count chocula

Thanks, Sean! Scope I've been fiddling with the scope since the beginning of this build. I really wanted to have lettering on the scope, but the shapeways part is missing this touch. I bought a doopydoos scope simply to amputate the end with the lettering and attach that to my scope. I know this sounds ridiculous, but it made sense to me at the time. Also, the doopys scope wide lens end has some detailing that is absent from the shapeways part and makes everything look a little more realistic i think. I also made some changes to the front end of the scope, as the joint there didnt meet up just right (the front-most side was slightly thinner than the main body it meets up with). I built up the very front side with some epoxy clay to make this match up. Sadly, after applying several coats of primer/humbrol brass/satin black over the whole thing, I couldn't really see the letters anymore I sanded it down again and tried to carve the letter impressions back in with some dental tools, but it never really looked right. I went with white acrylic paint instead of crayon (I thought I could control the final look of the lettering with paint - but in the end I don't think it really mattered). Also added the screws fro T-jays completion kit here. The resulting frankenscope is passable I think(?), but I'm not thrilled about it. I've reached out to Brian to see if I can have a hand at one of his casts instead. Scope rail/Counter bracket I initially tried bending/filing the rail from T-jay's completion kit into a scope rail, but at the last moment, while trying to get a little more bend in the tongue, the tongue broke off . I ran to the hardware store and bought some 3/4" x 1/8" aluminum bar and redid the rail. I also made the counter bracket out of some aluminum siding (which already had a 90 degree bend in it). I used billhag's thread as a guide for the bracket (although I know there are a million ways to go about it). I left a fairly long tongue on the rail so that I could bend the tongue up against the inside of the receiver and keep the rail from moving up and down too much. After drilling/countersinking the screw holes, I primed the whole thing and painted it satin black. I used the same countersunk hex-head screws for the scope/counter that I used to hold parts within the barrel. Maybe not the most accurate, but I think it looks fine. Here's what the whole package is looking like: And a video: I can't believe how far this has come in just a few months ... very grateful to all who have commented, everyone who has sold me parts, and all those in the FISD community who have made such wonderful threads for me to shamelessly copy .

Thanks, Bob. Haha yes. Maybe too much fun. I was going for a "found on the Tantive IV" look rather than a "found on the ocean floor" look lol. It can be easy to get carried away. I think I like it though.

Another quick update on the progress of this E11. I've painted almost everything and added a few more things in the last week so I wanted to get everyones opinion. Power Cylinders I purchased the 3d-printed model from themaninthesuitcase prior to his recent update. After reviewing some of the options for smoothing 3d-printed models, I went with the advice of themaninthesuitcase himself, which was to simply prime/seal, sand, repeat. This was a little tedious but I'm relatively happy with how smooth it looks in the end. I actually used super glue in acetone to try and seal the piece after sanding (I saw this on a youtube video). It was easy to do. Not sure if it really added anything special, but the end result after painting is fair. I made some of the mods that Tino made in his recent build (shortening the rear side of the central capacitors, e.g.). I also referenced the .pdf from this very thorough thread. I went with "shape A" for the rear rack and the "two resistors each side" option for the rear resistors. Thank you to T-jay for the end caps/bolts and red insulation sleeve for the rear resistors. The rear resistors here are actually some ferrite beads I had lying around that looked to be the right size/shape. . I used quite a few coats of paint to try and get things looking smooth. I also added some humbrol 27002/27003 to get a bright metal look on several spots, followed by liquid latex and a final few coats of satin black. The latex was removed in spots to reveal the metallic paint underneath. This was stolen from Tino as well (thanks T-jay). I think I was a little over-zealous initially and left a bit too much "metal" showing. I later re-did this to make it slightly more subtle (I re-latexed a smaller area then re-painted with black). The final cylinders can be seen attached to the rifle at the end of this post. Selector Switch I purchased a real selector switch from apex on a splurge (the doopy switch seemed a little flimsy). I cut down the selector switch on my E11 and put a little slot into it, then carved the end of the apex switch into a male slot and JBwelded them together. Trigger Guard Not much to say here except the damn thing kept falling off with JBkwik alone, so I added a few pins and JBwelded it to the gun. Seems to be more sturdy now. Painting I basically copied everything T-jay did here (big surprise, I know). I used humbrol metalcote 27004 on several spots, followed by polishing, followed by latex, and finally followed by some wrinkle paint. I don't have many pictures of this, but Tino has documented the process better than I could anyway. I used this wrinkle paint from Eastwood (below) and it worked fairly well. Just two heavy coats 3 minutes apart. Left in a hot garage for 12 - 24 hours and a pretty nice wrinkle effect emerged. I then pulled the latex off in several spots and brushed with some eyeshadow I borrowed from my wife (mostly a rust color and a gunmetal color in various spots). I think the eyeshadow added a lot of character to the look. T Tracks These were also added (as you can see from the pictures above). The tracks were from Roy at wannawanga. They are not cheap, so I really didn't want to botch any of them. I read T-jays tutorial and did my best, but this was not easy. The only thing I would add to T-jays tutorial is that the length of the track (after cutting) is critical. Too long and the track tends to bend upward just before the hole, too short and the track won't sit in the hole (and you may see some of your cuts sticking out). I also had to use a bit of E6000 to keep a few of the tracks in place. I tried heating up the ends of the tracks that didn't hold in place, but the heat gun tended to heat up the nearby tracks, causing those tracks to bend out of place. This resulted in a few curse words and so on. Best to get it right the first time and not have to re-heat/re-mold (in my limited experience, at least).

Thanks, you guys are too kind. I'd be happy to sell some rounds. I still have the mold and plenty of resin, just PM me and we'll work it out.

Thanks, guys. I may have gone a little overboard with the electronics here (I'm sure some purists would say that electronics should be left out altogether), but most of these electronics are relatively invisible from the outside unless activated/exposed, so from the outside it looks relatively screen accurate (except for the battery meter on the hengstler and bicolor LED on the magazine). With the power disconnected it looks like a regular E11, but has a few 'sleeper' electronic tricks, which I think is pretty cool. Will definitely be a conversation starter at least. I forgot to mention that I ordered an inner bolt from D-day (thanks D-day!), which I really like. The bolt I had made from epoxy clay was fine, but D-day's bolt is cheap and more accurate. I had to make a little channel on the back of the bolt to keep the wires running to the magazine from catching when the bolt is all the way forward. Here it is before painting:

Thanks Kev and Tino! You guys are the best. The commentary from this awesome FISD community is what really makes this building process a joy. I'm about to leave the country for a few weeks, so I thought I'd post a quick mid-week update before I go. Grip I reattached the cover for the electronics with green stuff. And tried to replicate the trigger group/housing with more epoxy clay Wiring My goal is to route these wires through the receiver in a way that allows the bolt to move back and forth. There are several issues with this, the main one being the point where the wires exit the grip. While the bolt has a cavity on the rear/magazine side and a smaller cavity on the bottom/flat part, the portion of the bolt between these parts is essentially effaced against the receiver, leaving almost no room for routing wires from the underside of the bolt to the rear/magazine/cavity area. ...so I cheated the opening in the receiver for the wires coming out of the grip, making the opening a little larger than normal towards the magazine side (this is eventually all covered by the grip anyway). Sorry for the gradeschool-ish labeling here. I decided to forego photoshop for the editor in photobucket this time :/ I also carved out a small cavity in the receiver barrel to allow the wires to travel from the flat/underneath portion of the bolt to the open area where the bullets/magazine sit. Then routed the wires from the grip through this divot towards the magazine/rear side of the bolt, where they could run freely towards the magazine without binding on the bolt. I also routed two wires to the rear for the speaker... And three wires toward the front for the muzzle LED... Inner barrel/muzzle Not a lot to add here except that I drilled a hole inside of Aaron's resin-cast barrel with a very long drill bit to run wires through. I also filed down the front end of the inner barrel and dremeled out a space for the 3w LED to sit in. I made the wires come out just short of the rear end of the inner barrel because I didn't want the wires to be visible coming out of the inner barrel. I had to dremel down the two sides of the led to allow for the socket-head screws to pass by on the side. The space I dremeled out for the led in the inner barrel is seen below. Without this space, the wires were a bit squashed between the LED and the inner barrel when the muzzle was tightened/screwed down and the LED would actually stop working when this happened. With the space drilled out (as seen below), the muzzle could be tightened down all the way to the barrel without causing the LED to malfunction. This LED is ridiculously bright and tough to capture on photo, but this is a test with the LED in place inside of the barrel/muzzle combo: Dark Side of the Bolt I was inspired by Tino's recent addition of bullets and a magazine end to his build, replicating the look of the inner Sterling receiver when the bolt is pulled back. I wanted to make things a little different, though, making the bullets look a little more like blaster charges, glowing red or blue on the end depending on whether 'blast'/'stun' are selected with the selector switch. I first bought some cheap 9mm bullet replicas from Amazon, and then casted these bullets in clear resin after making a silicone mold. I've never tried to cast anything before so this was an interesting first for me. I dropped 5mm bi-color LEDs into the resin while the bullets were curing, trying to make the business end of the LED sit at the end of the bullet casing, just before the end-portion of the bullet. I felt like this made the ends look more 'glowy' when the casing was painted, whereas placing the end of the LED at the front-most part of the bullet made the LED light too strong/glaring. The casings were painted with Humbrol metallic brass, but the ends were left unpainted. I labeled the red leads with a red sharpie. I tried to emulate Tino's magazine end with ABS scrap and a little bit of aluminum. Tino makes this look easy, but putting this together and fitting it into the gun (and wiring it to the magazine) was like trying to build a boat inside of a bottle. I then wired the magazine receiver to the wires coming out of the main receiver (including the bullet LED wires) and somehow got the extra wiring to sit within the cavity between the magazine receiver and the receiver. There were a lot of exposed wires in this area and there wasn't enough space for proper insulating sleeves around each wire, so I just painted the exposed wires with plasti-dip and crammed them all together. There were a few wires poking into the receiver barrel area when it was all said and done, which were crammed underneath the bullets. I'm still kind of amazed these wires/parts fit together at all. I drilled some holes in the magazine receiver before attaching it to the receiver. This allowed me to route some +/- cables through which will eventually attach to the shapeways counter for charging to battery. These will come out at the back of the power cylinders and hopefully the exit point from the magazine receiver will be relatively hidden by the cylinders/resistors at the back. I've attached the wires to the counter here just to charge the battery because it was getting low after me playing with the gun for a while. I also put the inner barrel in place and wired the LED inside of the inner barrel to its respective wires from the grip. Somewhat miraculously, the electronics work as intended. Below are some pics of the bullets glowing. There's some kind of superglue/tape residue on the ends, which I actually kind of like, because it makes them look a little kyber-crystally. The bolt does move back and forth. It is a little sticky, though. I made need to lube things up with some superlube. https://i.imgur.com/bZdtn2D.gifv

Three power cylinder tutorials for the price of one! This is very helpful for me, as I'm starting to build my cylinders with themaninthesuitcase's v1.0 print. I wonder if there is a good way to make shapeways "strong and flexible" material look as smooth as playwolfcub's cylinders? Since shapeways prints in nylon 12, acetone vapor smoothing is out. I guess I will try sanding, sealing and priming as chris suggests. Great comparison of some of the power cylinder options out there... Thanks.

I started working on the grip several weeks ago. Because I'm including electronics in this build, I needed to get the selector switch and electronics sorted, too - which ended up taking several weeks. Speaker I'd like for the speaker to fit within the rear end of the barrel (as in the toy models). Although many have successfully fit the speaker within the counter box, I really wanted to minimize the amount of visible wiring (even if this wiring is running underneath the scope/counter rail). Also, the slot in the receiver for the charger handle seems like a good enough outlet for sound. Anyhow, I purchased a 1.22" (~31mm) diameter speaker and enclosure from a model train company. The speaker and enclosure together just barely fit inside of the 38.1mm OD receiver tube. The bare aluminum on the endcap lock has started to rust a little from sitting in a rainy Texas summer garage. The speaker enclosure needed a front cap, though, to prevent the return spring from damaging the speaker. I fashioned a front cap out of a relatively sturdy bottle cap that was lying around. I drilled some holes in the middle of the cap to let sound out. I then primed the cap, painted it flat black, and epoxy'ed it to the speaker enclosure. I also made two small holes for the speaker wires out the side of the enclosure, and made little ravines with a dremel in the enclosure along the length where the wire would sit, hoping that this would make the wire sit flatter against the inside of the receiver barrel. Grip I'm using a doopydoos grip. I really wanted the metal parts of this assembly (from the trigger group) to look metal. I did my best at duplicating Aaron's (usaeatt2) mod (post #76) for this. I carved duplicates of the right/left front edges of the trigger group out of some leftover aluminum in the garage (using zeroroom's templates as a guide - post #44 and #88). I sanded these aluminum pieces and then made several holes where the trigger pins would be, then cut little ends off of some stock metal bar from an art supply store, which were jbwelded into place to reproduce the look of the trigger group pins (final look seen at the end of this post). I carved slots for these aluminum pieces out of the grip (I tried using carving tools first, but I guess I don't have Aaron's patience because I resorted back to a dremel with a grinding wheel). There were a few cracks from this that I later repaired with epoxy clay. I then carved a big hole in the front of the grip for a selector switch. These pictures are with a single pole, three-position switch. I later went with a dual pole, three-position switch (see below). I also added some of Tjay's grip mods: And marked/carved out a large space in the rear of the grip to house electronics: Electronics I initially planned to use the sounds/lights from a Disney blaster, but changed my mind after realizing that the sounds/lights from these toy blasters are not entirely screen-accurate (e.g. the LEDs blink on-off rapidly after firing, whereas the blasters from the movie light up a single time). I also noticed a lot of sound distortion when the sound effects from the toy blaster chip were amplified (with this chip). I decided to use an Audio FX board from Adafruit, instead, which allowed me to load my own sound files and control them the way I wanted. This then led to me purchasing super-bright LEDs from the same company (for the muzzle light), followed by a voltage driver for said LEDs, followed by a microcontroller to control all of these components. I then spent several weeks breadboarding and writing code for all of these components. I don't have much experience with coding (other than some C++ in high school) but after considerable research I was able to piece together some code for a 3V Pro Trinket that ended up working the way I wanted. I would post the code and schematics here, but it is a bit messy and I don't want to bore everyone. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ EDIT: code and schematics are now seen below. Please excuse the enormous schematic image. One needs to be able to see the tiny markings on the PCBs. Code was written/compiled in Arduino software and is far from perfect. I used the code posted by someone named mucmac on this thread as a jumping off point (thanks mucmac). Sounds can't be uploaded here (I don't think?) due to copy right issues, but all sounds were either taken from various websites for free or recorded from video/movie using soundflower and edited in audacity. PM for details. Code: /* Menu driven control of a sound board over UART. Commands for playing by # or by name (full 11-char name) Hard reset and List files (when not playing audio) Vol + and - (only when not playing audio) Pause, unpause, quit playing (when playing audio) Current play time, and bytes remaining & total bytes (when playing audio) Connect UG to ground to have the sound board boot into UART mode */ #include <SoftwareSerial.h> #include "Adafruit_Soundboard.h" // Choose any two pins that can be used with SoftwareSerial to RX & TX #define SFX_TX 1 #define SFX_RX 0 // Connect to the RST pin on the Sound Board #define SFX_RST 3 #define blasttrigger 3 #define stuntrigger 4 #define lightground 6 #define switch2trigger 9 #define switch3trigger 10 #define fadeground 11 int soundState = HIGH; int buttonState; int lastButtonState = HIGH; // the previous reading from the input pin // the following variables are long's because the time, measured in miliseconds, // will quickly become a bigger number than can be stored in an int. long lastDebounceTime = 0; // the last time the output pin was toggled long debounceDelay = 10; // the debounce time; increase if the output flickers bool firing = false; int blasttriggeralreadypressed = 0; int stuntriggeralreadypressed = 0; int switch1alreadypressed = 1; int switch2alreadypressed = 0; int switch3alreadypressed = 0; // You can also monitor the ACT pin for when audio is playing! // we'll be using software serial SoftwareSerial ss = SoftwareSerial(SFX_TX, SFX_RX); // pass the software serial to Adafruit_soundboard, the second // argument is the debug port (not used really) and the third // arg is the reset pin Adafruit_Soundboard sfx = Adafruit_Soundboard(&ss, NULL, SFX_RST); // can also try hardware serial with // Adafruit_Soundboard sfx = Adafruit_Soundboard(&Serial1, NULL, SFX_RST); void setup() { pinMode(blasttrigger, INPUT_PULLUP); pinMode(stuntrigger, INPUT_PULLUP); pinMode(switch2trigger, INPUT_PULLUP); pinMode(switch3trigger, INPUT_PULLUP); pinMode(lightground, OUTPUT); digitalWrite(lightground, LOW); pinMode(fadeground, OUTPUT); digitalWrite(fadeground, HIGH); // softwareserial at 9600 baud ss.begin(9600); } void loop() { //when switch2 active and not previously pressed, play switch 2 sound if ((digitalRead(switch2trigger) == LOW) && (switch2alreadypressed == 0)) { ss.println("q"); delay(20); ss.println("#1"); ss.println("#1"); switch2alreadypressed = 1; switch1alreadypressed = 0; digitalWrite(fadeground, LOW); } //only allow switch 1 sound when going through sound 2 if ((digitalRead(switch2trigger) == LOW) && (switch2alreadypressed == 1)) { switch1alreadypressed = 0; } //when switch3 active, prevent switch sound 1 from activating until going through switch 2 if (digitalRead(switch3trigger) == LOW) { switch1alreadypressed = 1; digitalWrite(fadeground, LOW); } //when switch 2 and 3 inactive > 250ms, we must be on switch 1, thus play switch1 sound if ((digitalRead(switch2trigger) == HIGH) && (digitalRead(switch3trigger) == HIGH) && (switch1alreadypressed == 0)) { delay(250); if ((digitalRead(switch2trigger) == HIGH) && (digitalRead(switch3trigger) == HIGH) && (switch1alreadypressed == 0)) { ss.println("q"); delay(20); ss.println("#0"); ss.println("#0"); switch2alreadypressed = 0; switch1alreadypressed = 1; digitalWrite(fadeground, HIGH); } } //blast trigger sound if (digitalRead(blasttrigger) == HIGH) { blasttriggeralreadypressed = 0; //semiauto only } if (digitalRead(blasttrigger) == LOW) { delay(20); //debounce if (digitalRead(blasttrigger) == LOW && (blasttriggeralreadypressed == 0)) { ss.println("q"); //stop any sound delay(50); ss.println("#2");//play blast sound ss.println("#2"); digitalWrite(lightground, HIGH); //turn on led for 100ms delay(100); digitalWrite(lightground, LOW); //turn off led blasttriggeralreadypressed = 1; //semiauto only } } //stun trigger sound if (digitalRead(stuntrigger) == HIGH) { stuntriggeralreadypressed = 0; //semiauto only } if (digitalRead(stuntrigger) == LOW) { delay(20); //debounce if (digitalRead(stuntrigger) == LOW && (stuntriggeralreadypressed == 0)) { ss.println("q"); //stop any sound delay(50); ss.println("#3"); //play stun sound ss.println("#3"); digitalWrite(lightground, HIGH); //turn on led for 100ms delay(100); digitalWrite(lightground, LOW); //turn off led stuntriggeralreadypressed = 1; //semiauto only } } } Schematics (open in new tab and zoom if needed to see small markings): Trinket Closeup: Soundboard Closeup: Amplifier Closeup: Verter buck/boost closeup: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The real trouble was getting all of these components to work with the selector switch (switching sounds/lights with blast vs stun). I finally ended up using a 2-pole-3-position (2P3T) rotary switch. This circuit would've been simpler with a 4P3T or 3P3T switch, but the smallest of these switch types I could find were way too big for the switch cavity in the grip. I uploaded my own sounds (from various sources) for the blast/stun triggers, and also put some "turn-on" and "turn-off" sounds for when the blaster goes from safe-mode to blast, or blast-mode to safe. Here's a video showing how everything works: I then desoldered all of the breadboard connections, wired these components together and put them in the grip. Here's what the monstrosity looks like at the moment (i have a lot of work to do filling cracks etc): I connected the circuit to power/ground after putting everything in the grip, and the lights/sound still work. For my next trick I will run all of these wires within the receiver barrel, and the bolt will still move back and forth (i hope lol)! On a side note, I recently received a nice bucket from Rob (RT-Mod)! All the more excited about getting this blaster done now. Cheers

Looks great. I wish I was there. It seems like you're getting that first glimpse of light at the end of the tunnel.

Coming from the master of sterling parts builds, that is a huge compliment! Your build threads and photo libraries have been an instrumental resource for me. Not to mention the awesome resin-cast muzzle and barrel

Thanks, Kevin ! You're build(s) are coming along swimmingly themselves. I'm really enjoying watching you turn styrene and aluminum stock into sterling parts. Thanks, Brian! Your scope cast build is a joy to watch. I'm thinking of modifying the large-lens-end of my scope further to look more accurate, but I'm betting the optics and overall look of your finished project will blow my scope out of the water.

Magazine well I cut a piece of ABS scrap to fit inside of the well and meet up with the magazine. I put a few magnets in the center and put 4 shield finger contacts to match up with the magazine contacts and wired/soldered them up. The amount of resistance when pulling the magazine out feels appropriate, and there is a very satisfying "click" as it goes in. I tested the wires coming from the well contacts with a voltmeter and the expected ~4 volts are coming through. Front Sight I bought a sterling front sight from numrich and set to carving the dove tail into the receiver tube. I printed off some templates, took some other measurements and such, but this dovetail is a complex shape. I wasn't able to find any good templates. For the most part this was eyeballed after looking at lots of photos of real sterling dovetails. I started by marking out the area and drilling a few starter holes. Then dremeled/filed until I arrived at the basic shape. The front sight fit into the dovetail too loosely after the first go. I tried carving a corresponding tail into my doopydoos muzzle, but it just didn't really fit properly. This sight is supposed to stay in place by pressure alone, so everything really needs to be just right. I tried modifying the doopydoos muzzle further, but eventually gave up and bought a muzzle (and inner tube) from Aaron (usaeatt2; Thanks Aaron!). Interesting how different the doopydoos muzzle and actual/Aaron's muzzle look when compared. Not sure what DD used as a cast reference for this (imagination?). Some modifications were needed when fitting this dovetail to Aaron's muzzle. I moved the dovetail forward a bit and filled in some of the back of the dovetail with epoxy clay. Everything fits perfectly now. The front sight really has to be forced in, and once in place it doesn't slide around at all. This was a last minute pic (thus the stock). Stock installation is described below. Counter update I attached the male end of a micro-usb cable to the counter button so that it fit into the charging port, hiding the port. This was a bit of a fight and I ruined several micro-usb cables (luckily they're cheap). Apparently the charging chip wasn't installed at a perfect 90 degree angle, because the male micro-usb adapter had to sit at a slight angle to make the button appear true/upright. I also grinded-down some spade connectors and attached these to the two outer-most counter connector holes. These are wired up to the +/- of the battery-level indicator and charger port. Here's what the whole thing looks like plugged in: Flash Guards The DD guards are a little too thick. I ordered the 3d-printed designs from themaninthesuitcase. I cut the pieces apart, but left a little bit of the sprue on the part, to serve as a guide/anchor to glue them in. I made two tiny drill holes in the appropriate areas: Then glued them on with jbweld. The ejector port guard didn't really want to conform perfectly to the guard outline, so I had to use a clamp to hold it in the right position while it dried. Front sight guard/rear retaining clip I added some knurling to these parts with epoxy clay and various knurled tools (as T-jay and others have done). This took quite a few tries and still isn't perfect. The knurling on the front sight guard (a square pattern) is actually slightly different than the knurling on the clip (diamond pattern). Front sight knurl: The back side of the front sight guard before sanding: Clip knurl: This was the least-blurry picture my Iphone could manage: Stock I bought a sterling stock from apex. This thing is gummy and greasy when it arrives. I cleaned the cosmoline off with mineral spirits and a toothbrush and sanded it down a bit, then lubed up the moving connections with superlube. It comes with a piece of the donor receiver barrel still attached. Others have removed this with an oxy-acetylene torch, but my tool kit is limited. Instead I just dremeled the hinge out of the donor barrel piece: I filed the bejeezus out of it (over a few days) until it looked like this: It fits closely to the receiver, but there is still a bit of a gap. To find the best position to seat the stock hinge, I first seated the front of the stock into the front of the receiver (near the muzzle), then held the hinge in position while rotating the stock to the rear to be sure it would seat properly into the rear cap. I then makred this position with pencil and jbwelded the hinge into this position and later put a few 2mm pins through it (it tended to come apart with JBweld alone). I later grinded these pins to be relatively flush. Just to show it who's boss, I decided to weld the hinge to the receiver with this stuff. Apparently welding aluminum to steel is generally thought to be impossible/inadvisable, but muggyweld says that super alloy 1 can do it. Aaron's steel pipe build (usaeatt2) descibes in detail how to weld/braze sterling parts together and is a good reference for this, although he uses all-steel sterling parts (and silver solder). I cleaned the joining areas with emery cloth, a wire brush, and a final cleaning with mineral spirits. The alloy that I used melts at only 350 F, and supposedly bonds at a strength of 20,000 PSI. Because it melts at such a low temperature, I was able to use a simple heat gun to heat the area around the joint (although it took about 15 min of heating to get it hot enough). The flux turns a bit brown when it's time to apply the alloy. I welded one side of the hinge at a time (because the whole receiver became too hot to touch/move after doing one side). I let it air cool and sanded/dremeled the joint down a bit to get this: The hinge now holds on well even when moving the stock about. I don't think this thing is gonna come off [knocks on wood]. I'll have to fill the little divots in the hinge (at the pin sites) with epoxy clay.

Would these work? Only $4.20 each. They have them in a variety of sizes. The 12mm hypotenuse would seem to match the dimensions Brian posted.

Anyone have a CO2 laser cutting device lying around in the garage? In all seriousness, I think a cast version of the original prism in a suitably-clear resin would probably work, too. Some of the higher-end clear casting polymers have a refractive index very similar to that of glass (1.5) and thus should substitute perfectly. Not trying to push this on anyone though as this is not my build and I don't have a pressure casting pot or a real M38... Maybe Kev can find a cheap glass prism alternative in the UK.

Fyi I been experimenting with this board from adafruit. It connects to the disney blaster chip module just fine and does make things a lot louder, albeit with some distortion from that little blaster speaker.

I think you've got it right, although the catch on the real stock may be a little closer to the inner tube of the stock.

Yeah, you're right. I couldn't find any prisms like these available commercially, and having them custom-made would be very expensive (I was quoted for $1,400 for two lol)... Another option may be to cast the prisms you have with crystal clear resin, like this stuff. Not sure if you'd need a pressure pot, though, to get all the air bubbles out.

You're right T-jay, in fact I used those prisms in my scope (copying Chris's [Thrawn's Guard] build), but the prisms in the actual M38 appear to be shaped differently. The problem with modifying/cutting-into a prism is that the surfaces/angles need to be pristine of course in order to get a clear picture. Really don't mean to hijack Brian's thread here, but the idea of having his resin cast scope with real optics inside is very intriguing... I contacted a company called precision optical with pictures of the M38 prisms and he says these are known as "twisted right-angle prisms". Essentially it is exactly like the prism in T-jay's monocular, but "twisted" 90 degrees. I guess this allows it to work in the parallel position seen in the M38 scope, rather than the 90 degree right-angle position seen in T-jay's monocular. I think he/they/someone else might be able to make some of these for us. I will inquire as to the cost. Will need the dimensions from someone who actually has the prisms, though... if anyone with access to the prisms has time to measure. We really only need the one measurement seen below (the length of one of the short sides) and everything else can be calculated: Also, are any of the edges mirrored? It looks like the black surfaces seen on the prisms in these shots below might be mirrored-finish, but I can't really tell from the pictures.

This is a really cool idea. I wonder if those little prisms inside can be purchased anywhere or replicated somehow...

Can't wait to see what the wrinkle/latex combination looks like. That wrap job alone must've taken a good while. You're patience/meticulousness is admirable. I'm sure Bob Ross would be proud. "We don't make mistakes. We just have happy accidents." -Bob Ross

But yeah I don't think the dimensions for the catch you're talking about are on those templates...

I assume you've seen the templates below from zerorooms thread. Not sure if they will be useful to you or not. I think its looking great, man. Very ambitious. I assume you have one doopy stock that I'm guessing you're using for your son's build. I'm planning on trying to use a real stock, so if you want my doopy stock for parts or whatever you are welcome to it.

omg you're right. Talk about spinning your wheels. For some reason in the back of my mind I was thinking I would have the same problem you did with your clip being too small initially and didn't even check. But you're right, your supplied clip fits perfectly. How embarrassing . Will be using yours now. Yeah... I thought the lit-up led there might be a cool little tweak, although I know the original sterlings had a silver button, and your led mod was not meant to light up. If it looks cheesy in the end I can just cover those contacts and have the led be non-lit. I am planning to stick the male end of a microusb cable into the bottom of the hengstler button so that the button sits firmly in that charging port when not in use and hides it. Thanks for the feedback!