Winter 2017-2018 Project: DL-18 Jabba's guard blaster

Thanks man!

1) i took the pictures from the 90s archive shoot and zoomed in (on macs... apple +) until the screen gun matched mine held up against it... hinge to hinge, since the pistol guts are nearly identical.

http://www.originalprop.com/blog/20...tos-from-the-lucasfim-archives-from-19961997/

2) then I traced the outline of the 1mm plate with paper laid on the screen!

3) transferred and corrected it onto cardboard

4) taped the cardboard to plates of aluminum from old psych lab equipment

5) using scissors and tin snips, cut out the shapes!

R and L sides are not the same! ***** this is a pain.. 34CAAA35-72D8-479A-A6EA-E0046E6EAD04.jpeg
 
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Some progress! With 3mm Al in hand, I traced the upper plates and laid them out.

It took 1/4 inch drill bits down to 1/16 and smaller bits to knock out this shape. Like fractals, I used smaller and smaller bits to remove the space between what I had just drilled. A skilsaw finished the rough cut out

I used a ******* file and a round file to shape them. I colored the excess jagged space and used that as a guide! Sanding sponge to smooth it out!
 

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Tom, i have a spare set of the original grip-halves (in case i get a gun with broken ones).

All my guns came with undamaged grips, so i don´t need them anymore.

But no idea if they would fit your gun.
 
Tom, i have a spare set of the original grip-halves (in case i get a gun with broken ones).

All my guns came with undamaged grips, so i don´t need them anymore.

But no idea if they would fit your gun.

As far as I know, it's the top two screws that hold it on. I could still buy them off you? I'd sure like to try. PM me? Thanks!

the rear screw lines up at least! so I'm assuming the front one probably will. The trigger I'm not 100% sure of
 
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I may still follow through for a future build, but all the apoxie sculpt I used to fill the grips fused them together :D
 
Here’s the work I’ve done, while waiting to ID the scope and pen cap/wire nut up front.

i found a 1/4 (internal) coupling nut in the aisle with those heavy nipple steel pipes, whatever they’re for. This one happened to be smooth and looked like a good eyeball measure for the stock post at the rear of the gun. The rear body is 1 1/8” so I’m looking for an end cap that’s sharp cornered (not a copper fitting) to fit over the end.

embarassingly the coupling is about the same size as a graflex button and I had just tried to tap a tube for one the day before. (You NEED THAT SHOULDER PULL, screwed that up too :lol) so I took that massive drill bit and hit the back of the gun. My small press wouldn’t lift high enough so I spun the motor and held the gun off the edge of the table. I know, unsafe as hell.

i paid for it, withou a proper jig this massive bit bounced, got stuck, bounced and basically destroyed the back end. “ hole” is a polite term for the crater I made haha

so, I took apoxie sculpt and re-built the rear end with the coupler embedded. If it fails I can use jb putty but after filing sanding and grinding it feels pretty solid.

I also accidentally melted part of a bomb somehow, so I used the same putty to resculpt that section
 

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Loving this tom!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks!

I spent two hours going to dollar stores with calipers to find a "cap" from lotion or cleaning products. no luck for the exact size needed.

so I took a dremel to a left-over orange pill bottle, tapped some screws into the gun (around the threaded coupling), and puttied over the screw heads and the edges. I'll throw some pics up in a bit. I'm a little worried about the cap not being metal but maybe I'm over-worrying.
 
Thanks!

I spent two hours going to dollar stores with calipers to find a "cap" from lotion or cleaning products. no luck for the exact size needed.


so I took a dremel to a left-over orange pill bottle, tapped some screws into the gun (around the threaded coupling), and puttied over the screw heads and the edges. I'll throw some pics up in a bit. I'm a little worried about the cap not being metal but maybe I'm over-worrying.

and this is why i have so much respect for you, you go out there treasure hunting!
 
This poor pistol! Here’s a shadow in mid afternoon light of what I did yesterday

droplets of water go go a long way to smooth out sculpt as it’s still wet! This is the bottom end of a pill bottle and apoxie sculpt. Not bad for scratchbuolt huh?
 

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I still have the emitter cap to add, and the scope/ Mount. For now, I dusted some black high heat grill paint on the entire gun as a base coat, and to help these things absolutely adhere.

this is after a sanding sponge got the end cap incredibly smooth. There’s still a bump you see under light :( but it looks like the RO-72 endcap!
 

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Slowing down while I try to ID the cap/knob and the scope. Thought I’d snap a photo of it where it’s at now
 

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I never knew u can use water on sculpty. Then again I’ve never used it before lol

Getting to the end!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

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