slave1pilot

Thank you very much. This info helps tremendously. Hopefully this will help people to better understand our reluctance to ship internationally.

hmmm... Do all of them have holes in the lug? I wish we had a chance to see these in person to get as many details right as possible

Hey guys, Let us get the Rogue One E-11 up and running. then we can concentrate on the DLT-19. TBH we should have done this first Thanks for your patience with us...

Yeah, that mistake would be all on me. I saw this pic: and mistakenly thought it was the E-11 due to the cropping. WE will correct my screw up immediately LOL

I stand corrected and offer my apologies. Very nice radio. Congrats.

Tony, Your Anovos build thread had my attention from the get go. I wish I woulda held on to it and followed your lead.

Hey Norman, Can we see some pics of your Sterling so we can compare it to our Rubber one? Here's a couple pics of our Sterling when we were prepping it

I forgot to post up this pic of the parts together.

From the Johnnyair website: "JAC STRICTLY PROHIBITS shipments in-any-form of guns/ammunitions, parts and accessories thereof (even with legal permits), " I'm not sure if they consider our rubber replicas as guns or even accessories, but if you'd like to test it out we can ship your blaster to them . Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

We understand your pain. I used to try and ship internationally back with Sci-Fire. Sometimes it was ok, sometimes we lost the blaster to Customs and had to refund the money. So, we stopped doing it. We have suggested an alternate route for those wishing to take the responsibility upon themselves: We can provide you (international customer) with the origin shipping information, box dimensions and weight of the package. You then can go on USPS.com and fill out the appropriate customs forms and pay for the shipping label. Save the label and customs forms off to a .pdf file or other printable image file. We will affix the label and customs forms to the package and ship in an unmarked package to you. Keep in mind... The package at that point, whether it makes it to you or not, becomes your responsibility. You will be the origin shipper and the receiver. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

You are correct. Could we make these two pieces and make them able to connect? Of course. Would we? No. The reason is above but I will continue to explain. These are considered by some to be "expensive" blasters. When you compare the cost of a rubber blaster (ie. Praetorian, HFX, etc) to a resin blaster, you will find that there is a obvious cost difference. The entire reason behind rubber blasters is structure and durability. Making pieces that separate will, guaranteed, eventually become loose and destroy the structure of the prop. The second reason which is probably more of a concern to everyone else...Cost. These are not held together with pvc tubing or anything like that where the plastic is made to press fit together. I'm not sure how the Doppy blaster is assembled and disassembled but in our case, the main armature that provides the lightweight structure is a length of fiberglass rod. The additional work and fasteners required to do this properly would make this blaster completely cost prohibitive for everyone except a very few. Structure, durability and quality... Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

It's a little early in the process for making an accurate estimate , but we are doing our best to keep proving competitive Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Here's another pic of the light mounted on another rubber gun. You can see all of the letters See how those same letters are on the real prop? Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Here it is http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/41732-%22Praetorian-Blasters%22-R1-E-11-Build-up Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

John says: PRAETORIAN BLASTERS - WHO WE ARE... We've been making blasters for the 501st and other costuming groups for over 10 years. We took a long break and reorganized. Nathan and I talked for a long time about having a different approach to making high-end rubber blasters for the 501st / costumers. What we wanted to focus on was quality. I know I've been saying that a lot lately but the reality is that we are going to great lengths to make these new blasters a much higher quality than what we'd produced in the past by creating molds that have splits designed to minimize the destruction of details. Separate molds for separate parts which not only creates an illusion of separate parts but actually produces separate parts with under cuts and higher detail. We're not interested in producing 20 blasters a week if they are not something we are proud of. The idea of Praetorian Blasters is brought about by the 501st Centurion status maintained on the FISD forum. Requirements have been set to reach "Centurion status". We wanted to make blasters that would excel beyond those requirements and set a new bar of quality. WHAT'S THE PLAN? Nathan and I have started work on the Praetorian DLT-19. We've taken two MG-34s that we have here at work and are combining the best components into one for molding. In the end, this hard rubber blaster will come complete with accurate fins including wire wrap, disc on the side of the grip and box on the feeder port. Things we will be doing that are standard for this blaster: <ul><li> Nozzle will be molded separately - This will allow for greater detail in the cone area where predecessors have had shallow details. This will also alleviate the need to vent expanding foam from the back of the blaster which has destroyed butt stock detail in the past. </li> <li> Receiver top will be molded separately - This will allow for visible "pass thru" area under the lid. When the box insert is in place, you won't actually be able to see through but the depth detail will be very nice. </li> <li> Bipod is molded separately - This bipod will have greater detail in the way we will be molding it. We will be increasing the stability of the connections as well. </li></ul> WHY CAN'T YOU MAKE THAT AREA HOLLOW? There are often questions about how we could go about making the barrels hollow and not clay in certain parts. We always put quality first. The fact is that, yes, we could make the barrel hollow. It would not be rubber at that point. It would need to be plastic or metal. That completely defeats the purpose of the rubber blaster. The entire reason for making blaster from rubber is durability. Secondary reasons are high quality detail and price. The level of detail that is possible with silicone molds and rubber cast parts is by far heads above other materials. We use EXACTLY the same processes and materials for all of the mainstream films and television shows. Aside from that, manufacturing hollow parts and pass thru areas severely drives the cost up. WHY ARE YOU BLASTERS SO EXPENSIVE? We are separating parts and making additional molds to bring you a high level of detail and trying to keep the cost down at an "affordable" level. I put affordable in quotation marks because there is always a discussion about why these blasters are so "expensive" (there they are again). They are not expensive. "Expensive" is relative as well as "affordable". Silicone, if you've ever purchased any for a project is about $100 per gallon. This is for tin-based silicones. With rubber parts, you are almost guaranteed that your molds will produce up to 20 parts before the silicone begins to break down. Many hobbyists and professionals will disagree with my "20" parts statement but it's the truth. You will still be able to pull parts from the mold beyond that number but the quality begins to drop. Higher quality and detail just costs more to maintain. As with our E-11 M38 and M19, we've made multiple molds out of the starting gate to ensure that we don't burn the molds out. We will most likely do the same for this blaster. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I'm crossposting this over here for John (the other half of the PB Team) Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

and here it is... http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/41732-praetorian-blasters-r1-e-11-build-up/

Oops Forgot about the flashlight I'll add it to the original post Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Let me begin with a little bit about "Praetorian Blasters" (thanks for your patience with this, it's a bit of a long read) INTRODUCTION: We would like to start by re-introducing ourselves. John and I have been around the costuming / prop replica realm for more than 10 years. John and/or myself have been making rubber blasters for over 10 years for the 501st and have 20+ years making props for the motion picture and television business. John and I are both 501st members and have trooped many events over the years and were very active in our day. WHY WE’RE BACK: Recently, we decided to get back into making rubber blasters to see if we could make them better and more accurate than what we made 10 years ago. Our group went by a different name back then but we all took pride in producing some great props. John and I have stayed good friends and have been kicking this idea around for several years. As of the beginning of this year, we decided to move forward with it with the ANH E-11.That project is up and running http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/41608-praetorian-blasters-rubber-e-11-interest-list/ so we decided the next logical blaster was the Rogue One version . OUR GOAL: We are Praetorian Blasters. We specialize in accurate, high detail rubber (only) replicas that are designed with costuming in mind. We will always try to make our replicas as accurate as possible while holding to the requirements of the process. We’ve been making rubber props for a long time and we know what the possibilities and limitations are. We know what will give you the greatest durability and what would be problematic in the long run. THE PRODUCT: We started with as many “real” parts as we could get our hands on. The intent is to do this right the first time. We are using high quality materials that will reproduce the details and maintain durability. We get a lot of questions about where areas of the props should be “hollow” or “see through” and we understand why you’d want that. We want you to know that if we can provide that feature, we will. If making the prop with that feature destroys the overall quality or durability of the final product, we will find a good sound compromise that will hopefully fulfill your needs. We won't sacrifice quality for a feature. We have found good specimens of the correct 1943 M38 scope and the "small Eagle" Hengstler 400 counter box (with plastic sleeve). We've also purchased the airsoft S&T Sterling .These original parts are real found components to ensure accuracy. The scope “rail” and capacitors will be manufactured here. The “fins” were also manufactured slightly thicker to allow the casting materials to flow into the mold without creating bubbles and voids. We will not be using "DoopyDoos" resin scope or Shepperton's rails and cylinders. We know that these parts were used by the Prop studio that made the R1 blasters, but we aren't going to do the same. Now with all of that out of the way, let's look at what we have thus far S&T AIRSOFT STERLING: THE HENGSTLER 400 COUNTER: THE 1943 M38 AZIMUTH TELESCOPE: AND THE ELEMENT M300A MINI SCOUT LIGHT: We will continue to update this thread and answer any questions that you guys might have. Stay tuned...

Thank you so much for assembling this info. It will be a great help to us. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Yeah, nobody requested the block yet, so we will probably discontinue it. I thought it was a neat option (seeing as Luke has one on his blaster) --------------- and the scope rail and front sights being filled is something that has to be done to keep costs down.

Yes, that is a finished blaster ,The front site (and the lack of a hollow scope rail) are a couple of the concessions we had to make . Unfortunately, the mold wouldn't last very long if we tried a hollow front site. The material would be too thin and tear the mold . It would probably also get locked in the mold . We are a step to simulate the sight and rail being hollow . I suppose someone could go back in and dremel out the front site, but I don't know that it would be worth the effort . Thanks for the feedback , we are always trying to improve in what we have .

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I guess I should start with a little history... I've not been very active around here for many years,so many of you don't remember me. I used to make and sell Hyperfirms back when we were called Sci-Fire ( before the original creator John gave it all up and let Lewis have the whole "business") It was John, Lewis, and I that were Sci-Fire back then. So, I do know a bit about them.[emoji6]That was probably close to ten years ago,so it's understandable that people don't know . Ok, now the reason I'm looking for information: John and I decided to get back into the rubber blaster game. We wanted to address a few issues with the old blasters while making a more accurate E-11 that is durable and easy to troop with. John has about 20 years in Movie prop experience and he's doing most of the work lol. Times have changed drastically in that business and new techniques and materials have been developed in the past few years, so we'd like to update the product. We are looking to find out what the most desirable version of the E-11 is. Obviously we will Start with a real L2a3 Sterling, but then we need to make the changes to create the E-11 Counter box: Hengstler 400, but Which version should we use ? Big eagle ? Small Eagle? Metal socket? Plastic socket? Scope: M38? M19? With or without the block on top? We modeled and 3D printed the power cylinders and are probably only going to use one version. John and I are calling ourselves "Praetorian Blasters" . The Praetorians were the highest level of the Centurion guards in Ancient Rome, so it seemed fitting since we are striving for a level of accuracy and quality above the elite level. That all being said, let me introduce you to our first version of the Praetorian Blaster E-11... http://praetorianblasters.com/ Please look through the gallery and post up your thoughts here. The website is under construction , but we will be adding more info and updating the site as we build. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I commend you on your desire to accurize your rubber blaster. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk