A Small, Slightly Beat-up, Brown Box Arrived Recently. Doopydoos Full Resin ANH E-11 Build.

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Very nice

[I'm Batman[501st]]

Very good Tim! I've got mine (thanks to Steve) waiting to go too. Have you planned how to attach it yet?

[Dark PWF[Staff]]

Very good Tim! I've got mine (thanks to Steve) waiting to go too. Have you planned how to attach it yet?

Mostly, yes. I'll be looking into a small piece of steel tubing, or possibly wooden dowel, and will follow the methodology applied by Steve in his recent build.

[usaeatt2]

I recognize the greasy paper - It worked well, but is that not the stinkin'est grease ever?  Grease was LOADED under the spring steel catch on mine.  I carefully removed the center rivet so the stock could be cleaned as two pieces.  I soaked the folding part in paint stripper for a few days to soften up the grease, then worked the rest out with toothbrushes, toothpicks, strips of cloth and whatever else I could find to complete the cleaning.  Make sure you exercise the plunger too - it was also loaded with grease, ready to spurt out at the worst time (especially bad if you haven't painted yet).

 

Happy to see you doing this mod, but sorry you did all the detailing on your resin stock for nothing more than experience!

[millenium1]

Whey Hey, i am so pleased you decided to put the folding stock on your build Tim. It is so worthy of it and would have been a shame not to! 

[Dark PWF[Staff]]

Aaron, you are absolutely correct. That grease is just about the most foul-smelling substance known to man. LoL Also... I get what you're saying, but it was some VERY good and valuable experience!!

 

Ricky, I've always planned to do it. I just originally planned to do it as an upgrade later on. Something changed my plans and accelerated my timeline a little bit.

Edited April 13, 2014 by Dark CMF

[gazmosis[501st]]

OH SWEEEEEEEEEEET!!!!! You took the plunge!!! YAY APEX!

[Dark PWF[Staff]]

OH SWEEEEEEEEEEET!!!!! You took the plunge!!! YAY APEX!

Yeah... Like I said, I originally planned it as an "upgrade" but the more I looked at it, and the more I tried to figure out HOW to make the Doopy "folding" stock stay closed, the more frustrated I got with it.

 

Then, the "other project" that I believe I mentioned to you served as inspiration for me to go ahead and do it now. LoL

[T-Jay[TK]]

Wow, what a nice upgrade . Really!

'Wanna have' but I must keep the weight low on mine as it will be held by a mannequin one day...

Anyway, do you plan painting the rest to match the folding stock (like Steve did), or will you paint it all over?

Waiting to see it all finished.........................................

[Dark PWF[Staff]]

Ugh...

 

Tino... Not sure about that just yet. As I've said since day one, I'm not a painter.

 

As of last night, I'm seriously a praying man. I'm currently praying that the attempt to fix the damage I did last night works well. I shattered the area surrounding the hex screw beneath the magazine release button, while screwing the hex screw into the hole I drilled for it.

 

Word to the wise, your resin kit shouldn't be very noisy when you are turning a screw into it.

 

I'll post pics of all of this with my next update.

Edited April 16, 2014 by Dark CMF

[TrainWreck[501st]]

As someone who is becoming an expert in breaking and repairing his doopy kit I can tell you right now try to save as many pieces of the broken part as you can. Just treat it like a 3D puzzle and than putty, putty, putty! Good luck with it. I know exactly how you feel!

[I'm Batman[501st]]

Ouch! You've put enough bits together with great success, I'm sure you'll do a fine job with this little additional project.

[T-Jay[TK]]

Ouh Tim, I'm sorry to hear about the issue with the hex screw and I fully trust in your skills to fix this!

 

I keep fingers crossed and I am sure, nobody will notice anything of this in the finished blaster.

[Dark PWF[Staff]]

Okay... Just a text update for the time being.

 

I've got a lot of pictures uploaded for a weekend update. I believe that the hex screw is good. I've got a lot of painting (base coats mostly) done. I still need to get my scope rail built and figure out my counter numbers. Then... It's on to finishing the paint job and final assembly. I guess I've got to paint a bunch of small parts and finish my bolt, too.

 

Oh well... I've been very busy building something else, and that should be done this weekend so I'll post that thread sometime soon, too.

Edited April 19, 2014 by Dark CMF

[usaeatt2]

Is there always a mysterious side project at your house?  Every post has a cliff hanger...hopefully you won't make us wait till October like the Walking Dead!

[Dark PWF[Staff]]

LoL... No, it won't be a cliffhanger.

 

"Previously, on FISD's Tim's Blaster Build... I'm doing stuff, Aaron. Thaaaangs."

Edited April 19, 2014 by Dark CMF

[Dark PWF[Staff]]

I'm doing stuff... Thaaangs.

 

Nighttime - back porch. A light comes on, revealing...

 

A scope and a Hengstler counter prepared for primer!

 

Suddenly, as if by magic, they are coated with a coat of white primer.

 

So moving right along to the power cylinders. These things have slowed my progress forever because I want to have the proper nuts and bolts to put on the ends. So I'll have to remove the cast nuts, and reshape the ends of the cylinder caps.

 

Resin cast nuts are removed first using sandpaper.

 

Now, using some finer grained sandpaper (1000 and 1200) I begin to reshape the cylinder tip ends, giving them a more rounded edge.

 

Definitely an improvement. Now, if I can just find the RIGHT hardware. :/

 

The divots that appear in the magazine on the Doopydoos kit should not be there.

 

To get rid of them, I'll just fill them with some Bondo here, and sand them back down at least 24 hours later.

 

Top divot filled....

 

Bottom divot filled.

 

If you look closely (bright lighting ) you can see the color difference between the stock and the scope/counter.

 

The proper nuts and bolts arrived!!! In a package featuring an excellently cast replacement magazine, there was also a baggie that contained the nuts and bolts I need for the blaster! If you're in the market for a Doopydoos build, get a magazine from Gazmosis. You'll be very happy that you did.

 

What's this you say? Aged Brass, you say? Yes, on both counts. For me at least.

 

Believe it or not, I do need a scope for my rifle, just like everyone else so I need to get it painted so it is ready for use soon.

 

The scope is brass!!

 

Another look... The scope is BRASS!!! Yay.

 

Sanded down the bondo in the divot on top of the magazine. Looks like it might technically be a little wet still. It still worked out fine though.

 

Bottom divot sanded out.

 

Hole drilling locations marked on the front of the cylinders.

 

Hole drilling locations marked on the back of the cylinders.

 

This is the same drill bit that I broke and cut my hand on earlier in the build.

 

Drill bit with one of the nut and bolt combos.

 

Holes in the front of the cylinders drilled out prepared for nuts/bolts.

 

Holes drilled in the rear of the cylinders.

 

Nuts and bolts installed in the front of the cylinders. Just have to trim the bolts down to the proper length.

 

All four await the Dremel.

 

But that is to be continued. LoL (This is NOT a cliffhanger)

Edited April 20, 2014 by Dark CMF

[gazmosis[501st]]

YES!!!! PAINT HAS BEEN APPLIED!!!!!!   Nice work with those power cylinder bolts. Thanks for the mention of the magazine, Sir!

Is that a mold flaw in the front foot of the scope or did we have a little dropping accident?

[TrainWreck[501st]]

Is that a mold flaw in the front foot of the scope or did we have a little dropping accident?

Gazmosis you've seen my build. It's weathering!

 

Your attention to detail Tim has me wanting to go ask my doctor for beta blockers or Ritalin or something.

 

Your guys' attention to detail makes me realize how uncooperative my brain can be sometimes.

 

Onward to glory good sir!

[Dark PWF[Staff]]

YES!!!! PAINT HAS BEEN APPLIED!!!!!! Nice work with those power cylinder bolts. Thanks for the mention of the magazine, Sir!

Is that a mold flaw in the front foot of the scope or did we have a little dropping accident?

The fun with cylinder bolts is just beginning at this point. LoL. Th magazine will be mentioned regularly. As for the scope foot.... Absolutely a mold flaw - which has been exploited/doctored up/will be painted to look like some form of battle damage.

 

Thank you, Brian, for the compliments.

 

More (paint, in particular) to follow!

Edited April 20, 2014 by Dark CMF

[Dark PWF[Staff]]

While I'm sitting here waiting for the AC repairman to arrive so that we can cool the house tonight, and being annoyed by the fact that the Blackhawks allowed the Blues to tie the game with only seconds to go - yet again - I may as well do an update here. The work is done, the photos are loaded in photobucket. I just need to do the work to share them.

 

Here they come:

 

The day started with some shopping... Paint brushes, pipe cleaners (for cleaning the airbrush - when I get around to using it), some paint thinner for cleaning brushes and for use with the air brush, and paint: The top ones are for the blaster, the bottom two are for Kellan's Bucket.

 

Posting these makes me a little bit sick on the inside. LoL

 

The resin "hex screw" that will be replaced is visible here...

 

Starting with a 3/16 bit.

 

The hole looks straight, but slightly higher than it should be.

 

Preparing to insert the screw into the blaster.

 

When you're putting a screw into your Doopydoos kit, it should not be very noisy. If it is, this might be what is about to happen.

 

Apply epoxy. Apply a rubber band. Wait.

 

So, this is where I left off the last day's work...

 

Here's the plan for the bolts: Dremel.

 

While cutting the bolts, I quickly realized that the vibration from the cutting was spinning the nuts loose and towards the Dremel cutting wheel. That could have gotten ugly in a hurry, so I grabbed a bobby pin and used it to keep the nuts in place and give me a gauge as to how long to cut the bolts.

 

That appears to have worked out alright, in my opinion.

 

After a little bit of grinding to get rid of the sharp edges, here's how they look.

 

Another batch of shopping... Various stuff - mostly for armor this time, but there is some paint and some dowels (Metal and Wood) for use in the blaster.

 

That's it for Day #23. More paint to follow as previously promised, but not delivered with this update.

[The5thHorseman[501st]]

Ok, now be honest, there's a helmet kit laying around on the last picture background! What's the story?! I thought you wouldn't receive your armor until May?

[Dark PWF[Staff]]

Germain, Germain, Germain....

Ever the most astute observer, you are.

That IS a helmet kit in the background... It is one of Walt's Trooper Factory kid's lid kits. I not only have a small blue helmet from WTF, I also have a regular child's helmet kit which is nearly completed. A build thread will be coming soon. LoL

Edited April 24, 2014 by Dark CMF

[The5thHorseman[501st]]

Good way for practicing! It will ease a lot your own helmet assembly

 

Edit: I've just remembered that RT-Mod comes with the helmet fully assembled normally.

Edited April 24, 2014 by The5thHorseman

[Dark PWF[Staff]]

Good way for practicing! It will ease a lot your own helmet assembly

 

Edit: I've just remembered that RT-Mod comes with the helmet fully assembled normally.

You are absolutely correct on both counts. 

1.  It was a tremendously comforting bit of practice.  I feel a little less anxious about cutting into ABS now, as I've already done so.

 

2.  Both of my helmets will come fully assembled from RT-Mod.

 

I will say that building the helmet for my son has been a very good experience though.  I have the kid's blue lid that was already assembled, so I could do hands-on comparisons.  I got a chance to work on some ears, and paint and line stuff up and I feel a little bit more confident that when the time comes to begin assembling my armor, I can do so.  Of course, when my armor does arrive, I'm sure all of that will go out the window, and I'll want to puke before cutting anything.  LoL

Edited April 24, 2014 by Dark CMF