Re: Star Wars Blaster Builds
Right, here's another box ticked on my Star Wars display; The Imperial E-11 blaster (Death Star detention block version).
I started with a deactivated ex-British-Army Sterling L2A3 sub machine gun from the early 1980's. Mine came with most of it's original paint finish, removable magazine, moving slide & trigger and no rust.
Since the gun was in such good condition I simply went over it with some sandpaper and gave it a fine coat of Rustoleum multi-surface flat black paint, flatted with my trusty brass brush. I had already decided to recreate the version of the E-11 used by Han and Luke pretending to be stormtroopers in the Death Star detention-block scenes. This means the smaller M19 scope and no Hengstler counter, which is cool as Hengstler Eagle 400 counters are more expensive than original Graflex clamps on the web these days. I managed to get the last replica scope from DEC's first run of 2016 and it's a beauty.
I got a scope rail made from aluminium strip online and 'accurised' it to make it much lower at the front as per my baseline reference picture of Harrison Ford (see post number 23 for this picture).
Accurate T-tracks from Wannawanga cover the barrel vents. I got a set of power cylinders in 'polished stainless-steel' from a Shapeways seller which were given a coat of black spray paint and then buffed back to reveal the metal on the edges. To keep it accurate these are the cylinders in what's known as 'Shape B' which has the gentle top downward curve to match one of the two known shapes from the detention block scene.
The only thing which actually took any real fabrication on this build was cutting down the Sterling magazine. Luckily I can wield a hacksaw, a file and a pair of pliers so I did it myself and it looks pretty good. I haven't made my magazine quite as short as some people do, and that's more by accident than design. When I looked at other magazines I thought it was a simple 50% reduction and so I cut the mag clean in half. Actually I should have gone a bit shorter but it's one of those 'close enough' components that I'm actually quite happy with. After bending the ends of the T-tracks in boiling water I attached them to the gun barrel with a clear silicone assembly adhesive of the type used for making glass aquariums. Attachment of the power cylinders onto the magazine receiver was achieved with a small dab of 5-minute epoxy.
Right, here's another box ticked on my Star Wars display; The Imperial E-11 blaster (Death Star detention block version).
I started with a deactivated ex-British-Army Sterling L2A3 sub machine gun from the early 1980's. Mine came with most of it's original paint finish, removable magazine, moving slide & trigger and no rust.
Since the gun was in such good condition I simply went over it with some sandpaper and gave it a fine coat of Rustoleum multi-surface flat black paint, flatted with my trusty brass brush. I had already decided to recreate the version of the E-11 used by Han and Luke pretending to be stormtroopers in the Death Star detention-block scenes. This means the smaller M19 scope and no Hengstler counter, which is cool as Hengstler Eagle 400 counters are more expensive than original Graflex clamps on the web these days. I managed to get the last replica scope from DEC's first run of 2016 and it's a beauty.
I got a scope rail made from aluminium strip online and 'accurised' it to make it much lower at the front as per my baseline reference picture of Harrison Ford (see post number 23 for this picture).
Accurate T-tracks from Wannawanga cover the barrel vents. I got a set of power cylinders in 'polished stainless-steel' from a Shapeways seller which were given a coat of black spray paint and then buffed back to reveal the metal on the edges. To keep it accurate these are the cylinders in what's known as 'Shape B' which has the gentle top downward curve to match one of the two known shapes from the detention block scene.
The only thing which actually took any real fabrication on this build was cutting down the Sterling magazine. Luckily I can wield a hacksaw, a file and a pair of pliers so I did it myself and it looks pretty good. I haven't made my magazine quite as short as some people do, and that's more by accident than design. When I looked at other magazines I thought it was a simple 50% reduction and so I cut the mag clean in half. Actually I should have gone a bit shorter but it's one of those 'close enough' components that I'm actually quite happy with. After bending the ends of the T-tracks in boiling water I attached them to the gun barrel with a clear silicone assembly adhesive of the type used for making glass aquariums. Attachment of the power cylinders onto the magazine receiver was achieved with a small dab of 5-minute epoxy.
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