Bulldog44

Its like staring at metal candy! Are they hard to produce? One at a time production or can you make multiples simultaneously? Interested in the process. I tried to order the mirco screws that lock the lens assemblies in place from a specialist here in Japan but it was costly and they were slightly not the right size. Everything you make looks spot on. Midas touch!

Congratulations Ted !

Probably depends on price but interested in roughly 40-50 pairs of each type of screw. Hope that sounds reasonable. I don't think I can even make that many resin scopes anytime soon, just planning ahead. Your new M19 castings look spectacular! Exciting to see all the progress on this project. Thanks always for posting updates. Truly a treat!

Very Cool Tino! Looking forward to seeing this for sure. As Ian mentioned, wish I had enough blasters to display. All the designs look promising. Not sure if it is a nice way to display but I keep thinking about the rack of DLT-19 blasters against the wall in the Death Star scene where Luke and gang break into that communications room.

Superb! As mentioned before, I am definitely interested in buying a good amount of these if you are willing to offer them and are producing enough to offer. Beautiful work.

Awesome Marc! Thanks for posting this. The scope looks cool with the light inside. Now your son is ready to blast those rebels with illuminated sight precision!

Congrats Marc! Welcome to the ranks!

That is great news to hear. Thanks for the update. I really need an FO blaster and if this is ultra accurate then I certainly hope to buy one when they become available. Fight on Ken!

Actually, yes I need a few! You must be Santa!

Great job! Best of luck on your application.

Probably best not to mess with it. Thanks checking. Sorry for derailing the thread with this.

One step I took to ensure a bubble free casting of the side light socket was to fill the hole with silicone and let it set, Then I pour the rest of the silicone to make the main mold. The hole filled silicone then binds with the fresher poured silicone and sets. During the recent round of mold making I decided to scrap this method and remove the hole filled silicone before just pouring the main mold. As I was removing the silicone the light socket bulb must have loosened from its position and then dropped out while I was unscrewing the inner reticle assembly. I was surprised it fell out and am still hoping there are no other inner parts that sit behind the bulb. It looks like there is nothing more than that part but if someone has any knowledge or experience taking this part off please chime in! I could use some reassurance. This unwanted happening though has given me a greater opportunity to cast the inside of the main scope with less error and no worries of the rear silicone plug from tearing into two while demolding the resin casts. The only draw back is that the inner reticle assembly will have to be casted separately if I plan on making a true 1:1 copy of the M19. I am going to do a test mold and casting of the bulb with clear resin in the coming weeks just for fun. I just love the simplicity of the light socket cavity and the bulb to help illuminate the reticle crosshairs. Guessing they used a flashlight or something light source aimed into the socket.

Yes, that piece. It was not threaded at all. Pressed in. It sort of came loose when was removing some silicone from my last mold making and I was able to remove it. It is easily pushed back in and stays firm in the socket. I now use the rubber end of a metal file handle to sort of plunge or suction cup it out without any harm. Just worried if there was anything behind this piece that may have fallen out or not.

Would you be able to measure the diameter of the cap? I have similar pens to buy but the caps seem a bit thinner than yours. Just want to make sure.

Chris, <br><br> Sorry another M19 question. I had to remove the inner lens assembly on my M19 to get a better cast of the insides and during the process the side light socket clear plastic cone came loose and fell out. I don't think I noticed anything else fall out but to be sure I was wondering if you had fully disassembled one of your M19 scopes and removed the light socket cone thingy. If so, did you notice any other small parts behind the cone or is it simply just the clear cone placed there in the socket? <br><br> Sort of scratched a bit of that inner lens assembly on the brass ring where the slots area. Beating myself up over it but I hope the effort to get a better casting of the inside will prove fruitful.

Definitely worth the effort, looks so much better when you see those comparison shots. I might try the Velcro placement on the gaskets like you did. I have the same problem with them coming unattached when I bend my knees. Great work Hans!

I had an awful time trying to re- glue the gaskets after trimming mine to fit better. I tested a whole variety of glues for rubber and latexes but nothing held together. I ended up using a Japanese brand of crazy glue to lock all the seams down. The inner surface I used loctite black rubber epoxy. Still holds but probably not the best way to do it. I ran out of time before my event so had to use this method.<br><br> You will need some rubber strips though to glue the two parts together from the underside. I bought some thin rubber sheeting for this. Since the rubber for the gaskets and the sheeting I bought are different, this may be the reason why I could not get any of the rubber glues to bind them.

Thanks Marc. I guess I keep thinking too much on how to make it one step easier to assemble the kit and have little work left for paint if if was already black. but hearing your view on the matter makes sense. For now I will continue my method of using pigments just to get the base color of the sin darker so if any paint scrapes off it won't be noticeable. Appreciate your thoughts on this as it helps me really focus on making kits what the builder wants or what they will end up doing to them. Can't wait to see your sons blaster and scope !

Very cool. I wonder if one type of screw was made for the earlier 1941 version and then perhaps they switched to the other in 1942. My guess would be the screws with the shoulders are later as reflected in the use of shouldered screws for all the M38 scopes. Pure speculation though. Some members on the RPF might have more knowledge on why there are different screws for the M19.<br> You scope collection is amazing. Drooling profusely LOL. <br> Will you produce both types of the Screws?

Super thanks. Getting these babies ready for super troopers like you. Hoping not to disappoint. I am trying to order some smooth on black onyx but have yet to hear back from the distributor here in Japan. Ideally it would be nice to start using that so I don't need to use pigments anymore with the resin. Its expensive but would be the best choice material I can get at the moment. For now the Local hobby resin works, just less consistency trying to get a balanced black shade for all the parts.

No worries. I am just forgetful these days. Can't wait to see you weathering techniques when you get your scope built.

Just a quick question abou wearing the pack, does it affect the armor in any way either causing too much pressure on the shoulder bells or back plate. Worried about cracking, scuffing since the pack seems rather heavy compared to sandy packs.

Slyfox, what did you use for the antenna end cap? Looks great.

First test cast from the new mold. So far so good. No tears in the silicone or misalignments that stick out. Retainer ring can screw in with a little persuasion. If shrinkage is kept in proportion then the molds should be good for a while to make kits again. I need to trial a few more castings and then report the results. Test casting for the rings and other parts to start tonight and this weekend. M19 mold will finally get started too I hope. Thanks for stopping by!

Thanks Jim for your kind words. Hoping these newer molds give me a higher percentage of usable parts. Perfect is not possible but shooting for 99% at best. When you mentioned your scopes didnt show up, I thought you meant scope kits you may have ordered but I had forgotten about. Moment of panic and rechecking of mails. Those little scopes for the lenses right? Just making sure otherwise I owe you some major apology and compensation.