Freduster

Another update due to another busy day working Got a few smaller things done, for example the selector switch which is also glued onto the E11 now: Also I replaced the resin screw with a real one on the mag well: I also fixed some smaller resin remains that shouldn't have been there anymore and at the same time upgraded my magazine: Final thing today was the start of working on the front sight block and pin, of which the latter I had to build from scratch: (the left thing looked like a smaller version of the right, but sadly I forgot to take a before-picture ) And finally, after a bit of rule of three calculations (inches into centimetres), I put together a front sight block which I am of course going to change a little bit to make it look accurate: Before I forget, I attempted to fit the scope rail on today and the rear sight cracked in two. Now it has received some E6000 and is hopefully gonna stay in one piece again, but does anyone have an idea how to mount the rear sight onto the tube without risking a snap again? Cheers for reading, Freddy

Newstime!!! Had a few hours to spare today to do some more work on the blaster, and I made some decent progress After a trip to the local home depot I increased and upgraded my arsenal: Insulation tape was a bit expensive and since the only thing i needed it for was masking and the d-ring, I just went for cheap multi-coloured adhesive tape. Due to the budget surplus I also got some more spray paint as well as some smaller files which I thought would probably be very useful - and I wasn't wrong. But first things first... Finished the end cap: Finished the breakthrough in the folding stock: (This is where the files were used the first time, and they did well! Instead of clearing the whole thing out, I basically carved out the bottom part, but left some resin in the top corner where most blaster builders apparently add some green stuff - probably looks a lot better this way, but I'm a lazy trooper and went for the easier way. I also weathered the scope so I can now put it aside and work on some other things before finally mounting it I also worked a bit on the trigger so I will hopefully be able to finish that soon - some other smaller things were done which I just didn't take pictures of; whatever With this project finally taking shape, of course I am already thinking about other things... Aaaaaand since I managed to get the girlfriend hooked on Star Wars, aaaaaaaand with the armor hopefully coming in soon I will not stop working anytime soon. Especially since it's just sooooo much fun Sadly she has decided to pick the wrong side, but putting together a costume which actually consists of real clothes will be a totally different challenge, and I'm certainly looking forward to that! That was it for today, Freddy out

Oh yeah, I forgot one thing: are there any approval requirements on the Hengstler counter? I am striving for a more idealized build and don't need a 100% accurate Sterling gun. And I am kind of scared of the whole number and plexi glass thing, I am tempted to just leave it the way it is. Is that somehow gonna affect my chances to become a member, EI or Centurion (because I am aiming to build the armor very screen accurate)?

Hi Mark! Cheers for the advice, I'll definitely try that out @T-Jay: do you have a good method for weathering the screws? If I can spare some time today I'll probably finish my blaster mod, but with an oral exam coming up tomorrow I might have to do other things

Progress update (yay!): needed a break from studying today, so I decided to put good use to the new screws I ordered from Tino. These are the results: I also sanded down the front of the scope rail to make it fit into the hole of the tube, and it's looking good It feels like I'm getting closer and closer to having all the detailed "bigger" parts together which, once assembled, will form a pretty good looking E-11 (for my eyes at least, for most of you guys it'll probs be a pretty average use of the individual parts I used ). The only bigger issues I'm gonna have to overcome now are the trigger mod and the hengstler counter. But I'll read through some more parts of the forum and I should be fine Freddy

Also your letter with the missing screws arrived today, Tino! Cheers for that again! I'll hopefully get something else done over the weekend

Update! Managed to get some work done today as revision went really well this morning so I could treat myself to a bit of blaster building! Yesterday I had a read through T-Jay's Lucky#Eleven build for some inspiration, and thus I went on to highlight the writing engraved on the back of the scope with a white crayon: Went on to polish the white paint of that wasn't meant to stay, and I was pretty happy with the result. Furthermore, I spray painted the D-ring (but forgot to take a picture) and also worked on the front sight. Just like everyone who wants some details on the blaster, I used some green stuff from Tino's blaster kit to add some nice details, and my beloved file helped me with that: I'm gonna have to take another study break for the next couple of days sadly, but might be back with an update this weekend. However, if anyone has any feedback, of course I am going to follow this website closely

Good evening Troopers, it's time to hit the forum with a bigger update again: the scope is pretty much finished! After my work with the car surfacer a couple of weeks ago it was now time to take the next try and drill that thing out properly! First, after sending down any outstanding surfacer with a metal file I started drilling with this forstner bit here: This was what the scope looked like afterwards: Then, as the hole was about as deep as the lens and the plastic casing around it (I decided to keep the casings of all the lenses I used on which would later make it a lot easier to fit in and glue), I switched to this massive thing here: Also notice the aluminium rod + bit construction that we had to build because the drill would not have reached far enough into the scope.. I guess every Chadra-Fan out there would have been proud! Anyway, afterwards the scope looked like this: After a couple of rounds with a rotary cutter (God, I am learning so many new technical terms, it's actually amazing what a blaster build does to your vocabulary ), it was time to get the smaller side done. For this side, we used a "countersinking cutter" (at least that's what my trusted online English dictionary spat out when I punched in the German word "Senkbohrer") because it had just the right diameter for the hole we needed to fit in the smaller lens including its casing. Obviously we also had to free the lens first: Turns out I could be very happy with the result! Finally we only had to connect the two holes we drilled by first drilling a very small hole and then widening it with bigger and bigger holes. This is what it looked like: For my final trick, I put in the lenses to see what it will look like after painting and glu(e)ing: The bright orange will probably disappear a little bit after I painted the inside of the scope black, but I am still very happy with the result and cannot wait to finish this (probably most complicated) part of my blaster! Cheers, Freddy

Actually it did smell about as bad as the inside of a Tauntaun, but I was prepared for that and did all that work in the garden Yesterday I spent some time with painting a couple inside parts of the blaster that I screwed up when replacing the resin screws with resin ones, mainly because the cheap no-name brand dremel can sometimes be very unpredictable.. No pictures tho because I think these tiny changes aren't really worth showing. Also I might finish the blaster mod soon as I have already got a decent plan of what I want to do and I really just want to get that out of the way (I really enjoy tasks that I can split into subtasks which are like a small success at least). So let's see how that'll go..

Right, first update in a long time.. Managed to fill up the holes I drilled with some car surfacer; hopefully I can now redrill the holes which would make the whole thing look a lot better. This was before: And this is after: Furthermore, I decided that I am going to go for a more practicable build, mainly because the main purpose of this blaster will be trooping. So this building thread will most likely not feature any cool new modifications, but probably cut down on some to make the whole blaster as stable as possible. Hopefully this won't scare people of from this thread as I am definitely gonna need more tips concerning the build. Over and out for now, Freddy

Hello guys, just a quick message from me to state that I'm still alive. Just really busy with uni at the moment, exam phase coming up However in the couple of days that I'm not gonna spend with revision I am planning to carry on the work on the scope; I found somebody who has a drilling press at home (one of those things that do the drilling for you in a really precise way, all you need is a precise starting hole and some patience). However, as I have already hollowed out some bits (in a really, really crappy way) Im gonna have to fill it up with some car surfacer - it's gonna be a pain but the experience I'll gain from it will probably be worth it, especially when it comes to building the armour.. That's me for today, mainly wanted to check in again, and it's actually not just a faulty mic

Cheers for the advice so far guys! Concerning the spade bits, I have decided to ask an old family friend who has essentially every tool there is on this planet and even in most parts of the galaxis, he should be able to help me out with the tools needed for the scope so I don't have to buy a whole set of bits just for this one scope (money is an issue, sadly). Different topic, how did everyone install the trigger with the nail? Sadly I can't find any evidence in the builds I have looked through, and even in the blaster reference I can't find anything specific.. Did you just cut the outstanding bit of the nail and then glue it? Sadly no progress today apart from a bit of research - I feel like I have taken some big steps during the weekend though, and since bloody ANOVOS just announced that my kit probably won't arrive before March I've got plenty of time to finish the blaster anyways. Until next time, Freddy

Hi Dan! First of all, thanks for the kind words I think I'm gonna re-paint some of the parts that I either damaged or that need to be repainted, but in general I was planning to keep this type of colour. The blaster will be for trooping purposes mainly, so apart from some subtle weathering I won't put too much work into the accurate paint. Concerning today's progress: Cleared out more of the spare resin in the folding stock - I am probs going to hollow out the part right underneath the holes and then put only a little part of the aluminium tube from Tino's completion kit in there to make it look a bit more realistic. Also i started to cave the scope but I am struggling.. This is what it looks like right now, but I can't think of the right way to carry on - any hints? Third of all, I struggled a lot with the trigger mod again, I think I made the hole in the trigger too big, so now the trigger has just gone all wobbly and stuff. Trying to fix this with a little bit of black plastic on either side of the trigger to counter that, but I'll see how that works tomorrow since the glue is drying. That's it for tonight! Freddy

Ooooh right, well that makes it a lot easier i've attached the grip with other screws already, but the nail will probably still help quite a lot! Now since I've figured out how to insert pictures, finally some proper pictures of the rest of my progress tonight: Did a lot of work on the trigger mod: Drilled all the holes and used the dremel to "clear" them out until everything fitted together smoothly Added the spring, the trigger and a place holder nail to see how it all fits together And for my last trick today I glued the grip onto the receiver tube and rounded it all up with two screws to make the blaster "core" as stable as possible. I'll see how much else I can get done tomorrow night and Monday (loving my uni, Mondays and Fridays off ) before having to take a 3-day break to live a normal life, before then getting deeply into it again next weekend! I really want to get the trigger sorted tomorrow though, but I feel like I'm on a good way. It's still quite wobbly, but I guess I'm gonna have to get some modelling clay soon anyway.. @T-Jay, if you have any recommendations on what clay works well and (even better) where around here to get some, hit me up! Cheers and over and out for tonight, Freddy

New day, new progress: replaced more resin screws with real ones, mainly to get them out of the way as I am pretty scared of losing them. For the rest of the day I am gonna do some work on the trigger mod (I am going for the average nail & ballpoint pen spring mod) because for some reason I just really want to attach the grip to the tube. I feel like that step is going to make the kit look a lot more like a blaster

Found out a few hours ago that once you get started and hyped for the blaster, it's really hard to stop Since I am working according to the Blaster Reference my first job was to drill the extra holes into the receiver tube. Aferwards I carried on with replacing the resin screws with real screws; the two in the grip as well as the two by the muzzle. For tomorrow I'm probably gonna start working on the trigger mod, so I'll have a look through my tools and will hopefully find a fitting nail. Also I might attach the grip to the tube, but I'm not really sure about the best and easiest way to achieve that, so if anyone has been there (and I know you have ), please don't hesitate to hit me up! P.S.: Is there any clever way to overcome the 71,68 KB size limit for pictures?

Alrighty, first update in a long time... If only I could study psychotherapy for Ewoks or something cute, humans are just waaay too complicated The first couple of images I'm gonna put up here are from when I received my kit and when I started to spray paint the single parts (first person I asked about crafting was my dad who apparently has never built an E11 before, so I've got most of the blaster parts painted already). Hopefully this won't cause too much trouble, but I'll see about that later. I decided to use the FISD Blaster Reference as a step-by-step instruction, but I'm also gonna look at Dan's (CableGuys's) build as I find it really easy to follow due to the ton of pictures (cheers for that, and congrats on your beautiful work! BlasTech would be proud!). First up on the menu therefore will be the Receiver Tube, bit of drilling should get me heated up for the rest of the blaster!

What's up FISD, my name is Freddy, and I'm a student and long-time Star Wars fan from Duisburg, Germany. I've recently picked up an ANOVOS ANH Stormtrooper kit as well as an ANH E11 Blaster Kit consisting of a DoopyDoo's resin kit and T-Jay's completion kit. After a lot of reading and research I am going to start building it properly in the next couple of days, and as T-Jay suggested, I am also going to document my progress here. As I am an absolute beginner when it comes to cosplaying and crafting stuff in general (I was always more of a "I'll just buy it finished" sort of guy, but students don't have that much money to spare...sigh), I am really looking forward to getting advice from this all-international community with soooo much experience! So yeah, I'll keep you updated, and if anyone has tips and tricks, hints etc. for me, all of it is appreciated, I'll accept any help I can get! Looking forward to a brilliant and fun time together! Freddy (hopefully an approved TK soon)