usaeatt2

Hi Bryan, I replied to your PM with step by step instructions, but for the benefit of everyone else... Here's a photo of the selector switch disassembled: Good times! I just built a vacuum chamber for degassing silicone. The build took about 2 days, $200 total and all parts were obtained locally. I posted photos of an extensive Sterling disassembly in the E-11 Blaster Reference Gallery. At last count, I think I had over 100 pictures in there. The parts you see in the gallery were sold to Phoenix Props for molding. Those molds produced the current V2 blaster kit. Wish I would have seen this thread sooner! Aaron

It's really hard to believe this is a Doopy kit!!! Amazing work, Mike. This has been a pleasure to watch!

Can you pick them up with a magnet, Ian? If, NO, I would say brass is a good guess.

Those look much better than a regular hex head, although the originals are slotted. You could also try to find slotted cheese head screws in this size, but the head is usually slighty rounded. I used the low profile hex head screws as a compromise. Looks close to original and who's gonna check for the slot?

Hi Chris, I don't think anyone could identify the screen used scope to rail screws with 100% certainty. It's LIKELY they used the original scope screws, but I've seen some screen caps where the heads look too tall to be scope screws. In the end, the prop masters probably grabbed whatever would fit for such a minor detail. In my opinion, regular hex head screws (like the ones in the muzzle and grip) don't look good. The head is too tall. For your reference, here's a picture of original scope screws (I think credit goes to Vern for this picture). Here's a link to the McMaster-Carr LOW PROFILE hex screws I use on my E-11's: http://www.mcmaster.com/#92220a171/=yi0cyr I'M ENJOYING YOUR BUILD!!! Aaron

Thanks Tony! Yep, the edge bumps are exactly what you said - artifacts of the mesh in the vacuformer. The trim line will be above that - in some cases, like near the nose, significantly above - almost to the top! I'll work on a preliminary trim this afternoon and post another picture. Yeah, it looks pretty ragged at the bottom. That's the kind of input I was looking for!

I'm thinking I should start my own thread instead of continually highjacking this one... One more update. I'l start a new thread next time. I'm just back from using the vacuformer tonight. Nice machine - UK designed Formech 686. I wish I could afford one of these for my shop! Anyway, I tried several different molds, three different types of plastic, and several temperature/time combinations. My primary mold is my design. The secondary mold is a version of the Master Replicas piece with my own modifications. Here are a couple of pulls directly out of the vacuformer (still hot!!): ---------- ----------- Then, I identified a major problem with my primary mold... I had a couple SLIGHT undercuts, which I didn't think would be a problem until the mold got stuck inside a pull. That particular pull came out BEAUTIFUL (2nd picture) because I used thinner plastic to pick up more detail. The thinner plastic pulled too far into the undercuts and locked the mold inside the plastic. I had to get the mold out, SOOOO.... I had to cut and rip the plastic apart. PG-13....Here's the carnage (same pull as the second picture) after CA glue repairs and addition of a brushed aluminum shield I fabricated: -------------- LOL, a little filler and some paint might hide the damage? So here's the plan: I'm going to eliminate the undercuts and make slight modifications to the angles in my mold. Then, using my Frankenstein pull, I'll start figuring out how to trim these to fit inside my helmet. It's like trimming ears, but more complicated and INSIDE the helmet. I'll probably disassemble and remove the faceplate to get a better view. Hopefully, I can come up with a decent "generic" fit that can be easily transferred to all the pulls with pencil. As a backup, I could add "welting" around the edge that touches the faceplate to hide any gaps. If I sell these, I could do preliminary trimming, but still leave enough plastic for custom fitting. Thoughts?

Send a PM to FISD user Dday. Derrek runs Phoenix Props and he should be able to help you with single part replacements.

RIDICULOUS! That magnetic switch is cool - and it prevents you from having to carve out a monster size hole for a conventional switch. Soldering at that scale takes a steady hand! NICE WORK!

Show me a brass counter box. I don't believe it exists since casting it would be prohibitively expensive for a simple piece of industrial instrumentation. You sold me a large eagle and the box is cadmium plated pot metal. I know that because I drilled holes in it - it's NOT brass. All of your pictures show pot metal boxes - plated and unplated. No other metal makes sense due to high melting points, which means higher material and tooling costs for a factory. But, whatever you want to believe - it's being used on a fantasy prop.

Hengstler likely used "pot metal" to make housings on all their counters because it's a fast and inexpensive way to make a large number of parts. Car manufacturers use pot metal to cast many parts. Ever see an old car with a pitted chrome hood ornament? The ornament is probably pot metal. The brassy color is the result of cadmium plating, which is used to improve corrosion resistance. Grayish color housings were either never plated, or the plating was worn off or removed.

I used epoxy putty, so it sticks just fine. If it pops off for some reason, I'll use CA to reattch it. Funny, last night I noticed another trooper posted a thread with the exact same setup!

I embedded computer cable nuts in epoxy putty to make lens "stand-offs". I drill three holes in each lens, then use screws to mount them. With this setup, I can easily change a lens anytime.

That's the beauty of this piece...you'll be able to hide all kinds of electronic goodies under it. I also made all the other pieces shown in the Visual Dictionary picture (with the exception of the eye pieces). The picture above shows my mold. The vacuumformed pieces pulled from the mold will naturally be "hollow".

LOL, I promise if these turn out good enough to sell, you've got slot #1!

Thanks Tony! Wicked is the intent!!! I can't even begin to explain the amount of work that went into creating this mold from scratch with nothing to go on other than two pictures from a book. The trick is going to be fitting all the interior parts while still allowing plenty of room for my head... I'll post more once I pull the vacuuform parts.

The Apex parts in your link are torch cut, guaranteed. The magwell and trigger frame are separate parts, so if they were de-welded/de-brazed, you would see multiple parts. I've ordered multiple kits from Apex and can tell you the condition of the parts you actually receive is a gamble. I also know someone who CALLED Apex and SPECIFICALLY requested the BEST quality parts... What they received was lower quality than a kit I randomly ordered. Total crapshoot - you get whatever they grab out of the bin. The part you are considering is about a pound of metal (maybe slightly more). If you go this route, the trick will be securely grafting your receiver tube into the mix and it will be heavy. Since you've already got a Gaz mag, maybe contact DD or Phoenix Props for a replacement resin magwell? For help with shaving down the magwell walls, check my carbon fiber build. The following link goes directly to the magwell post: http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/29140-carbon-fiber-e-11-build/?p=372301 This method results in consistent wall thicknesses. Just BE CAREFUL, rotozip bits are designed to quickly remove material, including flesh. Aaron

Hi Dennis, that video is AWESOME! If only disassembly were that easy! I can testify the video is extremely accurate, even down to things like the screws turning and trigger group having to move slightly towards the rear before dropping put. This is kind of like an advanced version of the exploded view blueprints. Thanks for submitting!!! We'll discuss as a team and vote on adding this content to the reference. Aaron

Resurrecting this thread... I've finally had some time to continue work on an old project. I sculpted molds for the TK helmet interior parts shown in the Star Wars Visual Dictionary. They're not exact, but I think MUCH closer to the image than Master Replica's version. If all goes well, I'll be pulling lightweight copies of these pieces on a vacuum forming machine. With real metal accent pieces added and carefully painted, I think these will make an awesome addition to my helmet interior. As a bonus for 'nutter' Star Wars collectors, and to pay hommage to original props, my side vents are made with scraps of REAL Koolshade material. Koolshade material is basically very SMALL scale brass louvers, made in the 70's. The company still exists, but they don't make this version of the material anymore - it's RARE. An employee at Koolshade found a beat up, dented roll of this vintage material buried in a warehouse - and the alert went out to collectors on the RPF. Koolshade was used on the LFL studio scale TIE fighters (wings), Millenium Falcon (6 exhaust ports) and AT-ST models (rear vents). I included a picture for reference and 'gee whizz-ness'. I learn something new about the Star Wars universe almost every week in this hobby and thought this was interesting enough to share! Star Wars Visual Dictionary reference photo: Koolshade:

Hi Scott, your plan is possible, but not very practical. A real mag fits in my resin magwell, but the magwell walls are EXTREMELY THIN (you can easily see light through them). You may have seen several troopers posting about hollowing out a DD magwell to fit a 'gazmosis' resin magazine... A couple of those posts also show magwell repairs where the dremel slipped and broke through the wall. With the magwell walls already thin, there's just no support for a real magazine and certainly no room for metal backing plates. Also, as mentioned, you'll either need to cut off the business end of the magazine or cut a hole in the receiver. The first option removes one of the only benefits to doing this - being able to see the feed rollers inside the chamber when the bolt is pulled back. The second option makes the magwell to receiver connection extremely weak. A real magazine doesn't weigh a whole lot, but it definitely weighs more than a resin magazine, especially with the feed roller assembly installed, which is mostly heavy gauge steel. I think installing a real magazine would be OK for a static display blaster. Anything beyond that and you're asking for failure. Either the magwell walls will break or the entire magwell will detach from the receiver under the weight of the magazine. 'Gazmosis' resin magazines are EXACT copies of a real magazine and some of the highest quality resin parts I've ever seen (no pinholes, warping, seam lines, etc). Painted properly, you can't tell the difference between his resin magazines and real magazines unless you get up really close and inspect it. I get it. I'd much rather have the 'real' thing and the feel of steel, but in this case, the cons far outweigh the pros. IMHO, your best alternative is to get a resin copy of a magazine from Steve. For what it's worth, Aaron

10. Looks like something that might have been manufactured by Sienar Fleet Systems (TIE fighter manufacturer). I like the futuristic look. Nice work!

Hmmm... It's a Bapty (solid aluminum rear body - look at the rear sight), it has Master Replicas T-Track (reshaped and not screen accurate), the muzzle looks wrong (missing smaller diameter bayonet mounting cylinder at the front), the counter looks crooked and the power cylinders are lacking detail (missing cylinder wings and maybe more). There may be more wrong, but this is what I can see in the single picture on FB. If somebody can afford this questionable prop, I'll offer to make it screen accurate for another $10,000. I'll even include a certificate of authenticity for my work...

Hi Chris Hi Chris, A PDF of the entire reference was made specifically for downloads. We figured it would be nice to download and print the reference so you can look at it while building. There may be an issue with uploading the PDF file to the FISD thread. I'll check with team members and see if we can make the PDF available. If it's a file size issue, it can be linked from a member's Dropbox, similar to how I did pipe build templates. Check back in a day or two.

Thanks, Chris. In hindsight, it would probably be better to use some kind of epoxy putty to make the capacitor ends. Oven bake clay isn't very durable. I used it mainly for the color, but if you're going to spray them flat black, the color doesn't matter. By the way, I wonder if you or Michael realize PlayfulWolfCub actually sells the parts he uses to make his beautiful screen accurate power cylinders? Takes the fun out of trying to build it yourself, but it's an option!

Looking forward to this!!! I have the same Adafruit board, plus the LiPo backback to allow charging without disassembly. All the components went into my armor tote about 6 months ago when other stuff took priority. Never had the chance to get back to it, but I'm really curious about the sound quality and volume!