thederek

Finally, I cut a small chunk of dowel off to be the bolt extension. That's about as far as I got. I really have no idea how to proceed at this point, but am determined to figure it out. I think I'm going to glue the wooden dowel to the doopy's bolt, and redesign the "slant" of the bolt to extend upwards. I'm thinking I might sand/engrave to raise the bolt surface vs. gluing stuff on, but that seems a bit more challenging and too easy to mess up. What do you all think? This is a point where I can use the guidance. I looked at Tim's thread and a few others. I guess I'll keep reading before I get to that point. Until then, I am not putting the barrel plug in, nor any other attachments that can get in the way when I'm tinkering with this. Here's just the "bolt extension" (complete with my putty repairs from the first few posts ). You can kind of see where I left some of the original design (more or less) when I had to sand the whole thing down to fit inside my PVC pipe). What do you think on the size? According to Aaron, I tried to use his specs (more or less) of a Sterling bolt. He wanted me to share this to help future builders as well. Doopy Do bolt is 2-3/4" long (his was, and so was mine) Real Sterling bolt is 4-7/8" long. So I made the size of the dowel to "complete" the 4 7/8" measurement. It's good enough for me, honestly. I'm not going to split hairs over mm's and what not. It depends on how far you want to mount the bolt, and also (per Aaron) take into account the recoil buffer if you want. I of course in C-student fashion, said heck with the buffer. It will most likely cause a catastrophic failure/miscalculation later. Finally, I put in a piece of the spring I want to use. Obviously, it's not the length I want, I was experimenting with the circumference, what do you all think? Does the thickness look ok (I know the coils aren't symmetrical at this point either, did a lot of test fitting with it which caused it to bend a bit)?

So made some more progress today. My scope rail project was vomit. I just can't get the right bend on it. I think I might invest in getting one precut. Takes the "pioneer/do it yourself" fun out of it, but I also hate effin' stuff up repeatedly as well. Anyways, something that I thought DID turn out well today. I colored my letters with a white crayon like Tim (Dark CMF) and others have done. Came out well. I simply wiped off the excess pretty darn easy with a spare towel. I also forgot which thread I saw this idea (sorry, someone PM if they find out), but I decided to cut out a small chunk of CD to add to the smaller scope as a cool optic effect which is better than a blank, black hole. Apparently I can dremel skillz a tiny paper hole-punch size of CD, but can't drill a hole into a trigger stock. AHEM, moving along before I rant again.I cut out some chunks of CD. It cuts like butter with a cutter attachment on the dremel. I didn't really photograph the next step, but I put on the sander attachment and kept going around and around, forming a circle and shaving down the CD chunk. Then I realized, this separates into two pieces. I pulled them apart, one layer is a clear piece of plastic, the other is the "shiny", holographic bit. So I tossed the clear piece aside as it did nothing for me and kept test-fitting the holographic piece to the smaller hole as I slowly went. Finally, I got the results I wanted, and this made me really happy for some reason. Probably because it's project 2 of 7 that actually turned out how I wanted! It just adds a unique, optic effect for all us poor souls who can't fork over $100's for real scopes. Simply glued it with a tiny bit of E6000. Different angles/color effects: Finally, I ordered some decals off of Trooper Bay for the scope. Just a neat addition, nothing too crazy. Again, just dressing up a resin scope. Striker did a heck of great job weathering the body of the scope for me, but went a little heavy on the sight for my purposes, but that's ok. I plan to sand some of it down a bit, just so it doesn't have that "painted on" look. Other than that, fantastic quality scope for resin and the price! The final look (minus the other side of course):

Looking at you Tim and Steve, am I missing something? Do you all mean this thread is boring? Surely I've seen worse...

I dunno, I find this stuff wayyy more riveting than the conversations I have with coworkers or the emails I have to read!

Lol, this might help? Interesting thread I started http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/27169-anh-e11-m38-vs-m19-preference/

Thanks! And all I can say is ZOMG I think I'll stick with my M19, and just pickup a Hengstler from Pete/Striker. Waiting to hear back from Andy on the Power Cylinders to order. Then it's to wire, or not to wire, huh?

Hey all, Was just wondering which scope everyone prefers? I've seen most E11's from ANH with M38's, and I know most of the ESB's have M19's. However, I know both versions of the scopes were used, at least according to the website, The Parts of Star Wars. So since I want to go for Centurion with my E11 ANH, I was wondering what everyone used. I started an ESB build, and changed my mind midway (which is still salvagable, just need some additional parts), and I already have an M19 resin scope. I was thinking about just keeping it since it was used on some versions, as opposed to shelling out more money for a resin M38. I know the differences aren't HUGE between them or anything. What are your thoughts on this, good or bad? Curious to what the community thinks. Quick Ref guide screen snip:

Going to try and spend more time today working on the blaster. My M19 scope arrived from Striker, and it looks great! I was originally doing an ESB E11 when I posted this thread and then later changed my mind. Still debating on whether to get an M38 scope, since both were used in ANH. These scopes look good to me, they are black resin and he even weathered it for me. Thanks Pete! Now just need to get a white crayon and make the letters pop! There are a few threads in regards to this, the most recent one I looked at was Dark CMF's.

Finally, I would like to add, here is my idea/plan for the scope rail. The end will be "standard" per the plans Aaron posted. However I think I might slightly bend the front portion that goes into the barrell hole in a slight "S" shape to hold it better. This is all in theory, once I actually try and bend, etc and measure, this might change. I just think with an extra bend at the front no one would notice, it might stay in better. Here's the high-tech scehmatic, measured with calipers and state of the art computers:

I agree with you guys. Why this was done adds even more confusion, but like Tim said, I would stay aware from messing up the back site. Maybe he made the bar too long and didn't want to cut and rebend the end? Especially in this pic, where you can see the "crescent" slot where the tapered end should go. (Bottom of rear sight, crescent moon)

Yes, thank you! It was the 1/8" is what I was looking for, that measurement. And the 3/4" wide. I had the 1/16 x 1/2" and 1/8 x 1/2". The 1/16 is way too thin, so I knew that was wrong. The 1/8 x 1/2 felt the right thickness, but didn't seem wide enough, so there ya go!

Not a problem! I'm just glad there was a much better option out there for me other than what I had. I'll be sure to post pics of the mag and holster when they come in!

Thanks Aaron! Yea, Gaz did a nice job on these, and for the price, just makes it so much better. I could puddy over the old one if really needed, but think I might hang on to it in case someone is really in need of a mag as a last case scenario I could provide mind and can be either kept as-is or puddied if someone wants to. Trying to keep it in the spirit of Troopers Helping Troopers, as a few folks have already offered me spare parts. I will be sure to take my time when sanding for the fit. As I said, most of my concern right now is about doing the bolt extension.

Tim, I'm not sure if you went over it (going back over 15 pages is much too long for someone with ADHD like me, haha). Have you completed the scope rail yet? Either way, the more pressing question is: What are the exact dimensions of the flat alum bar supposed to be? I'm not worried so much by length and bending (as almost all builds could be off by a few mm's in length, in theory), but I'm more concerned about thickness and width. I think I bought some from Lowe's the other day by trying to eye ball it, and it is 1/16" by 1/2" I think but it doesn't seem right. It's not too terribly expensive, but was wondering if someone saw a good thread on the rail, that actually lays out the dimension? I've seen the detailed diagrams on how to bend and cut (the "famous" thread) but I don't think I saw an exact measurement in that thread to me recollection. Do you or Aaron know what it should be? Other than that looking good man, can't wait to see more pics.

Not sure why the quoting feature won't work for me today but this is in reference to: "I know it's a bit too late now but if you need it my kit came with an extra selector switch. Just send a PM if you want it." Hey Brian! Thank you, I really appreciate it, but I think I'm good for now. I'll just leave it in the "Auto" position. I'm sure I really could have engineered a fix for it, but at that point even though it would be cool to move around, wasn't the end of the world in retrospect. I'll be honest with you, I expect this thing to all break at some point in time after it's completed I hope I'm wrong! Thank you all for all the offers of help and spare parts.

This is all for tonight and for a few days; I'm currently working on a spring and think I have that figured out. I'm waiting for Power cylinders (resin) and Hengstler counter, so at this point I"m taking my time. Deciding on what to do with a scope rail. I finally sanded down the barrel plug to fit properly (that took a lot of time too. Probably about 2 hours for bolt and barrel plug, to SLOWLY sand down as to custom fit). I also sanded a bit of the end of the PVC down to accept the butt cap. I will add those pics at a later time as it's nothing earth-shattering. The biggest part of confusion left for me is going to be how to figure out this bolt, which will take a while to research other threads. I had to sand the h3ll out of this thing forever before it would finally fit on the inside diameter of my 1.25" PVC pipe. It was simply too big! Look at my original few posts to see how big the doopy's bolt is out of the box! After a while of sanding, here's how much I had to shave off to fit in the barrel of the electrical conduit/pipe: At least it fits snug, I'm feeling good about this. I just need to sand this bolt down smooth and slow, and redesign the bolt "pattern" and possibly a dowel extension? Anyone have any good threads for this? Like, good ideas to make the bolt extend like it should just so I can get this over with and slap a spring in there? The bolt will eventually be smooth and will be hand painted.

I then felt a bit over-confident with my dremel skills, as mentioned up there, I tried to mod the mag like I've seen others do. I was really satisfied with the "button" how well that came out for my two left thumbs, but I am apparently the world's worst engraver. Lesson to all: do not underestimate your space. I apparently started too far over, which left way too little room for everything, especially the arrow. Would anyone on a troop or any kid notice? Most likely 99% "Nope"! Would you all? Of course you would. I could have put puddy on it and start over, but I wasn't about to let "doing it right" get in the way at this point. It quickly devolved into humor and it's own, ugly personality. For the button, I drilled a hole and turned the mag upside down and smooshed puddy through to get the dome. I also sanded down the magazine cylinder/screw to hug closer to the magazine receiver: I still was not happy about the engraving on the mag. It was really bothering me. Then I saw my answer, my way out; I finally understood the dark side of the collective here. When in doubt, allow another trooper to let you buy your way out!! I found the wonderful, heavenly section of "Ongoing Runs and Projects". So, I bought myself an even better, longer clip, with the pin, button, and better etching, by someone way better than me, for a very fair price. Problem solved, and I'm fine with that! I just want this abhoration to look halfway decent when done, and this will really add some baddazzery to it. Thanks Gaz!!!!!!!! http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/26677-doopy-dos-replacement-e-11-magazine-run-2-now-open/

So I've taken a break this week, been really busy and needed a breather from all of this so I've been focusing on other items to acquire for my TK build. To top everything off, I've decided to go ANH route, so this thread is no longer accurately ESB. With that said, my M19 scope is already en route from Striker, so I won't be changing that aspect of it (from what I understand, some E11's in ANH had M19's). The only think I'll need to add are the Hengstler counter and Power cylinders, and add a metal side piece bracket to the scope rail. I made a little progress, and also encountered more issues, hence causing me frustratiion and also trying to figure out my next phase of action, along with discovering some bits of glee, albeit at the price of the almighty $. You'll see what I mean. So for starters, as stated in above posts, I wanted a working selector switch. It almost came out ok but the dremel bit jumped violently on me when drilling into the grip, thus rendering the hole too big and useless to be functional for what I imagined. At that point, I said heck with it, I'm gluing it. I didn't want to spend more time, money, etc just to make the switch work. This is all personal preference at this point. Anyways, It started off wonderfully. I took the thread post from a SMALLER hex nut than what was in the barrel. Drilled a hole, used some 2 part epoxy, and some pliers to actually screw the post in (created a perfectly snug threaded fit). At this point it worked, but was still a little too loose. I had a feeling it would happen, and tried to brainstorm and fix it. The more I effed with it, the worse it got to where I was like, I'll just glue it. You can see here, this is the loose gap that was bothering me. Drilling deeper wouldn't help, wasn't really sure what to do. So I "redneck fixed it in place" (glued it).

I ordered some 10's from TK boots. My shoe size is usually 10 US, but I wear size 9 Doc Marten boots which fit great. I really hope they fit or I am gonna be really bent out of shape if I have to pay to return and wait another 4 months for the right size.

So I can expect the super, duper elite to call me out when trooping as ESB with the DLT huh?

Ok cool, so if I'm doing a Centurion ESB armor build AND currently doing an ESB DD's E11 build, I'm good for Centurion in theory. Then I could just use the DLT for troopig after approved for Centurion. Good stuff! Since I'm a n00b, maybe you can shed some light onto as why? From what I've researched, the DLT 19 was used in ESB. Just wondering why it applies only to ANH TK's. Thanks for your help gaz, I've seen you around. I'm interested in getting some DLT wires from you for the T Tracks.

Cool, good to know. I'll leave out the scuffin then. I was more referring to being an ESB TK, apparently I'll be in a minority.

Joining the party late but ATA does offer ESB with the clamshell handguards, just have to ask/specify.

Ok, thanks! That's the other thing, I was recently added to a waiting list for armor and went with ESB since I loved that movie as a kid the most but realize almost everyone does ANH. Not sure how I feel about that lol.

Dude, that scope is lookin' dope! Mine gets shipped tomorrow. I love how the letters came out, and like T Jay said glad you didn't fill them in all the way. More pressing question: did you steal the crayon from the kid, or did you have to buy a whole box just for the white? Hah! (I only laugh because I will have to buy a pack since I have no kids!)