Rubies E11 mod

[artimorty]

Hi there.

Today I've gone for the selector switch. First, using reference pictures for shape and size, I draw miself a sketch on paper to use it as a template. Then cut it and glued on to a piece of sintra covered with masking tape (sorry, forgot to take a picture to document this step, getting lazy about taking so many pics, I think). With the template on the sintra, I went to carve the shape on the old bench grinding machine. Then I used a piece of plastic tube to get the base of the piece. Is one of those hollow tubes you get with the balloons they give to the children in holidays parties or in family restaurants and the like. I have a lot waiting to become handy one day. Make a cut along the diameter line of the tube and filed it to receive the sintra piece and glued both together.

After that filled the inner hollow with milliput paste and laid a narrow layer of milliput on both sides of the flat part. Then, while the putty was still fresh, pressed and rolled the head of an old screwdriver to get squared impressions on it, as seen on the fabulous e11 blaster reference thread for the front sight. This trick works better if the putty and the tool you are using to get the impression are both a little wet.

When cured, I will try to sand the edges and the odd surfaces, and have yet to think about how to attach this to the main body. Probably screw from the inside. Happy how this turn out.

Any comments are more than welcome.

Thanks for reading.

 

 

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Edited February 25, 2017 by artimorty

[artimorty]

Not much advance today. Just playing with the release button on the magazine. Using the same technic that I used on the fake rivets of the folding stock, I cut the button on the rubies' clip. Then repaired the clip, rounded the bottom, engrave the screw line with a file.

Glued it to a plastic bar, made that thicker using masking tape that later was covered with putty. Cut to the length I felt was right and glued the new piece into position.

 

Now thinking how to mod the rest of the magazine and the magazine clip. Stay tuned... this is becoming an obsession!

 

 

 

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Edited February 26, 2017 by artimorty

[Bulldog44[TK]]

This is coming along really well. Love the mods you have done. Impressive!

[artimorty]

This is coming along really well. Love the mods you have done. Impressive!

Thanks very much for your kind words and for come around here, Brian. Means a lot to get support from top builders like yourself. Hope I can make you smile once I get to mod the scope!... Any tricks and advice will be appreciated.

[artimorty]

Have to take a couple of days off... beach time with the family. Get you all later on. Thanks again.

Edited February 27, 2017 by artimorty

[Bulldog44[TK]]

I was not actually a big fan of remodeling the rubies blasters due to the amount of customizing needed but you make it look fun and easy. I am totally lovin this project. Looking forward to the scope mod for sure. No advice yet, I think you are doing great. I may try this with one of my disney blasters. Enjoy the beach!

[artimorty]

Hi again.

It seems I could spend more time on this project next week, so let's get back to work!

I've gone for the mechanism that release the magazine clip. There are two parts. The cilinder was done with a wooden bar cut to size. Then drilled out a hole through it. I tried then to screw an hexagonal screw as seen on reference pictures, but no matter how I did it, it always ended breaking the wood. Wasted three attempts until I decided to go around the problem. Made again a small wood bar cut to size, then drilled a smaller hole through it, the bigger I could go without risking breaking the piece and then cut a slice of the screw that latter will be glued over the hole.

 

 

Then, covered the upper side of the piece with milliput and while still fresh, made three "o" marks with a brass tube to mimic the pictures.

The other part is a flat triangular piece that I cut from the same old sign used before. Glued it in position and here comes a test of both of them. Once the milliput is dried, I'll glue the slice of the screw on the hole and the cilinder will be set in position using a "bed" of milliput to resemble the welding of the original.

 

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Edited March 4, 2017 by artimorty

[artimorty]

While the milliput dries, I've started to mod the selector switch area. Using files, sanded the down left "horn" of the handle to give more space and make it more similar to the pictures. Also sanded the handle over the screw and up to the folding stock, in this case with rounded files to give the area the curved look.

Then, freehanded with a pencil the contour I wanted to stand out. Traced this line on a thin paper, cut it and stick glued the paper over a thin plastic sheet. Cut the plastic out and tested the piece in position with the selector switch.

 

 

I'm thinking now on using tin foil tape on the lower area, but don't know if it would be better to do this at this time (before I glue the new plastic piece) and protect the tin foil with masking tape or liquid latex to preserve it during the painting or better use the tin foil tape after painting the blaster.

Also thinking on how to create the ARS letters. Cutting them out of the plastic sheet or getting 4mm punching letters and stamping them... More tests needed.

Edited March 4, 2017 by artimorty

[artimorty]

Hi again.

Been slowed down by real life. Last week the house has been crazy with total overhauling of the kitchen and bathrooms. Dust and boxes everywhere. My sw projects have been delayed more than expected, but that also gives me time to think next moves.

Now I came up with the idea of modding the magazine clip itself. For that, I traced the lines I wanted directly over the blaster, transport those lines to a translucent paper and used them to build a template for 6 pieces that were copied and cut out from a thin sheet of plastic.

 

 

In the pictures you can also notice I've roughly placed some milliput in the gap line of the magazine port to resemble some wielding lines. Also you can see the releasing mechanism now in position.

 

 

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[artimorty]

With the activated milliput that inevitably I have in excess, I'm starting to mold a rectangular section inside the folding stock to give some perspective through the holes.

 

 

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[artimorty]

Annnnnnnd here are the pieces glued on the magazine clip.

 

 

Now for the OFF -> plate. First template I've done was too big, probably I took the measurements wrong transporting them to the paper from the pictures. For the letters themselves I'm thinking about using a 4mm punch letters set, I think the size is correct, but since I've to buy the set anyway... does anybody know if they come in different fonts and if so which one is the right?

 

 

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[artimorty]

Ok. Not much feedback on the OFF-> letters font and a couple of failures in size and shape of the off plate itself and the piece on the magazine clip side have been very frustrating and decided to take a break on the magazine and focus on other part. Now it's time to mod the Hengstler counter:

First, and as usual, draw my templates using foto references, then stickglued them on a piece of plastic covered with masking tape and cut them to shape.

Then using minifiles and sanding sticks, smoothed the contours. Glued them in position.

 

Same process was done for one square shaped and two long "T" pieces on the side, and two long and narrow "T" pieces on the top.

Afterwards, I decided to add a squared piece on the back half of the counter to increase the gap between both sides and reduce the way all the new pieces on the front stand out.

Then I added two slices of plastic tube cut to size and glued in the central window, and placed a screw in the front one. This screw will be glued in position after painting the blaster to keep it nice, clean and shiny.

When I get some milliput going, I will cover the mini-gaps in the corner between the "T" pieces on the top and the side, and the gap between the back half of the counter and his plate.

 

Wooooow, more than 500 views!!! Thanks for watching!!!

 

 

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Edited March 29, 2017 by artimorty

[artimorty]

Sorry. Double post! Some trouble with tapatalk.

Edited March 30, 2017 by artimorty

[artimorty]

Little progress, but still some.

Since I had to use some metallic spray paint for a side project (my Rey's nn-14 blaster for my daughter), I saw the opportunity to make the inner bar for the folding stock. So I cut a wood bar, sanded, spray paint in rustoleum gloss black and after dried, two light coats of rustoleum metallic chrome paint.

I think this paint works great in selling the trick of an aluminum rod.

 

 

Thanks for your attention.

 

 

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[kman[TK]]

Wow.  That's one heck of an impressive amount of modding.  I wouldn't have the patience, I hope you enjoy the actual process as much as the final product!

[artimorty]

Wow. That's one heck of an impressive amount of modding. I wouldn't have the patience, I hope you enjoy the actual process as much as the final product!

Thanks for stopping by, kalani. I'm having sooooo much fun with this and I couldn't have imagined it in advance

Probably because up to now, most of the things I've tried have worked out well, and that's encouraging and have taken me to try other things time after time. The main problem I have now is where to stop, cos any picture I see for references get me thinking... "how I could get something like that on my blaster?". Really enjoying this.

[djmatrix09[TK]]

You've inspired me to mod a Rubies! Not going crazy with my Dremel, just ttracks, holes in the barrel, stock, and charging track. With a few added 3d printed greeblies, it'll look pretty good.

[artimorty]

You've inspired me to mod a Rubies! Not going crazy with my Dremel, just ttracks, holes in the barrel, stock, and charging track. With a few added 3d printed greeblies, it'll look pretty good.

Thanks Andrew. Best luck in your mods. Please, consider to start a thread so I can follow your progress and learn how you solve same problems on a different approach. I'm also adding some 3D printed parts later on... some things aren't easy to build.

You will see that the rubies plastic is veeeery soft and it's easy to sand, melt, drill, mill or mod... that said for good and for bad, it doesn't break easy and reacts very well to CA glue, so I'd suggest using some 60 secs drying over the faster ones.

Any question or suggestions... feel free to ask. Glad to help if I can.

Edited March 31, 2017 by artimorty

[artimorty]

Well, today I've working again on the magazine to finish the area.<br>

First cut the pieces for the small clip. Three pieces glued together. Then placed a tube section inside and make two fake small bolts out of some tamiya modelling putty.<br>

 

Finally went for the off plate, but since I don't know yet how to engrave some decent letters on it, I'll skip that part for later if I ever do that.<br>

Just cut a plastic plate, cut the corners in angles and drilled a hole on it. Then, once glued, carved a smaller hole inside the one in the plate to accommodate a metal ball I got from a ball chain, the ones that come with the skin stoppers.<br>

Pretty happy with how this is coming along.<br>

Thanks for your attention.

Edited March 31, 2017 by artimorty

[artimorty]

Little advance today. I've done the reset bottom for the hengstler counter and the little trap under the magazine port. The first with a piece of plastic from a sign, and the second with a thin piece of plastic, glued in position and sanded as flat as possible.

Now modding the other half of the handle. Stay tuned.

 

 

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[artimorty]

Hi again. Today I've started the modding of the right side of the handle. After studying several images, I didn't see any easy way to approach the right form, so I went for something close enough, at least in my opinion. Decided to carve out most of the upper side of the piece, from the top of free-lock sign up to the folding stock. Even when this leaves a middle section much longer to the trigger that it should be, there is not much more I can do without a major transformation of the whole grip, and at least this mod resembles more the general contour of the piece.

 

A little safety advice here. While dremeling the area, a small piece of melted plastic that was pointy and hot flew at an amazing speed and reached my unprotected eye. No worries, I'm ok. But something much worse could have happened. And I'm a complete idiot because I have protective glasses just beside me, but a combination of laziness, stupidity, overconfidence and rushed work could have cost me an eye. And by the way, I detected a safety issue with the dremel. It has no "panic button" or "dead man safety", meaning this that once started, if you have any issue that makes you take your hand off the machine (you get cut, it drops, you faint, you slip and fall, a zombi rampage your neighborhood, you name it!), it will continue running uncontrolled... with potentially disastrous consequences...

After this "safety first" speech, ill get back to topic:

Then I started to cover the hole I just made with scratch pieces of sintra to get the new shape.

Those were CA glued together to form a case that once dried will hold some putty to get the proper shape, if my plans go well. This was a little tricky since I had to work in a tiny space, with small pieces and all sticky with glue, and from the inside to the outside.

 

I forgot to mention the other day that I also made the impressions on the sights using some milliput and the hold of and old automatic screwdriver, as seen on the blaster reference thread.

 

Let's see if tomorrow I can make the new form on the handle. Stay tuned!

Thanks for watching.

 

 

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Edited April 6, 2017 by artimorty

[artimorty]

Hello again.

Been thinking about the right handle time after time, and after paying closer attention to several pictures, I wasn't very pleased with the last mods and decided I can try something better.

First I decided I had to mod more of the part conecting to the trigger guard, it was too way out of proportions and made the thing look strange. Made new pencil marks for later be carved out.

Then I understood that something was wrong the way the trigger group retaining pin looked (had to look for the right name of the area). Three things bothered me the most about it. It stands out when should be standing below. It is smaller than it should be and it's somehow out of place. Sooooo, made an stencil of a circle that I felt was right in size and used it to draw a new and bigger circle in a better placement.

I also saw the chance to mod the back part of the trigger, to give it a more straight and sharp angle, instead of the rounded appearance that it has.

Dremel time again! But now with protective clear hard glasses... all offending excess material was taken away.

Then, once I was more or less happy with it, I started the building of the new contour, initially using sintra leftovers to cover the main holes and give support for the putty later on.

I call this second round against the right handle mine, but this isn't over yet. Stay tuned.

Thanks for reading.

 

 

 

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[artimorty]

Hi there. Been busy with this project last two days. I think that successfully finishing my other side project (the nn-14 blaster for my daughter, also on this forums, you shouldn't miss it! ) has left me a hole hard to fill and I'm trying to overcompensate with doble work on this.

I am eager to share this tasty and funny update with you all (it's already April's fool?). I must confess that last night I fell asleep thinking about how to make the free-lock letters on the trigger group pin... there's not an easy answer for making this letters . First I thought making them casting liquid plastic on a clay mold, but then the letters would have come out mirrored...

This morning, just as I opened my eyes an answer came to me... as illuminated by the midiclorians themselves: "use the... Soup!!!" Of course, pasta letters! That pasta letters used for the soups. So, with this idea on mind I went to different supermarkets till a got two different brands of pasta letters, little differences between their letters, in shape, size and fonts.

This afternoon I searched for the some viable letters. If you ever asked, the "k" is by far the most difficult letter to find in a common package and this is a fact. And as scarce as they are, not many of them look fine enough.

After I selected a couple of each letter needed, I sanded them flat very carefully on a sand paper.

Then a test on the piece. It was tricky to glue them, due to how tiny and light they are. I used a school transparent glue, that allow repositioning and is slow curing.

The c and the k broke a couple of time and had to take some more.

Once cured, I covered them all with a light layer of CA superglue, the one that is applied with a brush... to seal the pasta letters and keep them in place forever. An unexpected effect occurred then, luckily a happy one since I hadn't make any previous tests on how CA glue interacts with pasta. Somehow it melted the letters a little bit, making the much smother than before. I think now they look much better.

Well, that's all for now. I know my letters are not the right size (just a tiny tiny bit bigger) or the right font, but Hey! I've got letters on my rubie's handle! How cool is that?!

I've to take a few days off on vacation. Sadly, building the new contour with putty will have to wait until we get back. Hope to get back here soon with news.

Stay tuned.

Thanks for reading.

 

 

 

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Edited April 6, 2017 by artimorty

[R2D22012]

WOW! Great job! I'm liking this build.

 

 

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[artimorty]

WOW! Great job! I'm liking this build.

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Thanks very much. Very kind of you. I'm having a lot of fun. Hopefully tomorrow I could get back to get some work done. I have a couple ideas I want to try. Let's see what happens.