hupspring

I agree with everyone above - this is an incredible resource! Awesome job by the reference team!

I'm a fellow Anovos/Doopydoo's builder and from the same area as you! I know how it feels to cut too much when drilling, I've done that a few times already. I plan on using green stuff to fill in the holes, but it might be a bit tougher for you since you drilled through T track. But you could probably put on green stuff and then shape it with some carver tools - although I've never actually used green stuff yet, so I can't say for certain if that will work. I also got a Disney blaster the other day with the intention of putting the electronics in the DD blaster. I haven't opened it yet so I don't know if it will fit. Maybe I'll wait for you to tackle that since I'm going pretty slowly anyways.

I look forward to seeing how you set up the mirror system...I tried that but since I don't know what I'm doing it didn't work

I helped make my wife one of these, but just for her torso and it came out pretty good. I'll be making one for myself in the next few months since I still have a while before I get my armor kit.

I cut the scope in that spot so that I have a better chance of putting it back together without it looking bad...I'm not that confident in my skills yet, so I didn't want to cut it right on the seam for fear that I wouldn't be able to put it back on and have a good looking seam when I was done. I was thinking that when I glue the parts back together, I could try using bondo or green stuff to make the two pieces look seamless. I also had to enlarge the front of the scope a bit more than I wanted so that the small lens I have would fit (the lens is about 15mm diameter). I may have made it slightly too large (the back of the scope I definitely made too large) but I have a problem making small adjustments and end up overdoing it. Hopefully it won't be that noticeable!

The smiley was an accident at first, I just put the parts down and was about to take a picture when I noticed if I moved them over a little, it would look like a smiley I'm going to have to think about what I want to do with the lenses. It would probably be a lot of work (for me at least) to make the scope even somewhat functional.

My initial goal was to hollow out the entire scope, but with the rotary tool I have I wasn’t able to go more than about an inch deep. I then found some spade drill bits at my parent’s house and tried those out. They worked pretty well but there was no way I was going to be able to hollow out the whole scope without cutting part of it off since the two ends don't line up. So I used a small coping saw to cut off over an inch off the front of the scope. It was tough getting the scope hollowed out, but I was able to get it to a point I was happy with after using spade drill bits, small metal files and a grinding tip on the rotary tool. I did get too close with the rotary tool on the bottom front next to the foot where it got too thin and a hole appeared, but I can fix that with some green stuff. Initially I was just going to put a lens at the front and back, and use the round disc with the target drawn on and stick it in the scope. But now I kind of want to make the scope actually work, or at least show what’s in front of you when you look through. The problem I’m having with the iphone lens I’m using is that the large lens in the back will just magnify a couple inches in front of it (the inside of the scope) while the small lens at the front just lets in light. I may end up just doing what I was initially going to do since I would have to set up some kind of mirror system inside for the image to flip, as well as get the image from the front to the back since the holes don’t match up.

The first part I wanted to start on was the scope. After working on the Rubie’s blaster, I knew I was going to hollow out the scope and put on lenses since I hated the way the scope looked with solid plastic ends. So I drilled a pilot hole in the middle of each end, and used the rotary tool to start grinding away the scope innards. For the lenses, several months ago I bought a cheap iphone magnification lens which didn’t work very well. But it was a pretty good fit for the scope. The larger piece is too small to insert on its own, so I have to keep it in the black casing that it was housed in when on the iphone lens. I also thought about using the idea described by Pablo to cut up a CDROM, but I was having issues with the disc since I used a writable one. The top layer peeled off when I cut it and it was no longer shiny and reflective. I drew a target on the disc but had to cut out several circles since I kept messing up my drawings. I still need to either draw a much better target or print one out on a clear label or something.

I ordered my Doopydoo’s kit on June 25 and got it on July 1 - really fast shipping to southern California! I was still finishing up my Rubie’s test build and didn’t want to start anything yet, but I was too excited about getting this kit - I held the barrel on the grip and ran around the house pretending to shoot stuff. I then proceeded to wash all of the parts in soapy water and let them dry on a towel. I was going to use either scissors or a hobby knife to cut away the excess material on the trigger/trigger guard and the little shield peices, but after reading what happened to Thrawn’s Guard using cutters on the shield pieces, I decided to just use sandpaper. It took a while but eventually I was able to sand the pieces apart. Considering how long it took me to finish the Rubie’s blaster, I expect this build is going to take a while since I try to find a little bit of free time here and there to work on it. I’m also waiting to receive Tino’s completion kit before I start on some of the pieces so I can see how everything will go together.

The blaster looks great! It's pretty easy to cut off the molded D ring and put in your own. I used a small D ring from an old gym bag's shoulder strap and a piece of square styrene tube to hold it in place.

I like your idea of using Bondo to hide the seams. The seams on the Rubie's blaster are an eyesore. I may have to do the same if I ever decide to go back and work on mine again.

Looks great, I need to order one of those soon. How much of the mag receiver do you have to grind out to fit it? That picture of the mess is why I need to start doing this stuff outside or in the garage...I've been doing it in the house over a small trash can and I have to keep a vacuum handy at all times.

Very cool, I like how it all turned out! I definitely want to do this for my son when he gets older.

I kind of want to hollow out the whole scope and have a clear sheet of something with the target on it somewhere inside, and if all of the scope is hollowed out then the light from the front would show through to the back. But after hollowing out enough of the front and back to fit in lenses, I don't think I'll be able to go much deeper (I don't think I have the right tools for the job).

I finally finished this build more or less - it's all assembled now and painted except for the ejection port which I still need to touch up with some silver. I tried my hand at weathering the blaster using sandpaper, but I think I was doing it wrong. At first I was using too coarse a sandpaper so it was rubbing off all the paint. Then when I used a fine grit (800) it felt like nothing was happening except making the area I was rubbing look very dull. Eventually I realized that I should just be rubbing a small spot where I wanted the silver to show through rather than a larger area like I was doing. Maybe at a later date I'll try some drybrushing. Overall I'm glad I got this blaster for testing and learning some new skills. Messing up on this one using the rotary tool taught me to go slower and use more control. And now that I've got a Doopydoo's kit to work on, I'll definitely be applying what I learned. Anyways, here are some pictures of the Rubie's blaster. Once I paint the ejection port, I'll probably put some clear coat on it and call it done. Even though they are not accurate at all, I'm proud of my power cylinders! I'm also glad I replaced the molded D ring with this one. Not accurate at all, but looks way better.

I really want to get a Hyperfirm E11 since they are rubber and won't break. Slavefive sells B grade versions for $150 (there is a thread in the for sale forum now with a few for sale - the B grade are cheaper since there are some imperfections like air bubbles) and that will probably be the next blaster I purchase, but since I just got a Doopydoo's kit my wife would kill me if I bought another one so soon. And the shipping to California for the Doopydoo's kit was $37. I'm not sure if the completed blaster would be the same shipping cost.

I've already learned from your thread - I was going to trim the trigger piece like you did, but after seeing what happened to you I just used sandpaper until the trigger and trigger guard separated. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I also got my kit a couple of days ago, so I'm following everyone's build to see how you guys are starting. So far I've only washed the parts since I still need to finish up my Rubie's blaster.

A little more progress, and I'm getting close to finishing this project. I painted the inner barrel and glued it to the right half of the blaster, so it left a space between the left half and the PVC pipe when the blaster halves are put together. It actually might be too much space, but it isn't that noticeable. I also put the two halves together, putting back all of the screws and also using E6000 on the trigger area since the two sections did not sit flush together in that spot. And I put some glue on the top T track as well since there's a small gap caused by over zealous sanding. I'm hoping the glue will fill the area and take the paint so it looks whole. If not, I'm ordering some Green Stuff and will probably fill that area with it. I still need to stick on the magazine and the D ring, then do some weathering. After looking at it as a whole, I want to do something with the scope as I don't like how the two ends are just plastic. But that may be something for the future when I get bored.

I got a little more work done the last few days. I decided to use Astyanax's idea of using a 3/4" PVC pipe inside the barrel. It looks better than having the barrel empty, and it also adds some weight to the blaster. I also went ahead and shaved off the plastic D ring on the back of the blaster. I wasn't going to, but I just happened to find a decent looking ring from the shoulder strap of an old gym bag that fit fairly well. It's not perfect, but I like it better than the plastic bit that was there. To keep the ring in place, I'm using another piece of styrene, this time a small square tube piece. Lastly, I painted everything a few coats of satin black. I totally forgot to mask off the bit of the barrel above the trigger that remains silver so I'll need to repaint that area later. I also found a small hex wrench that looked like it would work as the end bits of the power cylinders. I busted out my trusty rotary tool and cut off two small lengths. I drilled a small hole at the end of each cylinder, put some CA glue on the ends of the hex wrench bits, and pushed them into the holes. I need to touch up the ends of those to make them black. Once the paint is fully dry on everything I'll try my hand at weathering. Since there are coats of aluminum (and bronze on the scope) I'm hoping I can just do some light sanding. I'm not sure if I'm supposed to use a clear coat after that or not. Probably best if I do? Then I can finally put everything together - I'm going to try out some E6000 (since I've never used it before) in addition to the screws. And since I was finally able to order a Doopydoo's kit, I have another build to look forward to now that my practice run is almost out of the way!

I saw the blank email when I got to work and immediately ordered one a few minutes ago. They are now out of stock again.

The last couple of times people have mentioned that the blaster kits were in stock, it's been between 11:30pm-3am Pacific Time. I'm usually in bed during those hours so I keep missing them!

Hah I didn't think about accidentally triggering the buttons. That would get pretty embarrassing after the first couple of times, then everyone would just be annoyed after a while.

I glued one strip of styrene to the top of one of the cylinders so far and it looks pretty good. It's just slow going gluing it on - I don't have anything small enough to hold it on all at once so I'm gluing a quarter of it at a time then wrapping it more and gluing the next section, using a clothes pin to hold it while it dries. I did paint the base with the three smaller cylinders in the middle with the flat black primer. It looks decent...I just need to finish the caps and glue the large cylinders on.

Just got this email from Anovos, but I wasn't able to include the pictures.