DD's ANH E-11 Build Thread (First Timer)

[usaeatt2]

Great progress, Derek!  Moving right along!  I think you're headed in the right direction with the bolt.  I know you said you don't want to add "strips" for the details on the bolt, but that seems like the easiest way to do it.  You cut carve them out, but man, that would be a lot of carving and sanding.  Tim did a great job of documenting the strip process in his build - and you've got everything already except some thin strips of flexible plastic - and that shouldn't be too hard to find.

[Dark PWF[Staff]]

You can use a for sale or yard sale sign from Lowe's.

[thederek]

It's been a while since I posted. So I decided half way through my build I'm done with this, and decided to modify my plans to my E11. As you all have pretty much watch me botch up every step of this process thus far, I decided to take a crash internet course on sculpting, using an injection molder, and also how to use a vacuum form. Here's is what I've come up with, with only 1 hour of sleep during the last 7 days:

 

 

How do you think it came out? Hahaha. Of course you all know I"m BSing obviously. After speaking with Lewis at Sci Fire, I've wanted a DLT 19 since I was like 6 years old. He said his current mold is on its last leg, and that he has few more pulls out of it before it's done. He had 2 on hand ready to go, before he did a last run, and said it would be quite a long time until he thought he would make them again.

 

So I'll post some pics of how it looks. Really good details, just need to add some wire to the T tracks and remove some extra rubber flashing. It's already weathered, but I may add some more. It's Centurion ready out of the box for the most part (ejection box cover, conical disk on trigger group, etc). This thing is mean looking, huge, scary, and VERY lightweight. I decided to go with this over a Doopys-by-purchase-through-English-proxy since I don't want a resin DLT to shatter and break, or hurt someone if they bump into it. With this thing, I've already banged it around a few places, so I'm glad I did get the Hyperfirm. Can't wait to troop with this.....once my armor gets here. In the mean time here are some pics:

 

From the physical right side of the gun:

 

 

 

Physical left side of gun:

 

 

Other than wire, I don't think I'll really be doing any mods to this thing. I don't want to mess them, or it, up! Any ideas?

Edited May 11, 2014 by thederek

[thederek]

As far as the E11, I have not given up on my Frankenstein baby. I got a mag from Steve and have been working on that to get it adjusted and to fit. I've went ahead and pinned the grip for prep to glue to the pipe tomorrow. I will post some more progress later. Speaking of, in Tino's build, it looks like he painted parts beforehand and put them on at different times. I planned on putting most parts on and laying a base primer at first. Should I paint the trigger group/grip BEFORE I pin it to the pipe? I want a uniform look so I'm siding with "no", and gluing most parts on and priming it with everything else. I can always tape it up really well for the glossy vs matte part. I will also be painting the bolt separately and taping that off eventually.

Edited May 11, 2014 by thederek

[Dark PWF[Staff]]

Looking forward to the pics, Derek.

 

As for painting vs. assembling first, I'd say that if/when I do another build, I'll keep the cylinders and the magazine off and paint them separately before assembly. I think that I'd paint the grip itself after a base coat and masking so that I could gloss it up after it is assembled without any real difficulty.

 

I'm doing my trigger group painting (the silver areas) after the blaster's basic color has been finished. I'll paint the trigger and trigger guard prior to assembly.

 

The annoying ones in my mind, are the two that I previously mentioned (cylinders and magazine) and the magazine release button (right behind the cylinders).

[thederek]

Looking forward to the pics, Derek.As for painting vs. assembling first, I'd say that if/when I do another build, I'll keep the cylinders and the magazine off and paint them separately before assembly. I think that I'd paint the grip itself after a base coat and masking so that I could gloss it up after it is assembled without any real difficulty.I'm doing my trigger group painting (the silver areas) after the blaster's basic color has been finished. I'll paint the trigger and trigger guard prior to assembly.The annoying ones in my mind, are the two that I previously mentioned (cylinders and magazine) and the magazine release button (right behind the cylinders).

Good points Tim, thanks! Also, did you mean you would paint the grip when its on the gun with everything else, right? Not by itself then attach. Will take your advice on the mag and cylinders.

 

Also, what about the INSIDE of the barrel by the bolt/spring? Everyone seems to mask it off but mine is a grey pvc pipe. My plan was to spray a bit of black where you could see the internals, THEN add the finished bolt after all that (so as to not worry about painting the bolt by accident).

[thederek]

A little more progress made. After an episode I won't mention (let's just say I effed up a good mag), I finally got things fixed and in working order. The clip and magwell is now done, and will prepaint per Tim's recommendation before putting it on I suppose. Seems like that's something that you regret not doing Tim? Then you'd just mask it totally off when you spray the rest of the blaster once it's on?

 

You have to hollow it out and thin the walls even more than this if you want Gazmosis' mag to fit.You can see on the upper wall, right about where the middle bend/joint of my index finger is, there's an anomaly. This was due to a thin spot/air bubble on Doopy's mold, nothing I did with the Dremel (everything else was perfect). Was not happy about this.    In fact, that tiny chunk later snapped out as it was wafer thin compared to the thickness of everything else. I can only hope my putty skills will solve that.

 

 

Right where the mag clip is, is where I cut off just below the mag to shorten in. I didn't want to try and fit the whole mag into the well, and I liked this look.

 

 

I also put on the grip finally. I was really proud about this part. I should have taken pics, but it seems taking pics of my progress has been completely jinxing everything I'm doing. It turns out it came out good, and I have nothing to show to help anyone who might be considering this. :\ So I borrowed Tim's idea (which I'm sure is borrowed from quite a few others) and pinned the trigger grip. I drilled some holes that looked more or less uniform in spacing on the top of the grip that would connect to the pipe. I got some wire cutters and cut some coat hanger bits really low and sunk them into the hole, and epoxied, and let dry overnight (turned into a week or so since I got busy). I finally matched up the holes and drilled holes in the pipe without going all the way through. This is important because if your pins are too long, they will push the grip off the pipe and not fit snug. The trick is to keep trimming the pins, they're just there to act as rebar to keep the grip more steady. I slapped a bunch of epoxy on and rubberbanded it.

 

Still going to sand down the putty around the trigger guard, and will use some JB Cold Weld for any gaps between the trigger grip and the pipe.

 

At this point, my scope rail and bracket was ordered and is coming in. I do not trust myself with that step at all, and my brain can't handle it. I think my next step will be to glue on some of the smaller pieces, and add the T tracks. The last steps will be the bolt and paint, but I have plenty of time at this point. Just nice to see some progress, and I've finally learned to slow down and relax, you can't build this thing in a week.

 

I also bought a premium holster from Gaz. In fact, Gaz has made me a little poorer this month, but those investments are finally paid for and I can move on! Love the holster.

 

Edited May 18, 2014 by thederek

[thederek]

Good points Tim, thanks! Also, did you mean you would paint the grip when its on the gun with everything else, right? Not by itself then attach. Will take your advice on the mag and cylinders.

 

Also, what about the INSIDE of the barrel by the bolt/spring? Everyone seems to mask it off but mine is a grey pvc pipe. My plan was to spray a bit of black where you could see the internals, THEN add the finished bolt after all that (so as to not worry about painting the bolt by accident).

 

Tim? You're slackin!

[usaeatt2]

Looking GOOD, Derek!!!  Nice post.

 

Seems like it would be easier to mask the parts and paint them before attaching, as long as you don't paint the areas that will be bonded with glue.  But, I defer to Tim or anyone else who has done a resin build.

 

Also seems like a really good idea to paint the inside of the pipe first (at least the areas that are visible), then add the bolt.

 

Keep it up!

[thederek]

Looking GOOD, Derek!!!  Nice post.

 

Seems like it would be easier to mask the parts and paint them before attaching, as long as you don't paint the areas that will be bonded with glue.  But, I defer to Tim or anyone else who has done a resin build.

 

Also seems like a really good idea to paint the inside of the pipe first (at least the areas that are visible), then add the bolt.

 

Keep it up!

 

I thought that too about painting inside of barrel before doing anything with the bolt. Also, I went ahead and just attached the grip; I was willing to compromise here. I've seen a lot of builds were people have attached EVERYTHING and it still came out good, so I'm fully confident I can mask the grip no problem for the matte/gloss sections. I honestly would like to paint as much as I can AT ONCE so I get a uniform look. If you paint everything separate, you really can risk throwing off a mostly-uniform look. Or having to mask 18 parts just to paint the pipe, then you're left with a nightmare to tidy up, does that make sense? Or am I dense lol.

Edited June 1, 2014 by thederek

[usaeatt2]

Isn't the point of all the masking because those parts have a different finish/texture than the rest?  I think if you're painting everything with a spray can, you won't have any trouble with the paint matching.  Mixing paint/reducer/etc in a spray gun or airbrush would be a different story.  Given the option, I would paint parts separately to avoid masking.  There's probably as many ways to do it as there are paints, so in the end, I would just do whatever you are comfortable with.  The more comfortable you are, the better the result.

[Dark PWF[Staff]]

Tim? You're slackin!

Yeah. I definitely was. Not sure how I missed the responses to your thread man.

 

You seem to have a good handle on what I was getting at. I did mean that I'd attach the grip before painting it. I also do think that you should have some paint on the inside of your barrel tube.

 

The magazine and the cylinders... Keep in mind what type of finish you want this E-11 to have. When I was originally making the case for separate finishes, I intended to make my Doopydoo blaster look like a Sterling SMG basically. After a lot of thought on it, I decided that I wasn't building a replica Sterling, but a replica E-11 so it should be screen-accurate, not life accurate.

 

With that decision, everything should (for the most part) be the same color not different, and as a result the masking was only necessary to keep the textured finish from getting on the other parts (the magazine and cylinders) and no separation of colors is necessary.

Edited May 18, 2014 by Dark CMF

[thederek]

Isn't the point of all the masking because those parts have a different finish/texture than the rest?  I think if you're painting everything with a spray can, you won't have any trouble with the paint matching.  Mixing paint/reducer/etc in a spray gun or airbrush would be a different story.  Given the option, I would paint parts separately to avoid masking.  There's probably as many ways to do it as there are paints, so in the end, I would just do whatever you are comfortable with.  The more comfortable you are, the better the result.

 

This is a good point, and I don't think I'm planning on doing any texturing/crinkle finish. Here's my plan of action: one coat of gray primer (my brother who's a great artist but not a model/prop builder, recommended a black primer?), then about 2-3 coats of Flat Black Rustoleum (like what Tim used, exact same can I have). However, I had to put 2-3 coats on a test pipe since any nick or ding went straight through to the grey primer. Maybe black primer is better, but I can't find any. Have only seen grey. Or there are "primer + paint" in one can.

 

This final step is making my head spin more than figuring out the bolt next!

[thederek]

Yeah. I definitely was. Not sure how I missed the responses to your thread man.

 

You seem to have a good handle on what I was getting at. I did mean that I'd attach the grip before painting it. I also do think that you should have some paint on the inside of your barrel tube.

 

The magazine and the cylinders... Keep in mind what type of finish you want this E-11 to have. When I was originally making the case for separate finishes, I intended to make my Doopydoo blaster look like a Sterling SMG basically. After a lot of thought on it, I decided that I wasn't building a replica Sterling, but a replica E-11 so it should be screen-accurate, not life accurate.

 

With that decision, everything should (for the most part) be the same color not different, and as a result the masking was only necessary to keep the textured finish from getting on the other parts (the magazine and cylinders) and no separation of colors is necessary.

 

No worries, you're a busy man like everyone else. Was just poking at ya. I plan to just have a flat black finish, no real texture, keep it simple and clean. Like you, just want a cool movie prop replica. I have "failed" at making a "Sterling replica" about 15 steps ago, and haven't done near the mods that you all have done haha, so I'm fine with just a cool looking prop.

Just trying to figure out if I can find a black primer (since some are paint + primer), painting order, and how many coats. PS, loved the rubber pad idea for your spring assembly. Where do you think/find this stuff? Please share? I already stole your ring sizer idea (Thanks Mrs. Dark CMF) which worked out great.

[Dark PWF[Staff]]

LoL... The rubber pad.

 

OH.. I do remember the inspiration for it. In an M16 the buffer has a very hard, thick rubber cap at the end of it to prevent metal from striking metal when the weapon fires. I was originally looking for self-sticking rubber pads (like you'd put on the bottom of a piece of furniture) to keep my bolt from making plastic "click-clacks" when my bolt moves forward into the inner barrel, and it dawned on me that the spring would possibly be rattling in the back as well.

 

As for where I get the stuff? Mostly at Lowe's. The bearing for my magazine end release button - that came from Amazon.

 

Typically, my inspirations during this build have come from a: ideas taken from real weapons or b: just some idea I had that I tried to find a way to make it work (like my counter button).

 

I've seen a lot of colored primers, but I don't think I've seen black yet.

[thederek]

Bingo, ordered tonight, site to store: http://mobile.walmart.com/ip/Rust-Oleum-Black-Primer-Ultra-Cover-2x/22796128

 

Hope that works. I think this is better for me since I already have gray conduit pipe. I just Googled Rustoleum black primer and Walmart popped up. Crazy most stores only carry rust, white, gray, but no black. The hell?

 

I'll be on the lookout for a pad, lol.

[gazmosis[501st]]

Well done on that mag mod! Looks outstanding!

[thederek]

Hey thanks Gaz, FINALLY got it looking good. Only you know the true debacle .Thanks again for the awesome mag! The details are awesome on the mag and love the holster.

 

Thanks for moving and renaming this too!

[Dark PWF[Staff]]

Hey thanks Gaz, FINALLY got it looking good. Only you know the true debacle .Thanks again for the awesome mag! The details are awesome on the mag and love the holster.

 

Thanks for moving and renaming this too!

 Meh..  I thought it was better as a first time threat. 

[usaeatt2]

 Meh..  I thought it was better as a first time threat. 

 

Same here...I liked the "first time threat".  It was unique and instantly recognizable, like Tim's "slightly beat up" thread.  LOL, you should ask gazmo to change it back!

[thederek]

Same here...I liked the "first time threat".  It was unique and instantly recognizable, like Tim's "slightly beat up" thread.  LOL, you should ask gazmo to change it back!

 

It wasn't threatening anything, except any skill that I had. Being as that's pretty much nil anyways, hmmm....lol. More pics to come soon. Been busy lately working the two jobs. Primed the trigger and all of that - new set of problems. My pin that holds the trigger, started to work itself out of the putty that dried and stuffed the "pin hole" that kept the trigger in place in the trigger well. I ended up just putting a small drop of epoxy into the hole on each side and that seems to hold it, and I still get movement. I plan to just spray primer over the epoxy holes, at this point I don't care. My only issue is since everything got primed, the primer is causing the trigger to stick a bit, and I haven't even added the 2 top coats yet. ;( This does not bode well for the future. Today going to try and work on the bolt some. Wish me luck. :\

[thederek]

Ok, here are some minor updates. I literally thought in my head steps and processes for painting for over two weeks. I finally said heck with it, stop over-thinking and jump in, which NEVER works out for the worst right? Ha! Even with my crappy luck and less-than-stellar crafting skills, it did come out ok. I will share a few "hmm's" and a few afterthoughts for other folks considering a build.

 

 

I decided to go ahead and attach the grip and sights before everything else. My goal at this phase of painting: since I'm close to the point where I am working on and permanently securing the bolt, I wanted to paint the inside of the barrel that's visible through the charging channel and ejector port. I also wanted to prime the grip and see how well it hid my blemishes, putty, and bleep-ups thus far, as to see how I may have to modify other parts before painting. Some notes to follow:

 

- The whole body of the gun is currently masked. When I put on all the smaller parts, etc., I don't want to have to worry about gluing to primed surfaces. Therefore, I was only priming the grip, trigger area, and sights.

- The folding stock is not actually attached yet. I just put it where it should be for the photo and to get an idea of how it would look.

- This is only 1 coat of black primer.

 

Pros:

- I think it all came out ok. Hard to tell from these pics, but everything is primed, and details are still sharp. Allows for a good painting surface.

- I painted the folding stock separately as I did not want to worry about drips and getting the tough inside area of the folding stock "fork".

- Painting some of the parts by pieces allows for better priming and painting in general, especially when you can cohesively prime it when pieces are attached.

- After all of the miscellanea is added (the scope rail, the flash/muzzle guard, lug nut, Hengstler, Power Cylinders, T-tracks. etc) I will hit it all up with primer to get a uniform prime coat. Then I can hit everything with one or two top coats. Then (like Tim has covered) time to find a good sealer as this paint scratches really easily, which is highly frustrating.

 

Cons:

- The "carved out area" in the folding stock is "rougher"/dented looking on this side vs. the other side. I kind of forgot about this until it was too late. I can either choose to sand it down/putty, etc, or leave it alone and rely on my good miniature modeling skills and weather it to make it looked fairly dinged up there. I think I'm going with the latter at this point.

- You can kind of see where the folding stock comes in two pieces for a pipe build (you full-resin guys just don't know the horrors...). I thought it was fairly smooth and seamless, but apparently not. The excess epoxy was sanded down via dremel and really didn't think I needed to putty it to achieve smoothness as it felt really smooth. However, you can see a bit where it joins. What do you all think? Will a few more coats of top coat hide it better? Is it even worth trying to sand it down, puttying it, and re-priming? Sounds like a royal pain to be honest.

- The trigger, after primer, now sticks sometimes in the trigger well. I am far past the point to widen the channel out, so I'll have to be creative on how to make it move better. Have to remember paint, even a small layer, can change a good/accurate fit into a snug/pain in the....

 

Afterthoughts:

- Now that the barrel inside is painted, it makes it really difficult to get the bolt in place and move it. It also scratches some of the primer inside off, therefore defeating the purpose. I had a feeling this exact thing would happen, but don't know if you don't try. I'm forced to be creative now. I'm going to have to get my bolt ready, paint it, insert it into the barrel where it needs to be (it's "final location"), and make the plastic strip mod to it to get the diagonal on the bolt I need (that's in a lot of threads). Then I will need to mask every piece of the bolt in the barrel off, and really quickly touch up the charging slot with paint (because of all the paint that was removed by the bolt moving into it's final place). Then I will keep the bolt masked until the whole paint job on the blaster is done. I will then go back and touch-up by hand any spray paint that leaked through onto the grey-painted bolt. I think that should work well. then just add a spring and cap off the end.

- In retrospect, I might have just assembled the folding stock along wtih the trigger group and hit it all with primer at once. Don't see a lot of benefit doing it this way, that's just my opinion.

-I hate painting, period.

 

I'm now approaching two months on this build, but hey, life gets in the way sometimes. I hope my post was clear and concise and didn't get too technical/confusing. Always easier to explain in person than writing I feel.

 

I hope all are doing well. I can only hope mine turns out as well as some of you fine gents. As always appreciate the help and encouragement from all fronts.

[thederek]

Oh yea, and since I'm extra-crazy, I did this unlike most people. I sprayed all kind of crazy angles as opposed to hanging it by wire like others ;P I also used a portable fan to quickly air dry. As far as for the FINISH, I will most likely hang it, as now you're talking about the whole plaster and the tube, not just one area. Flipping it like a burger to paint sounds like it wouldn't come out well for all the pieces and the finished product.

[usaeatt2]

Nice post, Derek!  Trust me when I say you've got plenty of skill compared to some people I know.  I think your blaster looks just fine.  You're identifying and solving problems or making compromises in cases where it would be too much work to repair at this stage.  If you're happy with it, that's all that counts.

 

Simple suggestions:

For the folding stock joint, you might just try rubbing some spot putty placed on the end of your finger into the seam.  I wouldn't get crazy with it - just fill the gap, spend a minute or two sanding lightly and call it done.  Final coat should cover it.

 

For the bolt, you can either wrestle it into place and touch it up as you mentioned, or sand off another layer to ease the fit.

 

For the trigger, since widening the gap would require major surgery, how about trying some graphite to smooth the operation?  It's dry, dark and lubricates.  Even cheaper than buying graphite powder, maybe rub the sides of the trigger with pencil lead, then work the trigger a few times.  Repeat a few times to see if it makes any difference.  Rubbing the sides of the trigger with a pencil will also have a burnishing affect on the paint and may help reduce the thickness slightly.

 

In the end, you're going to have a solid, troopable blaster.  I don't see what's not to like?

[thederek]

Nice post, Derek!  Trust me when I say you've got plenty of skill compared to some people I know.  I think your blaster looks just fine.  You're identifying and solving problems or making compromises in cases where it would be too much work to repair at this stage.  If you're happy with it, that's all that counts.

 

Simple suggestions:

For the folding stock joint, you might just try rubbing some spot putty placed on the end of your finger into the seam.  I wouldn't get crazy with it - just fill the gap, spend a minute or two sanding lightly and call it done.  Final coat should cover it.

 

For the bolt, you can either wrestle it into place and touch it up as you mentioned, or sand off another layer to ease the fit.

 

For the trigger, since widening the gap would require major surgery, how about trying some graphite to smooth the operation?  It's dry, dark and lubricates.  Even cheaper than buying graphite powder, maybe rub the sides of the trigger with pencil lead, then work the trigger a few times.  Repeat a few times to see if it makes any difference.  Rubbing the sides of the trigger with a pencil will also have a burnishing affect on the paint and may help reduce the thickness slightly.

 

In the end, you're going to have a solid, troopable blaster.  I don't see what's not to like?

 

Thanks Aaron! Slow coming, but basically now I'm waiting on things beyond my control. My sight rail & H. brakcet is enroute from Evil boy (my original attempt at this failed, I didn't even bother documenting it heh). My Hengstler is coming in next after that from Pete, but I've yet to decide how much I want to mod it. I did like Steve's mods to his. I don't think I'm going to worry about the button on it though, just perhaps the plastic counter cover? The final piece will be the power cylinders from Andy whenever he gets them completed. After that I can have it all done in about two weeks after that. Pretty excited about everything.

 

Thank you for the advice. I'm glad you agree on the bolt, makes me feel like I'm in the right place on that. I also had that other issue, which I PM'd you on. So you think I should putty that seam on the stock huh, it's noticeable? I think I could probably sand it down and put some in there, see how it looks. I might give that a try. Also, the graphite is a GENIUS idea! Come to think of it, I have exactly what I think I need. When I was building model tanks, I used a woodless graphite pencil to rub on the edges of the tank tread wheels, to make it look like polished/weathered steel. That makes sense to use it as a lubrication, and it will also give it that polished steel look. I'll have to toy with this idea, and get back to you.

 

(Here's a cool pic to show what I mean)

 

 

 

 

 

My only fear now is trooping with this thing. After spending a lot of time and money, I'd literally cry I think if this thing broke! Thank Aaron, good hearing from you.