ROTJ E-11 Builds

Anyone ever find a source for 1.375" aluminum of steel with a big seam down the middle, like the MGC has?
Are you speaking of the receiver? If so, you won’t find a source. I believe they had either stamped out or milled the pattern from 2mm sheet metal, and then rolled the metal into a cylinder. After that they spot welded everything together down the seam. If you look closely you can see the holes of the barrel are not perfect circles, because they were added before the metal was rolled.
 
Right. Makes sense. I was just wondering if someone found a good source for tubing with a seam present, so that a semi accurate replica could be fashioned form it.
 
I know they make welded steel tubing for hydraulic applications, but trying to find something to mimic the MGC receiver tube would be really difficult. I would suppose if you were hell bent on going as accurate as possible, you should reach out to some laser cutters in your area; it may be feasible to source the solid tubing and laser cut the tube length. Just thinking out loud.
 
So I know it’s been awhile but thought I’d give a brief update. I had ordered some metal 3d prints made of the rail, hammers, and firing block. Rail is aluminum and the others are steel. While ideally I would have the hammers and block casted, the time and expense would be too long. In order to make the parts look casted I have modeled seam lines and imperfections to simulate the look of casted parts. I will be sanding/polishing then this weekend, they should look much better after.

Special thanks to DarthWilder for all the detailed photos and measurements. I will be sending him these copies to confirm they are as close as possible to his original pieces.
 

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What a time to be alive! Great solution.

Is the sand texture something you modeled or how the printing process happens?
its apart of the printing I believe, it may also be after sandblasting the parts. Not sure. Either way the polishing should remove it.
 
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Agree, w


Agree, would love to get these in machined aluminum.
I’m exploring those options as well. I am currently having a test of the rail being machined out of aluminum. The only problem with machining the block and hammers is that they may end up looking too perfect, as the original pieces all had unique imperfections due to the casting.
 
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I’m exploring those options as well. I am currently having a test of the rail in machined aluminum. The only problem with machining the block and hammers is that they may end up looking too perfect, as the original pieces all had unique imperfections due to the casting.
I think the rail was machined aluminum, but to your point, the other greeblies were cast aluminum. That would seem out of the question, so to me machined aluminum would be the next best thing. To your point, you would lose the seamlines unless you could find someone with a CNC that could take the 3D file and machine down to that accuracy. Probably tough to find and expensive.
 
I think the rail was machined aluminum, but to your point, the other greeblies were cast aluminum. That would seem out of the question, so to me machined aluminum would be the next best thing. To your point, you would lose the seamlines unless you could find someone with a CNC that could take the 3D file and machine down to that accuracy. Probably tough to find and expensive.
The rail is certainly machined, which is why I am having a test made of it. Interesting regarding your claim about the pieces being casted in aluminum, this is the first time I am hearing that. I had been under the assumption that they were made out of zamak, which is a very common material used for casting, it is also a very brittle material. The blocks are known to crack and break with time when used in the Nakata browning replica.

Regarding machining them with that sort of accuracy, at that point I might as well go down the route of having them casted.
 
The rail is certainly machined, which is why I am having a test made of it. Interesting regarding your claim about the pieces being casted in aluminum, this is the first time I am hearing that. I had been under the assumption that they were made out of zamak, which is a very common material used for casting, it is also a very brittle material. The blocks are known to crack and break with time when used in the Nakata browning replica.

Regarding machining them with that sort of accuracy, at that point I might as well go down the route of having them casted.
George, you may very well be right on the casting material. Probably not a good assumption on my part because of the weight of the cast replica guns (similar to real) but other than owning some MGC guns, I don't have any first hand knowledge with regard to these parts. I would have to defer to Lonepigeon on that. Regardless, you're work here is great, just trying to see how we can replicate these greeblies better.

Do you have any experience with Zamak i.e. what is the casting temp?
 
George, you may very well be right on the casting material. Probably not a good assumption on my part because of the weight of the cast replica guns (similar to real) but other than owning some MGC guns, I don't have any first hand knowledge with regard to these parts. I would have to defer to Lonepigeon on that. Regardless, you're work here is great, just trying to see how we can replicate these greeblies better.

Do you have any experience with Zamak i.e. what is the casting temp?
Absolutely, my thoughts exactly. If the original materials are made of a lighter material, I want to replicate that as best as possible. The reason I went with steel for the printed material is that it has a similar weight to zamak.
 
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The firing block MAY be from an MGC replica and not Nakata.
The MGCs have the weird rounded bits on the inside of the rectangular shape. I haven't seen that on the Nakata. The MGCs I saw were cut shorter though - there might be a correct length variant.
 
The firing block MAY be from an MGC replica and not Nakata.
The MGCs have the weird rounded bits on the inside of the rectangular shape. I haven't seen that on the Nakata. The MGCs I saw were cut shorter though - there might be a correct length variant.
Interesting. Thank you for sharing. I have scoured Japanese websites and forums of those showing off the Nakata. I have come across many photos of the firing block, both with simple rectangular cutouts and the cutouts with the rounded areas. Perhaps it was a machine precision issue?
 
The firing block MAY be from an MGC replica and not Nakata.
The MGCs have the weird rounded bits on the inside of the rectangular shape. I haven't seen that on the Nakata. The MGCs I saw were cut shorter though - there might be a correct length variant.
Here is a photo of the block with the rounded “Mickey Mouse ears” corners.
 

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