Yet Another DLT-19 Build

[Allerg3n]

Quick update - finished the gun this weekend.  Big post with lots of pics inbound soon.  Had to make a few sacrifices (and discovered that I misaligned my barrel holes) but I think it easily passes the 5 Foot Rule and it looks pretty badass to boot.

 

Standby...

Edited May 19, 2014 by Allerg3n

[Allerg3n]

Big [PIC HEAVY] post inbound...  I'll leave descriptions a bit short and try to let the pics speak for themselves.

 

Picking up from where my last post left off, at this point I started to build in the attachment for the legs.  I carved out the front PVC piece and ran a screw through it, and sealed it with epoxy putty.

 

 

Used a piece of scrap oak as the coupler for the legs. I was a dullard and did not take pics of carving.  In order to make the legs functional, I drilled a 3/8" hole lengthwise through the coupler and carved a perpendicular channel into the hole. Then I used some 3/8" dowels and crafted a T-shaped axle.  Some pics of the T-part:

 

 

 

You can see the nut resting in the top of the T section below. That's what screws into the PVC above.

 

I cut the angle brackets to the proper length and joined them together with some pins, nuts, and magic. A little sheet metal trim later and I ended up with this:

 

Back (faces the underside of the barrel when closed)

 

Front

 

Magical contraption in the open position:

 

And closed:

 

Recessed channels on either side to allow legs to expand:

 

 

Used another piece of dowel and a thumb screw to secure them to the barrel:

 

Then, on to carving the sights.  I started taking short cuts here because I'm rapidly running out of time to complete all these projects by Labor Day, and I honestly could take another 6 months just to finish the detail work on this gun. Sights were all carved out of spare balsa wood or pine.

 

Front sight closed:

 

Front sight open:

 

Fun perspective shot;

 

Rear sight closed. This is not as complete as it could be (the wing attachment to indicate distance isn't there) but I can always carve that and add it later.

 

 

 

Rear sight open:

 

 

 

More detail work...

 

Carved a notch into the rest for the rear sight:

 

Added the ejection hole (props again to Vince):

 

Underside of leg attachment piece:

 

I narrowed the strap attachment on the main barrel:

 

And on to things that were irritating me. The rear metal piece had gone all wonky when I first attached it and was not sitting level with the top of the gun.  So I popped it off and shimmed it up, then re-set it with JB Weld.  Nice and level now.

 

Repair from the side:

 

The unscathed side (for reference):

 

Corner shot of the repair:

 

I added a "screw" disc to the top piece. This is attached to the wooden side because I need to open it to get to the electronics.

 

Next I carved grips. This was done freehand using a Dremel (it shows), but from 5 feet away you can't much tell the difference.

 

 

 

Did the same to the butt of the gun, and installed a disc as well.  I thought this came out much better than the grips.

 

For T-Track, I decided I didn't want to shell out major $$$ for exact replicas, since this whole build is neat but not exactly exact.  So I took the more general advice to "find a rake" and dropped $10 at a hardware store.  Trimmed up the pieces and attached with superglue and wire.  You can also see in the following shots that I added some basswod to make the leg attachment piece stand out a bit more. This was glued on.

 

 

 

 

 

I noticed when trying to attach the T-Tracks that I had inadvertently misaligned the barrel holes when I first drilled it several months ago.  While this sucks, it's not *too* severe, and the added bonus is that my light effects will show through a bit more than they would have.  The downside is that I have no place to attach a wire around the leg attachment screw because there aren't any holes in the barrel nearby:

 

Rounded the edges on the legs:

 

Assembled immediately prior to painting:

 

For paint, I chose black Rustoleum Primer and Rustoleum Oil-Rubbed Bronze. I picked Rustoleum because it'll cover just about anything and I'm using a variety of materials in the build.  Oil-rubbed bronze has a nice dark metallic look to it, so it comes out looking gunmetal black.  Like this:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The butt only got primed - I didn't use the bronze on it.  I used some Raw Umber acrylic on it but it needs a bit more work to make it look like bakelite.

 

I was a dunce and didn't tape up some of my joints, so I'll have to sand those out (that's why the front piece is crooked and the barrel doesn't screw in all the way).  But all together, here's the "final" product (minus weathering and more "bake" in the bakelite):

 

 

 

 

 

 

All that's left is the (minor) painting details, and a coat of semi-gloss polyurethane to protect it.  It's been a long road, but boy will it be fun to troop with a working DLT-19!

 

Thanks again everyone - looking forward to putting my armor together (hopefully it will go more quickly than this).

[Tylerec]

Great skills.

Thanks for sharing.

[NastyNoah[TK]]

So freaking awesomr !!!!!  I may need to build one now.

[Allerg3n]

Thanks guys!  

 

Last build update - here's pics after weathering and clearcoating.  Weathering was pretty much a thinned out black acrylic wash (probably 25% acrylic, 75% water), followed up with silver drybrush, especially on raised areas.  I used a gloss clearcoat because it was the only thing we had lying around. Will probably re-coat with a semigloss eventually, but it looks badass enough for me right now.  She's finally done!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks again - moving operations to the armor assembly thread.  

 

  

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Some nice detail work there, well done

[Allerg3n]

Thank you sir!  That's an honor coming from someone of your skill and caliber.  

[haui[TK]]

Great work, thank you for the great pics

[ModTerrik]

Nice work it looks beautiful, especially the paint job.

 

I wish I had half the craftsmanship skills you have.

 

P.S. I also just recently got put on the waiting list for a set of ATA armor and 

in the mean time I'm going to pick myself up a Hyperfirm DLT-19 any recommendations?

[CedricStorm[TK]]

 

hi aller3gn

super blaster is a good job. Is that what you have files for the plan dlt19 ??? I'd like to make one too. thank you ^^

[Dougal[501st]]

Great job!!! Makes me want to build...

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Edited September 30, 2014 by Dougal