*I need to begin this thread by giving the biggest thanks and appreciation to @justjoseph63. If it weren't for him, this project would have ended badly. He put up with my endless questions to try to get this as screen accurate as possible... so I humbly bow to you in greatness!*
I was 12 years old when ANH was released in 1977, and ever since then I wanted my own E-11 blaster. As time went on, I still wanted one, but could never afford a "real" one. The blaster slipped my mind for a while, until I stumbled on one by accident. It was one by Blaster Master on MyMiniFactory. Here is the link:
https://www.myminifactory.com/object/3d-print-star-wars-storm-trooper-blastech-e-11-blaster-rifle-by-blaster-master-72283
It was an old upload, so the electronics that could be used with it were no longer sold. I wasn't sure if I wanted sounds/lights yet... I just wanted to build it anyway.
It was printed using Hatchbox Black ABS on a Sovol SV01 FDM printer, with some parts printed with an Elegoo Mars 3 Pro resin printer.
I'll start the thread with a picture of some of the parts printed and assembled. The barrel was in 3 pieces, glued together and sanded to hide the seams. The magazine is 2 pieces. The tail end comes off. I use it to hide the battery for the electronics I used (more on that later...). The T-Tracks were 2 pieces, the top rail part printed with TPU, to keep it looking and feeling rubbery. I got the spring from Blaster Factory... I had to actually cut it down a bit because the compression was way too much for this build, but it worked great.
Every part in this build was sanded numerous times, painted with matte black primer/paint, then sprayed with a matte clear coat.
Another note: I'm sure things in this build won't conform to any certification, and I won't be doing the full armor anytime soon, but I TOTALLY respect this community, and plan on being here for a long time. If this will get me a weapon certification, that would be pretty cool, but I'm still not too up on how that all works yet...