HAN ANH DL-44 Flash Hider Baked-on Parkerized-esque Finish (pic heavy)

[H0llyw00d]

Hey Guys, pretty cool mod here.

After extensive research for my Han ANH DEC/Denix build, I became convinced that the original prop was painted body/blued scope/parkerized flash hider. For those that are unaware, the MG81 (from which the FH came) was a WWII era German machine gun, parkerization was new tech at the time and the Wehrmacht used it extensively. It would explain why there is such a discrepancy between the colors and textures of the original prop.

I make my props to be played with and weathered through use, so I display my DL-44 in a leather Costumebase holster:



Originally, I painted the entire prop with 3 coats of matte black and 3 coats of polyurethane. The paint on the flash hider, however, rubbed off in certain places due to contact with the holster:



I feel this is another argument for parkerization on the FH because this would have happened to some degree to the blued finish of the original prop as well, though there is no evidence of it. Parkerization is an EXTREMELY tough coating and could shrug off holster-wear... no sweat.

I decided to try out a baked-on parkerization-like coating on the flash hider to test my hypothesis. I chose the Brownells dark parkerizing gray baking enamel that I have had good results with in the past with real guns:

http://www.brownells.com/gunsmith-t...-parkerizing-gray-sku083046808-1143-4084.aspx

It was very easy to apply. Three light coats - 20 minutes apart:



And after baking for 30 minutes at 300 degrees...viola



Couldn't be more pleased with the results. I would recommend it for as-issued builds like mine. Not sure how or how easy it would be to weather. Mine will be weathered through playing with it like the giddy 8-year-old it makes me feel like




'Cause my blasters got's ta' have the "Pew, Pew" ... this one has a repurposed '15 Disney Rebel Blaster sound board and 10mm super-bright LED:



Now all I need is the stiffy-producing functional scope from Todd's Costumes next week and my build will be...COMPLETE (said in Palpatine voice)... so psyched...

 

[Sundowner]

I would love to see how you repurposed the soundboard and led!

 

[thd9791]

I do the same thing with my props! They're to be loved!

Do you think I should add a layer of paint over my blueing? I like the scope the way it is, but if the body on the prop was painted...

Edit: I'm an accuracy freak to a point. the Blast Tech grill I had on hand had a specific cut out so I made my "disc" to match, that's why its smaller :cool

 

[H0llyw00d]

I would love to see how you repurposed the soundboard and led!

Erm... kind'a hijacked this whole thread on the matter... :behave

http://www.therpf.com/showthread.php?t=238888&highlight=hasbro+han+blaster

 

[H0llyw00d]

I do the same thing with my props! They're to be loved!

Do you think I should add a layer of paint over my blueing? I like the scope the way it is, but if the body on the prop was painted...

Edit: I'm an accuracy freak to a point. the Blast Tech grill I had on hand had a specific cut out so I made my "disc" to match, that's why its smaller :cool

I think the consensus is now that the original body was painted. I hear the pics are dying out but the three greeblies thread:

http://www.therpf.com/showthread.php?t=118186&highlight=greeblies+found

...gives a pretty good argument for a painted body. Which would also explain the mystery disk as being a greebly adhered pre-paint that fell off.

Now it is still a matter of opinion and hotly debated. I just feel the propmasters took the path of least resistance and painted it.

 

[thd9791]

Yea I remember reading that. I'm assuming this means the mount too, so the whole "blaster" looks like the same unit. Was there a concensus for matte or semi gloss?

I think the consensus is now that the original body was painted. I hear the pics are dying out but the three greeblies thread:

http://www.therpf.com/showthread.php?t=118186&highlight=greeblies+found

...gives a pretty good argument for a painted body. Which would also explain the mystery disk as being a greebly adhered pre-paint that fell off.

Now it is still a matter of opinion and hotly debated. I just feel the propmasters took the path of least resistance and painted it.

 

[H0llyw00d]

Yea I remember reading that. I'm assuming this means the mount too, so the whole "blaster" looks like the same unit. Was there a concensus for matte or semi gloss?

To my knowledge, no... which is why I went with matte then poly. Best of both worlds and added durability to boot.

 

[thd9791]

They did paint some graflex stunts with chrome paint to prevent reflection and glare. That would also support the matte ish paint

 

[veektohr]

This is something I've been mulling over too, as I have a steel DEC flash hider so I coulllllld parkerize it. I'm still on the fence, but what you've got there looks pretty great to me.

 

[thd9791]

Thanks man, likewise. I'm excited to see people so amped about nailing down details from ANh weapons. I'm unhappy with my weathering of todds mount so I actually may paint over the blue and then paste wax the thing again (wax makes this awesome used finish and it's protected!)

 

[PoopaPapaPalps]

I'm still of the "undecided" camp when it comes to the finish on the Mauser. Had the prop body already been blued from NR/ST, I feel like they would've just slapped on the mount and whatever else and called it done.

Also, I blued my DL-44 and I'll be damned if all the work I put in that will be covered with spray paint.:lol

 

[spoudastis]

different prop i know, but the greedo killer definitely looks like it was left blued to me from the pics in the chronicals book. There is a mottling and unevenness that is for sure a weathered blue finish as opposed to a spray of black. as i said, a different prop, but if they stayed with blue on one prop its definitely possible they stayed with it on another as well. i dont know anything about the hero dl-44 so im just playing devils advocate here.

 

[H0llyw00d]

different prop i know, but the greedo killer definitely looks like it was left blued to me from the pics in the chronicals book. There is a mottling and unevenness that is for sure a weathered blue finish as opposed to a spray of black. as i said, a different prop, but if they stayed with blue on one prop its definitely possible they stayed with it on another as well. i dont know anything about the hero dl-44 so im just playing devils advocate here.

I know absolutely nothing about the GK except it was US and the hero was UK.

Here is the earliest known pre-production pic of the hero... even before any greeblies were attached but definitely blued:



...after adding the black plastic greeblies they decided to paint it so it would look more uniform:

 

[spoudastis]

very interesting, thanks for that comparison.

I know absolutely nothing about the GK except it was US and the hero was UK.

Here is the earliest known pre-production pic of the hero... even before any greeblies were attached but definitely blued:

View attachment 628864

...after adding the black plastic greeblies they decided to paint it so it would look more uniform:

View attachment 628865

 

[scottjua]

So far there haven't been ANY documented Parkerized MG81 Flash hiders or Parts. I'm only aware of two types of finish... blued steel and painted steel.

Glad my pics keep making it around with no credit.

 

[Moreorless37]

So far there haven't been ANY documented Parkerized MG81 Flash hiders or Parts. I'm only aware of two types of finish... blued steel and painted steel.

Glad my pics keep making it around with no credit.

here is a pic I found while researching the possibility of it being parkerized

the bottom weapon there is the one I was looking at. Looks parkerized gray to me. Now whether that is the weapon's original finish or not I am not sure.

 

[spoudastis]

no reason to feel hard done and sarcastic scottjua . i am all about giving credit where it is due, dont get me wrong, but it seems like what happens is that images are saved from many random places which probably didnt credit you and the new poster has absolutely no idea the original image was yours or another rpf member and should be credited.

So far there haven't been ANY documented Parkerized MG81 Flash hiders or Parts. I'm only aware of two types of finish... blued steel and painted steel.

Glad my pics keep making it around with no credit.

 

[H0llyw00d]

So far there haven't been ANY documented Parkerized MG81 Flash hiders or Parts. I'm only aware of two types of finish... blued steel and painted steel.

Glad my pics keep making it around with no credit.

Ouch... sorry Scott, man. I just save these images to a DL-44 folder for research purposes. No offence please. Jiminy Cricket, you've done 10x more for this hobby than Harrison Ford for chrissake.

 

[PoopaPapaPalps]

@H0llyw00d

See, that pic there, after the greeblies attached; that's where I gotta split with you, man. I don't see how it could be painted especially when you can see the mottling of the color on the left hand side as well as where it fades where it's held, even in a high contrast, b/w photo.

 

[spoudastis]

with you, unless the black is being worn down and you can see the metallic worn blue/ bare metal below. impossible to tell.

@H0llyw00d

See, that pic there, after the greeblies attached; that's where I gotta split with you, man. I don't see how it could be painted especially when you can see the mottling of the color on the left hand side as well as where it fades where it's held, even in a high contrast, b/w photo.