Strongbow

Sorry for the thread necro.... but I thought I'd mention that recently bought an M38A2 and used epoxy putty to modify the body to look more like an M38... seems pretty effective so far. I'll post a couple pics when it's done.

I get what the OP is going for... he's less interested in screen accurate blaster, than one which is more plausibly a "blaster." However, in the case of the E-11, that's particularly tough. There are a lot of features of the Sterling that are fairly obvious. The selector letters and the Free/lock text are obvious (and in latin letters). And, of course, there's all that "Sterling" text on the magazine well. In a "real" Star Wars universe, you wouldn't expect to see those things. But you also wouldn't expect to see a charging handle, or a recoil spring! I personally am trying to replicate the screen used prop (more or less), but I think a "plausibly real" E-11 blaster project would be fun.

Do you mean the Wise Lite factory seconds? If so, be aware you'll still need to drill out the rear vents. And no, you can't use the parts kit muzzle cap.... you'll still have to construct something for the front (though that should be fairly easy). My reluctance to using a "second" is that you don't know what you're getting. If the stock, or sights, or grip are seriously misaligned, you might have quite a bit of work to do. But for $125 it might be worth the risk. I've decied to go the kit on a tube route. In the next week or so, I'll get started. I'll take pictures.

OK, I got my Sterling Carbine out of storage and there's some good news and bad news. The good news is that it should quite simple to construct a muzzle cap that closely resembles the original Mk IV cap. The cap from the parts kit CANOT be used due to the way it's constructed and mounted. You have to either use a resin cast, or make one from scratch. The bad news is that the rear barrel trunion is much bigger than on the Mk IV and blocks the rearmost barrel shroud vents. It looks like you can drill holes into the to get the T-track in, but I'm not sure I want to bother. I think I may just concentrate on trying to build a blaster on a tube with teh parts kit pieces. Unless that goes very wrong, I won't try modding the actual firearm.

Be sure to update us on your progress! I intend to do the functional carbine "conversion" (Can't wait to see the looks I get on the range firing it, though it will have the long barrel), and I also intend to build a prop-only unit out of the parts kit I own. FYI, I recently emailed IMA and they said they will likely do another run of dummy Sterlings in the future... no time frame though.

Hmmm... my Mk VI and Mk IV guard looks the same as best as I can tell. According to Wise Lite, they reuse as many original parts as possible. I dunno, maybe I just don't have a calibrated eyeball. The bayonet lug from the parts kit should work. I need to whip out my torch and "de-braze" it. I should be able to spot weld in place, or even use JB weld, as I never intend to mount a bayonet. The muzzle cap is another problem. It would work if I can remove the top two layers.... I can't tell if they are just screwed together, or maybe brazed. I may hit it with the torch and see. Or I may just get a resin kit and see how that works.

Okay, I DREAMT about this last night. And I've rethought this... I think this COULD be converted to form suitable for use as a blaster without permanently destroying it as a firearm. The muzzle cap as currently installed is essentially the MkIV muzzle cap without the top 2 layers and with a larger hole. All that would need to be done is to create a false plate (even a resin muzzle cap would do if you don't intend to fire it in this configuration), and attach to the front using the two Allen screw holes that are already there. You just need an appropriately sized backing plate (with nuts attached.. spot welded, or even JB welded) and appropriate knurl-headed Allen screws. Conversion from real gun to blaster would be a matter of removing the barrel, attaching the phony muzzle cap and it'll look like Mk IV Sterling. I have the plans necessary to make this (I'm a bit of sterling nut, even Star Wars associations aside), but the metal for these thing is THICK. Does anyone know where I can get a resin muzzle cap? I have a sterling parts kit int eh garage that I intended to turn into blaster some day, maybe I can figure out how to pull a cast from it.

If you were asking me... I'll try to post a good pic. Mine, sadly, is packed away atm, but I can probably dig it out in a week or so if this pic isn;t good enough to get a good look: Here's what it looks like assembled: -------- See the big barrel nut? Here's what the front of the receiver looks like without the nut in place (look at the last picture on the right in the top row): --------- You can see it would need a nose cap in place to look right. But once it had that, it would be VERY spiff. Well, it also need the bayonet lug, but you can fake that pretty easily.

Hey guys... First post here, but this something I actually know about. The Wise Lite Carbine is a copy of the Sterling Mk VI. It's similar in most ways to teh Mk IV's used for teh E-11's in ANH, but it has a couple differences (besides being semi-automatic only). 1) It does have a bayonet lug. 2) (and this is the big one), the muzzle cap is cimpletely different. In a Mk IV sterling, teh barrel is secured tot eh muzzle cap with two screws, that screw into a trunion on the front of the barrel (behind the cap). In addition, the Mk IV has a distinctive boss on the front for use in mounting the bayonet. The Mk VI (and the Wise Lite variant) doesn't have the boss on the front, and it has a wider opening for the larger 16" barrel. It has a large barrel nut which is used to secure the barrel in place. Even if you SBR'd the gun (got all the paperwork, etc.)you would have to make significantt modification to the muzzle to get it close to accurate in appearance. You COULD of course, simply remove the barrel, and modify teh weapon using "greeblie" attachments to get it to the correct appearance. This would likely make the weapon unusable as an actual firearm, but it WOULD make an outstandng base for a blaster. If you intended to use it in public, you'd probably want to ensure that it was obvious form a cursory inspection that it was no longer a real firearm (fake barrel tube or something.) But beleive me... I've considered this approach.