I'm Batman

That's what I'm thinking....

Useless post number whatever - it's interesting to see where people within our community live. I just google mapped Valparaiso. Looks very nice. Very green!

One last question - the height/length of the cup is 33mm. Is that how far it protrudes from the end of the bolt (the visible length) - ie: it doesn't actually insert into the bolt at all (like I did do with my timber one)? Actually 2 - How deep is the hole in the second picture?

Looks great Paul. One thing I note, is that most snowy pics I've seen have the shoulders further down off the shoulder. I guess more vertical against the upper arm instead of actually on the shoulders causing them to stick out. What are your thoughts there?

That's the winning picture! Awesome as ever. Thank you. Betcha you could tear that Sterling down with your eyes closed now. Perhaps 'recess' is the wrong word, but that 'hole' is what I was referring to as the 'recess'. I will carve that out, just for a bit of definition. Thanks again.

That's what I need to do! One for my ANH TK. One for my ESB TS.

Super dodgy drawing time! Aaron, do you think the bottom of the cup (the bit that we see), is flat, or has the recess. If it is a recess, as per Brian's pics, I could understand this to be the same diameter to house the smaller inner spring in a 'seat'.

Congrats!

Hmmm, what is this 'other project' that keeps getting dropped into other peoples threads. Are there little clues being laid that we don't know about? How many projects does this Master Aaron have in his little workshop? Many, many questions..... Great pics Aaron. More insight to the nature of a real Sterling to all us resin builders. Brian - I assume the Doopy is solid at the muzzle end to allow you to do that?

Thanks guys. I really appreciate the feedback and recommendations. That first pic, Aaron, I think is the main pic I've seen floating around. Brian, your pic definitely does seem to show that it is hollowed or at least recessed, doesn't it? I wonder if others who have played with real Sterlings (Aaron, Derrek, others?) could confirm whether this is the norm, or unique to that particular picture. Either way, I guess I could recess it, just to give it that extra detail and depth

Thanks Tino! I have stretched it very marginally. Probably lost 1 or 2 coils from original. I didn't want to go too far however, for the fear of losing the function. If I don't get too many negatives, I think I'll leave it as is. Cheers Brian. We all want gizmos and gadgets, don't we ? Haha, best you go obey the master before you get into trouble! Looking at the Apex Guns site, the long handle is for full auto guns, whereas the small handle is for semi auto. I think I may have read somewhere that Lou hollowed the bolt out to allow for electronics. I guess having this bolt hollow dictated the need for the small handle?? You do realise, I may well need to buy one of YOUR kits when you have finished with all these grand plans and improvements!

Update time, and advice requested before I do any glueing... Part 2 of the Bolt, including the Spring: We've already discussed how great the DVH bolt is - cast from a real bolt. Looks great. One of my first encounters with a 'Resin Build' was at an armor party where a trooper had his E-11. I went "Ahh, cool!" and proceded to pull the bolt back. I was too late because the person before me had already done that and broken his charging handle because it was a non functioning one. That made me decide mine had to be functioning and strong! Instead of just gluing the handle to the bolt, I drilled about 3/4 down the length of the handle and epoxy'd a 2inch nail down the hole. It sits about 20mm into the handle with 25mm protruding to be epoxy'd into the bolt after painting. The Spring: As previously discussed I wanted function over form, so had to try to find a spring that would look good, be close to realistic, but more importantly WORK! A couple of attempts to make one out of a coathanger, then garden wire failed miserably, so I realised I had to find a REAL spring. As Aaron has stated a spring needs to be made of 'spring' steel to maintain its coils and spring action. My searches led me to Pirtek, http://www.pirtek.com.au/, a hydraulic hose and fluids supplier. They had a spring - presumably sold by the metre as the piece they had was about 1m long - which they gladly cut off 150mm for FREE! And now I can comfortably pull back the charging handle an easy 50mm or so and it returns to it's position. It also allows the rear cap to push forward, then spring back to allow the folding stock to catch properly. Win/Win! (Lose - I have too many coils showing, however I think it looks better than the few examples where only 6 or 7 are showing) And now the advice please - the extra little bit between the bolt and the spring. There's only a few pics out there which I've tried to model, but what do you think? Close enough? (I will straighten it before gluing - wanted the advice first ) Cheers Ian

But do you sell Care Bears?

AWESOME work Brian. Amazing detail, as Aaron says, taking things to a new level. Is that sight block actually now functional as far as raising and lowering the sight pin? That 'big mess' of yours is a pristine workplace in my house! Keep up the fantastic work.

It would be nice if that imprint went all the way top to bottom. Hopefully you can make it work. Looks like it will leave a nice impression.

Well I must thank everyone for their input. Tino - for posting those photos, LATE!!!! (Sarcasm ) Vern - for offering to provide one of his clips free Dennis - for also agreeing to send me one I had messaged Dennis just before Vern offered one to me and he gladly obliged also. Troopers helping Troopers Oh, and of course Aaron for suggesting the idea

Sucks to be sick. Hopefully nothing too serious and long term... I went out today to the place I told you about. The spring looked ok, so I went to buy it. It came on a big long length so he just cut me off a bit for free! Nice. We'll see how it goes in the next day or so.

Welcome back Brian. We have missed you...! I did a cabinet making course, where our assessments were passed if we were within a mm. Even a mm in that scenario is wrong and looks like a mistake. Anyway, that sight block looks awesome. New levels yet again.... Can't wait to see this dovetail in the receiver. That should be good.

Mighty kind of you Vern. I have already sent a pm to Dennis, so I'll see what he says first, then pm you if need be. Thank you!

Good build overall Milo! That forearm is very distracting. Probably won't affect any approvals, but just make sure it's positioned correctly for future photos. If it regularly rotates, you should look at at fixing it with extra padding/strapping. I think the ammo pack should be positioned higher in the top corners too. Steve probably won't make you change it for EIB, but maybe for Centurion if you venture that way. Good luck!

Favor sounds better . I suppose he'll only say no....

Not sure about the use of the word 'precision' Aaron, but thank you. Thanks Tino, it will certainly tone down a bit. That is literally one light coat of paint from an airbrush, so very thin. I'll have a serious think about the the counter. I see the variation now, and in another of Snaggletooths for sale items as well. I'm not sure a bit of green stuff will have any strength hanging on by 3x2mm of self sticking. It may be a compromise of form over function. It's on the 'consider' list, but thank you for highlighting it now. Cheers

I'd start by doing a heap of research and reading other build threads, specifically RS builds. They will quite often answer your questions. Otherwise, start up a build thread and/or post some pictures with your specific concerns. Cheers

Thank you Derrek! I do appreciate the feedback. Perhaps on your re-mold list, do we need the writing on the bottom of the magazine "Blastec Imperial Issue 1977 E-11". I don't think it looked all that flash, so have puttied over it. On the top side there was also the imperial cog in a raised mold. This obviously had to be sanded off to fit the cylinders so would be considered a waste of time being there. And I and others salute you for binging this kit up to new unprecedented levels!

Ok, while having nightmares about my spring, I have done a few other little things, made some adjustments and hopefully improvements based on some of your recommendations. Added some wires to the power cylinders. They just seemed incomplete witout them (excuse the dust ) A couple of pics of paint on the front sight Fixed up the missing cavity on the undersaide of the magazine Filled everything with putty Sanded Originally tried to manually carve out the oval. Failed miserably, so I cut the green stuff back out, then cut up a Doopy Doos T-Track And popped that in. Put in the ittle circle engravings with a hole punch Hengstler - Before being told by Vern to reasearch more! Target: A bunch of green stuff Shaping..... Carving.... And pretty much done. A coat of paint did reveal some swirl marks caused by the dremel. I've since re-sanded these areas and it does look a whole lot better. Final pics to come on final painting of the blaster, but yes, I think this does look better. Thanks for pointng it out Vern