SHOWOFF Thread : ESB 'stunt' E-11 blaster replica!

[Stormtrooper]

***EDIT Interest thread moved to the Junkyard - this thread is intended only to show off my hard work EDIT***

As some of you may know I am fortunate enough to have a screen-used ESB resin 'stunt' Stormtrooper blaster in my collection
The original is a single-piece resin cast of a Sterling smg with various greeblies stuck on here and there, and was used in ESB by some 'background' Stormtroopers, all the Snowtroopers and even IG-88.

This is arguably the rarest type of stormtrooper blaster as it has never been displayed at Magic of Myth, Art of Star Wars etc, nor has it been pictured in The Star Wars Chronicles, Lucasfilm Archives book etc. etc.

The finish on the original prop is pretty rough in places (it was intended for background shots after all) with deep grooves and coarse file-marks over much of the blaster's body... The fact that there are file-marks on the original prop means that I.L.M. must have created a 'master buck' from the mould of a Sterling which in turn was reshaped and had the pieces added onto, from which a second mould was created which produced the final ESB 'stunt' resin blasters
After much consideration, I've decided that the replicas should closely mirror the finish of the original prop... warts 'n' all.

The finish is brush-painted matte black (as per the original, although the camera flash in the pic below is deceiving) and the sight is fitted with accurate textured clear plastic discs as per the original.
This has taken several months and a helluva lot of £££'s to put together, but I'm pretty damn pleased with how it's turned out

Oh, and here's a pic of 'The Daddy'

Here's a cool publicity pic from ESB of stormtroopers arresting Leia with an ESB 'stunt' blaster... just like the one that these replicas are cast from

Cheers,
J.B.
john@manicminer.plus.com

BTW the watermark on the images is of my old RPF name 'Pugman'

[edits by synasp: just some wording... move along, move along]

 

[Stormtrooper]

Comments, anyone?

J.B.

 

[Ghost Host]

I like it. I find may things odd about it. The greeblies are strange, but this is kinda like the Rosetta Stone for the trooper blasters. I can see where all the crap came from on the ROTJ blaster. Interesting to see a kind-of cross of the 2 types of E-11 I've become familiar with. Thank you for coming forward with it.

 

[STEVE THE SWEDE]

Awesome. You've done a great job on this. This is without doubt my favourite "Sterling" version. This sucker beats the crap out of that corny ILM special edition cast that used to float around.

Fantastic.

Steve.

 

[glim999]

Absolutely beautiful By far, my favorite version of the E-11

 

[RKW]

Well it goes a long way into explaining why Stormtroopers couldn't hit the broadside of a barn door.

I don't think you would see very much if you could actually look through that scope

 

[well paid killer]

Excellent piece......

 

[gonk27]

Niiiiice JB, nice. B)



Jeremy

 

[deralis]

Wow your blaster touched Leias Boob

 

[Darth Lars]

I hope you don't mind me mentioning some discoveries about this blaster:

OdiWan72 told me he had identified the long piece under the cocking slot as originally being from the 1976 Revell F4E Phantom II 1:32 scale model kit. :thumbsup
Parts from that same kit was used for the ESB Bespin gun and ESB DH-17.

I was comparing this one with another pic of a cast: here. I notice that some details have been more filled-in on Stormtrooper's blaster and the other one has different-sized screws holding the left side details while the screws on Stormtrooper's blaster are of equal size. Also, the greeblie behind the scope on IG-88's blaster seen in the Visual Dictionary is even blockier - does not match either of the two previous.
That makes me think that there must have been (at least) three molds - three different variations .. or is there something I could have missed about the casting process? :$

 

[Stormtrooper]

Obviously that pic is of an unfinished ESB 'stunt' blaster so it's possible some of it would be different to the movie-used ones anyways... also no trigger-guard on it... I wonder was it broken off this raw casting, or was the gun originally planned to have no trigger-guard?

Originally posted by Darth Lars@Nov 23 2005, 02:26 AM
....and the other one has different-sized screws holding the left side details while the screws on Stormtrooper's blaster are of equal size. Also, the greeblie behind the scope on IG-88's blaster seen in the Visual Dictionary is even blockier - does not match either of the two previous.

[snapback]1120969[/snapback]​

The firm which moulded the original did a bit of minor repair work to the mould, as the 'pincers' of the front greeblie were damaged at some stage (preseumably during filming as it had been painted over) and when they restored the greeblie on the mould they replaced the screw head with one which was symmetrical and the same size as the one on the back greeblie.
So it's 99% accurate, not 100% but looks a helluva lot better IMO, and I didn't want to produce replicas with broken pieces on them

As for the 'blockier' greeblie behind the scope on IG-88's blaster... I think this is more likely dueto differences in how the replicas were 'finished' by I.L.M.
As mentioned previously the original blaster has heavy 'file' marks all over it so it seems that the originals were cast in resin and then roughly shaped with wood-files. :confused
I've made sure that these marks were retained in the mould and therefore appear on the replica

oh and deralis... not sure if that's the particular blaster that I have, that's being prodded at Leia's chest in the pic above... it *is* possible it's the same one I suppose.

Cheers,
John
john@manicminer.plus.com

 

[voice in the crowd]

Hi John,

This is a beautiful piece thanks for sharing. It's not very often something screen used and so rare turns up. Has this been shown off before or shown somewhere else and I missed it before as I am surprised in the lack of excitement this thread seems to have received.

I have never owned a resin blaster I have a Sterling which I am happy enough with for display so I have a question (I know it may be a naive question especially to all the resin blaster gurus) anyway what kind of weight are you talking about for this blaster?

Also are there any plans in the works to make a light weight rubber version of this? (you know one I can drop and not worry too much about when trooping).

Any response would be appreciated.

Cheers Chris.

 

[Stormtrooper]

Thanks for the compliments Chris... I'm VERY pleased with how it turned out, myself... definitely worth all the effort (and expense.) IMO

The original prop blaster *was* shown off before, when I first accquired the ROTJ costume and blaster together, so I guess it's 'old news' for some. :unsure

I have no plans to produce them in hyperfirm rubber at the moment as I'm more interested in replicating the original prop as closely as possible... including the material it's made from...

Here's a couple of pics of the moulds in all their glory, and the very first replica to be produced from them... with the oriignal ESB 'stunt' blaster wrapped in bubble-wrap in the foreground

I'm really pleased with the job that the mouldmaking / casting company did with this project. The moulds are almost a work-of-art themselves.

Cheers,
John
john@manicminer.plus.com

 

[OldKen]

i didnt see an iterest thread in thy JY...

those kick arse...

cough.. pm...cough...

 

[Stormtrooper]

Originally posted by oldken@Nov 25 2005, 08:14 PM
i didnt see an iterest thread in thy JY... 

those kick arse...

cough.. pm...cough...

[snapback]1122511[/snapback]​

PM sent, dude.... and you really should get that cough seen to... sounds nasty. :lol

Cheers,
John

 

[voice in the crowd]

Hi John,

Sorry to trouble you again but what is the weight of this resin blaster?

Any reply would be much appreciated.

Cheers Chris.

 

[Stormtrooper]

No trouble at all mate....

The weight of the first replica blaster is 1.24 Kg (or 2 lbs, 11 3/4 oz.)
My bendy mannequin holds it just fine although I had to bend him further back at the waist to compensate...

This first production blasters will be alil' bit lighter as I've asked the company to use resin which more closely matches the raw casting shown above by Darth Lars (which is lighter weight)

Cheers,
John
john@manicminer.plus.com

Originally posted by voice in the crowd@Nov 26 2005, 09:11 PM
Hi John,

Sorry to trouble you again but what is the weight of this resin blaster?

Any reply would be much appreciated.

Cheers Chris.

[snapback]1122993[/snapback]​

 

[tk5378]

Can I get a PM on details for acquiring one of these lovely blasters?

 

[Stormtrooper]

Originally posted by tk5378@Nov 27 2005, 03:13 PM
Can I get a PM on details for acquiring one of these lovely blasters?

[snapback]1123302[/snapback]​

PM sent

Please folks, remember this is a show-off thread only. If you'd like to discuss availabilty then check out the Interest Thread elsewhere

Cheers,
John


*** Edited for spelling... D'Oh. ****

 

[Stormtrooper]

Here are a couple of interesting pics showing a closeup of the trigger area on the original prop.

The area in behind the trigger is filled in preseumably to add strength or reduce trimming time on the original props.
Note the massive paint-run on the side of the folding stock above the trigger :eek
I've done a bit of *minor* cleanup on the moulds, to reduce the worst of these bad paint runs, but areas of the original casting such as the file-marks, gouges etc. are still retained in the replicas

Here's an interesting pic of a Rebel resin blaster on display at Planet Hollywood in Orlando which shows it to have a similar filled-in trigger design

Cheers,
John
john@manicminer.plus.com