Brent's Sterling conversion

[Brent]

I'm starting to plan out my deac-Sterling conversion and I'd appreciate some input from the community as I go along. Right now I'm still in the "collecting all the parts" phase, but I'm getting pretty close to wrapping that phase up.

 

Right now I have a deac-Sterling and the Hengstler counter, and I should be getting an M40 scope soon.

 

The sterling isn't in top notch condition, but I'm finding that to be a mixed blessing. Some of the artifacts of it's deactivation/reassembly are annoying, such as the steel plug welded in the receiver tube, and the tube itself being somewhat wonky since it isn't original. However I'm happy with the worn condition of the rest of the parts. For example the front sight guard is bent from an apparent fall, and while it is technically damage, that is the sort of aggressive weathering I could never bring myself to do but in the end gives it some really nice character.

 

Here is a link to an album with the detailed pictures, I'll only show some highlights here: https://picasaweb.go...feat=directlink

 

Here is the Sterling with the Hengstler next to my modified Hasbro:

 

I'm looking for recommendations on a few things:

 

1. bolt and spring

 

Since the bolt is a welded block I need to do something with the hatch on the right side (ejection port?). I'm thinking making a fake bolt and cutting it to fit in place. RougeTrooper said he had done this with a cast bolt, but since I have no part to cast from I'm thinking it might be easier to fabricate one like in ZeroRoom's or other scratch builds. Any suggestions?

 

 

Even I do this the spring won't be very good. You can see in the pictures that the space where the spring should go is filled by steel, so it would be hard to make something look spring like in there.

 

2. body bend

 

Due to the welds the main body has a slight bend. I was expecting this from the auction photos when I bought the gun, and in person the bend is less noticeable then I was expecting.

 

I'm not sure if it's worth trying to bend it back and risk making it worse. I'm thinking if I wanted to I would have someone who does welding apply a little heat on the top and see if it will just reset itself with a little bit of force. Anyone else have this issue, and did you try to do anything about it?

 

3. Paint

 

I love the crinkle coat finish on most of the sterling and I want to preserve that as much as possible. Does anyone know if that is actually screen accurate though? My understanding is that the crinkle coat appeared on commercial guns made by Sterling and the British army made their own guns with a flat finish and a few other minor distinctions. Does anyone know where they got the ones used in the movie, or how old they were? Also, when they made E-11s did they give them another paint job after everything was attached?

 

My plan is to paint as little as possible. Probably just the metal parts of the Hengstler and the rail. I haven't evaluated the scope yet since I don't have it in hand. Painting the Hasbro was just adding detail, but painting this I'm worried about losing any detail

 

 

I'll keep this thread updated when I start making more progress. I'm looking forward to putting it all together

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Looks like your on the right track, good luck with the build

[TK bondservnt[501st]]

if you have a demilled gun usually they painted them again.

after they assembled the cut up receiver.

 

in the film we have examples of smooth and crinkle and original finishes

 

I'd go with just a weathered coat of flat black.

it also would look really nice with a milled false bolt.

[jkno]

Congrats on the new blaster, this will be the closest thing to a real screen used E-11 when finished.

 

Since you are in US it seems you have a US demilled Sterling. In EU the functional parts, as the bolt and the barrel, are the important things, so they simply cut and weld the rest of the barrel making it unusable for firing (this doesn’t affect the exterior visible part of the rifle in any way, at least old spec deactivation), but US deactivation is different: in US (at least in some states) you can be prosecuted for only having a pre-drilled/machined tube matching a Sterling, thus it means some barrel and parts cutting up and dissassembling, sometimes not in the best way alas...

 

The barrel might not be straight, but when you add the extra greebliles like scope rail (I kindly recommend in your case a bent scope rail ) the scope itself and Hengstler, that will be barely visible anymore. Paint apps on the screen used were all kinds, but if you can keep more of the original the better. For the bolt you could try getting a real bolt from online shops or make a replica from metal or resin. Personally i'd go with an original even if having to partially cut it to fit inside. Anyway congrats again on a great future E-11

[Brent]

if you have a demilled gun usually they painted them again.

I'm not exactly sure how they did the paint job. The various parts seem to have original paint with the crinkle coat, and are sometimes worn all the way to the metal. The receiver tube is more of a flat black. I'm not sure if they painted over the crinkle coat to to blend them together after welding or what.

 

it also would look really nice with a milled false bolt.

Any references on how I could make one? Unfortunantly my machining capabilities are pretty much limited to what I can do with a dremel and hand tools in my garage.

 

The barrel might not be straight, but when you add the extra greebliles like scope rail (I kindly recommend in your case a bent scope rail ) the scope itself and Hengstler, that will be barely visible anymore. Paint apps on the screen used were all kinds, but if you can keep more of the original the better. For the bolt you could try getting a real bolt from online shops or make a replica from metal or resin. Personally i'd go with an original even if having to partially cut it to fit inside. Anyway congrats again on a great future E-11

I generally have preferred the straight rail to the curved ones, but I think you are right. For this conversion the bent rail would go nicely. I think I'll be better off shooting for a screen used beat up a little look rather then try to make an idealized blaster and curved scope rail fits very nicely with that image.

 

I'm thinking I'll need to make a replica bolt from scratch, or import a resin copy. My state doesn't look kindly on me owning a real F/A bolt

[JackSpratt]

I've no idea how to make a bolt but looking forward to watching your build.

Congrats!

[jkno]

 

I generally have preferred the straight rail to the curved ones, but I think you are right. For this conversion the bent rail would go nicely. I think I'll be better off shooting for a screen used beat up a little look rather then try to make an idealized blaster and curved scope rail fits very nicely with that image.

 

I'm thinking I'll need to make a replica bolt from scratch, or import a resin copy. My state doesn't look kindly on me owning a real F/A bolt

 

If you make a straight rail then the bent blaster will show even more.

[Brent]

I'll probably go with the curved rail. @troopermaster pointed out in Rob's thread that the blasters with curved rails are at least sometimes missing the rear sight. It looks like they somehow removed the sight and crammed the rail under a screw that goes in the sight holder:

 

-----------

 

I'm not sure if I want to go as far as trying to remove the rear sight since a: it would be irreversible and b: I'm not even sure how to do it gracefully (bolt cutter? dremel? drill out the rivet?)

 

I think I'll wait until I have my scope in hand and try attaching using the same method as Andy (http://www.whitearmo...showtopic=17296)

Edited September 29, 2021 by gmrhodes13
link not working removed

[jkno]

On 9/5/2012 at 1:39 PM, Brent said:

I'll probably go with the curved rail. @troopermaster pointed out in Rob's threadthat the blasters with curved rails are at least sometimes missing the rear sight. It looks like they somehow removed the sight and crammed the rail under a screw that goes in the sight holder:

 

-------------

 

I'm not sure if I want to go as far as trying to remove the rear sight since a: it would be irreversible and b: I'm not even sure how to do it gracefully (bolt cutter? dremel? drill out the rivet?)

 

I think I'll wait until I have my scope in hand and try attaching using the same method as Andy (http://www.whitearmo...showtopic=17296)

 

The rail scope on my Sterling is attached the same way on the rear sight (thanks Rob) - didn't want to remove the sight because I would irreversibly damage a cool prop. But the Master Replicas E-11 blaster has the rear sight completely removed and it was made from a screen used Sterling too.

Edited September 29, 2021 by gmrhodes13
link not working removed

[Brent]

My scope arrived today . It's an M40, and like the Sterling, in less then perfect condition. I'm going to investigate cleaning the corrosion around the end. There is also a little bit of green here and there from the underlying copper. Of course, if I can't clean up the corrosion I can strip it and repaint it, but like the gun, I'd prefer to keep it as close to the current condition as possible.

 

It didn't come with any mounting screws, so I'll check the local hardware store for an appropriate replacement.

 

 

 

[Brent]

I did a little cleanup using a toothbrush, some q-tips, steel wool, and oil.

 

It's now looking more used then neglected:

 

[Brent]

The optics on the scope seem ok. I can barely see the sighting target, and its a bit rotated. It's as though it is just slightly out of focus. Does anyone know if one of the many screws on the M40 can be used to bring it in to focus?

[Brent]

Ok, one last update for the evening.

 

I've been thinking about how to make a false bolt.

 

I still have 1.5" OD acrylic tube that I used to form the receiver on my Hasbro. Since it's only slightly too large a diameter for the bolt I realized I could cut out a segment and it should fill the gap and the radius is close enough it shouldn't appear wrong.

 

I cut out a piece and it can be inserted from behind through where the clip attaches. I think if I paint it up and make a diagonal strip it should look pretty good.

 

 

I believe the actual bolt has a U-shaped opening in the front. I haven't found a good reference for the exact shape of that opening yet, if I can I may try cutting that out.

[jkno]

Congrats on the M-40 scope, looks great after futzing it a bit. I like the M-38/M-40 more than the M-19 scopes.

[MisterFubar[TK]]

Great build. I'll be following this one.

[Brent]

I made a stab at the scope rail today. My first attempt was using aluminum. I had a hard time trying to put 90 degree bends in it and the bar kept snapping. I switched to steel, and while harder to cut, the bends seem pretty sturdy.

 

 

[Brent]

I made a little more progress.

 

I made an L-Bracket for the counter using some additional scope rail material. I put a couple of holes in it that allow me to screw the counter to the bracket. I then J-B welded the bracket to the rail.

 

I also added t-track I got from @Marv. T-track is a bit of a pain to attach since it needs to be cut down and the ends needed to be filed a bit before they fit in the hole. Then I invariably find that It's slightly too long and the track doesn't lie down flat. I figured out that if it fits close, but not completely flat, I can hold it down with leather gloves and apply a little heat to the ends with a heat gun. The track then stays place exactly where you want it.

 

Work still to come: cut down mag, false bolt, cylinders, paint.

 

 

 

 

I have a couple of questions I'm hoping someone can help me with.

 

Was the scope rail painted?

 

When going through screen shots, I seem to see a lot of metal around the rail. I haven't yet found any clear examples of a painted scope rail. I haven't done a very deep search yet, but here are some clips from my initial findings (some of these are the same blaster in a different frame, I wasn't really cataloging my screenshots as I went)

 

All the replicas I've seen have had the rail painted black though. Has this been discussed before, and what have been the conclusions?

 

Was the bolt ever covered by tape?

 

I recently read on parts of Star Wars"The bolt, where it shows through the oval cartridge ejection port on the right side of the gun was then covered with aluminum or chrome tape"

 

This seems to only be confirmed on the "A2" variation, which also has the wires. I haven't been able to spot that one in the movie yet, so the tape may be a similar promo only feature, but it would be very convenient for me of tape was screen accurate. If anyone can point to an example of that in the film I may go that route and it would simplify the work I need to make a false bolt.

[Brent]

I finally worked up the guts to cut down my nice magazine. I used a 6" cutoff wheel to cut down the main magazine. I then ground down the front and back a millimeter or so with a dremel and bent the edges of the top and bottom slightly out so that the end cap would slide back on. I shortened the spring too, so the magazine should still be functional. The end cap won't easily come off anymore, it's pretty solidly pressed on there.

 

 

[Locitus[Admin]]

Nice work!

 

Sent from my GT-I9300

 

 

[Brent]

Now I've added the false bolt. Here is the plastic with a strip of aluminum glued to it.

 

 

After the paint job: