks or so, no worries! It's taking time to cast all the parts, but we are commited for 3 dozen kits, no worries!
The first release will be 8 full kits and 4 partial kits and i'll adjust quantities if the full kits sells out first. At the same time, there will be all the cast parts available individually as well, but no scopes and no aluminium side plates. Those will only be available separately on the second and third batch. If you are not interested by a partial or full kit but want side bars, scopes and a few casts, please wait for the next batch, no need to order casts now and a second order later on
The final idea is that you choose your kit, full or partial, and buy your vacuum cleaner part separately, either the resin print or the cast from original part. There will be a category on the website where the two kits and all the individual parts will be present. This is done to avoid handling options and so people can choose everything they want.
I'll announce the final prices later on as i still need to finalize with my wife tonight, but for now, we are in the price announced for the interest request, just slightly adjusted for the new cast part.
reminder that if you are in Europe and looking for a finished blaster, I'll be making 2 of those for the next batch of kits, they will be around 500€ + shipping, get in touch now if you are interested to reserve one.
"full kit" (need to take the vacuum part of your choosing separately:
partial kit (and you can add any cast part you want on top of that available separately):
all the cast parts are cast with smooth on silicon and resin, molds were degazzed and pressure cast, resin casts were color matched as best as possible, degazzed and pressure cast as well. And I have cleaned them all painstakingly, so zero flashing and flat bottoms, ready to be used. I swear, they are pretty incredible, very proffesional casts, very impressed with Julie's work on those, I wouldn't have offered anything less as i'm normally only doing aluminium parts, so I wanted those to be perfect
those are the casts from my own sourced V8 motor plate, the plate is slightly different from Ryan's one, but you can see the casts are an exact replica of it The casts from Ryan and from Wonderknight will probably be mixed amongst the kits. Individual casts will only be the ones from Wonderknight.
assembled scope to give an idea of how cool and how accurate that will look
I really hope you'll like the kits, they were a true labour of love and search for the best accuracy possible
cheers all!
Took all day today (was it Sunday? no idea! ahah), but the first batch of kits is ready for a release tomorrow at the same time, 8PM Paris time, exactly 24h from this post timestamp
There is no need to rush, if you miss your kit tomorrow, there will be 12 more in a couple weeks or so, and again 12 more in another couple weeks or so, no worries! It's taking time to cast all the parts, but we are commited for 3 dozen kits, no worries!
The first release will be 8 full kits and 4 partial kits and i'll adjust quantities if the full kits sells out first. At the same time, there will be all the cast parts available individually as well, but no scopes and no aluminium side plates. Those will only be available separately on the second and third batch. If you are not interested by a partial or full kit but want side bars, scopes and a few casts, please wait for the next batch, no need to order casts now and a second order later on
The final idea is that you choose your kit, full or partial, and buy your vacuum cleaner part separately, either the resin print or the cast from original part. There will be a category on the website where the two kits and all the individual parts will be present. This is done to avoid handling options and so people can choose everything they want.
I'll announce the final prices later on as i still need to finalize with my wife tonight, but for now, we are in the price announced for the interest request, just slightly adjusted for the new cast part.
reminder that if you are in Europe and looking for a finished blaster, I'll be making 2 of those for the next batch of kits, they will be around 500€ + shipping, get in touch now if you are interested to reserve one.
"full kit" (need to take the vacuum part of your choosing separately:
partial kit (and you can add any cast part you want on top of that available separately):
all the cast parts are cast with smooth on silicon and resin, molds were degazzed and pressure cast, resin casts were color matched as best as possible, degazzed and pressure cast as well. And I have cleaned them all painstakingly, so zero flashing and flat bottoms, ready to be used. I swear, they are pretty incredible, very proffesional casts, very impressed with Julie's work on those, I wouldn't have offered anything less as i'm normally only doing aluminium parts, so I wanted those to be perfect
those are the casts from my own sourced V8 motor plate, the plate is slightly different from Ryan's one, but you can see the casts are an exact replica of it
The casts from Ryan and from Wonderknight will probably be mixed amongst the kits. Individual casts will only be the ones from Wonderknight.assembled scope to give an idea of how cool and how accurate that will look
I really hope you'll like the kits, they were a true labour of love and search for the best accuracy possible
cheers all!
Hello guys,
I have updated first page with final infos
I had announced the full kits would be 210€ + shipping. As you guys know, the vacuum cleaner part was identified while I was putting the kits together. Teecrooz was kind enough to provide me with one of the very first 100% accurate found part to cast for the run.
Although i was already done with all the resin printed front sight greeblies, I decided to go ahead and offer the casts as a second option for the run.
This all cost me extra of course, but I have tried my best to stay very close to the announced price and even lowered the cost of the original offering (by 1€! ahah).
so, in the end, the full kit as it was announced with the resin printed part will be 209€ yay!
and the full kit with resin cast part will be 214€
Since there is now a choice for that vacuum part, they are not included in the kits, they need to be chosen separately.
so, in reality:
"Full" kit: 195€
partial kit: 165€
resin printed vacuum part: 14€
resin cast vacuum part: 19€
The first batch of 12 kits is still released tonight at 8PM CET
I have added a category for the kits and spare parts on the website so everything is grouped. i'll link it here when I announce the release tonight.
cheers all
I have updated first page with final infos
I had announced the full kits would be 210€ + shipping. As you guys know, the vacuum cleaner part was identified while I was putting the kits together. Teecrooz was kind enough to provide me with one of the very first 100% accurate found part to cast for the run.
Although i was already done with all the resin printed front sight greeblies, I decided to go ahead and offer the casts as a second option for the run.
This all cost me extra of course, but I have tried my best to stay very close to the announced price and even lowered the cost of the original offering (by 1€! ahah).
so, in the end, the full kit as it was announced with the resin printed part will be 209€ yay!
and the full kit with resin cast part will be 214€
Since there is now a choice for that vacuum part, they are not included in the kits, they need to be chosen separately.
so, in reality:
"Full" kit: 195€
partial kit: 165€
resin printed vacuum part: 14€
resin cast vacuum part: 19€
The first batch of 12 kits is still released tonight at 8PM CET
I have added a category for the kits and spare parts on the website so everything is grouped. i'll link it here when I announce the release tonight.
cheers all
