Bulldog44

Looks like the real deal! Nice paint work!

Wow! This is stunning! What a great build and I learned a lot from your postings. Sorry I haven't regularly checked in. The final product is amazing. Great job. Chris's effort to bring the community a super metal e-11 is not talk of tales anymore, it is actually here. Great to see more of these beasts ready for duty! Thanks so much for sharing the build!

Looks great. Good catch Mark on the frown paint. Yes, its hard to see but the paint should extend past the uncut tooth. Easy to add that Robert. Wasn't sure if its the lighting but in comparison to the grey on the top trap stickers, the ear grey does appears flatter. That would also go for the frown grey too.

Thanks Tino. I hope I can deliver something worthy. Your feedback is extremely valuable and I think you are totally right, the trigger guard is very fragile. I actually made my own trigger guard for my first blaster. I will see if its possible to work something out with Chris. It comes down to cost but I am open to explore options. For the mag, I am considering to buy one of his mags and cast it but I would want to ask hm first and not do anything that ins't consented to. I know its not a fabricated piece but I still feel like its his work, time and money to get these things so I will ask and see. At the moment I am in deep with the cost to start this project so that will have to wait until I get back on my feet financially. Also I want to try and get a barrel to cast too which I don't presently have. Appreciate the support and advice! Cheers!

Looks great Robert! Thats the way to go, just tackle it.

Good question Tino. If you look in the first post at the parts I have, the magazine was cut in half. So at the moment I don't have a complete magazine to cast from. For now I just thought to cast the two pieces and see if its possible to mend the two parts together afterwards. Ideally I want to buy a new magazine and mold it as one complete piece. Also I found that the trigger guard was cut too so its missing the loop at the end. I plan on replacing these parts in the future but only if I can find them and mold them when I go back to the US. Hope these parts are still out there to buy for a reasonable price. So yes, I plan on making this part for part like the real sterling as realistic as possible. Hollow magazine so its easy to use the inside for any electronics, etc. RA Props already has done this and its amazing. Just want to try it myself anyway.

First test cast with some old resin. Not bad so far. Still some practice needed to reduce trapped air.

Hi Marko. The paint job looks great from what I can see. Nice rich black coat and the silver detailing really pops.

Best of luck on your 4th build. Looking forward to seeing you and your little trooper partner in full gear.

Congratulations Michael! You made it ! Wish you many many happy troops ahead!

If I get a chance to head into Tokyo soon I will help you with this. Just did my Anovos shins in July and it was a slow careful process of test fit, trim, test fit again, trim a bit more....

Around the top area, is that the closest they will close? How much return edge do you have around the top? If there is a significant return edge, you can try trimming it back a a little at a time to see if that help close the gaps more.

Thanks Q. Hoping I can get it right. Updates to come soon.

Thanks Tino. It’s all a trial and error project with no set goal to make full kits yet. Just praying I made decent molds so I can get started.

Thanks! The trigger assembly, inner grip frame and grip have been molded separately so hope that turns out well.

Thanks to a great friend, Derrek (DDay), I was able to obtain some nice sterling smg parts. Thank you billions Derrek! His kit paved the way to a whole new era of E-11 kit building and these parts were the backbone of his endeavors. Also these parts are in fact the exact ones seen in the Blaster Reference Photo Compendium. Some parts I have added to the lot recently for alternative molding choices and some to replace (the bolt). I am honored to be the next caretaker and hope to see what new life I can add to them. Another special thanks to Aaron (Usaeatt2) as he was instrumental in bringing each piece to its full glory. He put a ton of work into making these parts ready to mold part for part. He also helped guide me on a number of things with these parts like how to remove the D ring from the end cap undamaged. His knowledge on these parts has been invaluable and deeply appreciated. Here is what I have in total: (Some parts missing from the photo as they were being molded. Some smaller pins/springs and parts are missing and I will replace at a later date. The only main part I do not have yet is the barrel) Over a 2 week period during the midnight hours of my summer break I was able to make molds of the parts. Hoping to test them out soon. Unfortunately I had to leave the parts back home to avoid breaking any international laws. TSA actually upheld the box of molds and it was forwarded to me a few days after I got back to Japan. Luckily there is not offense to send silicone gun part molds abroad. So for now I will cast what I can with the molds and also create sub castings as my master molds for future castings until I get back to the US in the future. This is just a test and see project so hopefully the results will be good. Already there are amazing other resin blaster kit/part makers like RA Props (http://www.stormtrooperblaster.com/the-stormtrooper-blaster-project.html) and Doopys is not a bad option if you successfully get one, but since casting the resin scopes I have always wanted to try my hand at casting real sterling parts. I am not expected these to be extremely clean castings. These will be fairly raw with potentially lots of areas to fill or sand. No pressure pot to use as well so that puts a cap on what I can achieve as far as total quality goes. Stay tuned for updates in the coming weeks.

Looking forward to seeing the results! Great build thread and great effort put into this blaster.

Hi Marko. As Tino mentioned, the part you are talking about is silver. I opted to use thin aluminum sheeting to replicate that part but silver paint is just fine. the aluminum sheet was easy to do so if you try that you just need some fine carving tool to make a thin seam to insert the sheet into a bit. I used a tiny Tamiya hobby saw. It cuts very precise and clean. Then I used a thin blade to dig out more.

Awesome! Congratulations Dan! Another EIB in Japan. Up next...Centurion!

Great work Robert! The belt can be a bit challenging to get it right but you went fir it and it turned out well. Good research and planning.

Congratulations Dan!!!!!! Welcome to the ranks and I hope to get to troop with you soon! Wish you all the best!!!! So happy you crossed the finish line and now can enjoy being a 501st trooper.

Love reading your journey. Thanks for sharing. I wish you all the very best of fun and glory in future adventures as trooper! Honored to have you in our ranks!

Thanks for all your comments and ideas. I went home with the intent to leave things as they were but somehow it didn't just feel right so I did end up removing the cover strip and re-aligning the halves. Hoping it stay put during the drying stage. I think I was able to get the top edge to line up better and just sacrificed the bottom alignment a touch. I used every magnet in my arsenal and a few clamps. Update on this when it sets. Fingers crossed. Thanks again for listening. Edit: Attempt 2 photo. Magnet crazy!!!!

Thanks Daniel. I think I tried to align the inner thigh with the bottom edge because the top of that ridge on my part is virtually flat so its hard to tell exactly where it ends. I considered heating that area and raising it to match the right side but its risky. If I re position the inner thigh to align a bit higher then the top of the thighs will even out but the very bottom edge will be uneven. Its one or the other I guess. I think after I glue the back support plate to pull the parts closer at the bottom I should be able to avoid sealing the crack.....I hope. At the moment I am feeling like I might try again, take the inner half off and re-position a bit higher so the top edges match.

Thanks Rat. I guess if I cant reduce the seam with a back plate support then I might consider redoing one half so there is less of a seam.