Vanitas
Sr Member
So I know that this thread had seen a few minor threads and occasional discussion of this rather bizarre blaster in the past before, but I personally feel that more discussion ought to be aimed at teasing out exactly what this DL-44 really is.
(The only video of the blaster in question)
My understanding is that this deleted scene was filmed in the UK, as primarily evidenced by the presence of the ANH hero scope mount and Hensoldt scope. Both of these objects rather conclusively shows that the blaster used by Ford came from Bapty, thus fueling the old idea that this prop was the Hero C96 in a 'reassembled' state.
Many people attributed this scene as the last known appearance of the Hero DL-44.
Based on what I believe, I no longer find this to be correct.
While the C96 appears to both have an apparent bull barrel and be made from a live-fire Mauser, the presence of a lanyard ring in the grip frame's mounting stud seems to indicate that this is NOT the same C96 as used in the Hero. From what I know original Mauser lanyard rings are both quite rare and also a MAJOR pain in the hindquarters to remove.
(A still from the footage that shows the lanyard ring clearly)
The flash hider is also something of an enigma, as it is another piece that remains unidentified to this day. We get very few clear images of it.
In some images the flash hider almost looks like the MG-81 flash hider used on the Hero prop mounted backwards, although the above image shows clearly enough that it is not. But other images seem to show that the flash hider had rows of holes going down it in a similar approximation of the MG-81 flash hider.
While some might not simply care, (understandably) find the design so grotesquely monstrous as to actively hate it, or even just deem the particular prop as non-canon and wash their hands of it entirely, to me the fact that this prop was legitimately created by Bapty for Star Wars, held in Harrison Ford's hands, and even had footage of it shot by him using it makes me feel that this particular prop simply deserves a bit more study and/or replication of it than 'other' certain blaster props...
Yes I'm looking at YOU, RIA blaster.
To the best of my knowledge, only a few people on here have really tried to replicate this prop before; which I can't say I blame them for due to its unflattering design and lack of clear reference. But based on what we now know of Bapty, I think that we can reasonably enough classify this prop by starting with a few concrete foundations:
1. It was fashioned from a live-fire C96 (modified to only accept blanks, of course)
2. It was created/supplied by Bapty
3. It was NOT the same C96 as the Hero prop (3D overlays comparing the mounting lug points would likely confirm this)
4. It had a threaded bull barrel extension in a similar manner to the Hero prop's/the C96 used in the Naked Runner
5. It has a yet-to-be identified flash hider
(The only video of the blaster in question)
My understanding is that this deleted scene was filmed in the UK, as primarily evidenced by the presence of the ANH hero scope mount and Hensoldt scope. Both of these objects rather conclusively shows that the blaster used by Ford came from Bapty, thus fueling the old idea that this prop was the Hero C96 in a 'reassembled' state.
Many people attributed this scene as the last known appearance of the Hero DL-44.
Based on what I believe, I no longer find this to be correct.
While the C96 appears to both have an apparent bull barrel and be made from a live-fire Mauser, the presence of a lanyard ring in the grip frame's mounting stud seems to indicate that this is NOT the same C96 as used in the Hero. From what I know original Mauser lanyard rings are both quite rare and also a MAJOR pain in the hindquarters to remove.
(A still from the footage that shows the lanyard ring clearly)
The flash hider is also something of an enigma, as it is another piece that remains unidentified to this day. We get very few clear images of it.
In some images the flash hider almost looks like the MG-81 flash hider used on the Hero prop mounted backwards, although the above image shows clearly enough that it is not. But other images seem to show that the flash hider had rows of holes going down it in a similar approximation of the MG-81 flash hider.
While some might not simply care, (understandably) find the design so grotesquely monstrous as to actively hate it, or even just deem the particular prop as non-canon and wash their hands of it entirely, to me the fact that this prop was legitimately created by Bapty for Star Wars, held in Harrison Ford's hands, and even had footage of it shot by him using it makes me feel that this particular prop simply deserves a bit more study and/or replication of it than 'other' certain blaster props...
Yes I'm looking at YOU, RIA blaster.
To the best of my knowledge, only a few people on here have really tried to replicate this prop before; which I can't say I blame them for due to its unflattering design and lack of clear reference. But based on what we now know of Bapty, I think that we can reasonably enough classify this prop by starting with a few concrete foundations:
1. It was fashioned from a live-fire C96 (modified to only accept blanks, of course)
2. It was created/supplied by Bapty
3. It was NOT the same C96 as the Hero prop (3D overlays comparing the mounting lug points would likely confirm this)
4. It had a threaded bull barrel extension in a similar manner to the Hero prop's/the C96 used in the Naked Runner
5. It has a yet-to-be identified flash hider
