Bulldog44

Sorry this project has gone a bit quiet. Still waiting for the screws to arrive to see if they can be part of the kits or not. Also I have taken a break from using resin after experiencing an odd feeling in my lungs for the past week or so. I have been using a proper respirator mask but not I guess this stuff is rather nasty to work with no matter what. It could be just a chest cold but I am going to get it checked out before I cast anymore scope kits to be on the safe side. Health before hobby. In the coming days I will start an interest list for anyone who may want in on a scope kit. I think I have about 10-15 completed kits at the moment. Please feel free to ask if you have any questions about these scopes.

Truly amazing craftsmanship! Master Builder!

Thanks Jim. I will try a few pigment free casts and see how things fit. If the results are better, I will go with this route and maybe offer order made pigmented scopes.

Just a quick question to anyone interested in a scope kit, would you be bothered if the scope parts are not all from the same scope? I tried test fitting parts for each scope and found that some parts from the same scope did not fit as well as parts from the other scope. Use of the black pigment created mixed results for how parts match up. I might have to recast some parts in the regular resin color to reduce shrinkage (or use less pigment) . This would result in some kits having a mix of different shaded parts and not 100% from one original scope. For future scopes I may cast in the plain resin color to keep things consistent and all components true to the original scope.

Sorry to hear about the rusty screw. Hard to find anything close to the real thing. $500 or more to have a machine shop here make them no matter how little or many to make. I ordered some screws from the UK recently with the head diameter at 5mm, head height at 2mm. Very close to the screws I have, maybe off by a half a mm. Hard to tell yet, but I will post my findings when they arrive. Found another US based supplier for the long black screws that mount the prism cell in place and also used for the M19 eyepiece. Hope they match as well otherwise I am out of a lot of cash on useless screws.

The scope looks brilliant. Amazing paint job and weathering. I found that the black paint didn't quite take to the bronze undercoat I applied on my scope causing both color layers to strip off easily. I read somewhere that metallic paints can be difficult to use as an undercoat . No worries, I can't tell at all where any sharpie cover ups were made. <br> Super work!

Cool. They are really light and not that fragile I think. Cheaper to ship as well. Thanks for posting this info!

Awesome! It made it! I was worried about damage but it seems to have arrived unharmed. Thank you again for your kind words but seriously this is a B grade/ C grade scope. Each part had some hole or cosmetic defect. I can't wait to see what you can do with it. Please feel free to use this thread to post any progress or news you have. The more shared helps raise the possibilities what can be done with these scopes. Cheers!

Beautiful job Aaron. If there is one skill I wish I learned it would be welding. So many cool things you can do or make if you know what you are doing. I did a small amount of welding in sculpture class during my university years but never quite got the hang of it. <br><br> I love the look of the blaster as is. I gotta looking into what gun bluing is. Sounds interesting.

Thanks a bunch Jim. I will try contacting them and see what they can help me with. I contacted a few other shops in the UK but no reply from them at all. <br> Let you know if I get a good response. Appreciate your help and offer regarding shipping!

Screwy Update: I worked in an Ace Hardware shop many years back and remember how poor I was at grasping the different sizes of screws, nuts and bolts, etc. Still I struggle with it all . So I am reaching out to you all with help identifying and locating the best, most accurate screws available to match the originals found on the M38 and M19 scopes. I have found many shops on line that sell some of these screws but I don't want to order a box full of screws that don't exactly match. Some characteristics like the shouldered parts of the screw shaft or exact style threading cannot be matched but at least I want the following to be as accurate as possible: color length head diameter and style Cost is also a bit of a concern as less common screws can be expensive. I found a company here in Japan that sells similar micro slotted grub screws seen on the scope body and eyepiece (to lock inner parts in place). The screws are slightly off in size but look the part. The cost for 300 of them is around $250.00! Ouch! Here are some not so great photos of the screw sizes so far. I will update the scope feet mounting screw size and the slotted adjustment pegs later on if needed. For now I am focusing on the outer 3 sliver cheese head screws and the 3 black inner fillister head long screws. The black fillister screws are important as these were used for the main eyepiece mounting screws on the M19. The measurements are not all 100% accurate, please feel free to add more accurate measurements if you have any. Please let me know if you can recommend any suppliers who sells these types of screws as close to the original screw sizes. Thanks!

Cool stuff. Certainly send me that PDF. Very helpful. I will try this. still holding my breath on the next few casts but I think I can avert the same disaster. Cheers. It is really not a good idea to re-insert the original object back into the mold from what I read but my mold design idea for casting these have me some flexibility. Lets hope the mold can pump out loads of nice m19 scopes!

Somewhat Good News Update! - After examining the M19 mold I found that most of the damage was on the inner surface area of the scope. I put the real scope back into the mold and re-poured new silicone plugs- one for the front end and the back end. It was a small risk to take but it worked and didn't require a whole new batch of silicone. I think it only required 100grams in total. I wanted to find out what went wrong with the mold so I did a bunch of reading and concluded that I added far too much black pigment into the resin. It dried well but acted more like glue during the curing process and attached itself to the silicone walls. You can see my Kylo Ren rampage as I destroyed the resin scope trying to rip out the silicone stuck inside. Many fowl words followed but I will leave out the transcript of that midnight rant I had by myself. Lesson learned and for the salvaged mold I decided to do a straight up gray resin casting with no pigment (also powder coated the mold with talc powder. Results look good enough to use this mold for some scope kits I think. Some minor defects but nothing a little sanding can't help. I will experiment with some light doses of pigment in future castings. :)Very happy the side light socket ring is fully intact as well. Now on to more smaller part casting to get some inventory going!

Certainly. I will start sorting all the parts out soon to get a better idea of how many A grade parts I have. Hoping to have enough for 20 kits soon. There are plenty of imperfect parts and will be happy to offer these too.

Good to hear. Did a little research into shipping costs last night. One more step is to get the packaging. Almost there. I want to start selling but want to be sure what I am offering is quality. I would hate to sell something and then have someone say it is not worth what they paid. Interest post coming soon! Keep an eye out for it!

Just my luck as usual! Positive thinking Tino! Thanks. I will find out tonight if I can save the mold to cast b grade M19s. Lucky if I can get nicer castings. Report back on this when I get some results.

Update on the 1942 Scope with ID Stamping on the top & center: On the second M38 scope I recently casted I mentioned that the walls on one part of the scope casted rather thin. After close inspection of the original scope I found that the walls had the same irregularity. Lost of abrasive marks on the inside of the tube which may indicate someone had done some repair work or tried to fix a deformation when it was originally made. Either way the thin wall is something I cannot undo and will have to live with the way these scopes can be casted. The parts still fit but they do not line up exactly as I noticed with the original scope. Parts Depot: I have stocked up a small arsenal of small parts for the scopes. Not all are in great condition but nice enough to show. Still having lots of back side air pocket issues and the occasional tiny air bubble defect but I think I am getting closer to putting together some scope kits for sale. Bad news: After just 3 test casts, my M19 mold was destroyed trying to remove the resin scope . My guess is that I used too much black pigment and it caused the resin to stick to the silicone like glue. Money down the drain. Trying to salvage the mold if possible but its not looking good. The M19 project is now on hold.

No worries. Thanks for trying.

I second what Michael and Kevin just wrote. Its freakin outstanding. I could swear this is a real sterling. The realism reached is on this blaster is beyond perfect. The moving parts are amazing. I had to re-examine each photo to believe what I am seeing, no joke. <br> Tino, Bravo! This blaster should be published in a model making magazine! You should publish a book on your weathering techniques.

Very impressive. The ears look great. Nice work on that. Hero helmets always look a bit wider overall to me so that might be the only thing that stands out but converting from a stunt helmet that can't be helped. <br> Really impressed you took this challenge on. Results are great. Love it!

Kev, was there a particular blaster seen in Star Wars with the number 3 stamped on the side? I may have missed this somewhere, tried to research it but could not find anything. Interested to know. I read that a guy from Bapty had 2 scopes (one identified as an M38) most likely used in the movie. I just bought the scope but thought a number1 scope looks cool anyway!

Good idea! I am going to try this! I run the air conditioner on air cleaning mode but not always that affective. I would kill for a proper work space or studio!

Thanks Jim. Deeply appreciate the feedback. The texture from the oxidation damage does enhance the real feel of this second scope and far less spotty areas than the previous scope. With one new black pigment I am using, the outer finish almost has the look of a vintage paint job. Not easy to mix in for stable results but I think I am getting the hang of it now. As you mentioned the part defects would be not visible but I am one of those people who will always feel a bit bothered by things like that. Just don't want someone to receive half par parts and be unhappy with what they paid for. I will totally go broke if I keep trying to update the molds so I hope to start to offer the scopes soon before I dig a bigger hole for myself. One more mold attempt on the M19 parts and then I have to live with it for now until I find a better solution. The scopes are indeed a necessary part and I'm happy if I am able to offer a variety to the community. I really enjoyed buying them due to their history on top of their Star Wars connection. No plans for equipment upgrades. My operation literally runs in the next room from the living room so I need to sort out a better work area solution first. Health and safety is my biggest concern next to money spent so before I go deep into trouble with fulfilling orders, I need to ensure my family or myself won't be harmed in the process. I don't mind the smell but my family has started to complain whenever I open the door. I use a full respirator mask but still fell that isn't enough. Cheers!

Made a cast of another 1942 M38 Scope I have that has the ID stamping top and centred. The surface of this scope is not great due to oxidation damage but it adds to the antique/used look. The surface can always be sanded to a smooth finish anyway if desired. Had some issues getting the walls of scope to cast evenly. Hoping this is just an issue with the mold moving during casting. The scope feet seemed a bit uneven too so I think for sure the mold must have shifted a bit. Still having air bubble issues on the inner parts when they are casted but that is my fault for not doing things the proper way. Outer surfaces all look clean and parts fit together so far. If you had purchased one of these kits, would the air bubble issues on the inner surfaces bother you? I know I will not be able to produce perfect castings with my present set up and methods so I want to see what potentially interested buyers think if they received parts with some large air pockets that need to be filled in. Main scope body is currently sitting in a new batch of silicone. The side light socket on this scope will be the first snag if I don't ensure air gets trapped during the silicone pour or any tearing of this area during de-molding. Update on that when I get the mold completed. One part missing from this post is the larger lens assembly. I casted that last night but was not able to determine if the area (where the glass lens is) can be easily punched out or not. It is easily thin enough to remove without major surgery. Thanks always for dropping by!

You can honestly say you built your scope. I am just making copies of an antique, sort of cheating in a way.