Thrawn's guard

Well I now have the majority of the parts that I need to make my power cylinders (I will find something suitable for the resistors soon). Firstly I decided to make the base plate using some 0.9mm thick steel plate. I used the 3D printed base to mark out the profile of the base plate and hole location on the steel plate and then used a rotary drill to shape the plate and drill the hole. In hindsight it would have been better to use a softer metal which would be easier to cut and drill. My next task will be to cut and and shape the end plate.

Nice work Allan.

Most of my parts have now arrived so I hope to start building the power cylinders next week. In the meantime however I have been playing around with building a prototype using a mixture of parts that I have 3D printed and also some parts that I will probably use for the final build (fuses). For the final version I envisage using the following: - 1) Metal tubes to for the cylinders. 2) Metal caps to form the ends of the cylinders. 3) Metal base plate. 4) Metal ‘shaped’ back plate. 5) Metal fuses, (From Tino’s completion kit), with green stuff to for the ends. 6) Thin metal wire to connect from the fuses (From Tino’s completion kit). 7) Textile covered wire (From Tino’s completion kit). 8) Power cylinder support plates as shown in my post above either 3D printed or formed from 1mm thick abs sheet. 9) Small wing plates fixed to the cylinder either 3D printed or formed from 1mm thick abs sheet. 10) Nuts and bolts (From Tino’s completion kit). 11) Red plastic pieces which can been seen in the vent slots in the cylinders. I will probably use some form of insulating plastic as suggested in Tino’s cylinder tutorial. As noted above this is very much a prototype at this stage however as always please feel free to make any comments you wish.

Well I am still waiting for some of the parts to arrive to make the power cylinders however in the Meantime I thought that's I'd have a go of modelling and printing what I will call the power cylinder support plates (I don't know the correct term). I then intend to make the other plates from metal sheet and look at using some metal tubing for the cylinders themselves. Updates to follow as soon as I can.

No worries Tino it is good to get feedback as it gave us the opportunity to check the vent slots. After all it is best to check now before going too far. With regard to the power cylinders I am still awaiting delivery of some of the parts but will get on with the build and post photos of what I do as soon as I can. In the meantime one thing I forgot to mention about whilst painting the blaster this that I took on-board the suggestion from Tino that the spring in the receiver looks too shiny if simply put in without any paint effect. therefore I lightly sprayed from a distance, (Approximately 600mm 2ft), with a mat black paint to dull things down i.e. to suggest the presence of dirt, grime,grease or whatever and make it in keeping with the lightly weathered effect that i had applied to the rest of the blaster).

As suggested in a previous post I have decided to have a go at producing my own power cylinders. I have carried out quite a bit of research, (though I still need to do more), however I think that I am starting to get there. In order to put my ideas together and provide myself with a quick reference I have decided to also model the cylinders in 3D alongside carrying out the research. This seems a good idea as I can then check things look correct before I start cutting away. In any event I do not yet have all the items that I need to produce a metal set of power cylinders so it has been an interesting distraction (I may at some point also try 3D printing some or all of the parts to see how they come out). Anyway this is a quick snapshot of where the 3D model is at the moment. As I say this is not 100% complete but I think that it is not too far off now.

Thanks for the positive feedback guys. Though I have not quite finished it has been a very enjoyable journey.....One which I may well end up repeating.

I have a little weathering to add i.e some minor rust effects and then all I have left to do is the power cylinders (This will probably be a job in itself ) The cylinders may tale a little time as I want to do some research and then gather whatever parts I will need to do as good a job as possible. I have thought about 3D modelling them so that I can check before i start making them that they look correct. In the meantime i will probably post some pictures showing the blaster as a whole as it is. It will certainly be a strange feeling when I get home and my first thought isn't well I have work to do on the blaster. I'm also still undecided on how to present the blaster........choices being a purchased stand, and self made stand, or a wall mount. All options need to be up away from small prying hands however Perhaps I'll wall mount it under this: -

Now on to one of the very last few items left on my to do list which is the installation of the trigger guard. Looking at the trigger guard and the area on the trigger housing that it connects to there is only a limited amount of area that the two pieces can be glued together and as a result this will be one of the more fragile elements of the blaster. Therefore in an attempt to provide that bit more robustness I drilled a 3mm diameter hole in the trigger housing and installed, (glued in), a short section of threaded rod (Otherwise known as a 3mm mechanical screw with its head cut off). A corresponding hole was then drilled in the trigger guard so that once connected together I would get a mechanical key as well as the glue to help strengthen the joint. E6000 glue was then applied to the two areas of the trigger assembly where the guard attached and the trigger guard pushed in to position. To ensure a good contact I placed elastic bands over the trigger guard to hold it in to position whilst the glue dried. Note – Make sure to check that at this stage there is sufficient room for the trigger to move otherwise you could end up with a trigger guard too tight and a fixed trigger as a result. Once the glue had fully set I installed green stuff around all sides of the trigger guard where it meets the assembly to provide a little more strength. Finally once the green stuff had cured I painted the green stuff to match the black and metal effect paints already on the blaster.

The rear section of the counter, which was previously painted gloss black, was masked using cling film and masking tape so that several layer of brass effect paint could be applied to the rest of the counter. Finally I applied several layers of chaos black paint over the brass paint and used the nail file to reveal the screw heads. This is the final result. The two types of black can be clearly seen. I will also add a picture showing the front of the counter when I get home. EDIT - Picture of the front and underside of the counter now added below.

Several thin layers of the matt black paint were applied to the blaster and once dried I decided to turn my attention to finishing off the inner bolt and receiver. The pictures below shows the process of applying the bolt gun metal paint directly over the primer (The first picture shows half the bolt painted and half unpainted). You can see in the picture above an area I masked off to the underside of the receiver where the handle will be glued. Masking this off will give a stronger bond when fixed together. Once dried I applied a thin watered down black ink wash to bring out the details such as the serial numbers and cleaning strip. Finally a second wash was applied to give the impression of the presence of grease or dirt and glued in the additional pieces of detailing to the ejector.

I also masked off the rear of the counter except for the small section where the electrical contacts fix as I had noticed that this tends to be a gloss black whereas the main body of the counter is a flat black. After the silver paint dried the ‘metal’ sections of the handle were masked so that the gloss black could be applied to the grip. When the gloss black paint dried I removed the masking from the counter. In the picture above I had, in my excitement, forgotten to apply wax to the screws however I used a flexible disposable nail file which very easily removed the paint from the head of the screw. In fact it worked so well that I decided once i were to apply the brass and matt black paint over the primer i would leave the screws unprotected and then simply use the file to remove the paint.

There were a number of items that needed to be masked off prior to applying the silver paint as shown in the picture below: - The thread of the charging handle was taped to ensure that the thread was clean for installation later. The shaft of the selector switch was taped to ensure that the smooth action was retained. The grip of the handle was masked using cling film and masking tape. Masking tape was used along the edges between the grip and other areas to give a clean finish. I took Tino’s advice and stuck the masking tape to some fabric prior to installing it on the handle to help prevent the glue on the masking tape removing the layer of primer. I also ensured that the layer of primer was completely dry. Because I had calved out around the perimeter of the inner bolt/ejector opening I was able to mask this off using a paper template which slotted under the lip. At this stage I applied several thin layers of the silver paint to all areas, other than the ejector, that is supposed to be metal.

After priming I looked around for gaps where pieced had been glued together so that I could fill them in. One example was along the side of the rear sight where it is fixed to the receiver. I rolled out a thin strip of green stuff and then carefully placed the roll in to position. Once in position I pushed it in to the gap using my fingers, (keeping your fingers wet with some water prevents the green stuff sticking to them), and trimmed to length. Once the gaps were filled in I applied some primer.

Firstly I wanted to ensure that I didn't get paint sprayed in to the inside of the barrel and rather than taping the holes I decided to simply roll up 2 general purpose cloths and push these in to the inside of the barrel. Next I moved on to masking off areas that I didn't want primed namely the transparent window on the counter. I stuck masking tape to the front and then carefully trimmed it to shape with a sharp craft knife. I then also placed masking tape on the inside face of the window and also sealed off the 2 screw holes in the top and bottom of the counter. Finally several thin layers of primer were applied ensuring that all surfaces were completely covered.

Well finally it's time to get this thing painted. I was actually surprised how many paints I ended up with. Anyway here are the paints that I have/will use. 1 - Basically primer for everything. 2 - Silver for the metal parts (or parts that are supposed to be metal). 3 - Matt black for the main part of the blaster i.e. the parts present on a real Sterling SMG. 4 - Gloss black for the handle and small section of the counter where the power connectors are fixed to. 5 - Chaos Black for the E11 additions i.e. the things which make the gun a blaster rather than just a SMG (Counter, scope rail, scope etc). 6 - Metal effect brass paint, (From B&Q), for the scope, (already done,) and the section of the counter with the power connections. 7 - Citadel Bolt gun metal - For the extractor and bolt plus some areas of the trigger assembly. 8 - Citadel Black and Brown Inks to add some weathering effects.

There is always something extra to do Mike

As far as I am aware all I have to do now is: - 1) Install the trigger guard. 2) Build some power cylinders. 3) Complete the weathering (I have painted the vast majority of the blaster and have started the weathering effects). Unfortunately I ended up spending more time on trying to get the blaster finished this weekend than expected, As a result I ran out of time for posting the photos of the painting process. I will get those posted as soon as I can (Hopefully tomorrow). For now however here is a sneak preview (It's not the best photo as it is a little overexposed.......I'll try to do better tomorrow).

My final task before I started to paint the blaster was to update the end cap clip. Tino thankfully noticed that my first attempt left the lever horizontal rather than being inclined. I unscrewed the spring steel from the lever and then thankfully finally found some suitably strong glue, (E6000), to glue the spring steel on to the lever and allow me to operate the clip without the spring coming off. Whilst I was at it I also drilled a small hole in the end of the level and inserted a short section of the steel bar to represent the catch.

Next I decided to tidy up the trigger pivot hole. When I previously broke my trigger I had to carve the pivot pin out a little so thought that the best option here was to fill the hole, wait for it to harden and then re-drill a smooth hole for the replacement trigger.

One quick update to the handle detail modification previously carried out. The detail in a real sterling is actually the end of a done headed cylindrical part of the trigger assembly therefore the base of the dome nut I added needed to be hidden to leave only the dome head visible. Once again green stuff was the easiest option.

I'm looking forward to following your build Jared. I think that you'll find this forum very friendly and helpful so keep building and asking questions.

I'll definitely be interested if I build another blaster.

Anyway now on to the exciting bit.......painting. At first it seemed a little daunting however when I thought about it there is nothing to worry about...............If I make a mistake I can simply repaint over it. I will post some update picture over the weekend to show you all how I get on.

Thanks for letting me know Scott. I have decided to try my hand at making some power cylinders. After all the worst case scenario is that if they are not up to standard I can still go and buy some anyway. I have quite a bit of research to do to decide upon exactly how I am going to do these and then collect the parts but that is half the fun of it anyway.