ZeroRoom
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Posts posted by ZeroRoom
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Can you supply any pics? I might be able to help...
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Coming together nicely - I especially like what you've done with the rail. Nice and solid!
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:shok: :shok: I think I'm going to cry....
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So would I still pass 501st approval with a Hasbro conversion where I leave off the Dopy counter ?
Absolutely. The CRL for ESB troopers clearly states:
No ammo counter shall be present.
I believe for base level requirements you can get away with leaving the counter on, but for EIB you definitely can't have it.
Maybe there aren't many (or any) other Hasbro conversions where people have committed to doing this, but the fact that you are is great and well worth the effort.
Good stuff!
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On 1/26/2012 at 9:55 AM, darksideemt said:
I hate to tell you this but on the conversion you don't cut off the counter, you just don't add the one in the conversion kit. I really don't know how you are going to correct that hole. You also don't put on the cylinders.
Here is my build:
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He's doing the right thing - ESB blasters have no counter at all so removing it is correct. You just leave it there for ANH.
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Hey Tim! Welcome aboard!
You should definitely check out Seantrooper's TKC build - it's a great thread and a masterpiece of TKC armor.
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The best and easiest way to do it is to get an account with an image hosting service like photobucket (absolutely free!).
Put the pics up there. Then there are two things you can do: the easiest is to (on photobucket) hover your mouse over the image you wish to place in your post. A small drop down menu will appear offering the selection 'image code'. Just click on this and it's automatically copied. Then just paste it into your thread!
The other way is to simply choose the image icon above the reply window. A pop up window will appear into which you can paste the URL of your image and it will magically appear in your post
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Welcome aboard sir! Don't forget to get a thread loaded with pics up and running once you start your build!
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No problems!
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What sort of place sells 18 gauge springs that you can "pop out & get easily"? I looked around but couldn't find any that were cheaper than buying an original! lol
Sorry - my bad. I made that spring myself with the old wrap and stretch method. I meant buy some 18 gauge wire with which to make a spring from scratch... So long as you measure the gaps between coils (I believe it's 16mm) properly you get the same result...
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Thanks Andy!
I tend to agree with you about the mag and mag housing casting... It definitely feels to me like the only let down on the build so far. Which is weird because, being a cast, I had thought it would be spot on and sound as a pound, but now I do feel like a scratch build could probably be better. It's probably going to bug me more and more as the days go by...
That spring in the corner is my test spring (which I will post about soon). Your eyes are sharp sir - it is 16 gauge wire when in fact it should be 18 (1.8mm diameter) but that was what I had lying around. I can easily pop out and get some 18 gauge sometime soon - I have after all got this far with pretty much stuff I had lying around! I'll try and see if a darker wire is available but if not some staining will fix that right up I'm sure.
As to your suggestions about chipping up the shields and sight guard - I love it. I will get the dremel out again on the weekend and hack away! I just need to replenish my stock of metallic paint to recoat the surface once I chip it through. Again you're right about the width. I couldn't obtain 1.6mm thick plastic so I rounded up to the nearest available thickness and got the 2mm. Perhaps some of the chipping will help with the appearance of the thickness of these parts?
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10mm at the head or 10mm screws? Sorry i should have clarified that's the head size not the shaft size..
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the hex screw have an exact diameter of 9.31mm (0.36" or basically 1/3 of an inch) but I'd say 10mm or 9mm would be easier to find and not any noticeable difference.
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is the magazine curved?
Only the tiniest amount. It's a resin cast and obviously the chopped down E-11 style mag, so the curve has been all but removed...
You'll see soon why it's taking me so damn long to get around to the end cap...
That metal finish is great and makes for a very convincing Sterling.... You wouldn't believe it was plastic!
Coming from a real Sterling owner I take that as credible praise indeed - thanks Mark! (BTW you've got a PM coming your way shortly..)
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First off I made sure the muzzle was attached well and good:
You can get a pretty good sense of how you can see the barrel through the vent holes in this photo:
In real life it's a pretty convincing finish, but I suppose I won't really know until I take it down to my local convenience store and see if the guy behind the counter empties the register on demand... (Dear Australian Police - this was a joke. I have no intention, nor ever have of having my picture taken by a grainy, unflattering security camera...)
I have to say, the hardest thing I did all weekend was try to take these accursed photos for all you blaster addicts out in webnet land...
You can see here the bits I weathered the most heavily... the bayonet sliding area and lug (since the continual addition and removal of the bayonet would do a lot of weathering:
The ejector port and cocking slot for obvious reasons:
and the vent holes just because I've never seen any Sterling pics where the vent holes aren't weathered lke this:
You can (kinda) see in these images how the mag housing and screw have seen a lot of action and can almost make out the different coloring and texture of the magazine itself:
Here's a shot of the cocking handle pulling the breech bolt back, as well as in the forward position... there is an issue with the breech bolt but more on that later..
Finally, getting a decent photo of the whole thing was so damn hard, and so utterly wrought with failure that I shot the blaster (I'll take my award for pun of the year in cash, not cheques thanks) in two different lights for y'all to see:
So that's where I'm at right now. It's taking much longer than I hoped, but generally I'm pleased with the results. I just really, really wanna get onto my folding stock...
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Another wacky weekend in which I didn't get nearly as much done as I would have liked. I did get to painting though so at least it's looking like it's coming together
First of all an advance apology for the terrible pics in this post. I was totally off my game and I just had the hardest time finding decent bl**dy light around the house
THE STOCK HINGE
After the glue had set on my trigger assembly and grip mount the next step was to cut and mount the stock hinge.
I cut the correct 38.1mm width (give or take for saw blade width) out of a spare piece of curtain rod I had lying around.
Marking out the 12mm curve that sits outside the receiver I held the metal piece in a clamp (it gets reeeeaaaal hot) and sliced it up with the cutting wheel on my dremel...
...'til it looked like this:
Once again it was time for the magic apoxie resin to fill back in the body that fits the curve of the receiver and provide a surface for adhesion. Don't forget that the apoxie resin is not only a good body filler but it acts as its own adhesive too... Another apology for the pics. In this case I was watching TV in the dark
This was really just a matter of mashed potato sculpture. I used a little off cut of the 1.5" tube just to sure up the shape before I placed it where it needed to be on the real deal.
Getting this bleeding thing perfectly straight was a bit of a PITA but it had to be done just so or else the whole folding stock would be off, or worse - wobbly. It not only has to be straightened around the circumference but on the z axis of the tube as well, which of course can distort the apoxie resin while it's still soft and so on and....
Never mind... Too much whinging. It's done. That's all that matters. A little careful sanding to blend and smooth once it's cured and we're good to go. (isn't how cool how seamlessly the real metal of the stock hinge pipe blends with the faux metal of my paint job?.. Isn't it?...guys?)
The real Sterling stock hinge has a peg sticking out on either side for mounting the stock. For a variety of reasons I've decided to do mine in reverse and insert the hinge pin through the stock and into the hinge base.
I had originally laser cut these small parts to glue into the stock hinge base tube and provide perfectly sized holes for the hinge peg.
However once I had had the hinge measurements confirmed by Andy, I found the hinge base only protrudes 1mm from either side of the barrel casing and thus these parts were of no use to me, as they were to thick. Instead I built the sides with the apoxie and sanded them level.
So using the unused plastic piece as a stencil, I've marked a small indentation in the centre of the stock hinge for later drilling and insertion of the hinge peg.
PAINTING
Almost time for painting! All I had to do before applying the black paint was prep the weathered areas. I forgot to photograph this I'm afraid but most of you will be familiar with the latex method of weathering and chipping. Just dab on some liquid latex with a small paintbrush in any areas you want to mask off . Be as rough and blobby as you like - remember this is battle damage!
I wanted to look at genuine reference photos for my weathering just to make sure it was in the right places and balanced well between too much and not enough. This wasn't so easy however. It's pretty hard to find pics of Sterlings that haven't been repainted at some point. When you do find some good weathered demilled guns they're a good 30 years old already than the screen used blasters so the weathering and damage is usually more extreme than on screen. You can see in the pic of Leia the screen used blasters were weathered but not in the extreme:
So in the end I assessed what areas were most prone to weathering and chipping (blowback shields, sight guard, slots and ports etc) and just applied what I felt was the right amount for each area. You'll be able to see what I ended up with soon...
Painting is, of course, the easy part. I suspended the gun using a pipe and old rope so I could easily access every area of it. First I had taped up the grip area and the rear cap lug. For the first coat of hammered black I also taped up the mag because the magazine itself is usually smooth and slightly more grey, not texture coated. The paper you can see emerging from both ends was just inserted to protect the metal insides from any black paint as I am reliably assured that the inside of a Sterling is not painted.
So one coat of hammered black first. The hammered black however as tested by Seantrooper, here, is way too glossy, so over that goes a satin sheen coat of latex paint. It's more of a matte in fact but has just enough of a sheen to simulate what matte bake on paint looks like on metal, while still allowing the hammered black texture to come through. Overall it's pretty realistic looking so I was satisfied.
THE BARREL
While the main body was drying I had a chance to throw the barrel together quickly.
Here's a pic Mark sskunky put up of what the barrel inside looks like. This is hard info to find because it's usually removed from demills:
I decided to go with a simplified barrel that just focussed on the visible parts and was the correct 15.7mm width externally. To that end I took some other spare curtain rod (which was fortunately already powder coated with a black hammered effect!) and the laser cut parts I had ready for this bit:
All I had to do was install the circular mounts at either end. Luckily for me the tolerances on the laser cut parts were so precise this didn't even need gluing - it held tight. I added glue anyway because I'm anal like that...
You can see how with a bit of sculpting and painting the finished product could easily be made to replicate the real barrel exactly - I was just too damn lazy to do. Mainly because I didn't want to repaint a hammered black rod, hammered black
When it was dry and so too the paint job on my main body I (slid? Inserted? rammed? God Almighty Darth Aloha's gonna be peeing in his pants...) I placed it inside ready for the muzzle to be glued in place:
Then I set about peeling off all my latex dabs... easy enough - I just sat the gun in my lap like a Bond villian's cat and scratched away at it while catching up on some work...
This is what I ended up with
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He already did! Mathias generously sent me a leather ANH Holster completely free:
http://forum.whitearmor.net/index.php?showtopic=18029
It was mighty kind of him and I too shall pay it forward soon...
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I agree with you about the trimming, but I'm impressed with your attention to detail on your strapping. Good work.
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I reckon this holster looks great! It's cool too that you can slide your E-11 straight in without hassle. Good work dude.
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When can we expect this in kit form?
It's not an entirely ridiculous idea bobojuice! Let me think on it...
Meanwhile...
Unfortunately I didn't end up getting a lot done this weekend as I had a busy one. I did manage to get a few small details done in the form of the bayonet lug, the cocking handle and a bit of work on the end cap.
THE BAYONET LUG
The bayonet lug is surely one of the most mysterious and overlooked parts of the E-11, or indeed the Sterling it is built on. Luckily for me Andy PlayfulWolfCub furnished me with some good detail pics and diagrams to pore over.Â
The new Sterling Templates we've been building suggest constructing the bayonet lug of three pieces like this:
So I started out with three cut plastic parts as per the templates and assembled them like so:
That gave me a basic shape that roughly sketches the structure of the bayonet lug. It only required a small amount of tweaking to get it into it's proper form from there.
First I held it in one of my clamps and rounded off the top edge using my dremel:
Then I took one of my new favorite products. My wife gave me this for Christmas and its called Apoxie Sculpt:
It was originally created for use in taxidermy, and wife had bought it for me for any needed repairs to my armour, but it turned out to be brilliant here too. It's a two part putty that air dries in about three hours, has the working consistency of modeling clay, can be worked with water like ceramic clay and dries to consistency almost exactly like plastic. It can be sanded, drilled and carved once dry and has a brilliant bonus feature in that it has a glue like quality that bonds it hard to almost any surface it's applied to.
Anyway - enough with the TV commercial. I took a tiny amount of the Apoxie Sculpt and pressed into either side of the bayonet lug and shaped it accordingly:
It was an easy shape to adjust with even the tiniest amount of putty and once it was attached to the barrel casing and painted I was pretty happy with the shape:
THE COCKING HANDLE
I was at the hardware store picking up some of that phony grass when I had a sudden bolt of inspiration. You know what looks just like a cocking handle? These bad boys:
The things you use when driving nails into concrete or plaster.
I printed out a basic scale graphic of the cocking handle silhouette as a bending guide and then
I took one of the nail plugs and literally held a cigarette lighter to it until it became soft enough to bend. (using gloves again - it gets hot!) I bent it to shape over the print out:
Then I used another very thin layer of the apoxie sculpt to smooth the surface and create the flared end. Once this was dry I filed and sanded it a shape I was happy with:
This part was relatively easy. It was just a matter if paying careful attention to the shape of the pice and using reference pics as much as possible.
Once I was satisfied with the shape, I re-inserted the nail and cut it short to provide an anchor for the bottom half:
I made the bottom part from a piece of dowel and bevelled the edge as needed with a simple pencil sharpener:
Once it was all glued solidly together and under coated it came up like this:
I know it's not entirely accurate. The middle circular section is about 2mm too small in diameter and the base of the handle part could be a bit sharper, but everything that is visible above the surface of the cocking slot looks pretty good so I'm going to stick with it as it is.
You can also see how perfectly it fits into my breech bolt where it should:
I did also get a little bit done toward the folding stock, but not enough to start the pics rolling yet...
But then - there's always next weekend. Stay tuned!
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Nothing I ever do is good enough for you is it Darth Aloha?! If I walk out the door, let me just remind you that you can't put your arms around a memory...
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EDIT: can a mod change the tag from 'Can I remove it?' to something like 'forearm, return edge, etc.' ? Thanks
They sure can!
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Man that is awesome Mark - I say black and dark grey decals all the way! What a cool thing!
Electronics in SDS blaster
in Electronics for Helmets / Blasters
Posted · Edited by gmrhodes13
link removed no longer working
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