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Unfortunately, we don't have any pictures...we were too busy dancing!

Brian, I did have everything clamped down in a vise against a sharp edge to make the bend...just too lazy to walk across the shop for a torch. I thought about it though. Usually, I don't finish projects...I move on to something else. If I never finish it, no one can criticize because it's still a work in progress. No worries though, I'm liking how this project is progressing, so I plan to finish. Yep, there was plenty of dancing because most of us were wearing really comfortable shoes! If you'd like, I will send you a piece of 1/16" aluminum angle - I've got 3 feet leftover. Send your address in a PM and I'll get it in the mail. Those specialist steel places will rob you blind. I AM trying to psych myself up for it! Barring any last minute change of mind, I've decided to skip the wrinkle paint and go with a light textured finish, then topcoat everything with a light coat of E-11 flat black. Thanks for the compliments!

Update: Building rail # 4. Musical inspiration: Samsara Blues Experiment - Center of the Sun (fast forward to 9:00 for about the smoothest breakdown you've ever heard). Music is such a big part of my shop, that I've decided to add a selection with each update... I thought I had 1/16" steel bar. As it turns out, what I bought was 1/8" X 3/4" steel bar - DUH!!! I discovered this HALFWAY through making the steel rail. This came to my attention after cutting and filing everything, then trying to make the bend in the front. 1/8" steel bar takes a fair amount of force to bend 90 degrees. A lot more force than 1/16" bar. I can't BELIEVE I missed this, especially while filing and cutting... Making another 1/8" rail doesn't solve my problem in any way, so I abandoned it. Did I say "DUH" yet? Back to several stores...to find out they don't sell 1/16" steel bar, at least not in their normal stock. I'm sure I could order it. So as not to leave feeling defeated, I bought 1/16" X 1-1/4" aluminum angle. I thought I'd give it a shot and see how it comes out. Aluminum is easy to work and should only take an evening...and if it's too floppy, well, then I'll have another rail for my collection. I finished the 1/16" aluminum rail and even came up with a better mounting system for the counter. I like the new rail MUCH BETTER than the other ones. The 1/8" rail looks gigantic next to the 1/16" rail. Thanks goes to Germain for convincing me this was necessary. The counter now sits FLUSH with the receiver tube. The rail is stiffer than I thought and having the counter against the receiver helps to "counter" any bowing. The rail actually fits INSIDE the counter now. To mount the counter, I made "blind" nut plates using square nuts. I CA glued them to the rail. The glue just has to hold them in place until the screws are threaded and tightened. I used socket head machine screws with a couple fiber washers to mount the scope - I'll probably change these out for cheese head screws when I get them ordered (see further discussion below). I also corrected the scope alignment while I had everything apart. Slightly off topic, but educational...I've collected a sizeable amount of spare hardware over the years - after sorting through several hundred socket head screws, I found a unique screw of the correct size to mount the rail. It's called a cheese head screw or low socket screw. I only had (1) screw, so I asked about "cheese head" screws at my local Ace hardware store. They looked at me like I was from a galaxy far, far away. Turns out some hardware manufacturers use the term interchangeably with "pan head" screws. They're very different - and NOT interchangeable. I found them in my McMaster-Carr catalog (WHY I don't just look in that catalog FIRST is beyond me), so I may buy those for the rest of the scope/counter hardware. Somehow, these screws just look "more professional" to me. Screen accurate? Probably not. Do they look like they belong on a weapon more than pan head, button head or socket head screws? IMHO, YES! TOTALLY off topic, but it's in my photobucket next to blaster pictures... We went to a cool wedding last weekend. Believe it or not, the bride wore Converse Chuck Taylors. THAT'S just WHO she is, and I'm blessed to have a diverse group of cool friends. This is my wife and I with the bride - showing off our shoes. We wore them to the wedding just for her! And more awesome news - a very good friend of ours is playing at Chicago House of Blues on June 1st! Back stage passes! SCORE!!!!!!! Next update is finishing a more accurate set of power cylinders, figuring out how to install the T-track and finally PAINT!!!

YIKES! I would try very carefully thinning down the top portion of the ear, with a slight bias toward the bottom half of the circular section. I'm talking SLIGHT bias too - don't make them look like ear wedges. This will help bring the bottom part of the ear closer to the cheek tube. Don't trim/sand anything outside of the circular portion until you get the bottom to sit flush. Fortunately, it looks like you've got enough material left on both ears to make this work.

Congratulations, Jason!!! You did it!!!

NICE! How did the femtrooper casting go last weekend?

Tim, nice reasoning on "replica E-11, not replica Sterling". I LIKE IT - seems so simple that it should be a no brainer. I've also had the internal strapping debate. Although it works well, it seems like there's a lot bigger chance to damage something using the original strapping system. If I went this route, I would definitely use reinforcing strips behind the brackets (AsBlondeAsLuke did a nice job with this). The ABS is thin enough on some of those returns to be cause for concern - and I've recently seen some horrifying ABS cracks pictures. It can be fixed with ABS paste, but why risk it if it can be avoided? Ultimately, I think I've made up my mind - I will go with a snap plate strapping system for durability, but drill holes and glue cut off flat screw heads into the holes to simulate bracket attachments. It will look like the original system from the outside, but have the benefits of a snapping system on the inside. I know any type of "flat" paint finish is fragile, so maybe a few light coats of matte clear as a protective layer? The problem is to achieve protection without making it satin or semi-gloss. A flat clear would likely be just as fragile as flat black.

You can by Bondo or other brands of body filler at any auto parts store. Look in the the spray paint aisle/area.

Isn't the point of all the masking because those parts have a different finish/texture than the rest? I think if you're painting everything with a spray can, you won't have any trouble with the paint matching. Mixing paint/reducer/etc in a spray gun or airbrush would be a different story. Given the option, I would paint parts separately to avoid masking. There's probably as many ways to do it as there are paints, so in the end, I would just do whatever you are comfortable with. The more comfortable you are, the better the result.

Looking GOOD, Derek!!! Nice post. Seems like it would be easier to mask the parts and paint them before attaching, as long as you don't paint the areas that will be bonded with glue. But, I defer to Tim or anyone else who has done a resin build. Also seems like a really good idea to paint the inside of the pipe first (at least the areas that are visible), then add the bolt. Keep it up!

Yeah... I think I'd rather build another blaster than risk some paint calamity...

Bummer. Staring at butts and dreaming is an activity for the beach, not prop building . Patiently awaiting your next post...

Although it's canon, I am concerned about bowing and I don't like big thick bolts under the scope. The thin rail also doesn't seem "mil spec" for a real weapon - I'm trusting my aim and firing accuracy to a scope support that bows under the weight of the scope? Anyway, I've got the steel and I'm going to try it. Maybe stitch weld a small stiffening rib under the rail at either end? It's an excuse to weld something... And when I'm done, I'll have a wide variety of rails to choose from. Thanks for your, LOL, "support".

Thanks, Brian! I need to check progress on your T-21 build...

As always, Germain, thank you for your keen powers of observation. After assembling everything, I figured the rail was too thick. I made several rails from 1/8" aluminum and gained some experience. Looks like I'll be donating those or chunking them in the scrap box. Suspecting 1/8" was too thick, I already bought 1/16" X 3/4" steel bar. I'll be making another rail and welding on the scope tab. As an added bonus, by welding the steel bracket together, I can make a small adjustment to the positioning which will allow me to mount the counter FLUSH with the side of the receiver (more screen accurate since the originals were glued). With the aluminum, there's a small gap that I can't correct. Back to the shop!!!

There are two reasons you might ask this - I can correct one of them, but not the other. In the picture looking through the scope, the front sight is very slightly off center. All I have to do is loosen the front mounting bolt and make a very small scope alignment to the left (Last night, I didn't feel like disassembling and reassembling again). The other reason you might ask this is because the scope feet do not line up on the right side when you look at them in relation to the edge of the rail. I don't know if the 1942 M38 scopes are supposed to be this way? The mounting holes are centered, but one foot is wider than the other. I wondered the same thing myself and I'm sure someone here can answer the question. If the feet are supposed to be the same, then someone modified this scope a long time ago (patina on the brass) and they did a really good job (perfectly square and no machine marks). I'm guessing someone will answer this question quickly. Here's a picture of the bottom of my scope - see how the feet are different widths? Update: I checked my 1943 M38 resin scope and the feet are offset the same way. And the foot shape is different between 1942 and 1943. Unless someone has something different, I'll conclude that's the way they're made.

????

Just a quick update... I built several rails to try different ideas. While fitting rails, I ended up disassembling and reassembling the Hengstler about 15 times. I took pictures of each step, but I think there's already a few "how-to's" (I still might make a Hengstler post anyway because I think the other posts focus on the number wheels). I removed both the external and internal pins the correct way (so I can wire it up internally), removed and reinstalled the coil and linkage and drilled 2 holes in the case (I had a tough time convincing myself to do it). I'll be building a few more sets of power cylinders since I have screen accurate parts from Andy. And finally, I tried to figure out a good place for the trigger switch to activate the counter (there ISN'T a good place for it) - I envy the resin builds in this aspect - if it were resin, I would just dremel out a hole and install the switch. To keep the bolt and everything else functional, about the only place I have left to install the switch is inside the grip, which means a complex linkage to make it work... I'll keep at it, because I definitely want to incorporate this feature! So, at the end of the evening, I cleaned up the shop and fully assembled everything for the first time, just to see where I stand. (BTW, I know one of the folding stock rivets is missing in the photos - I didn't have it installed in the pictures because it's super tight and won't be coming back out after I install it). Comments and suggestions welcome. Enjoy!

Instead of the Winter Soldier, you're the Winter Trooper! Hi Jason! Agreed with Matt and Germain on thigh cover strips and sizing. Also bicep sizing and forearm straps for positioning. Don't know if it will affect your EIB application, but a few other suggestions: Ab button paint looks too small. May need to increase diameter of the painted area to 7/16" diameter. Try cleaning up paint bleed around edges of traps with a toothpick dipped in paint thinner. Ear bumps look awesome! Centurion improvements: Did you remove ALL the forearm return edge including the raised "bumps" area? Looks very close, but there seems to be a very slight return left. White elastic bands to hold down the rear of the shoulder straps - you might have these, but they're tough to see. Rubber gloves. It's not a requirement per the CRL, but I see a lot of guys doing this for accuracy: dab black paint on the TD screw heads. Nice job making your own belt! Not sure what's acceptable for loose/dangling threads - I know I've seen frayed belts in the reference pictures. GOOD LUCK!

I had the flat, matte, eggshell, satin, semi-gloss, gloss discussion at the hardware store the other day. Personally, I like satin. Slight sheen, but still deep and dark with better durability than flat. If you add in faux finishes, there's almost as many sheen options as colors now! I'm thinking the vocoder sheen should come close to matching the brow trim for sheen. On a subconscious level, I think anything else is going to draw your eye one way or the other. You might "percieve" something that doesn't quite match if you went straight gloss or flat.

Seems like it would be worth doing a few proof of concept styrene pulls. Less cost for you, more experience with your rig and greater potential for assistance from Walt with pictures of successful pulls. Yeah, and can't wait to see the live casting process - my wife has been asking about femtroopers... She's DD (and that's not Doopy Doos ), so I'll be curious how you do your molds.

Looks good to me! I'd use that blaster! You've even got the D-ring. Paint the bolt metallic grey with maybe a hint of olive mixed in, not shiny silver. If you want to be really picky, the bayonet lug is not lined up with the flat area. Only the post production E-11's had coiled wires, so you can leave those off and still be screen accurate. Leia's escort also had wires, but those were not coiled - more like leftover bare wires. Nice work!!!

Found this on the Henkel website (parent company for Loctite products): Anaerobic products are not recommended for use in assembly that includes thermoplastics, as it will soften their surface and cause a crack. Examples are ABS, Acrylic, PVC, etc.

In my mind, I'd like to think he made his own really creepy coffin...