boomshakra's Doopy E-11 build

[boomshakra[TK]]

Greetings all! My Doopys E-11 kit build has been fun so far and I couldn’t have done it without all the information posted by those who have traversed the ‘resin-brick-road’ before me! I haven’t posted until now because my archaic desktop PC does not have a card reader, so it has taken me this long to finally be able to upload my progress. Unfortunately, some of the detail pix are a bit blurry so I will have to provide a written description of some of the challenges I have endured.

 

Upon opening the box it was all I could do to restrain myself from bathing the parts in E6000 and slapping it all together at once. Patience is something I have learned over the past couple of days. That, and that my dremel skills (or lack thereof) leave a lot to be desired

 

[boomshakra[TK]]

The first thing I did was drill out the muzzle to accommodate the hex bolts. Here I learned a) that the bolt heads were a little large for the muzzle, and pilot holes are helpful before drilling with larger drill bits. The pix are too blurry from a close-up to post, but suffice it to say while I did get the oversized bolts put in place, the cost was ‘chipping’ around the muzzle cut-outs – which I just sanded down, glued the bolt heads and went on my merry way.

 

Next up was gluing the trigger & trigger guard to the grip – no drama or excitement here (thankfully).

 

I have been following bigironvault’s build and his use of pins to hold larger pieces to the tube more securely. While I thought I was aligning the pins correctly, upon inserting the grip to the tube I found that I was a bit off center…but not enough to be really noticeable unless you are looking down the tube at the underside of my E-11, something I doubt will happen on any troops. Repeating the process with the magazine produced even worse results, and at that time I abandoned the process and just used E6000. If anything falls off, I’ll just glue it back on

 

[boomshakra[TK]]

As I was somewhat successful pinning/gluing the grip, I discovered (to my good fortune) that I had a piece of ½â€ PVC that fit snugly inside the Doopys tube – a bolt follower! All I had to do was notch it so it would fit around the grip pin protruding inside the pipe. Score!

 

[boomshakra[TK]]

With parts drying, I decided to move on to some primering of other parts. I hit the Hengstler, scope, and end cap. Easy enough. Then I moved on to the “Y†part of the stock, first drilling holes for pins, and then masking the parts where I will be gluing. Once it dried, I glued it to the other stock part and let it sit.

 

[boomshakra[TK]]

Now for the really fun part: the scope rail! I notched the aluminum bar, secured it in the vise, and hammered away. Hmm, I over bent it…let me just bend it back a smidge…SNAP

 

[boomshakra[TK]]

Deducing that it was a fluke that it broke, I notched the bar again, and then carefully hammered the bar to the correct angle. Upon completion, I could see some stress marks at the bend. But, it had not snapped, so it is all good, right? I drew the outline to cut the front to go into the hole of the tube and started dremeling away.

 

Hmmm…this is aluminum, the dremel should cut through this like butter, right? Um, no. My trusty (rechargeable) dremel started overheating in my hand from my efforts. I got it halfway done, let the dremel cool off, and then started cutting again. SNAP. My first thought was to see how many pieces I could snap the remaining bar into with my bare hands…but I decided to just go back to Lowe’s and see if they had any steel or brass bars.

 

 

As you can see, I was much more successful with the steel bar. Need to cut the rear out, but as the rear sight was curing that will have to wait until tonight at the earliest.

[boomshakra[TK]]

More gluing – both sights glued on.

 

 

I bought a cheap pack of ‘precision’ screwdrivers ($1.99) and cut off the end of one of the slotted screwdrivers for the sight blade. When I glued it all together the blade ended up being a bit not-so-perpendicular. I chalk this up to not drilling the hole correctly (I am doing it by hand – no drill press, unfortunately) and it will help me keep in the tradition of ‘precise’ TK marksmanship.

 

 

To close out the evening I glued the targeting tubes to the magazine and reluctantly turned off the light over my workbench. More fun in store tonight!

[jkno]

This looks very promising!!

[boomshakra[TK]]

I got the stock glued on tonight. I drilled out a couple of the holes for the 'realism' and on one only went 1/2 way so I could add a screw to keep the stock secured to the body. Unfortunately, I turned the screw just a little too much and it separated the bond between the two pieces . So...bondo time before I prime/paint, which is fine, there are a couple of other places to touch up. In a sense, knowing my armor isn't shipping for another month helps me take this project a little slower, even though I have had my little challenges like the one described above. I picked up a Hasbro over the weekend ($10 off craigslist - score!) and the Doopys upgrade kit should be here in a couple of weeks, so I can carry over some of the lessons learned to that project.

 

I busted out the spray paint again and silvered the back of the Hengstler (already painted brass on the front) and flat black over the scope (again, brass undercoat after primer). Oh, and silver on the tube I will be using as a bolt follower. I also found some wire that may work for the spring, if I can find the correct diameter pipe to wrap it around...and need some gunmetal paint for that as well. No 'pew-pew-pewing' around the house since the glue is curing...oh, well.

[boomshakra[TK]]

Which is a better gap filler - plumbers' putty or bondo? As I indicated above I have a little work to do on my resin Doopys and am sure I'll need to do some on my Hasbro after I get started on it. Are those the best options since I'll be priming/painting soon, or is there some other product that adheres to resin better and also gets paint to 'stick'?

[Arnie_DK[TK]]

Most people seem to be using Bondo.

I cant get that here in Denmark, so I used Plastic Padding from Locktite, and that works fantastic.

[boomshakra[TK]]

Bought bondo & a new hacksaw yesterday. Went home and glued on the 'flash cover' infront of the last hole and ejection port - damn rubber bands can be finicky when you're trying to secure these odd-shaped pieces, aren't they?

 

No pics (forgot the camera) but had a BIG setback on my scope rail. I had the front all bent & notched, so I decided to cut the excess off of the rear...and went too short. Picked up the remaining stock and bent a new bar, marked the notches. Here is where I should have stopped and gotten some tea or something - I was a little pissed at myself for screwing up my original scope rail. Instead I forged ahead and totally botched the front notch. I'm down to my last usable length of rail (after the 2nd screw up)...really don't want to have to go back to Lowe's (bought their last steel bar so they might be out of stock). Slow and easy does it for the cuts - cutting small sections and using a file to slowly remove material. A bit more successful this time - the bar fits in place, but I have very little room to drill for the screw that will hold the bar to the rear sight. I am very nervous about drilling that hole in the right place, so when I got to that point last night I just walked away from it. I did do a little bondo-ing to the gaps on the front sight and the stock. Letting everything dry and will work on a template to get all the holes drilled to mount the bar to the E-11 and scope to the bar. Of course, I still have to make the "L" holder for the Hengstler...but have plenty of material in case I screw that up on my first try. If nothing else, I feel I have claimed the coveted title of "Ugliest Scope Rail" I am glad it will soon be painted black and will be looking for 'Night Troops' once I get my armor

[boomshakra[TK]]

Some bondo pics and the screw that holds the stock to the pipe:

 

 

 

 

And of course a side view of the "Ugliest Scope Rail", which should also be a contender for the "Ugliest Hengstler Counter Rail" - very glad this won't be visible...

 

 

Still need to drill the final hole to attach the rail to the rear sight and the holes to mount the Hengstler - will prime the rail separately when it is done, but I went ahead and did the first coat of primer on the E-11

 

 

I have read that some add clear coat after finalizing the paint job - I am on the fence but have a can of flat clear coat. I am probably going to use flat black as a finishing coat of paint...am also on the fence about using hammered black. If I use the hammered black, would a flat clear coat kind of tone down the gloss of the hammered? Anyone do that paint scheme?

[OsotheBear]

Nice!!

[boomshakra[TK]]

Nice!!

 

Thanks! I could probably "straighten" the part of the rail that the Hengstler attaches to with a file and some patience. Looking at my bondo job this morning under the primer made me realize I would never get a job doing body work! I will try to clean it up with an exacto and sandpaper before the 2nd coat of primer.

[ZeroRoom[TK]]

Great work so far Jason. Go with a hammered black coat, then a flat black coat over that - this definitely produces the most convincing results.

 

The flat clear coat won't really be necessary - I've found that it doesn't offer that much protection because it adheres better to the next layer of paint than the next layer of paint adheres to the resin if you catch my drift. i.e.: most chips will just take the whole bit off unless you use a really solid urethane type flat coat - but those are pretty visible even if there're flat...

[HawkTrooper]

Great Topic, thank you! Very useful for me as I am currently working on my doopydoos E-11 as well.

 

I made the same experiences as you with using my Dremel on aluminum... very hard to trim.

 

Very nice work so far!

[boomshakra[TK]]

Another no-pic update: When I positioned the Hengstler holder on the scope rail, it was hitting the tube - should have gotten 1 1/4" "L" rail... So I debated between slotting the scope rail and H-rail and went with the latter, as slotting the scope rail would have taken the scope out of alignment down the axis of the tube. It was not a big deal, just clamped it down and went to work on it with a couple of needle files - ugly but functional. I also took a little off the bottom so the Hengstler would sit higher - I think I have it in the right position. Finally drilled the hole to mount the rail to the rear sight and found screws the correct size for it & the Hengstler. So, tonight will be priming and drying for the rail and a 2nd coat of primer on the E-11. I am thinking I will just go with the flat black on the scope and Hengstler and just use the hammered black on the E-11 before a coat of flat black. The scope already has a 'texture' to it and the Hengstler should be smooth anyways, right? I still need to fabricate the spring and decide how I am going to attach the end plug - just glue it or try to glue some 'notches' inside so it will be a twist off...probably will go for the former.

 

On an unrelated note, my wife borrowed the white duct tape I bought for my 'emergency armor kit'. She commented, "This is probably for your E-11, isn't it?". It is the first time she has used the proper technical description instead of the usual "that thing" and eye-roll.

[boomshakra[TK]]

I got some painting done over the weekend

 

 

 

I also got the spring fabricated. I used a 5/8" dowel and 17 gauge fencing wire. I read somewhere on the boards to mark every 12mm for the wrap, so I put a piece of tape on the dowel and marked accordingly (sorry for the shaky-cam and out-of-focus pictures)

 

 

 

I am quite pleased with the result!

 

 

I could not find 'gunmetal', so I used the closest thing I could find at Lowe's...and the color name escapes me.

 

 

 

I still need to cut down the piece of PVC for the bolt follower and drill a hole for the cocking lever before I put it all together. I have a coat of flat black to spray this afternoon and will probably try to piece it all together tomorrow or Wednesday.

 

No pictures of the progress on my scope rail and mounting the scope/Hengstler, but it had its challenges as well. I thought I had the holes in the Hengstler drilled level...but I was wrong. So I slotted out one of the holes and will make adjustments to make it level with the rail/scope. It seems to be placed in the correct position, but I'll rely on everyone's feedback once I get that done & pictures posted.

 

While waiting for paint to dry I started tearing down and preparing my Hasbro - but all of that will have to wait until my doopy's kit arrives and I start on that build in earnest!

Edited May 7, 2012 by boomshakra

[boomshakra[TK]]

No pics this morning, but I did get the coat of flat black painted and placed the rail on the body to see how it all looks - Pew-pew-pew indeed! I am going to have to make another Hengstler mount for sure - it butts up right to the scope, >1mm space between the two. No biggie. I remembered to mask the grip off so it still has some sheen to it.

 

My question is whether there is a specific length for the bolt follower - that is the last piece for me to cut. I was thinking ~1.5" visible in the cocking channel (including the part obscured by the cocking lever). Once I have that cut all the innards will be installed and the rear cap glued and it will all be done but the weathering (and new H-mount)! I debated adding wires but am thinking it will be too much trouble. Besides, the fuses from the hengstler are pretty tiny and my aptitude at drilling will probably result in catastrophic damage to the Hengstler...

[boomshakra[TK]]

90% complete, by my estimation - still need to do the white lettering on the scope, weathering, and replace the T-bracket for the Hengstler:

 

 

 

You can see below how cramped it is:

 

 

And resting safely within the confines of Vern's most excellent holster!

 

 

It was a fun, educational endeavour...but I am glad it is nearing completion!

[boomshakra[TK]]

I started trying to weather it with some 220 sandpaper - light strokes...and it seems like it is going down to the primer. It has 2 coats primer, 1 coat silver, 1 coat black hammered finish, and one coat flat black. Did I need additional coats of anything somewhere along the line? If so, what is the best way to remedy this?

 

the thought had occured to me to just get a brush and paint the weathering on....suggestions/comments?

[matt black]

I personaly would not use sand paper. There is not enough control to do small, light weathering. 220 grit is a pretty harsh paper to use. I always go with the painted weathering using dry brushing. Don't weather the blaster too much. Just a bit of damage hear and there always looks better than an all over job. Take a look at some screen caps of the blasters in the move and copy one of those.

[matt black]

Also on the real Sterlings they had a bare metal part on each side just behind the trigger. You could paint these two parts to be even more SA

By bsac15 at 2012-05-10

[boomshakra[TK]]

Here are the "finished" pictures. Thanks for the tip on painting behind the trigger, Rob! I'm happy with how it turned out. I do need to make a new Hengstler bracket, but am too lazy to finish that off right now...sorry about the slightly blurry pictures...damn phone camera...

 

 

 

 

Thanks again to everyone for their input & encouragement!

Edited June 6, 2012 by boomshakra