v312's builds

[v312]

My journey with the Stunt Macro (part 4)​

The moment I put together my black acrylic lens plate with the lenses (everything yet unpainted) and just held it next to the Mamiya body I thought - wow that looks so much nicer in the original finish all black and chrome!

I knew I want to do another build with the parts in their original finish. I had enough material left for another lens plate and transition box, a leftover side mystery box from EIAJ plug, a leftover top mystery box without the step, some leftover discs, so pretty much most of the parts.
Except that the Mamiya camera is extremely rare so I had to look for some other option.

Funny thing with these Mamiya 8mm cameras is that the same model can be found for as little as $10 or for several hundred dollars. Maybe depends on if the camera is in working condition or not , but I couldn't care less for that.
Luckily, I got a lot of two cameras - one with the same main body, and one with a similar section where the lens is attached for less than $50 shipped.

One was Mamiya Super GL i think (used for the lens section - had to cut it and sculpt it to look like the correcto one, but I think I got it close enough):

and the other was Mamiya 8 Zoom S2 (this one had the correct main body)

I won't be surprised if these models are as rare as the correct one, but I guess nobody was hunting for them ...

I had the correct Kalimar Six Sixty hood, but decided to save it for a Hero Macro build one day, so instead found a hood from Kalimar Reflex that was close enough for this kind of build.

The lenses were easy to find and soon I had everything I needed.

I won't be installing a belt clip on this one, but I want to make the dock station much more interesting than the other. Here are some variants I've tried until I've settled on what I think is the final one:

Here's what I think is the final version, just need to tune the parts to fit well together, glue them and repaint .. maybe use some small magnets so the coiled wire don't fall off all the time. I also swapped the bigger disc on the camera with the one from the Neoca camera for this final version.

The two builds together at some earlier state:

 

[Jediseth]

Cool stand, I dig it! Made a set myself a while back. The stunt’s definitely don’t get a lot of love, but they got way more screen time than the Hero’s, great work!

 

[teecrooz]

Good job! Seeing this, I really need to start on mine.

 

[v312]

Cool stand, I dig it! Made a set myself a while back. The stunt’s definitely don’t get a lot of love, but they got way more screen time than the Hero’s, great work!

Yes, I've seen your build post - actually it's the one that got me thinking about building one myself!

 

[v312]

Good job! Seeing this, I really need to start on mine.

Thanks! You should - it's a really cool looking prop to have in the collection

 

[v312]

The ESB MGC

I have not planned it, but so it happened. These are the fist and the last (so far) DL-44s that I've completed.

In the beginning the question was simply - if you only have one MGC which DL-44 version to build?

I was torn between the ESB and the Greedo Killer (after ruling out the ROTJ versions). And to be honest I was leaning towards the Greedo Killer, but ultimately it was decided by what parts I could find first. The correct Greedo Killer scope is damn rare ... I was looking, but instead I was able to find a M19 scope first (with the original screws!) and so the MGC was destined to be the ESB one (also known as Han's Hoth blaster).

Then the second question came - should I build the "current" version or the "as seen in the movie" version?

I could not get myself to paint the grips so that was the answer to the second question - it was going to be the "as seen in the movie" version.
However, I got an additional scope mount and weathered the disc like the "current" version to display alongside the blaster.

Much later, after I've probably built every possible version of the DL-44 at least once, this disc gave birth to a complete new build of the "current" version of the blaster.

Back to the fist build ... there are great references for one of the sides of the blaster, for example:

and I've tried to match this as good as I can, including the irregular shape of the motor/coil separate pieces, the little asymmetrical placement of the nuts on the sides of the piston halves and their weathering.

It's not so clear what's on the scope side, or in particular what's the greeblie that was originally on top of the scope mount disc with the 3 screws.

Combining these 2 images that like the previous one I've found somewhere in the various DL-44 discussion threads in the forum gave me a some idea about the shape and size of the greeblie :

The glue residue left on the "current" state of the scope mount disc also gives some clue about what the base of the greeblie could be.

I decided that it is some sort of a disc, that's with a smaller diameter as it only partially covers the screw heads, and is with rounded sides.
Something like a cable hole cover, pipe cover or furniture foot or some similar hardware part.

Of course, it is just a guess, there are a lot of other things that have similar size and profile, for example:

I used one of those with a nail in the middle from the picture above.

One interesting thing about the tip of the barrel is that in the movie it is black, while in its "current" state it is not:

Maybe it was just painted black, but given the overall current condition of the prop, I think it is unlikely that the paint will wear out completely exactly there inside the flash hider, it kind of looks like freshly cut in that second picture. So it is possible that there was some sort of a cap that later fell off.

Luckily, when I cut the barrel to put the flash hider on, it turned out that it had a rod inside, just like the original prop. I'm not sure how common or rare is that, but for sure not all MGCs are like that. I used a small cap from a 4x20 scope that fit really well so it looks black like on the movie.

Moving to the "current" build

Just as I was putting it back on it's stand after I took some pictures I managed to scratch the scope mount disc and it peeled off ...
I had to redo it (mostly the "glue residue" in the center) and now it looks like this (I can't say there's much of a difference or if it was better before, but just in case you wonder why it looks different on some pictures):

Besides the disc more or less the build is the same as the other, just added more scratches, dings and weathering to make it closer to what I see here:

It's hard to tell what type of screws were used to hold the disc, but I think they were most likely phillips type, so I replaced the ones that came with the mount kit (they were allen/hex type).

Of course, the grips are painted black on this one, but as they were with engraved "9" I had no choice that to fill it up and go with a black grip DL-44 version with this MGC. I've done that scratch on the magazine cover, although it's not really visible on the pictures above ... here's one in different light:

On the other side I did some more wear on the piston halves compared to the fist build and also weathered the brass nuts so the brass shows a little.

The brass cylinder for the mount appears to have darkened with time and has copper-like tint now, also there's some white stuff, that looks like corrosion leftover on the upper side towards the bracket. I tried to replicate that look to some extend:

I was not so lucky with the barrel on this one. Instead of a rod that's in the middle, there was something like a rail, that goes into one of the sides.
I did what I could to make it look like a rod from a distance, but here you can see what it really looks like when I moved the focus point on it:

Finally, on most references the safety lever and the grip nut look black, but there's one that they look kind of unpainted copper like color. I think it's just the different light, but I have no idea when each picture of the original prop was taken so maybe there was some paint touch up done at some point.

I noticed mine lever has very similar color so I left it unpainted (nut was already black so I left it as it was)

 

[scarf man]

v312 excellent write up, lots of great observations, with stellar results. I’ve added a link to the above post in the Hoth DL44 section of the guide at the top of the forum.

 

[v312]

I've acquired a set of very essential tools

Should be fun to try to recreate some of those old photos from the archives with my builds one day :

 

[Halliwax]

Oh that’s wicked right there!!

 

[v312]

The ESB Mausers

Sorting out the ESB DL-44s was most confusing to me. Reading through the scattered threads about "Luke's Bespin" blaster or "Han's Hoth" blaster, etc. I initially had no idea how many are there actually. Little by little the picture started to clear and I realized there's one MGC that looks like it was only used in Norway (Han's Hoth blaster) and 2 real Mausers that were used in the studios. Additionally, there are unknown number of stunt blasters that were mostly used in the Bespin scenes (mostly in Luke's holster, but also Vader force pulls one from Han) and briefly in Dagobah (when R2D2 falls in the swamp). These stunt blasters are most often called "Luke's Dagobah blaster", but also "muppet blaster" and probably few others that I can't remember now.

If I still could not get that right - someone please correct me.

Back to the two Mausers. They appear to have been built to be almost identical and sometimes it's hard to tell them apart in the movie. Biggest difference is that one has "cut port" on the scope and the other "full port" on the scope. That's how I think about them - "Full Port" and "Cut Port" Mausers rather than "Luke's" or "Han's".

The other noticeable difference is that the Cut Port is black inside the flash hider and the Full Port is silver (at least initially, I'm not sure if it was darkened later). The weathering on the outside of the flash hiders and on the scope brackets is also different on the two blasters, but it also changes a little from scene to scene.

As far I can tell the flash hiders are practically identical, maybe there's some minimal difference in the rounding that transitions between the base and the cone:

I remember modifying slightly one of mine so they are not totally identical - just to give a little bit of "personality" to each build, although I now can't tell which one was it.

Most helpful references that I could find browsing the old threads about what was on the other side of the blasters were these 2 pictures:

showing that originally there were two of the small V8 greeblies on the Cut Port Mauser (hard to tell if there was ever also a motor/coil greeblie)

and this one showing that the Full Port mauser also had a greeblie at the same place, so most likely it also had 2 of the V8 greeblies in the beginning.

For my builds I decided to put the full set of 3 V8 greeblies to be consistent with the other blasters (and because the builds were little boring to do without some greeblies - just assemble the kit, put the scope and you are done).


These two pictures were great references for the weathering of the scope bracket and the flash hider of the Full Port Mauser. Thanks to whoever shared them originally!

So one interesting detail is that there are tool marks on the flash hider ... I could not decide if these are form when they made it or maybe they put it on a lathe later to clean it. The other is that the flash bracket is tilted a little towards the back. I can't tell if it was like this in the movie or it happened later, but for lack of better references from the movie I decided to build mine like this even if it looks little weird.

I didn't do anything specific for the weathering of the body, as all I can see is that it is black. I just didn't want it to look like it's brand new.

I did find a vintage rear sight with a nice blueing - very similar to the original:

For the Cut Port Mauser I guess I was looking at this picture when I did the weathering (cone of the flash hider is mostly black, with sone scratches) :

And for the other side I guess I was using this one :

where it can be seen that a lot of the blueing is worn almost to the shiny metal. But later i realized that's not the same weathering on the flash hider - it corresponds to this (there's almost no black paint left on it):

Something like this:

And there's yet another famous one where the entire flash hider is blackened:

Note the same tool marks like on the Full Port Mauser. They are there also when the flash hider is more clean but it is harder to spot on most pictures.

I don't have a good capture on this computer, but in this scene the scope bracket has much less wear and scratches, it is almost "like new".

I think I got this one pretty close (little bit out of focus to match the screen capture):

Finally, there's something about the scope screws on this one. On some pictures it looks like the one on the front side has bigger head:

But on others they look the same size:

The original screws in the sherman scope assembly are the same size (at least the few sets I've seen) so I went with same size for my build.

 

[eethan]

Very cool! I love that blaster(s), very good job

 

[Halliwax]

Outstanding work

 

[scarf man]

Tremendous!

 

[thd9791]

Oh my god I think you nailed the ESB blasters. Very, very astute observations, and I learned some new stuff reading through. your blasters look amazing.

(also, fun fact, the barrel of the "Han" one is also threaded)

 

[v312]

My take on the ROTJ DL-44s

To get this out of the way first:

I'm aware of the weird blaster from the cut scenes, but I'm not going to try and build it unless better images surface in the future.

Besides that one I'm aware of 4 others - one real Mauser ("The Stembridge") and 3 MGCs. 2 are in the archives and one was sold at an auction few years ago by James Schoppe (an art director for ROTJ). I'm usually very very skeptical when some alleged production used prop suddenly surfaces out of the bule with a nice story around it to hype it before it is inevitably offered at some auction. Take for example the "Elstree Graflex" - maybe it is legit, I don't claim it is not, but ... of all parts it happens to be missing the grips - the only thing that is not yet identified by the community. That said, I have no reason to doubt Schoppe's blaster is authentic. All parts and materials seems to match what was used on the other blasters. And anyone who's tried to find those damn scope rings knows that's almost impossible to do nowadays. So I've decided to make a replica of it for my collection.

Of all DL-44 builds that I've done the ROTJ ones were the least enjoyable. That's because most of the parts and greeblies are scratch made and there were not many real parts to hunt.

Thankfully, there are kits from Blaster Factory, some parts are also available on Shapeways, so it is still possible to build these without need for machines and tools to do your own flash hiders , piston halves ,etc. On the other side some of the parts are not 100% correct, or are correct for only one of the 4 props.

All 4 props have basically the same construction, some parts and greeblies are machined slightly differently (and some greeblies were not used on the Stembridge).

On 3 of the props It can be seen (where the paint peeled off) that the scope brackets were made of white plastic (or resin). On two of them the paint is worn on the scope rail enough to see that it is made of metal (aluminum). So I assume all 4 were made using the same materials.

All 4 props have piston halves that appear to be scratch made from derlin. There are small variations in their shape.

3 of the props have greeblies that looks like rubber feet commonly used in larger electronic devices like desktop calculators (finally, a real part to hunt for!!!)

Some of the scopes appear to be made from a real scope that's cut , others look more like made from derlin. The front part appears to be made from a small aerosol can - like a travel size cosmetics or a spray paint, or maybe a film canister. Could be something else, to my knowledge it is not yet 100% identified what was used, but these are 2 of the most likely sources. The "front lens" are made of 3 parts - a cap from a 4x20 scope, recessed washer (brass) and a slotted screw.

All 4 props use the same type of scope rings that are used in most (all?) of the other ROTJ weapons as well.

The Stembridge appears to have an aluminum flash hider, the other 3 look like silver painted black derlin.

Looking trough the forum for information I found in some thread that apparently there were some original parts leftovers that were auctioned ad some point by the propstore. I'm reposting the images here as they give a good reference for the shape and the materials:

Few forum members were lucky enough to find what looks like matching scope rings. Here are some examples:

The second set were apparently in a box labeled Parker Hale RCH-3. I've spend a lot of time looking for matching rings and could not find this particular model. But Parker Hale scope rings are not that rare on ebay (especially in UK ebay) and every single I've seen has the model and "made in England" engraved on them. Also the thumbwheels are distinctive and different than the ROTJ ones ... so I don't know - is it possible that some different scope rings were put in that box? Has anyone else found correct scope rings that are 100% verified (like sealed box) to be the Parker Hale brand?

Here's the closest looking Parker Hale that I've found:

And here are the details of the real ones:

Note how the screws are not really plain slotted screws, but have something like a hole in the middle. I don't know how this type is called, but it is not uncommon in older scope rings (that I've learned while searching).

I've first collected the parts and then did all 4 builds in parallel. Although I still tweak some of them from time to time when I notice something that I can improve.

The Stembridge

This was a real Mauser so I got a steel kit from Blaster Factory. The kit included everything needed for a complete build but it was going to be somewhat idealized. So I've made my own scope, replaced the aluminum scope bracket with white plastic one (3d printed). Later I made a resin cast of it. The spacers below the mount in the kit were also aluminum, the real one are brass, so I've replaced them as well. The piston halves were aluminum and drilled in the middle, that's not accurate at all, I've replaced them with 3d printed.

My build is a little bit of a mix of what I see in this picture:

and what I see in the movie. With preference given to the movie when there's a difference that I could notice.

What I've noticed about the Mauser is that it looks somewhat worn (not surprising, given its age). The grips are worn, the bluing is worn in many places, there's some pitting, etc. It is also missing the loop at the end of the handle (don't know what's the proper name for that part):

Actually I could swear the gun is also painted with black paint, especially looking at these two pictures:

But the auction description only mentions that there's new bluing over the old and not paint, so I decided to stick to that description.
The auction description also mentions the serial number of the gun 64673 - later I got that stamped along with the other marks that were common on the Mausers. As this number is below 100000 I didn't stamp the NS stamp on the trigger as it was introduced after that (according to google).

"LOT 31Broomhandle Mauser semi-auto pistol, 9mm cal., 5-1/2” barrel, #64673. Pistol remains in overall fair condition showing old reblue finish and worn checkered wood grips, gun is mounted with a faux side scope and the barrel has received a silver colored prosthetic to make it look like a futuristic “ray gun”, barrel modified for firing blanks, action functioning. From the Stembridge Arms inventory with tag noting “Harrison Ford-Star Wars”

There are some details in the parts of the prop that look different variations than the parts from the kit: the bolt stop - it looks very different than the Blaster Factory one and the hammer - also a different type. I'm not an expert on Mausers and their hammers in particular, but to me it looks closer to the hammers on the MGCs. Additionally, the rear sight looks to be thicker than the one from the kit.
I found a real bolt stop and hammer on ebay that looked like a closer match. I've replaced the bolt stop in my build, but I'm still not totally happy how the hammer sits (also it has the NS mark and a wrong serial), so I've not decided yet if I'll keep it or switch back to the kit hammer.

The scope bracket looks really weird, like it has been smashed to pieces and then glued back together:

Some of it could be casting artefacts (if they were castings) as similar, but smaller bump can be seen on one of the other brackets :

I can't tell if it all was like that in the movie or it was done later, but decided to try to replicate it as there was not much to do on the build otherwise than put some parts together.

A note on the brass thumbwheels - could they be found parts? I've seen screws with similar looking brass caps used on mirrors. Here
s an example:

The rear part of the scope looks like it is machined derlin maybe (or at least there are marks like it was at least sanded on a lathe) and has slightly grayish finish:

Front part is more glossy black, but I can't tell for sure if it is painted or is just black plastic.

I could find only one picture of the other side (although I have some decent screen captures of it from the movie):

One of the piston greeblies is missing , but it was there in the movie for sure. There appears to be some damage on the lower side of the plate with the 2 circle holes.

What I could pick from the movie:

The screw in the movie appears to be just unmodified slotted screw most of the time, but might have been modified already during filming.

(also here we can see the loop on the handle was missing already in the movie and that the piston half was not missing)



There's generally less paint wear on the rail and the scope bracket. But the white scratch and the wear below the curve of the flash bracket were there already in the movie:

The flash hider looks weathered, but not as much as it is it hat picture taken at some point after the movie (maybe decades after?)
The scope ring thumbwheel also appears more shiny in the movie compared to the picture, probably it just darkened over time.

After I posted this it was pointed out by other forum members (you can see the discussion after the post) that the scope sits at an angle to the body. slightly leaning down and towards the body. I've tried to compensate for this to some extend, but the kit comes with the holes for the mount pre-drilled to sit parallel so I could not make much changes there (also I don't think it's really that critical, it does not look bad as it is)

And here are some pictures of my build:

(I tried to match the different finishes of the front and rear part of the scope, although depending on the light it is only visible in some pictures.)

(this is still with the BF hammer)

(with the vintage hammer)

(trying out the other flash hider weathering)

(scope tip)

(the other side)


(just messing around)

 

[v312]

The "Two Scope Rings" MGC

As far as I can tall this is the only other prop besides the Stembridge that is in the movie. Sometimes the scope is assembled differently, but it does not look like it is one of the other MGCs.

Here the scope rings are moved next to each other. Not the "One Scope Ring" MGC prop because of the flash hider and the screw in the rubber bumper. Could be the Schoppe's blaster, but it has a thinner washer on the scope tip .. hard to tell the flash niders aparat in this resolution.
There's some paint chipped on the front of the flash bracket - this matches the "Two Scope Ring" bracket:

Little later when Han tries to open the bunker door we see this:

The scope rings are next to each other so maybe it is still the same prop as before...
I don't see the safety lever (it's missing on the "One Scope Ring" prop) but it could be in the up position hidden behind the hammer form this angle.
The paint is chipped/peeled on the scope bracket. Both the "Two Scope Ring" and "Schoppe" blasters have, but the "Two Scope Ring" is a better match (although much more paint is gone):

Looks like this picture is taken later and the bracket was touched up with black paint (but the outline where it was is still noticable):

Finally there's this one with the flipped-over scope:

I think it is still the same prop, but I could not identify something that is unique to it (other that the grips are brown, but I assume the other grips were also brown originally, and it is unclear when they were painted black).

Some details that I've noticed about this prop:

There's a part missing from the rear sight (don't know how it is called but is clearly visible in the picture below)
Looks like it is already missing in the movie (will add a capture later)

It's the only one of the 3 MGCs that still has brown unpainted grips

The rear part of the scope looks like it might be a real part. The front part looks like it is made of white material as there are some white scratches (I don't think i've seen the scratches in the movie). The rivet is painted black ( left unpainted on the Stembridge)
Can't tell if the whole scope was painted first with gloss black paint and then painted over with a more flat black that is now partially worn, or that's just some dirt all over it making it look like there's another layer of paint (it's dirt for sure on the gun body).

The front of the flash hider looks like it has a lot of tiny scratches ... like it has been brushed with a steel brush or steel wool or something like that (also in the movie).

The piston halves are identical and are held in place with identical philips screws (or the screws are just screwed in the piston halves and then the halves are just glued to the gun - that's how I've built mine)

The engraved stylized "phallic symbols" are the most hideous of the 3 MGCs, and the stylized "b**bs" 2 circles looks to be well centered inside the rectangle:

For my build I used again a flash hider and scope bracket kit from Blaster Factory, but again replaced the bracket with one made from white plastic. I modified a little the thick aluminum washers/spaces for the scope bracket screws as they are little different on each prop, but at the end it is hard to tell them apart from the stock ones.

I've made 2 scopes for this build. For one of them I reused the scope that came with the Stembridge kit- painted it all black like it was in the movie. The second one I made myself from a part of a real scope and a piece of white 35mm film canister so I can reproduce the white scratch that's on the prop as seen in the archives. For both I've made a tip from a vintage 4x20 scope cap, brass washer and a screw with the pattern cut on the front ide.

3d printed piston halves (I probably should have shaved them a little to be more accurate in size, maybe they were designed for Denix builds)

Vintage rubber bumper with a slotted screw in the middle.

(the scratched/current scope)

(the "as in the movie" scope)

(the alternate scope rings position)

(flipped scope)

 

[eethan]

That's amazing! How many DL44 does that make in your collection?!
Cheers

 

[v312]

That's amazing! How many DL44 does that make in your collection?!
Cheers

Well, I still need to finish the ROTJ post with the 2 remaining MGCs, but that's pretty much all I have plus a couple more from ANH.

 

[v312]

The "One Scope Ring" MGC

I was unable to identify this one anywhere in the movie. It's hard to tell what's the prop in the holster in most scenes, so it is still possible that it was used in some of them.

However, it's later condition is pretty well documented in the archives, so a lot of little details can be picked up.


Looking at the picture above my first questions were:


Was the scope ever complete ? (there's no hole for the rivet on the scope tube, I think there should be one if it was constructed like the others)

Did it have 2 scope rings initially like the others? (there's wear on both ends of the scope rail where the 2 scope rings are on the other MGCs)

When were the grips painted black? (We know the ESB MGC was with brown grips in the movie, but currently is with painted black grips as well)


It's likely it was built the same as the others, but I guess we'll never know for sure.


Some of the details of this prop as seen in the archives:

Safety lever is missing.

The grip screw is installed with the slot on the scope side of the prop (on all other MGCs I've seen it's on the other side)

The scope bracket is more similar to the Stembridge than to the other 2 MGCs. Even have this little bump:

The scope front is very cleanly cut, there's no hole for the rivet on the top:

As Tom pointed out - there's a rivet hole, but the scope is rotated and it is currently not on the top side.

The rod that holds the ejector is left silver. The rear sight is held by a small solid rod. This is not unusual, but some MGCs have it hollow like a small tube. There's a circle on the hammer (again not all MGCs have this)

No "Japan" stamped on the mag plate:

There's a rivet, probably put to hold the upper to the lower :

There are two circle marks next to the piston halves. The piston halves are held by rivets (or just have rivets inserted and are glued). The 2 piston halves on the "back side" of the prop are little different from each other, the upper one looks identical to the one on the other side.

The rubber bumper is rounded like the others, but does not have a screw in the middle. There's some paint wear around the edges that look like the bumper could have been gray in color. The engraved shapes look closer to the ones on the Schoppe's blaster than to the "Two Scope Rings".
There's some distinctive paint wear on the ejector.

The scope bell looks like it was painted over, the scope ring too, but not the front side - something that suggests that it was complete with a front part when it was painted. There's some aluminum tape under the scope ring.

I could not find a matching scope for this build, but I got a lot of junk scopes and I think two of them are close enough.
The piston halves are again 3d printed (with real rivets) and I tried to match the small difference between the 2 halves on the back side.
The scope bracket is also 3d printed. The flash hider is Blaster Factory as is the rest of the scope bracket hardware.
I could not position the flash hider in a way that it is aligned with all reference pictures (the cubes) ... I'm not sure if the original is little loose and was rotated a little between the pictures, or just my replica is not a perfect match, but certainly is good enough.

(scope #1)

(scope #2)

 

[v312]

Schoppe's blaster

The most notable thing about this one (in its current state) is that the scope front part is broken around where the rivet used to be and is rotated about 90 degrees so that the rivet hole is not on the top, but on the scope side of the blaster.

The scope bracket looks to be the same as on the "Two Scope Rings" prop. The washers are machined little differently.

The flash hider is more or less the same as on the "Two Scope Rings" prop, but there are stripes machined on the cone:

Piston Halves look to be the same as the lower one in the "One Scope Ring" prop (third picture), except that phillips screws are used instead of rivets. 2 of the screw heads are covered with some residue.

The rubber bumper appears to be gray below the paint, has a screw in the middle like on the "Two Scope Rings" prop:

The safety lever is bent:

There's "Japan" stamped on the mag plate and the rear sight is held by a small pipe instead of a solid rod:

The scope ring is not just cut flat, there's a small step down:

The rear of the scope looks to me like it is a real scope painted over:

The circles are little off center to the upper of the rectangle and the other shapes are similar to those on the "One Scope Ring":

Here's how the prop used to look when it was made:

One thing to notice is that the piston screws don't look like they have residue over their heads, so it must have been added later for some reason.
I can't tell if the grips were already painted black, or are still brown. For my build I've assumed they were left brown initially.


I've used the same parts like for my other ROTJ builds.
Additionally, I have a second scope that I got from thd9791 long time ago and a second pair of resin grips that are painted black (from corellianexports). One set of scope/grips is for the current state of the prop and one to match the picture above (assuming this is "as made for the movie" state)

I didn't want to really break the scope that I've made, so I've left the rivet at the top and just simulated some damage on the side: