jkno

One more thing, years ago when Denix asked on FB is they should make the Sterling, I sent them a comprehensive email message explaining why the Sterling is important to both the militaria collectors as well as Star Wars collectors, and I also showed them the differences between L2A3 (ANH/ESB E-11 base) and Canadian C1 (ROTJ E-11 base), and they said they might make both (double the gun, double the fun).

A few good friends of mine promoted the Denix Sterling SMG across various Facebook groups, forums, and other platforms, and it managed to climb to 11th place on the Denix Suggestion list. However, in a single night, two French guns suddenly jumped ahead by 150 votes or more. Just one night! I’m not sure whether bots were involved or if something else happened, but once again a French gun jumped forward very quickly. At this rate, in a few months we might see only French guns in the top three, for Vader’s sake. We have the 501st Legion, with thousands of members, yet only a dozen or so have voted for the Sterling. Some of my friends, including 501st members, tried to share the link to the Denix Suggestion page in 501st groups and forums, but their posts were denied 95% of the times. The Denix Sterling may not be as accurate as the FM Sterling, for example, but for non-US customers it represents a real opportunity to own a metal E-11 blaster at a very reasonable price - without the risk of customs confiscation. Many countries have official Denix distributors, which means no customs involved. So please help spread the word among 501st members and kindly encourage them to vote for the Sterling!

MG34 was already made by Denix. I have it and it is amazing. I converted it into a DLT19

https://www.denix.es/en/suggestions/ Denix offers an option for new product suggestions on their site. Maybe people would be interested in filling it with requests for Sterling SMG (L2A3 and C1)

Thanks guys. It is an awesome piece, quite accurate considering Denix. Though this is too heavy for trooping, it is an exceptional display piece. Hopefully Denix will consider making the Sterling L2A3 and even C1, as I talked to them in January 2022, and explained the differences between these two SMG's as well as the differences between the E-11, as seen here: https://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/51811-denix-mg34/#comment-733304

IIRC Troopacoola makes ROTJ E-11, from a recently acquired MGC

The Denix MG34 converted into a Stormtrooper/Sandtrooper DLT-19 Imperial Heavy Rifle is finally finished, thanks to a good friend who machined for me not one, but two versions of the side box. One pristine version in thinner aluminum and a second one, weathered, in solid steel. I used the weathered steel one, and keeping the aluminum box as this could be cool to use on a lighter resin/wood/aluminum DLT-19 some day. He also made the disk. The cool thing is you don't really need any type of glue for the cover, you simply insert it carefully in the slots of the DLT-19 and it will stay there without any problems. I could have used some E-6000 glue, but I didn't feel it was necessary. Now it looks like the screen used DLT-19 rifles with the added T-tracks, side disc and box.

The interesting thing about the E-11 blaster, something that people might forget, is that all main characters handled it: Luke, Han, Leia, Lando. So the Stormie blaster it is a very iconic piece in the sci-fi history, not just Star Wars. As for my MGC, you can see it in the ROTJ E-11 discussions on this board, I got it years ago from RPF, many have said it was one of the best conversions ever. I added just one greeblie, recently found, to make it more accurate.

I only have the one in the case, the other two were sold long ago

There are less than 3499 MR E-11 blasters. I used to have a loose one, which went to a friend, and also one that was in pieces, which I sold as parts many years ago on this very forum.

I own the Master Replicas (MR) blaster as well as a genuine ANH conversion plus other Imperial blasters. The MR is very nice, made of steel, thus heavy and not quite good for tropoping, and comes with mirrored display case, numbered plaque and COA. It is an idealized version of the Sterling with t-tracks and scope. It is also lacking greeblies alas, no Hengstler counter and no mag cylinders, though you can add those - they intended to make a second version with those added greeblies, a member of another forum owns the prototype blaster with those add-ons. As mentioned by others the charging handle and the slot are missing, and this was intentional, as this was a Star Wars replica that was to be sold as an Imperial blaster and not a Sterling. Again MR E-11 is an idealized replica made mostly of steel. In the end it displays very nicely, but the price depends on your budget and willing to buy one. If you are in Europe I'd be wary of ordering Blaster Factory E-11, even unassembled, because you never know what they will say at the customs and you might end up without the blaster and money too. Not to mention the expensive shipping costs and VAT and customs taxes. As for value, MR pieces usually hold their value and many increase in time. But there is a limit to which they can increase to and not go beyond that. It all depends on the prop/helmet/model in the end. MR Stormtrooper blaster is a very nice piece, but not the most expensive MR collectible. I bought my MR AT-AT Signature Edition in 2009 for $900 shipped, now it can be sold for $6000-7000 plus shipping. So depends. From top to bottom: MR, ANH real deal conversion, ROTJ real MGC conversion, ESB/ROTJ RS Prop Masters stunt resin blaster (aka Pugman)

Personally I find some of these "Hero" blasters quite expensive for what they are: a Sterling SMG that, maybe, was used in Star Wars. As we know already none of their greeblies are screen used, no matter if they are genuine vintage: M19/M32/M38/M40 tank scope, scope rail, Hengstler counter, mag cylinders, t-tracks. Some even had resin greeblies, non-accurate odd looking t-tracks, not to mention the weird way some of these greeblies are installed on the blaster. In fact an ESB/ROTJ resin stunt E-11 (aka Pugman) would be more valuable in my eyes than these Sterlings, as the Pugman is original and keeps all the details. Not to mention a screen used ROTJ MGC conversion, which is even better.

The only thing we can do when looking at these re-converted auction E-11 blasters, is to see the appearance of the Sterling itself. The Sterling is the piece that, more or less, might have been used in Star Wars. In the LFL Archives they surely have ESB/ROTJ resin stunt blasters (aka Pugmans) and ROTJ MGC E-11 conversions, not sure about old ANH E-11.

The same armor that should have been released as a suit to the public by EFX , instead was only available to ... Gino (and friends). Same with Fett and a few other props. Unlike RS who give a lot to the collector world, Gino does no such things.

None of the ANH blasters, once returned to Bapty, had original greeblies left, they were used in other movies as SMGs. Thus when sold in auctions the greeblies are not the screen used ones, even though they are genuine vintage pieces. Being assembled later, the blasters could have some errors like the position of t-tracks, scopes, counters

I would add a few more things: At the Hengstler counter section, I'd not use the last 3 images as they are of screen used Sterlings from various auctions like Prop Store, but the E-11 parts were added later on. I would be wary on using those images for the greeblies, the screen used sold on auctions Sterlings should only be used for the blaster itself and not for the parts added on it later. In ANH the Hengstler counters were in various positions depending on how they were glued on, see images attached.

This is how I see the images:

Congrats. But the images don't show up

Very interesting compilation. I would add the fact that they might have used both M38 and M40 scopes, as well as M19 and M32. And with M38/M40 there are 2 versions, 1942 version with smooth front foot and 1943 with curved foot. 1942: 1943:

Very cool collection and setup!

Thanks. There is a friend of mine who might make both the disc and the box, as he has a metal shop.

Thanks for the kind words

The display for the Denix DLT-19 Stormtrooper rifle is ready. Considering the full metal MG34 from Denix has about 8 kg, the support had to be very solid to hold this heavy piece. I'll still upgrade the DLT-19 with various parts and greeblies in the future, but glad the display is finished: