Bulldog44

Wow! You built them already! Looking awesome! Great job. They compliment your blaster very well. I hope you enjoyed putting them together. It is always surreal to see the scopes a part in someones collection or on their blaster. I constantly see the scopes in pieces so to see completed ones is the icing on the cake. The M19 does look great on your blaster. Did the light port bulb install smoothly? Sorry i don't have a tutorial yet but by the looks of it you don't need one. Perfect job! Many thanks for sharing photos of your completed scopes!

Your question had me wondering about what to use. The central reticle assembly part for the M19 was not something I wanted to take apart for fear of damaging it. But adding a reticle/ lens into this part is not easy so I had a go at taking it apart and happy to say it went well, minor surface scratches near the notches but after a tense 15-20 minutes of sweating bullets, I freed the central reticle! It measures approx. 15mm in diameter and about 2mm thick. I found these clear plastic disks on ebay that might be suitable to use for this part. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Acrylic-Perspex-Disk-Circle-Clear-3mm-Thick-10mm-to-100mm-Diameter-/290924901184?var=&hash=item43bc79b340:m:mEmNWZ2HkR0nUEn39ReFm8w They are 3mm thick, just 1mm too thick but should be okay until I find something better. Then pwhitrow introduced his cool graphics kit and I had more thoughts on removing the central reticle assembly in the M38 to accommodate more room for his kit as well as making the M38 kit fully casted down to each part. I was super nervous about this because the side locking screws were tight. Broke 2 micro screwdrivers trying this, then bought a better one and got the screws to loosen up. I carefully took out the central reticle housing and then went to work taking that apart too. Also a success. So now both the M19 and M38 scopes can be casted fully hollow and the reticle assembly can be casted in pieces to properly instal a reticle substitute. Luckily the M38 central reticle measures just short of 21mm/2mm thick. Tino offers real reticles in his completion sets that measure 21mm. I have one and will test it tonight to see if it fits . I am pretty sure it will. So that is great news for anyone who plans on buying his sets and one of my kits once they get remolded.. I wish I had enough courage to do this earlier so the present kits would have had these features but feared damaging the original scopes. For anyone who has the M19 scope kit, I can supply the updated central reticle assembly when I cast that in the coming month or two. But for the M38 kits , I am afraid they were casted with the central assembly already inside, not possible to install a new updated one. You can still install a clear disk measuring 15mm to fit the hole. It will be a month or so before I attempt to make new molds for the M38 and the central reticle assembly.

Just thought maybe plexiglass solid cylinders that measure 10mm-11mm could be cut to a correct thickness and then sanded& polished to a clear finish.

The center reticle is one part I have not been able to source. I was thinking of using plexiglass cut to about 10mm diameter circle but its hard to cut accurately for such a small piece. Trying to contact a glass cutting business here or even ask en eyeglass shop to see what they can do. Let you know if I find a solution that works best. <br><br> The monocular I tested for the labe lens also has two smaller lenses that measure about 12-13mm I think. I guess you could widen the hole and try to mount one of these or see if the small lens I sent you fits inside. They should measure 10mm. Let me know if you try those and if they work or not.

Great. Interesting to see if this can fit in both the M38 and the M19. Talk soon! Cheers!

Pretty cool! Looks great for a 3d print. Not an easy part to replicate but you certainly made it well! Awesome work! <br> If my hook ever falls off my pack I might be in touch for a backup! Cheers!

yeah, that would be great to see how it would fit into the scope. Happy to arrange something for sure. PM me!

Wow, that is very cool indeed. The graphics look so cool and sounds are great too. My ipad keeps crashing trying to view more on your Facebook page so I will try to check it out on another PC soon. What is the needed diameter for the smaller graphic window to fit in the scope?

I don't have have any immediate plans do make any due to time.if I get a chance I can try to throw one together. I was hoping the instructions manual included might help but I realize its tiny to read and not 100% clear to follow. Sorry. Let me know if I can help you out with anything. I made a very crude video in November to assemble the M19 but its not great and confusing. Making a comprehensible how to video turned out harder than I thought. Parts didn go together as smoothly as hoped ad the order of assemble all over the place. I can send you the link but I warn you its pretty bad.I will try to make a step by step tutorial PDF version if I can.

Looks good so far. Looking forward to seeing it printed. Great work learning to 3D draw. I am inspired to learn by your progress. Great!

Fieldmarshall will probably be our only hope for real functional prisms. <br><br><br> Anybody out there have a high tech lens and prism cutting machine? Lol. Never hurts to ask.

Just saw on shapeways 3d printed site from maker Sly Tools , he makes clear lenses for his scopes. I am sure he could make replica prisms at least. They might not be functional but would complete the kit. Probably pricey but maybe worth the inquiry.

I could not find anything exact in size but Surplus Shed sells prisms that appear near in size but the shape is not exact. These were custom made for sure I believe back in the day. I am trying to dig up some records on them, hopefully to find at least some sort of blueprints or trail of where they made them exactly,. Maybe some parts still exist, buried in some old military surplus warehouse. Fieldmarshall is having some made I think for his ultimate M19 scope so that would be the best bet for real working prisms if he has enough made and can supply them on the side of his project.

Awesome Bryn! Pleased it made it there safely and most of all you are happy with it. I get worried when I send each of these kits out not kn owing if each person is happy with their purchase or not. Accepting people's money is something I try to take very seriously and do my best to give them what they paid for. The packaging has been fun to plan and think that element is just as important as the kit itself. Thanks so much for your feedback and enjoy building it or enshrining it! If you need another, I can hook you up anytime! Cheers!

Sorry double posted previous post. Will edit this later.

Just thought to post this and hear thoughts on why this black stuff was used or maybe it is just dirt build up. Seems to me like a sealant or screw lock to prevent tampering. For finishing the scope kit, this may be one way to detail the scope but I want to make sure this actually the case with other original scopes. Any thoughts?

Great job on your armor! Ready for duty.

The original is definitely offset but the castings show the offset a tiny bit more. Lots of variables make it difficult to get it perfect, the silicone does shrink a tiny bit and can cause the parts to be slightly disproportionate . I might be being overly critical of this but I thought its important to share . I test fit all the kit parts before packing them and get th best parts that fit for each scope tube . Just hope everyone will be pleased with their scopes. If not I am ready to find a positive outcome.

Looks really nice Lewis. Well worth the extra cost and work to do it. Super clean look. Details on the mag look sharp too.

Offset Observation: One thing I have noticed about the M38 scope I am now casting is that when I try to align the mounting plate to the main scope tube, there is a slight offset. The offset is caused by the opening on the scope tube is not perfectly centered. You can see tell by looking at the tube wall thickness. I have mocked up a crude diagram below to sort of show what I am talking about. Due to the offset opening, the mounting plate may not sit level with the main tube. It becomes most apparent when you view the scope from the side. This opening offset on the original scope is exactly the same so there is not much I can do about this. I have another M38 from 1942 that has the offset opening and another M38 scope that is better centered but doesn't have the white lettering top center like most people prefer. Maybe some mild sanding on the inner walls of the tube might help the reduce the offset but this may affect the screws from lining up properly with the holes. Hoping this does not negatively impact the overall aesthetic of the scope for anyone buying them Please let me know if it does bother you. . I always strive to make these a near perfect as possible but in this case it is just the way the original scope is. Comments welcome and feedback from builders most appreciated!

Nice work on this! Great craftsmanship for sure. I really like how sharp the details are. Will you be doing the helmet too? Got to get my popcorn ready for more updates! Looking forward to more progress! Thanks for sharing and be proud of your amazing work!

I think you would do a better job building one of those! LOL! My lego building skills are no match to yours.

This is truly incredible. Bravo Ian!

Holy smokes! The M19 scope has arrived! If this is just the basic kit, I can't wait to see what your premium M19 scope kit will look like. Spectacular job on these. The light port wire is perfect. Above and beyond as always Chris!

There are more knowledgeable members here to chime in but as far I know RS armor is molded directly from an almost complete set of armor and the helmet is also from an original ANH helmet. It has all the bumps and imperfections. Some parts they needed to add like the regular trooper sniper plate as their armor is Sandtrooper armor with the diamond sniper plate. Where they sourced these parts from or if they made them from scratch is not something I am 100% of. I own a set of their armor and it definitely captures the screenshot look I was looking for. <br><br> I also have Anovos armor. I think they scanned original armor and cleaned it up so it looks more ideal with no odd bumps or lines you might see in the RS armor. It is also much sharper in detail. <br><br><br> Honestly they both look good in their own way. I went with RS for my first set because it had direct lineage to an original set of armor and really like how it looks when comparing it to screenshots. anovos wasnt even a name when i bought that in 2012 But in defense of Anovos armor, it looks pretty good too and the cost is certainly softer on the wallet. <br><br><br> My opinion, RS for the complete wonky, imperfect screenshot look. Go with Anovos if you see the troopers on screen as looking more cleaner and sharper, less wonky. <br><br><br> When I first got my RS helmet I couldn't believe how wonky it looked but upon closer look at the troopers on screen, they are not perfecta t all like I though when I was a kid. Hope this all helps in your decision. But certainly gather some additional opinions. I only know what I know and there are lots of other things about the armor I may have not mentioned or be 100% accurate with. Good luck!