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

[micflair]

Absolutely, but man was it EVER frustrating to work through it. LoL. I'll be posting up more pictures tomorrow or Saturday sometime. Did some REALLY fun (and minimal, in the grand scheme of things) work on it tonight! Looking forward to sharing it!

 

Sounds great mate. Looking forward to it!

 

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

[millenium1]

Stunning stuff Tim  

[Dark PWF[Staff]]

As promised, I've got more build pictures!

 

Last night, I wasn't planning on doing very much work - most times, I never do plan on doing "much" work. My thought process is always something like "Oh, it IS getting late. I think tonight, I'll just sand off the knob on the left-hand side of the folding stock and call it a night." Somehow, that plan turns into grinding, sanding, cutting, shaping, drilling, etc eight or nine parts for the better part of five hours.

 

Last night though... It was SLIGHTLY different. I planned on drilling a few holes. Nothing more.

 

Here are the pics:

 

Started with the thought that I'd drill the hole through my pistol grip, into the barrel. Then thought, well, if I do that it would make good sense to put the inner barrel inside of the barrel so that the hole gets drilled into it as well. That way, when I put it all together, the screw from the pistol grip will keep the inner barrel secured! This is a win! So, to do that I had to have my inner barrel available and in the barrel. What I'm using for my inner barrel is a 1/2" x 18" piece of black PVC pipe that I picked up at Lowe's for about $1.39. It is intended to be used for yard sprinkler systems, and it fits in the Doopydoos barrel PERFECTLY, as you'll see very soon.

 

As promised, here you can see the PVC pipe placed in the barrel.

 

Knowing that I was going to be drilling it for eventual placement, I put the cap head screws in the barrel tip to prevent the PVC from sliding too far forward when I drilled.

 

Just another look at the PVC as seen through some of the holes in the forward barrel.

 

It very clearly states right here in the charging handle channel that this is for OUTDOOR USE ONLY. DO NOT FIRE YOUR BlasTech E-11 Rifles in the house!!! You can also see the description of the pipe from the sticker... 1/2" x 18" nipple. Yes. That IS what it says.

 

I missed a picture that should go right here. The first thing I did was to place the barrel upside-down on the table so I could see the place where the pistol grip is supposed to be mounted. I took my metal ruler and drew a straight line right down the middle of the barrel, to aid in placing the pistol grip so that the hole would be drilled in the correct location.

 

Next, I used the folding stock connector to stabilize the pistol grip while it was centered on the line that I previously drew.

 

While holding the pistol grip in place against the stock mount, I drew lines on each of the sides of the pistol grip, to ensure that I knew where the sides should be when I drilled the hole.

 

This is what it looked like after I drew my three lines.

 

I then drilled the hole through the pistol grip, the barrel, and the black PVC Inner Barrel.

 

As long as I'm drilling holes for screws, I figured... Let's make sure that this will work!

 

GREAT SUCCESS! I LIKE! Looks pretty good during the test-fit, to me!

 

I took a larger drill bit and countersunk the hole just a bit, to ensure that the screw does not block the pistol grip. Before assembly, I'll take the rotary tool and grind down the screw head a bit, to make sure of that.

 

One more look at the pistol grip hole before moving on!

 

 

As has become my practice, I'm going to post this one up, to allow for easier commenting and reading before moving on to the next bit of work that I did last night...

 

More to follow momentarily, and unless you're reading this in real-time as I'm typing it, I promise you won't even know that I paused!

[Dark PWF[Staff]]

After I had managed to successfully secure the pistol grip to the barrel for a test-fit, I turned my attention to the next set of holes that I had to drill. The ones needed to mount the folding stock in a manner that it would be semi-functional.

 

Here are those pictures: (I told you you'd hardly realize that I'd paused!)

 

Made a small mark in the center of the arm, where I would be drilling.

 

Placed a few rubber bands around the E-11 in order to hold the folding stock mostly in place while drilling the hole.

 

This one may seem silly, but I put the mechanical pencil under the butt stock at the front of the barrel, to keep it from resting on the table. That took a decent amount of pressure off of the arms and allowed the mounting point to stay where it needed to more easily. Like I said, seems silly, but it worked. Murphy's laws of combat state: If it's stupid but works, it isn't stupid. I'll file this one under that principle.

 

Other side, stock arm marked with 9/64" which is the drill bit size that I used - because that is slightly smaller than the screws that I'll be using to attach the stock to the rifle.

 

WA-WA-WE-WA!! At this point in time, I'm very happy with my test fit, but I must make sure that it "works" as expected...

 

Oh yeah! It works. My next maneuver was to pick up the E-11 and run to the bedroom where my wife was reading something on her Kindle. I ran into the room going "pew pew pew." To which she replied "Thank God you're a Stormtrooper. I know that you missed." Grrrrrr... I then broke into my explanation as to why that particular school of thought is no good (I'll treat all of you to it sometime either after my E-11 is completed and before my armor arrives, or after my armor is completed, depending on when I get that excellent email from Rob).

 

So... That's the folding stock test-fit in all of the glory I can muster for it based on the state of the build. Everything has since been disassembled, because it will be primed and painted before going together ultimately.

 

Comments, questions, concerns, stories to share with the group... I've got just one more little batch of update photos to share tonight and they're coming up next after this word from our sponsors!

[Dark PWF[Staff]]

Alrighty then. I declared when I started posting tonight, that I intended to drill holes when I was doing this work yesterday, and that's what I have done. Okay, okay... I then put screws into those holes, which I had NOT declared I would be doing. From here on out, I'll MOSTLY be drilling holes. There will be one screw inserted at some point.

 

Starting with (once again) the pistol grip!

 

In a previous installment of my build thread, I traced the outline of the selector switch and did test fits for the location at each firing mode. Then marked a spot in the center for drilling at a later date. That date - last night. Here's the hole, drilled out.

 

Next, I very carefully drilled a matching hole in the fire selector mode lever.

 

Remember when I said that there would be a screw inserted into a freshly drilled hole at some point in time? This is it.

 

Obviously, this screw will need to be altered (cut just about in half, actually) when the time to assemble it comes up in the build. I'll cut it shorter, and glue it into the pistol grip, allowing the lever to turn on the top of the screw so that it "functions" by moving between the three positions.

 

I'm going to break format here, and include a scant bit of work on another part, in this post...

 

Hengstler Counter wire connection points.

Left hole (as you look AT the blaster) is drilled, right side is marked.

 

Right side is drilled!

 

Weapons experts... Does that third point get drilled out as well? I've seen some that do, and some that don't. As there isn't a blaster CRL, I'm asking for your input directly on this one. Advise me, please!

 

EDIT: I've been thinking about this, and the original state of the Hengstler Counter (three metal leads attached) brings me to the conclusion that the third point SHOULD be drilled out. When they built the blasters, they simply removed those metal leads. I won't drill before anyone else can confirm this for me, but the thought occurred to me and I wanted to put it here in the build thread to share with anyone following along.

 

That's all the pictures that I have for tonight. Thanks for checking in and as always... Please leave me feedback/commentary/points of correction etc...

Edited February 8, 2014 by Dark CMF

[millenium1]

It's really looking the business Tim

[Dark PWF[Staff]]

Alrighty, I did some more work tonight.

 

As I usually do, I'm making my announcement tonight, after I've done the work and uploaded my photos to the web.

 

Tomorrow or Thursday, I'll post them here and give my blow-by-blow account of the work that took place!!!

 

Sorry for the delay in this installment coming along. Life has been hectic these last few days - but productive in every aspect, too!

[Dark PWF[Staff]]

It's really looking the business Tim

Thanks, Ricky! More to follow, of course!

[Dark PWF[Staff]]

For "Day #8" I decided to follow up on what Germain had mentioned a while ago - fixing the cut-out slot in the butt stock, I then cleaned up the D-Ring retainer.

 

Enough of this though, here come the photos:

 

The last time we saw the cut-out slot in the butt stock, this is what it looked like.

 

The other side looked like this.

 

Going to my new favorite bit (good thing I found all of those other parts!), I set out to re-shape the stock arm inside of the butt-stock.

 

I started by shaping the actual opening first. I used the tip of the bit to hollow out the space above the stock arm before moving on to the arm itself.

 

I then moved on to the arm and the space to the left, under the arm. I realized that getting the shape of the arm itself would not give me the result that I wanted, the shape of the entire opening needed to be right.

 

Here you can see that I started working on the "wall" beneath the arm, on the left-hand side in the picture.

 

On the other side, I began the same process, shaping the opening as well as the arm and the space at the front of the opening (towards the barrel tip).

 

At this point, I'm truly happy with the shape of it all, but need to take some of my sanding files to the general shape of the area, as the rotary tool is a bit too aggressive for the type of precise detail that I want to add to it for the final touch.

 

I'll come back to a very small addition to this piece after the D-Ring cap, and I'll get a few pictures of the openings here, after I put the sanding files on it. I'll just edit this post, and add those two pictures at the end.

 

Please offer any comments or ask any questions that you have for me!

 

EDIT: Here are the final two photos, after the sanding files were run through the slot a few times...

 

Very minor change, but I feel that it made a nice impact!

Edited February 13, 2014 by Dark CMF

[Cantina Security[501st]]

Smooth lines my friend...

[Dark PWF[Staff]]

I next turned my attention to preparing the E-11 pieces to accommodate the magnificent D-Ring that arrived from Austria recently. If you're building one of these kits, keep in mind that the "Queen of Handguards" knows a thing or three about D-Rings, as well!

 

Here you see the two D-Rings in my possession in a comparison photo. Karin's shiny, splendid specimen is on the top, taped to a piece of cardboard for safe and secure shipping. The D-Ring supplied with the Doopydoos kit is the white one on the bottom.

 

Here, they are seen with the D-Ring cap in between them. Obviously, I have to make a modification to this piece, to accept the new D-Ring.

 

A Work-In-Progress photo here shows that I chose to stick to my usual "grind a bit, test the fit" mantra when working with parts that have to be fit together. I find that doing this ensures that I don't over do it on any parts while doing this type of work.

 

One more Work-In-Progress shot - from the side this time...

 

Top-down view after grinding a bit more.

 

Side view after a bit more grinding...

 

Test-fit photo! Looks good to me.

 

Test-fit flipped over and another photo taken. I am indeed happy with it.

 

Bonus photo! Box of parts. This box came with Chinese food in it. It was pretty good, but I knew that the box (with the sealable lid seen under it here) would be perfect for storing parts of my E-11 during the build process. This is critical, because there is more than one cat (and the oft-mentioned two year old) here in the house that would love to get their paws/hands on small parts like this. With this Chinese food box, they cannot do so!

 

This is the part where you get to comment and ask questions again. I'll get those post-sanding photos of the stock slot edited into the previous post shortly!

 

Thanks for taking the time to follow along and thank you for your comments, and continued kind words and suggestions during the build!

Edited February 13, 2014 by Dark CMF

[Dark PWF[Staff]]

Smooth lines my friend...

Thank you, Jason!! I'm so happy that I found those bits. LoL. This would not have been possible with my former favorite one. Not even close!

[I'm Batman[501st]]

Looking good Tim. I'm starting to follow this thread in readiness for my full Doopey build in coming months (after my Hasbro build)

 

Would it not have been easier to trim a bit off the D-Ring instead, so then it wouldn't slide side to side - same design as the Doopey design?

[Dark PWF[Staff]]

Looking good Tim. I'm starting to follow this thread in readiness for my full Doopey build in coming months (after my Hasbro build)

 

Would it not have been easier to trim a bit off the D-Ring instead, so then it wouldn't slide side to side - same design as the Doopey design?

Thank you, Ian! Hopefully the finished product is worthy of following!

 

I don't think it would have been EASIER to trim the D-Ring . Based on your stated reason for doing so however, it might have been a good approach. The D-Ring does slide side to side based on the modification that I've made. Food for thought, I suppose - and yes, definitely worth considering if you're building one in the future.

[Sonnenschein]

Gee, so much praise for a simple D-ring.... Thanks!

 

A quick fix for the D-ring: find a piece of plastic tube. Bend the ring slightly and insert into the tube. 

Now you can glue in the tube on the back and the sliding stops...

 

I hope you get what a mean

 

 

Nevertheless, you're taking the Doopy kit build to another level!

[Dark PWF[Staff]]

Karin, that is brilliant and I do get what you mean.

 

Since I've already cut the section out of the retainer, I'll be picking up a short length of plastic tubing during my shopping on Monday, and go that route with it! This "fix" will appear in the thread in the relatively near future!

 

Thank you for the praise on the build so far. It does mean a lot to me. Just wait til I get to that Hengstler Counter mod that I've been hinting at - which very well might be within the next week or so - I'm quite excited about that one. I mean - REALLY excited. I can't wait to get it underway and share it with everyone!

[Dark PWF[Staff]]

Okay... Day #9 photos will seriously be some drilling of "pin" holes and test fitting the coat hanger that will be the pins.

 

I'll explain/show the process I used (so far) to make the holes accurate on both parts being assembled. I'm reaching the point where very soon, I'm going to have to start putting glue on parts.

 

Photos tomorrow/Monday sometime!

 

Thanks for checking in!

 

EDIT: Day #10 will also be posted with the previously mentioned new additions. Nothing major - Cutting assembly pins, and oh yes... There will be blood!

Edited February 17, 2014 by Dark CMF

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Nice, can't wait

[Dark PWF[Staff]]

Day #9, drilling assembly pin holes in parts. Lot's of highlights, LoL, let's get right to them:

 

This is really a picture from about day 8.99999. Shopping done the day prior. Picked up some Microbrush paintbrushes (to the left), two-part epoxy, wet/dry sandpaper, spade bits (to eventually drill out the resin scope lenses), clamps (in the tube with the yellow top), some storage tubes (in front of the Trooper box), and finally the Trooper box which my wife, Luciana, happened to see while we were shopping - so it came home too.

 

Here is a close-up of those storage tubes which might be the answer that I've been looking for in regards to the question: How do I make a Hengstler Counter window? I'll be getting to that on a later date though.

 

Kellan really thinks that the Trooper box was the find of the day. It looks like I may have to learn to build child's armor too!

 

I've reached the point where I know that there isn't much left to do - besides put it together - but I don't want to miss anything. In order to keep some focus, I wrote down a list of support projects on the right hand side of this piece of paper, and placed a piece of the "Double Roller Catch" for the folding stock lock there as well. To the left, you see that I have traced the parts that will have assembly pins in them onto the paper. You'll see why in just a few moments.

 

Closer look at the paper, with the addition of red and green ink. The ink might be slightly backwards in its application, as the Green pen was closer to me so I used it first to underline the projects that I still need supplies to complete. I later grabbed the red pen and used it to mark the seven tasks that I can just complete right now, one of which is "Begin gluing/assembly."

 

I've cut out and arranged the paper pieces here with some tape on standby. I'll use these templates to ensure that the assembly pin holes on all of the necessary parts match up properly when I start gluing.

 

Here are the Doopydoo pieces, laid out on the corresponding paper pieces. In the lower-right corner, you can just make out the 5/64" drill bit that I'll be using to drill the holes.

 

Starting with the rear sight, I taped the paper traced template to the resin piece. I made a special mental note to myself at this point in time that I had to drill the two holes in this piece further towards the back of it, because eventually a hole will be drilled all the way through the front of it to secure the scope rail to the blaster.

 

Holes are drilled! I drilled through the tape for pretty much all of these because it gives it slightly more durability than drilling through the paper alone. You still need to keep the drill moving slowly when doing this. The paper really wants to come apart when you drill holes in it. Who knew??

 

Here is how it looks when completed. If you look at the paper, you can see that I had the original mark for one of the holes further forward on the piece. I moved it further back as mentioned in the description of the previous picture.

 

Stock latch. Again, drilling (slowly) through the tape.

 

Pistol grip. The furthest hole to the front is the screw hole that will hold it and the inner barrel in place.

 

Magazine well has been drilled.

 

Magazine release button. This one, you've got to be careful with. It is a rather shallow piece to begin with, and it has the slot in the top of it making the center of the piece even more shallow than you'd think initially when you turn it over to drill.

 

With the bayonet lug, you can see that I originally marked it for two holes. When it came time to drill it, I felt that two was probably a little bit ambitious and un-necessary, so I went with one.

 

Power cylinders. You can see it in this picture, but I did a test-fit for each hole drilled along the way. As I mentioned during the trigger modification, the 5/64" bit is SLIGHTLY smaller than the coat hanger, so this ensured that the hole was going to be good before I actually get around to putting pieces together.

 

All four holes drilled in the cylinders - through the tape, of course!

 

Here you can see that I have taped the paper pieces to their approximate location on the barrel (I believe that I need to adjust the magazine well as you can see by the mark there) to aid in drilling the corresponding holes in it before assembly. I will of course, ensure that I have them properly placed, and as straight as possible before I begin drilling them.

 

Two of my seven "you can do them now" tasks are just about complete! Obviously, I'll have to drill those other holes (in the barrel) to be fully finished there!

 

That's day #9. Day 10 will follow shortly. Thank you for taking a moment to look at it and comment as you see fit!

[Dark PWF[Staff]]

Day #10 - Cutting the assembly pins.

 

So here's what was being worked with on day 10 of the build. The pieces that I drilled out on day 9, a coat hanger, and tin snips.

 

Also, safety goggles. If you do this the way that I did it, the risk of flying metal will be reduced, but it is still a possibility and as of right now, your eyes cannot be replaced with functional prostheses. It's better to be safe, than sorry.

 

Starting with the bayonet lug. You can see that I have pushed the coat hanger into the hole drilled into the resin piece. As I mentioned earlier, I'm doing it this way to reduce the possibility that a pin will come flying into an eye when it is cut. I didn't have any do it while cutting the pins tonight.

 

An "in-progress" pic, of the work in progress.

 

Bayonet lug, completed! On now, to bigger things!

 

Stock latch, pin number 1.

 

Pin number 1 completed, preparing for pin 2.

 

Stock latch pin 2 prepared for cutting.

 

Stock latch ready for assembly!

 

Rear sight...

 

Rear sight, completed.

 

Magazine release button, ready to cut.

 

Release button completed and ready for assembly!

 

I reached the point where I got close to the coily part of the coat hanger, so I stopped to cut that part off of it before proceeding.

 

This piece did go for a little trip when I cut it. Eye protection is a good idea, as I stressed early on.

 

I flipped the coat hanger around and used the other coily end to begin cutting the cylinder pins. When I got close to the coil, I repeated the previous step, and cut it free. Again, it took a little trip across the workspace.

 

Cylinder pins completed!

 

Cutting the first pin in the magazine well.

 

At this point in time, I don't know if it was due to excessive handling or what, I started having a little bit of difficulty pushing the hanger into the drilled holes. What I did is visible here. I just bent the hanger to provide a flat surface to push against, and it went back to being easy to put the hanger into the hole to cut the pin(s).

 

Magazine well pins complete.

 

Beginning the pistol grip pins, using the bend in the hanger to make it work again.

 

About to make the final pin cut...

 

Not bad for about ten minutes of work - literally. I spent more time gathering tools, parts, camera, etc, and preparing to do the work than I did actually doing the work.

 

I decided to go ahead and cut the trigger retaining pin while I had everything together. I put the hanger into the trigger pin hole, and bent it to mark the spot to cut. I then took it out and (wearing safety glasses) cut the pin below the bend in the hanger - again, this piece went for a little trip.

 

Here's the trigger pin, waiting to be assembled.

 

As I alluded to earlier, there was bloodshed. I'm not even sure when this happened, but here you go, gratuitous violence in a blaster build thread. I suppose it is now rated PG, but as membership requirements state that someone must be 18 years old, I believe we're good to go.

 

Up to three of seven "can be done now" tasks marked complete in my home stretch plan - which is probably not a complete list, but it is a good one that I've got right now. If anyone sees any steps or tasks that I've neglected to mention - or complete so far (which don't involve the Hengstler or scope) please feel free to point it out. I'm happy with my progress, but I don't want to leave anything out and have to go back later to do/re-do anything!

 

Please go ahead and leave any comments, suggestions or questions, and as always - thanks for taking the time to read/view/follow my build. I hope you're enjoying it as much as I am!

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

You have me pinned to my seat

[millenium1]

Amazing stuff again 

[SorenM[TK]]

with military precission and thoroughness    nice ! really nice

[Dark PWF[Staff]]

You have me pinned to my seat

Glen... You're so punny.

[Dark PWF[Staff]]

Another installment will be coming along sometime this weekend!