artimorty

Ok. Back to business... Following Mark's idea, I've gone adding some milliput inside the tube under the t tracks to provide more depth to them. It's only a test since I've to let enough room inside for the inner barrel I already have. I've also cannibalized an old binocular for the rear lens and it fits perfectly an makes it look much better, thanks again to Mark!. Also combining Mark's idea with Andrew's suggestion on the reticle I made some tests placing inside the scope a reticle printed on an acetate disc at different distances from the lens, getting different effects. Finally I decided to place the reticle just behind the glass in contact with it. I think I'm gonna leave the scope interior white or light bronze to get some light playing inside. And finally today I've cut out the excess plastic between the barrel and the scope rail. It hasn't been as easy as I expected and caused more damage and trouble to the surrounding areas (mainly the hengstler front and the magazine port back) that will need repairing. I should've done this much earlier, but I was afraid that this would make the rail fragile, and didn't want to break it while messing around with the scope. If anybody want my piece of wisdom, do this early in the process. Better when the halves are still separated. Just rejoining them once you've carved free the rail, you can see that both together aren't any more feeble than before carving the plastic since the hengstler attachment to the barrel gives enough strength for it. The right side alone is quite feeble tough, take care. And also, once you take out this excess plastic, the rail is ok, but the tube of the barrel shows a huge gap all along, more like a trench, that will have to be filled and sealed once glued. Thank you all for your interesting ideas. Enviado desde mi iPhone utilizando Tapatalk

Hey Mark.I think we've hit the same 3D printed parts provider TK421... that's hilarious! Nothing fancy about sintra. That's a commercial brand for pvc expanded foam, a product quite popular in cosplay and props builder. And I'm acting smartass here cause I knew nothing about it just six months ago. You can have it from amazon https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/s/ref=is_s_ss_i_0_7?k=pvc+foam+board&sprefix=pvc+foa I've used it for another project here on the boards and it's great, and I still have plenty around. (If you please, check my other build with sintra in http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/40483-reys-nn-14-blaster-pistol-child-size-from-scratch/ ) Enviado desde mi iPhone utilizando Tapatalk

Yes. That would be a nice option. I think I saw around there somebody doing it on a doopy kit and I took it into consideration since t tracks is really the only add you can make that can be adapted to the minor size of the rubies just cutting them (unless you get to 3D print scaled down a bunch of parts, like Andrew did on his build). But that would not only be a lot of work but also a change on the main goal I'm seeking here. I mean, I could also change the counter or take the scope out and replace it for a better one (one of those bulldog's beauties, f. e.) or change the whole magazine, and the terribly narrow front sight, or replace the rail with a metal one... but at some point it would be no longer a rubies, and the rest of the blaster remaining wouldn't worth the price or the efforts of the new parts added. And also not much you can do about the length but change the barrel itself or add tube sections on the rear to make it longer and wider.This build is more oriented to mod what it already has and keep it in a tight budget, and that is the funny part. And it took me a while to understand that myself and don't go around buying parts for this. This being said, I'm having a big cheat myself waiting for further on. Early in the process I bought some 3D printed parts that I think would be difficult to build, the 3 pins plug that goes at the upper top of the counter, and this came in a lot with a set of power cilinders... they weren't expensive at all (about 15€ or so) and specifically made at rubies size, but as soon I got them I had a weird feeling that using them woul take me out of the path... Of course I'm using them later on nevertheless. This is were I am now regarding the "philosophy" of this particular build. Those were my thoughts on the subject. But if you go ahead and replace the tracks... damm it, that would be great to see how this come out! Thanks for your interest, Mark. Cheers...

Funny you ask, Andrew. In fact I was doing some tests a few days ago to set a reticle inside the scope. Nothing serious. Just a test wit a reticle drawn on a sheet of transparent acetate to see what effect I could get. I placed it holding in the hollow section of the rear foot of the scope, on the inside, as you can see on the next picture. Then I thought that probably it wouldn't worth the effort cause I don't know if it would be seen at all once the interior is painted black... then I thought about painting the inside shiny bronze to make the reticle stand out... and finally put it aside. But since you bring up the topic, may be this afternoon I try to print a good one and give it another try... let's see. Thanks. Enviado desde mi iPhone utilizando Tapatalk

Greetings again. Some progress last couple of days. First I tried to diminish the thickness of the big t track on top. For this, I used a stone head on the dremel and pass after pass, slowly took out material until I was satisfied. Now the walls surrounding the gap on the top of the t track are much thinner and once glued and filled will make it the same width than the other t tracks. As usual, minor damage occurred on the base that will be solved later. After that I went for the scope. I'm trying to give some "content" to the interior of the piece. For that, I dived in my "spare plastic treasure bin" (I bet we all have one) to look for some pieces that can do the job. I selected the two black ones on the next picture. For the front end of the scope, I used a Vallejo putty cap, sanded to shape and placed inside. For the rear end, I used the other black plastic piece. Sorry, but I can't recall where this came from. Same process. Sanded it until it fit properly in place. Then I cut two discs on a transparent methacrylate sheet I have around an placed inside the new pieces as for lenses. Quite happy with them. Now that I see the pictures, may be I could use a bigger disc on the rear part... don't know. Thank you all. Enviado desde mi iPhone utilizando Tapatalk

Very nice piece. It's outstanding... cool addings there

Thanks Bryn! Honored by your commnet. Your doopy beast it's outstanding. I'm very impressed with the scope and the paint job... any advice will be welcomed.Let's see what I manage to do for my scope...

Hey Mark!Sorry I couldn't get back to you on time with my tips. Life quite often claims my sinner soul out of the fisd... but I'm glad to know you could make it on your own. Don't hesitate to post here anything you like and share the way you solve the problems ahead. Thank you for your kind words. Cheers.

Thank you very much Stuart (by the way, greeeat nick discostu ). I'm also looking forward to see this finished! It's taking much more than expected and it's delaying many of my much more serious sw projects, but when I try to speed this up I see another thing I can improve and inevitably all get slowed. This started only as a learning project to see what I can achieve out of a humble toy blaster, to learn something about e11s and to experiment with technics and putty and resins and glues and the lot... but like some Frankenstein's monster it's taking live on his own... thank you all for your support. Hopefully we will take this to a finish state not too long.Cheers...

Hi Andrew. Thanks for your advice. For obvious reasons, the final mod on the t track on the top must wait until I glue both halves of the blaster together. You are right. Probably will mean a great bunch of putty. For the time being only trying to make it a little thinner. Let's see how it looks like once glued.

Ok. Now finishing the t tracks. Using the dremel with a milling head, I sculpted the ends of every t track. The goal is to get them give the impression that are bending over the edge of the holes and go somehow inside. For this I had to mod both lateral sides of each end, curving them. Here you can see the difference in the central t track, the left side is done, the right isn't yet. Marked in red is where I want to carve. After that, all the new areas have been sanded and smoothed with sandpaper and minifiles, and also I used milliput for minor corrections on the shape both of the t track and the holes. Here is how this came out. I think they look much better now, and hopefully, using different kinds of paint in the tube (hammered?) and the t tracks (flat black?) will help to sell the trick that both are different materials. I've also sanded the upper central t track trying to make it thinner, because it is almost twice as thick as the rest. Sorry. No pics of that yet. Well, this is done. Now thinking about what to do with the scope. Thanks for watching! Enviado desde mi iPhone utilizando Tapatalk

Veeeeeery cool. Can't wait to show your results to my son! He's a six years old compulsive lego builder and this idea is so inspiring.<br> I also prefer the flat t tracks. Give more of a clean and shiny look.

Hi mark. On this issue I walked on others footprints... followed humperdingle's advice and others. Once you remove the screws, if you try to separate both halves apart, can get to brake them. The glue is very hard. As adviced by others, I let the piece rest on the freeze overnight and this got the glue more brittle and easier to come apart. Since I had already by then redone the t tracks and removed the d ring, I could find many holes and feeble spots along the gun where I could insert a round knife or a flat screwdriver and force it open. Not easy but easier with the cold glue. Go slow and take your time, little at a time, and you will be ok.

Hi Mark.Great idea to get a rubies! You'll see that with very little you can improve it a long way, as you can find in many examples here on the boards. HappyTrooper has also been a great inspiration to me and I follow him in YouTube and used some of his tutorials myself. He has a couple of great threads here. If I can be of any help during your mod, you are more than welcome to ask. I'm doing this so slow that probably you would catch me up along the way! Good luck and hoping to see your build around. Cheers.

Hello again. Some nice work started on the blaster today. Isn't finished yet but I'm anxious to share with you all. This is the one mod I've waiting to get done since the early beginning, as you can see in the initial pictures, where some pencil shadow appears at both ends of each t track. I'm drilling the main tube at both ends of each t track. For this, I started making a circular template the size of the holes already present, done in a scratch piece of sintra, opened in one side to accommodate to the t track. With it, I traced the areas I wanted to carve. Then using a fine drill on the dremel, carefully took out the marked areas. And this is how it looks now. I have to smooth the contours, probably with a rounded minifile and rebuild the end of the t tracks to give the appearance that they come a little inside the barrel... and some minor damage that inevitably happens using a high spinning rotary tool close to this soft plastic. Very pleased with this mod. Feels like not too much more to be done before gluing both sides.

That's very cool. Looks totally pro. Well done.

Really beautiful. Nice set. And very impressive collection of helmets you have there! Good luck on you application .

Here it is... by the way, another very nice thread...http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/38895-fragarocks-hfx-hyperfirm-e-11-mod/?hl=fragarock

Very nice improvements. Congrats.

Thank you Andrew!You were right, wasn't as hard to do as I feared and it looks far better with the spring. Feel free to make any more suggestions and I'll try to make them. Thanks for watching...

For what I've seen here, many people use Plastidip, that's a liquid rubber that can be sprayed as regular spray paint...

Well well well,... here it is what I've come up with for the back part of the bolt and the spring area. A couple of days of work plus the previous thinking period.<br> First, and knowing somewhere along the process I had to use black paint, I took the chance and made an inner barrel from pvc pipe engrossed with electrical tape and a bigger pvc ring. This piece was hit with transparent adhesive promoter to be latter painted. Then I stepped forward to the real deal. This are pieces I used for the back part of the bolt: a wood bar and two pieces of pvc pipe that can be place one inside another. A rough fit test took me to think this could work, here a strange pic holding all up to get gravity aid to keep everything more or less in place. The pieces had to be cut in halves (the wood rod only in the top rear section) to accommodate the massive hengstler counter part that goes inside the other half of the gun. Then was time to prepare my spring... using a bit of one many pieces of wire I had laying around, I took the thickest I could work by hand and rolled it over the same wood bar I used for the bolt. About 15 loops done. Then I covered the bolt with sanding putty and sanded it flat to get rid of the wood crevices and imperfections. Secondly, hit it with primer. After that, the charging handle, the bolt and the inner barrel were spray painted in bright black. Once dried, the first two were chromed with metallic spray paint. This is how the guts look in a fit test... nothing really hard core science fiction fancy. Aaaaand here is a fit test, all held in place by simple two side tape and gravity itself, nothing glued yet, that's the reason for the strange angle in the pictures, I'm holding the thing over my head. Hope you like it!<br><br><br> Enviado desde mi iPhone utilizando Tapatalk

That may be. Thank you so much. Very detailed description you've got here. Thanks for sharing it.

Thanks Jason.Know that there is people watching this is really an incentive to continue all the way. It's some commitment I must meet and is one I do very happily. I'm sorry if it's coming along slower than expected but the few hours I steal from every week life are very fun and the progress is somehow rewarding. Thanks for your comments. Cheers.

Ok. I'll try. Honestly I was trying to skip this, but you're right. Once started, why don't try to go all the way? Now checking the e11 blaster reference to see how to get this done. Copied your 18 gauge wire suggestion. Hope to post some progress soon. Thanks.