ANH E-11 Blaster (Doopy Doo's and Hasbro)

[bigironvault]

Hey all, finally got my Doopy Doos E-11 kit in and ironically also a Hasbro blaster (still needs the conversion kit). Looking at the pieces, I think I have a long road ahead of me. The plan is to build two blasters. One for photos etc. and more formal events. The other, the Hasbro for just plain trooping at Cons - something if I drop or break I wouldn't be too mad about. I'm going to try and keep a journal of my build.

 

 

 

 

[ZeroRoom[TK]]

Exciting! What's with Doopy Doo's shipping the solid end cap with the full lug slot version of the pipe?

 

Check out how I hollowed out my end cap in my build thread if it helps.

[bigironvault]

So went to the store today and picked up a bunch of things. My motto with this build is "glue and screw". I want to make a resin kit that is sufficiently durable and strong.

 

Epoxy - I heard that CA works well. I already have some at home but I thought I would give epoxy resin a shot and see how that works.

 

Threaded Rod - Going with some previous experience I'm going to "pin" some of the heavier pieces together with a threaded rod to give some stability and strength (ie. pipe to handle)

 

Brass plate - this will be the base for my scope rail, wanted something strong. Hope it won't be hard to bend.

 

L brackets - instead of a single piece L bracket I went with smaller brackets to allow me some flex in my drilling - also to reduce weight when I install the counter to the scope rail

 

Flat screws - where I can, I'm going to utilize these small flat screws to strengthen joints and then fill them with putty when I'm done so you don't see them.

 

.... well that's the plan. Now I just have to get on it and start the build.

 

[bigironvault]

Got some work done last night. All I have to say is that Epoxy rocks... never used it before. A little bit of a pain compared to other glues but man is that stuff strong! I used an old painting brush which really helped getting it in all the creases. After gluing I "painted" some over the joints from the outside for a little extra strength.

• Drilled holes for the folding stock - planning to put in a rod to for structual benefits right through.
• Rear sight was pretty easy to center - measured, drilled and pinned before I glued so that it would stay centered. It's also the base for the scope rail so it needed to be strong. I feel like I can hang the entire E-11 off it right now.
• Some leftover epoxy so I just did the end cap for fun.
• Mag was another easy job with leftover epoxy so did that as well.

 

[OsotheBear]

Right on man !! glad you got the kit , see it wasn't that long of a wait , great progress!! remember u can drill out the screws from the muzzle and add real ones, you have to just cut the heads , same with the one by the bottom of thee handle!

[bigironvault]

Decided to stick on the stock today. Noticed that there really isn't a huge amount of contact areas for the stock. So I felt that I needed some extra integrity for this job. In the first pic, I decided that a rebar was needed up front to reduce the sway from left to right. And to make sure that the stock stuck on the swivel, I jammed another rebar through the swivel. Before jamming it in either spots, you have to smear some glue on the bars so that they stick to the interior body of the resin. Right now, it's setting but it is definitely feeling very strong.... tonight I will tackle the handle.

 

 

[boomshakra[TK]]

I got my Doopys today - I like your idea of pinning/drilling, so I'll be keeping up with your thread (and posting pix of mine as it progresses).

[bigironvault]

Did some more work tonight on the blaster. Should have taken a picture of the grip setup. I drilled two holes into the handle and glued rebars that fit nicely into the barrel of the E-11. I found that I still couldn't get the grip to stay quite right. Decided to screw as deep as I could near the front to ensure that the grip is straight (pretty much permanently). This might result in some difficulty with the trigger system but I can work around that ... risk of grip not being straight and also the part of the E-11 that would be "held" the most ... worth the problems later on. Even without the epoxy being dried you can wave this sucker around like a madman and its just plain solid. Happy!

 

[boomshakra[TK]]

It looks like you are using the metal ring supplied with the kit - does that fulfill the EIB/Centurion blaster requirement?

 

Also, is your endcap like mine, i.e. it does not have the 'tabs' to rotate & lock onto the tube? I would think that if you put a spring in there you'd want more than glue holding it on (to counter the compressed spring). Are you just going to glue it or do you have another method in mind?

Edited April 26, 2012 by boomshakra

[bigironvault]

I haven't decided what I want to do with the spring system yet. I'm tempted to just leave it in there permanently. As far as ANH EIB/Centurion... they are both essentially the same except no Hasbro mods allowed for Centurion. D-Ring should be fine? Maybe someone else knows better?

 

For level two certification (if applicable):

• Folding stock (does not need to function).
  
• A real or replica ammo counter - based off of a Hengstler counter - shall be present.
  
• D-ring mounted on the rear.
  
• Correct style scope.
  
• Two power cylinders on the magazine housing.
  
• Scratch-built, resin cast, Hyperfirm rubber cast blasters shall have a total of 6 T-tracks on blaster (leaving the lowest row on the magazine housing side uncovered).
  
• If using the Hasbro E11 toy blaster and you cover all the rows of holes, the blaster will have 7 T-tracks total. But, if you want to have the correct number of T-tracks (6 total) with the lower row of open vent holes on the magazine housing side, then you shall cover the pre-existing rows of holes with T-tracks, and grind off the lower integrated T-track on the magazine housing side and drill a new row of holes in its place.
  
• No ESB/ROTJ greeblies are allowed on the blaster
  

[bigironvault]

ps. I actually dropped it by accident today while phew-phewing around the house and luckily nothing fell off ... passed the test I think??

[boomshakra[TK]]

_{Yeah, I was thinking that the ring that comes with the Doopys would be sufficient for certification on both levels. What diameter screw rod did you use? How did you get the holes to line up between the grip and tube? That is the part I am nervous about - having them misaligned and all cattywompus. If that was the case I guess just gluing it w/o the rods would work...but, like you I like the thought of a stronger connection. Looking forward to your next update!}

[bigironvault]

Hi I will take some photos tonight because I'm going to rebar/glue on the mag tonight and will show you how to get it fairly accurate.

[bigironvault]

You were asking about how I get the two parts to line up right. I set them together to ensure a good fit and then I trace one part on to the other like below. Measure three times drill once! Using the grid, I then drill the holes for the bars and presto. A good fit. Remember when gluing - glue the bar tips as well.

 

 

Next I started to measure out the scope rail, counter, scope etc. The part that I was dreading. Using advice on the forums here I got some L brackets from Homedepot and instead of getting a large one, I opted for smaller brackets to reduce weight and to also give me some leeway on setting the counter.

 

 

Finally came the part I didn't want to do at all, the scope rail. This took some time to get the measurements right. But as you all will see tomorrow. I still got it wrong and had to improvise! Still... the best intentions. I bought this brass bar 3/4" wide and about 12" long from a local hobby store for about $2.50. It is quite strong but is somewhat bendy (still need to score to get it to bend). So I figured it would be a good scope rail. I measured every aspect of the rail --- not sure what to do about the bend but since I was going for a 90 degree bend I didn't take into account the length create by the bend. Those that don't want a 90 degree bend should definitely take into account the arc or your measurement will be off.

 

ps. Yes I was building my E-11 on my gaming table as evidenced by the mondo-gaming mat from Chessex.

 

[boomshakra[TK]]

After I posted I got to thinking about it & came up with something close to what you have - I'll post pictures tomorrow if I get time to work on it (and start my own thread so I don't hijack yours ). Keep up the good work - I'll be following along right behind you

[bigironvault]

Almost done the building part of the process now. Just the end-cap and the rear lock. Also going to need to build the spring system etc. But it's looking like an E-11 finally! Very motivated to finish this puppy now. The scope wasn't as scary as I thought. The mistake I did was that I didn't notice how the footing of the scope is different from the front to back so I have a screw slightly protruding from one - luckily it is quite hidden by the counter. Will have to fix it with some sculpting clay.

 

Anyhow ... next things to do:

 

1. Fill in gaps with "green stuff" or sculpting clay

2. Make a spring and the loading thingabob on the other side

3. Glue lock at the end

4. Paint before gluing end-cap on -- dont want spring to look too "black" after all.

5. Basically still lots to do!

 

[boomshakra[TK]]

Looking good - are you forgoing the bayonet lug? What are you going to use for gap-filling - not familiar with "green stuff" and when I was at Hobby Lobby I couldn't find any resin putty (but didn't look too hard and they were understaffed - I was lucky to get the spray paint I was looking for).

[bigironvault]

Lots to do on it still (as you noticed some pieces still not glued on) -- right now I'm hoping just to get it done for now and make mods after the fact. I think it's one of those things that are just never quite "done". Will post "final" picture once I get all the pieces on.

 

"Green stuff" is wargame modelling stuff that I used in the past to fill gaps in pewter and resin models. Works well, you can get it from http://www.games-wor...Id=prod1380024a but more expensive than apoxie sculpt which I can't seem to find in Canada.

Edited April 29, 2012 by bigironvault

[bigironvault]

Can anyone recommend a primer? I'm done with the build and starting to paint now....

[Abaris]

Dupli-Color universal primer works really good. If you want an expensive one, then buy Tamiya's.

Edited May 4, 2012 by Abaris

[bigironvault]

Ah finally got some time to work on the E-11 today. Everything done except the spring... have to find a nice piece of wire!

[boomshakra[TK]]

17 gauge fence wire wrapped around a 1/2" piece of PVC worked for me. The wire is a bit skinny, but I'm happy with it.

[bigironvault]

It's been a while since I updated this. Work and other stuff got in the way but today was a weapons only day for me. As you can see quite busy working on three projects at various stages of completion. DL-44, Hasbro Mod, and E-11... now that I have a dedicated working space (and the weather is cooperating, I hope to finish these quite soon!)

 

And yes, I clearly have a newborn! Haha.

 

[Pickles[TK]]

I am going to be knocking on your door when it's time for me to make my blaster

[bigironvault]

Hasbro conversion done. Well the basics at least, which is really what I want to leave it at because it's going to be my trooping blaster. So no point spending a ton of time on it. For formal events or pictures I'll bring the resin E-11 instead.

 

That really didn't take a long time at all to convert!