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

[usaeatt2]

That's an AWESOME effect on your tank tread wheel.  Really nice detail too!

Seems like it would take an enormous amount of skill to build and weather a tank like that...hmmm, and YOU built it.

Even better that you already have the woodless graphite!!!

 

The folding stock doesn't look bad, but with a couple minutes of work, I bet that seam would almost disappear.  Seems like a simple investment.

 

PM replied.  I think you're onto something with the Doopy bolt position...

Edited June 2, 2014 by usaeatt2

[Dark PWF[Staff]]

Looking good, Derek.

 

I agree with Aaron on the stock. Just rub some putty into the seam, sand it down, and do some touch-up painting on it. Should be good to go!

[thederek]

Ok, so Aaron and I were conversing via PM, as I had a question for him. Before I start winding down this project at the halfway point, I wanted to start to get to work on the bolt which is the half of the pain in the butt for me (the other part will be the Hengstler, but that's another issue). I was looking at the bolt, and realized that when I looked at the bolt in most builds, the slot on the right of the bolt is horizontal, and more square. However, I thought that spot is actually where the charging lever should go. So, using this logic, the horizontal "square cut" is to the left easily accessibly through the charging channel by the charging lever, which made sense to me. However after doing that, that meant there was a vertical line/groove on the right side of the bolt. Confused by this and why no one else has touched on it really (at least from the builds that I have seen), I asked Aaron what he thought. We had an interesting conversation.

 

I'll relay some of the information, and I'd really like the community to chime in, besides the 2 or so who really read this thread.

 

So here is what I was talking about:

 

 

My finger is covering up the "diagonal" pattern btw. Also chatting with Steve, I was like, "why in the hell did Doopy mold his bolt like this?" "Do I have it backwards? Should I putty this up? Why do other people have their square on the other side?". It's as easy as flipping the bolt around, but I wanted to know why. Since using my tank/mini modeling background, I thought on the day I received this and messed with the parts the SQUARE is where the charging handle glued to, makes sense for it to grip to something especially when you save down the cocking lever (a round peg won't fit through a long, slender charging channel, right?). So here are some of what Aaron was thinking, and he said it was ok to share this:

 

"I checked my Doopy bolt and I have the same vertical groove, so it's probably not a casting mistake or an air pocket.  I haven't watched this detail closely on Doopy builds, but I get the impression that people are installing the bolt backwards.  I can see how it might be easy to make this mistake, and I seem to remember a lot of people completely sanding off the raised strips because they were thought to be cast in the wrong position (too high).  I think you have your bolt in the CORRECT position."

 

"Here's what I think is happening:  People install the bolt backwards thinking the horizontal slot is meant for the ejector.  The ejector is a spring loaded arm that grabs the lip on the bottom of a spent shell casing and pulls it out of the chamber.  Some may think Doopy did them a favor by casting the "slot" for an ejector.  When the bolt is installed this way, the diagonal strip is in the wrong position."

 

Doopy backward:

 

 

 

 

Doopy correct (in the orientation I have it)

 

 

Notice the diagonal design is in the "right" position, and not high like when you reverse it. Aaron and I finished the convo with basically if I wasn't going to make the ejector on the right side, just putty up the groove and make it smooth. Most likely I'll still use the "garage sign" plastic to make the diagonal (since I had to sand down my bolt pretty well to fit in the tube, and messed up the "diagonal").

 

So what say you guys? I want to start working on the bolt this weekend. I've worked like almost 60 hours this week, so I'd like to use my precious time on the weekend to really knock this bolt out, but kind of stuck in a holding pattern mulling over this. Tim, Steve, Vern, or anyone else out there I'd like to know. Or, feel free to show me some links if this has been discussed before. Thanks!

Edited June 6, 2014 by thederek

[thederek]

Project is kind of dead in the water for now. Trying to figure out what to do with my Hengstler and my bolt. Will hopefully have an update in a few weeks. =|

[Dark PWF[Staff]]

Sorry Derek. LoL

 

The other blaster builds have been really active, too. I managed to miss your update - AGAIN.

 

I'd like to see the other end of your charging handle, actually. I've never really had a good look at the pipe kit before. I don't know why in the hell they didn't mold the entire bolt for the pipe kit. I think that you're probably correct about the alignment of the bolt, based on the diagonal strip. If you are though, then that slot - which looks NOTHING like the brass extractor - as you can clearly see in the photos - must simply be a mark for where the front of the bolt should be hidden by the barrel.

 

What are the issues that you're trying to figure out with the Hengstler?

[usaeatt2]

I don't know why in the hell they didn't mold the entire bolt for the pipe kit.

 

Preach it, brother!!!  Makes absolutely NO SENSE why they didn't mold the entire bolt...

 

I think that you're probably correct about the alignment of the bolt, based on the diagonal strip. If you are though, then that slot - which looks NOTHING like the brass extractor - as you can clearly see in the photos - must simply be a mark for where the front of the bolt should be hidden by the barrel.

 

I checked the alignment of the Doopy bolt against my blaster.  With the charging handle all the way forward in the slot and seated in the correct recess in the bolt, the Doopy bolt ends up exactly where Derek has it.  The vertical slot will be clearly visible.  If you slide the bolt further forward to hide the vertical slot, the recess for the charging handle will not be accessible.

 

If it were mine, I would do the following:

1) Fill the vertical slot with putty and sand flush.

2) Cut the extractor slot and make small pieces to simulate the extractor.  I think Dark CMF and T-Jay both did this in their builds.

3) Round out the square slot for the charging handle (so the correct round base will fit).  Another option would be to file down the charging handle base to fit the existing slot, but that's not as accurate.  You can see the charging handle hole in the bolt pictures above - it's round, not square.

4)  Fit and attach the bolt inside the pipe.

5) I think you said you had to do some significant sanding to fit the bolt, so the diagonal strips are almost gone.  Make diagonal strips from thin plastic and glue to the bolt.

 

No need to be dead in the water.  Same as Dark CMF, what's up with the Hengstler?  Trying to figure out which "features" to add?

Keep it up, Derek!  You're getting close!!!

[Dark PWF[Staff]]

Just for clarity, if you go and look at my build, I didn't add any pieces to "create" the extractor, Tino did do that though. I merely carved it in with the Dremel. I started with a hole at the far left, and then cut two straight lines off the top and bottom "edges" of the circle, extending forward to the barrel area.

 

Outside of that, I think Aaron's got it covered above.

[thederek]

No need to apologize fellers! We all have lives. I've been working like a mad man this week, close to 60 hours, but should have that armor "pre paid" in another 2-3 weeks. I'm just getting impatient, waiting on 2 blaster pieces that are taking forever from the vendor (for different reasons) and waiting to see if I'm on the next run for TK Boots (says he gets them in Monday, and I better be on this run, since I was added two months ago). I'm just getting frustrated on many things at the moment, but I digress............

 

As far as the bolt, I'm going to take Aaron's advice. I have a plan in place already. As Aaron said, if I push the bolt too far up for the vertical slot, it not only obscures the "charging handle slot", it almost brings the bolt way too far up and leaves a gap! Aaron gave me the measurement for the real bolt, and I cut a dowel to size. Amazingly, that's not even the problem. My "extended bolt" dowel's piece will equal the real length of the bolt. In terms of texture and quality, that remains to be seen at this point. Here's what's going to HAVE to happen:

 

1.) Glue wooden dowel to doopy resin bolt, let cure.

2.) Once cured, extend/slightly widen the square slot (I'm going to do mine "backwards" from most builds) between the resin piece and dowel piece to seat the charging handle. It'll make sense once I post a pic.

3.) Putty up the vertical slot, sand it smooth, and then create the ejector feature like Tim, others, et al. Not going to go all crazy, just recreate something to make it look similar. I'm worried though, those "small", "easy" details always get eff'd up for me. (Like when I tried to add teh grooves on each side to the front sight :| )

4.) Sand the wooden part down a bit for extra smoothness. Primer it. Then paint it with my tank modeling gun-metal grey. Wait to dry.

5.) Tap bolt and dowel into barrel and hope for the best. Will somehow have to add glue to secure it, but once in place I can probably add epoxy with super long sticks/q-tip riggings. Also thought about a small dowel piece vertical from the other side to secure it also, by tapping it in there (this E11 should NOT ever get hit really hard, if it does, I have more to worry about than the bolt). I am not drilling anything into the barrel at this point.

6.) Once bolt is in final location, go back with paintbrush (I have micro/tiny ones for modeling) and touch up and bolt paint that might have scratched the barrel primer loose.

7.) Cut garage sign diagonal strips for the bolt design. Secure to bolt face. Paint that part a bit lighter (right?).

8) Once dried, satisfied on look, and secured/epoxied in place for good, I am going to mask off and re-prime inside barrel (since the bolt scrapes it off).

 

That's half the battle there. Then I can add spring, cap off butt end, add on smaller pieces, T tracks, barrel plug front, and I'm almost done with the whole assembly. Once scope rail/Heng bracket arrives, it's securing all that to gun. Mask off scope completely (since it's weathered already), prime whole gun at once, two top coats, and a gloss on grip. Of course this sounds easier than done, but I think I can do it. As you know, this will NOT go as planned at all

 

Ohhhh!!!! Of course, my charging handle is not round I've squared it off like a rectangle. I know, I know. Well that's the problem with doing a pipe build I guess. In retrospect, I think my charging channel/slot is a bit too small, so there's no way anything round would EVER fit through the outside, to the inside. If I I want it to go through the outside, I had to "rectangle it off" (square it off) so it would fit through the channel. It doesn't matter though, no one will ever know, except for people with PhD's in blaster building. It touches the bolt, makes contact, and fits in the channel. I'll show a bunch of pics tomorrow.

 

Let's just say, my Hengstler has a rough back side (lol). It's not horrible, and it's not the side that faces people, but still will require some work so it doesn't look so rough. All in all, love the black resin, and the details that matter on the front are really sharp. The part that stresses me out the most is trying to find a way to modify the numbers/window area. Everyone does it different, and I'm not so handy with tools for that part like some people do. Not to mention, I'd like to have it show my TKID one day (how original, I know), so I guess I'll wait until my armor is done anyways. However, devising a window has proven to be the tricky part. Most of this gun will be done except for that. That will really bother me.

 

Anyways, thanks for weighing in. I have a ton more research to do on the Hengstler, and some other parts, hence the delay most likely unless I have a moment of clarity. I haven't decided if I want to drill in real brass screws or just paint the tops, heh. Easy way out?

Edited June 8, 2014 by thederek

[Dark PWF[Staff]]

Falling asleep. LoL.

 

I'm just going to let you know: My brass screws... Totally painted.

[thederek]

Falling asleep. LoL.

 

I'm just going to let you know: My brass screws... Totally painted.

 

Good to know, I'll do the same.

[thederek]

Ok, so today I glued the wooden dowel to the DD's resin bolt, to make the "full bolt". I'm going to let it cure overnight.

 

 

I'm going to putty and fill the gap where the two join as best as I can, but luckily, it's right about where you won't really see the two join too much at the position it will be in the barrel. However, I will still putty it and sand it all down. I will also need to expand the "square" slot a bit more into the wooden dowel with a dremel where the charging handle will attach.The dowel is already pretty smooth, but I will also putty the vertical slot where I plan to make the ejector part. So this will all be sanded down, and painted before going into the barrel. Just wanted to show the (truly) rough draft beforehand. This is the exact size of a real bolt per Aaron's measurements.

 

You can see what I mean how it took off some of the primer on the inside of the barrel when I put it in to get a position/fit check. I have a gray primer I will most likely spray over this whole assembly. I will then put the "final" coat of paint in, and slide the bolt in. Then I will have to do touch-ups as I'm sure some of it will scratch off when I have to tap it into place. Then I'll place the plastic for the "diagonal" and paint that as well.

 

I also decided to mess around with paint today. I went ahead and painted the grip with 2 coats of gloss black. I really like the finish and how it came out. It's drying right now. Then I'll tape off the grip for most of the rest of the build when painting (more primer for the whole gun, 2 top coats of flat). Really pleased with it. Also, you'll notice, on the part of the grip that faces away from your palm (on the left side of the screen) there are some bubbles/rough texture. I believe this was from the molding process, as the gloss everywhere else on the grip looks flawless and uniform. Do you all think I should leave it? I kind of think it leaves a rough/used character to it. Or does this just look crappy and need to be sanded down and repainted?

 

 

With masking fully removed so you can see the contrast between primer and gloss.

 

Here's a close up of the part I'm kind of not sure on. I think this is the way the grip was with the little bubbles from molding; these first became visible when I put the primer on but didn't think it was a big deal. Here it has received two coats, and I didn't want to do more to coat the heck out of it or possible get drips.

 

Hey Tim, how's that for an unintended "crinkle finish" =P

 

 

This is also just baffling, because I painted this part the EXACT same time/way/method/duration/conditions, etc, like 10 seconds apart, and look how smooth the back side came out:

(That cross-hatching/scratchy texture towards the top is just part of the grip, it was visible before I painted it, but I don't mind it).

 

So that's that for now. At least it's progress, in it's most technical sense.

Edited June 8, 2014 by thederek

[thederek]

Preach it, brother!!!  Makes absolutely NO SENSE why they didn't mold the entire bolt...

 

 

I checked the alignment of the Doopy bolt against my blaster.  With the charging handle all the way forward in the slot and seated in the correct recess in the bolt, the Doopy bolt ends up exactly where Derek has it.  The vertical slot will be clearly visible.  If you slide the bolt further forward to hide the vertical slot, the recess for the charging handle will not be accessible.

 

If it were mine, I would do the following:

1) Fill the vertical slot with putty and sand flush.

2) Cut the extractor slot and make small pieces to simulate the extractor.  I think Dark CMF and T-Jay both did this in their builds.

3) Round out the square slot for the charging handle (so the correct round base will fit).  Another option would be to file down the charging handle base to fit the existing slot, but that's not as accurate.  You can see the charging handle hole in the bolt pictures above - it's round, not square.

4)  Fit and attach the bolt inside the pipe.

5) I think you said you had to do some significant sanding to fit the bolt, so the diagonal strips are almost gone.  Make diagonal strips from thin plastic and glue to the bolt.

 

No need to be dead in the water.  Same as Dark CMF, what's up with the Hengstler?  Trying to figure out which "features" to add?

Keep it up, Derek!  You're getting close!!!

 

Thanks for the recommendations Aaron, and I'm doing all of the above, minus the "round charging handle". I squared off the base a lonnnnnng time ago, so It's going to fit right through the slot into a square hole. =P Tino did a VERY nice mod on his ejector, I think I'm going to try that, doesn't look too crazy hard. Does anyone know though, in his build he mentions "don't want to push the round part all the way yet, I'll never get it out" then a few posts down it's already in and painted. Is that "round part" supposed to be seated way further down than how it shows in the preliminary pic? He never showed an "in between" shot on that. The Hengstler I covered I think in my LONG diatribe/manifesto. The back is just really rough, and while most will be hidden, not sure how much, just a bit concerned about that.

Edited June 8, 2014 by thederek

[usaeatt2]

Does anyone know though, in his build he mentions "don't want to push the round part all the way yet, I'll never get it out" then a few posts down it's already in and painted. Is that "round part" supposed to be seated way further down than how it shows in the preliminary pic?

 

I had to go back through Tino's build to check... He builds the extractor on page 2, paints the parts on page 4 and installs everything on page 6.  To answer your question: yes.  The round part is supposed to be seated a few millimeters below the surface.  Tino didn't install them on page 2 because he wanted to paint the small parts first.

 

Look at the bolt pictures I sent.  Tino just approximated the extractor, probably for simplicity.  The "round part" looks fine, but if you look at the bolt pictures, you might be able to see that part, in reality, is not round.  It's a spring loaded "piston" or cylinder which maintains tension on the extractor arm.  I think if you just replicate what Tino did, it'll look just fine.

[thederek]

I had to go back through Tino's build to check... He builds the extractor on page 2, paints the parts on page 4 and installs everything on page 6.  To answer your question: yes.  The round part is supposed to be seated a few millimeters below the surface.  Tino didn't install them on page 2 because he wanted to paint the small parts first.

 

Look at the bolt pictures I sent.  Tino just approximated the extractor, probably for simplicity.  The "round part" looks fine, but if you look at the bolt pictures, you might be able to see that part, in reality, is not round.  It's a spring loaded "piston" or cylinder which maintains tension on the extractor arm.  I think if you just replicate what Tino did, it'll look just fine.

 

Yea I'll probably just go with what he did, or at least attempt it and see how it goes. It doesn't have to be perfect for me. What do you think about the grip/paint? I'd hate to have to sand that all down again to deal with the bubbles and repaint. :\ I actually scraped a teeny tiny "problem"/bubbly section down to the primer, and sure enough it is air bubbles in the resin. Not sure what to do at this point regarding that. The back side of the grip looks so good! I'm going to have to spot spray the sampled sections again anyways. Wonder if another coating on the section will help fill it in?

 

I'm just nervous about sanding it down through the top coat, through the primer, to the resin. Then what, prime it back up, then do top coat again? Would that look even worse? I can always mask off the area to sand and paint into a big rectangle, but still. Anyone have experience doing this and how it would look?

Edited June 9, 2014 by thederek

[thederek]

Actually, after looking at Tino's build, he's got those same damn airbubbles on his grip too! The fated resin/doopys bubbles. In the outside painted shots on like the next to last or last page I noticed it. So I don't quite feel so crazy (besides my normal crazy).

 

Damn he has a good build going on. There's about 5 or so going on that look really great. Has given me wonderful ideas. No wonder it's so quiet here the whole time....bunch of rockstars out there!

Edited June 9, 2014 by thederek

[usaeatt2]

Derek,

 

Those "bubbles" are likely a result of the mold release Doopy uses - it's like wax.  Paint doesn't stick to mold release - it spreads away from it.  Painters call it "fisheyes".  If I remember correctly, one of the very first things Tim did on his build was to wash ALL the parts in soapy water...that was to eliminate any residual mold release.  If you do any sanding BEFORE washing the parts, residual mold release gets forced down into the pores of the resin and makes it really tough to eliminate later.

 

You have three choices:

1)  If it doesn't bother you too much, just leave it alone.

2)  You could try adding another coat.  It's possible your first few coats formed a "skin" over the mold release spots and subsequent coats will stick.

3)  Sand the whole grip down to the resin.  Scrub the fisheye area with rubbing alcohol in an attempt to get rid of any remaining mold release.  Other cleaners might include dish soap or something like Simple Green.  I think rubbing alcohol is probably the most aggressive thing you could use on resin.  I normally clean with acetone, but I'm pretty sure that will MELT resin.  Reprime and repaint.  Try not to touch the part with bare hands - oil from your fingertips can cause the same reaction.  Lots of people wear latex or neoprene gloves when handling parts prepped for paint.

[Dark PWF[Staff]]

Yes... I did wash before assembling, and I don't believe I even mentioned it in my build thread, now that you've mentioned it, I washed it up again in less aggressive fashion before painting, to reduce any impact from oils deposted during handling for the build.

[thederek]

Derek,

 

Those "bubbles" are likely a result of the mold release Doopy uses - it's like wax.  Paint doesn't stick to mold release - it spreads away from it.  Painters call it "fisheyes".  If I remember correctly, one of the very first things Tim did on his build was to wash ALL the parts in soapy water...that was to eliminate any residual mold release.  If you do any sanding BEFORE washing the parts, residual mold release gets forced down into the pores of the resin and makes it really tough to eliminate later.

 

You have three choices:

1)  If it doesn't bother you too much, just leave it alone.

2)  You could try adding another coat.  It's possible your first few coats formed a "skin" over the mold release spots and subsequent coats will stick.

3)  Sand the whole grip down to the resin.  Scrub the fisheye area with rubbing alcohol in an attempt to get rid of any remaining mold release.  Other cleaners might include dish soap or something like Simple Green.  I think rubbing alcohol is probably the most aggressive thing you could use on resin.  I normally clean with acetone, but I'm pretty sure that will MELT resin.  Reprime and repaint.  Try not to touch the part with bare hands - oil from your fingertips can cause the same reaction.  Lots of people wear latex or neoprene gloves when handling parts prepped for paint.

 

Well, I did wash the all the parts in warm, soapy water. That was step 1, so I knew that. I also do that with all my resin model kits. The holes are actually....holes. I chipped a select piece down to the resin and they are all little pinholes. If anything I feel I should have bonded and sanded the grip before painting. So while I do agree it's important to wash your pieces and possibly even a 2nd time like time like Tim mentioned, I still got those little pinholes, it's a physical thing I didn't think would be noticed with paint on it. In other words, it's not a flat spot with release on it, it's a pin hole that might have release in it though.

 

It kind of sucks, because any sanding now and repainting would probably make it look way worse. Ugh. Not happy.

[thederek]

Ok, so I finally got the glossy grip out of the way. Move along, move along. When in doubt, redneck it (since I *am* a Floridian). I figured I would just add a few coats until it looks smoother. Keep in mind, I didn't cake it on there, just kind of lightly sprayed it, for a second or two ever other day. It really smoothed it out....not perfect, but I can live with where I'm at now. This is as good as it gets without sanding, filling the holes, etc. I think it came out satisfactory for me. You can really see the contrast between the primer and gloss.

 

 

Silky smoove:

 

 

This was the problem area, a lot more smooth now I think, compared to earlier (with 2 extra coats):

 

 

I think the extra layers help with the durability also. That's why after I do a good layer or so of primer, I plan to to minimum two layers of flat black enamel, and go from there.

 

Next it's bolt, spring, scope rail, and figuring out what mods/how much I want to do on the Heng, and I'm finally seeing the light at the end of the Imperial Tunnel.

Edited June 11, 2014 by thederek

[Dark PWF[Staff]]

Looking real good, Derek! Food for thought on the bubbles... If the blaster is in your hand, nobody will be able to see it. Over time, with handling, it may wear down a bit.

 

I think that you'll be fine, brother!

[thederek]

This is true Tim, that's for pointing that out. I think it's looking good now. The bolt sits super snug into the barrel too, so I'm feeling good about that. Everything is coming together nicely! The only thing I need to be worried about now is drilling out the ejector part on the right side of the bolt, and what color to paint it.

 

Now that I'm closer to being done (T tracks, then other pieces), I'm having more fun with it! I'll post some updates this weekend if anyone's interested.

[usaeatt2]

I'm interested to see it! 

[thederek]

Hey everyone! I've been a very busy recruit lately. I've had a lot of family stuff, working two jobs (got to pay for armor and boots somehow) and I'm finally making a bit of progress again on things. Here are some updates on the blaster with a bit of fun mixed in.

 

So last time you all saw the bolt, I had glued part of a wooden dowel to the correct length of the real bolt, per Aaron's email (I think the actual measurement and pic with it is listed a few pages back). I like to show the pic of how ugly this thing got before it became presentable. My mind saw what it should be, it was getting there which was the journey. So I had two diagnonal lines from the old "bolt face", and a for soem reason, a vertical groove. As discussed, this should be the correct position I feel, and not the way most people have it, but that's just me. I'm no gunsmith, or enjoy debating small details like that. So call it right or wrong. Either way, I puttied all the grooves. This picture is fresh putty, not sanded. I love how crazy it looks. Like a Frankenstein bolt (ignore the power cylinders for now).

 

This was my idea:

 

 

You can see the black box next to the square gap on the left will be where I need to cut into the wood to where I want the cocking lever to go (part of the precut square will be covered in the barrel, so I have to "extend" this feature). Also, my cocking level is rectangular on the end, not rounded so it fits through the channel. I realize it's not as accurate, eh but I don't care. The channel was too narrow. The far right ovular line is a pencil oval I drew for where I need to drill the ejection port mechanism. I decided to go with simply a groove, and not try and install pieces and all that. At this point I'm just trying to finish. I've come to a point where I just want a cool looking blaster, of which 98% of the people will never nitpick like we do here.

 

After spraying it down with gray primer, I liked the look but that spot above the newly-carved ejector groove was really bothering me. See it? It looks like it's not sanded down well enough. It was driving me crazy.

 

 

So after mulling it over for a while, I decided to go ahead and work on it some more. I sanded it down, taped it up and reprimed just a section. It's defintely smooth now. I sanded it out of anger and after two beers. "How DARE you mess up my paint job the first time?! Stupid putty! Argh!$! [sand sand sand]"

 

These are the two colors I decided to go with. I already had them on hand. The are Tamiya acrylics. I had them from my tank modeling collection. So the dark on the left is the bolt color, and the silvery gun metal will be the "strip".

 

Sanded, reprimed, and pained with a few coats of acrylic. I'm seriously liking this now.

 

Keep in mind, the below photo is going to show you the only things that will be visible once this is in the barrel:

 

Anyways, the last piece of tape comes off that was covering the bonding point for the cocking lever, and I'm happy with the results. Another unintended benefit: this bolt is not perfectly level. The back-end wooden dowel ever so slightly curves up, actually forcing me to tap the bolt into place. This is excellent as it's a solid connection and nothing will move this once it's in place. I'm basically jamming this in there. I never intended the bolt to be functional, so that's not an issue for me. Also, now I don't have to figure out how to keep it in place or add more hardware.

 

FINALLY I'll have to tap this in the barrel. Here's a word to the wise for people who don't know much about paint, etc. Adding paint changes the mass and thickness of this thing. Therefore when I tap this into place, I am expecting it to get chipped, scratched, and show black paint from inside the barrel. Once it's in its final position, I am going to go in with tiny paintbrushes and touch it up. I did not want to simply insert the bolt THEN paint, as I wasn't sure I was able to paint the whole assembly once inside the barrel. I'd rather have to touch up then do a whole paint job. This shouldn't be an issue on a resin kit, but on a pipe build where nothing is 100% accurate, it's what I had to do with what was given to me.

 

We'll see how good (or bad) this decision turns out to be. I'll have to add the extra strip once in place, and paint that the contrasting color. Then I will cover this thing with tape and commence on painting the blaster.

Edited June 25, 2014 by thederek

[thederek]

Next thing. My power cylinders from Andy finally came in! Fantastic, fantastic quality. It definitely was worth the extra money to take this to the next level. Also, pipe build kits from DD don't come with a Hengstler or p-cylinders, so I had to go somewhere. I'm glad I went with Andy, superb work. http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/24821-screen-accurate-resin-budget-power-cylinders-for-e11s/

 

Here are some pictures of when it first arrived. It's the highest quality resin I've seen so far (I've epoxied the two parts already here).

 

 

Here is the bottom, look how smooth!

 

This is after I decided I wanted to put them right here (parallel with barrel method):

 

Finally, this is after I primed it. Looking nice now! Also, as a creature of habit from my tank building days, I like to paint larger parts separately first. I dunno why, I seem more comfortable with it. Then I will finally "join everything together" with a layer or two of primer with everything assembled, and finish with top coats. Notice the section that bonds to the barrel is taped off to prevent primer from getting on there.

 

Finally, here is how it will look when on the barrel. Also, note the barrel plug has the "paint-free bonding ring" also not painted for a better bonding. this will not be visible once in place. Also, I wanted to wait until the bolt was done in case I needed to tap it out and needed access from both ends.

 

Bonded barrel plug = one way street if you need to get the bolt out for some reason.

 

I also glued on the ejector port cover.

 

I also stole Tim's idea and used an adhesive furniture pad to put into the endcap. It will help the spring stay secure and not rattle around.

 

 

 

Going good, more to come!

Edited June 25, 2014 by thederek

[thederek]

Finally, here's the "fun"! Lookee what I got while doing all this:

 

 

and

 

 

 

Woooo hooo! My armor isn't due for a few months still, but a squaddie who had a spare ATA kit (minus helmet, which has been ordered) was selling his. Lucky me Now I'm just terrified to touch it. Considering how much I freaked out and got frustrated with this blaster, this is daunting. Not to mention I haven't read up as this was an unexpected pick up.

 

Either way, on the road to TK-ness!! Also, I helped our squad set this up tonight. Really fun! The trash compactor from the Death Star!

 

 

In closing, the remainig things for the blaster which you'll see in the next few weeks:

1.) Getting the scope rail put on

2.) Getting the scope on the rail

3.) Gluing on mag well

4.) Securing bolt, then barrel plug, then end cap

5.) Heating and fitting T-tracks

6.) Priming everything again (minus gloss grip), then painting. I give this a few more weeks with everything going on and I'm done. Then off to armor

Edited June 27, 2014 by thederek