Novak Dimon's Sterling-Conversation

[Novak Dimon[TK]]

Hi Troopers,

 

Here I want to share my project "conversation of a Sterling Mk4 L2A3 into an E11 Blaster"

For a long time I only dreamed of it. Again and again I put it aside. "No time to do it", "that's too expensive", "what is it good for?" ... relented the "reasonable" arguments over and over again. But who wants to be reasonable all the time?! Enough of it! Let's do it!

 

I started with research. I took my time until I made first contact to get the parts I need.

I want to make a replica as accurate as possible, using only parts the blasters in the movie "A New Hope" were made of, if available.

Besides I want to build myself everything else. For the power Cylinders I ordered a kit from Andy"PlayfulWolfCub". His Cylinders are the best ever! But I want to put them together myself anyway to challenge myself.

Sources for the Sterling, the Hengstler Counter and the T-tracks are also known and some parts are already on the way to my place.

I received a M38 scope from Italy last week and that's the part I'll start my report with.

 

I made a gallery for all the pictures I'll take during the project: http://www.novakdimon.de/Novak%20Dimon%C2%B4s%20E11/

 

Have fun with my report!

Cheers

Christian

[Novak Dimon[TK]]

Part 1: M38 Scope

The first part I got was the M38 Scope. I bought it at eBay and it came from Italy.

 

The following markings are on the Scope :

TELESCOPE, M38

M.H.R. CO. 1943 R.J.D.

NO. 119766

 

That's the Scope "out of the box":

 

 

 

 

Looking through the scope, I mentioned the crosshairs is 1st: mirror-inverted and 2nd: it's range scale showing to the wrong direction.

I wanted to clean the scope anyway. Besides I'm a curious person and so I just started to take the whole thing apart to fix the wrong adjusted crosshairs.

 

First I took of the original base:

 

 

Then I unscrewed the small lens:

 

 

Behind the lens is a spool piece.

 

 

Underneath is a part with two prisms/mirrors.

 

 

This part fits very well. First I removed the fore prism...

 

 

... and used the tightening bolt of the prism-block to carefully lift the block out of the scope. To do that use one of the threads the first prism was screwed with. There is no need to use force or a lever to remove the block.

 

 

The rear prism is marked green.

 

 

At last I removed the rear lens and the holder with the crosshairs which is assembled underneath.

 

 

Nice to know: hidden under the paint are 4 small setscrews (you can see two of them on the picture above). The ringnuts and lenses are secured by these setscrews. They have to be removed first!

 

After cleaning everything, the view through the scope is much clearer and because I turned the crosshairs all markings are readable and correctly adjusted. Perhaps this is not screen accurate but I think it's looking much cooler now.

Was worth the effort, wasn't it?

 

 

Here some additional pictures of the scope after reassembling:

 

 

Depending on how the Sterling is looking like I eventually repaint the scope later to get a smooth look. Until then I leave it naturally weathered.

 

Original sized pictures are in my Blaster-Gallery:http://www.novakdimon.de/Novak%20Dimon%C2%B4s%20E11/M38%20Scope/index.html

 

Now I have to wait for the next parts to continue.

 

Greetings from Germany!

Christian

[gazmosis[501st]]

Got the popcorn hot and buttered!

[Manutex[TK]]

Hi Christian,

 

I have the same project, will follow with interest

 

What kind of tool you use to remove the biggest lens?

[I'm Batman[501st]]

Pretty daunting task! But yes, it's worth it in the end, isn't it. As long as you don't lose any screws it's not that bad.

 

Watching.....

[Novak Dimon[TK]]

What kind of tool you use to remove the biggest lens?

Hi Manu,

I made a tool from a wllppaper-knife. That's a sheet of metal with a handle, I cut to the correct size.

For the inner ringnut and the crosshairs i used a screwdriver but if I do the job a second time I'll make a tool for them too.

Tomorrow I can post a picture of the "tool" I made.

 

Cheers

Christian

[Novak Dimon[TK]]

As promised a picture of my "tool" to remove the big ringnut and lens.

The marked area is the part I will cut off to get a tool to remove the inner ringnut and the crosshairs. I also cut the whole thing by half. It´s too long for proper handling. (for the next scope  )

 

Kind regards

Christian

 

[Novak Dimon[TK]]

Small Update:
Today my Hengstler Counter arrived.

I had the unbelievable luck that just when I contacted "Blue Snaggletooth" he found a Hengstler Counter with metal box.

Dennis: Thank you very much for giving the counter to me!!

That´s it:




I will paint all the parts together, until painting the counter will have a nice place in my showcase,
 

For a second Blaster-Project I also bought one of his imitates. That is looking really great too and is much lighter. I guess that´s an advantage for  trooping.
Here the replica next to the original:


That´s it for today.
Here the Counter-Gallery: http://www.novakdimon.de/Novak%20Dimon%C2%B4s%20E11/Hengstler%20Counter/index.html

Best regards from Germany!

Christian

[TK-50101 Blue Snaggletooth[TK]]

Real cool stuff for your builds. 

 

A pleasure for me to be part of it.

[PlayfulWolfCub]

I'm looking forward to watching your build, Christian 

 

You mention the scope range finder being the wrong way round.  You've got it a good way round now for your E11 but I thought you'd like to know that it wasn't incorrect before. 

The scope was mounted inside the Sherman tank periscope so it would be seen through a mirror.  That would reverse the image, making an inverted range finder appear the right way round...

 

The full M4A1 periscope:

 

With one end mirror section removed to show the scope mounted on the side:

 

The scope in this particular periscope is a M77D.  It's the same shape as an M38A2 with the same illuminated optics:

 

Cheers, Andy

[The5thHorseman[501st]]

Thank for this post Andy, i've always wondered how these scopes were sitting inside the tank and what the whole unit looked like. Very interesting stuff.

[Novak Dimon[TK]]

Hi Andy, that's really interesting. Thanks for the post! I thought the tank crew was just looking through the other side of the scope.

[Novak Dimon[TK]]

Part 2: Power Cylinders

Last week my Power Cylinder-Kit from Andy PlayfulWolfCub arrived at my place.

 

The kit is made super accurate and detailed. Two of the end caps and the base plate are zinc plated, great for screen accurate weathering. Though I want to zinc plate the Cylinders completely after soldering like the original ones.

 

Today I started with the inner cylinders. The original ones were made of ceramic and that's how I want mine lolling like too.

At the beginning I sanded and cleaned them:

 

Then applied primer:

 

I choose a flat brick-red color to paint them. When the first coat was almost dry I applied some fine sand with some paint to get a ceramic-like rough surface. That's how it was looking:

 

After drying I applied a final coat of paint and then some weathering, using black and white paint.

IMHO the result is quite close to the original parts, made by Andy:

 

That's it for today. Next time I'll start the soldering.

Kindest regards from Germany!

Christian

[Novak Dimon[TK]]

When I returned home from night-shift today at 6:20 AM my plan was to sleep at least until 2 PM. But the chimney sweeper was so kind to wake me up at half past ten. I know: leaving the doorbell switched on was my own fault!

Once awake I choose to set up my workbench for soldering.

And after having everything prepared ... well why not try to solder one small piece. And so I soldered the small mounting nut onto the base plate, a job I finished quite nicely at the second attempt. It's almost looking like made by someone who's knowing how to do such things.

 

At my first attempt I drowned the nut in solder... surely caused by the lack of sleep!

 

Now I have to go to work. I will continue at the weekend.

Kind regards

Christian

[gazmosis[501st]]

This is all really cool. Great scope history! This is a Sterling conversion thread. Where's the Sterling????

[Novak Dimon[TK]]

Where's the Sterling????

Well, I'm still waiting for it. And until it is here I prepare all the other parts.

[gazmosis[501st]]

Ah very cool. It will be like a new child arriving!

[PlayfulWolfCub]

This is really fun, watching my first kit being built by someone else    

 

I know you've already got my kit assembly guide, Christian, but please do ask anything you're not sure of.

 

Cheers, Andy

[Novak Dimon[TK]]

Hi Troopers,

last Sunday I spent some time at my workbench to continue my soldering works on the Power Cylinders and today I like to share my results.

Finding the best way to dose the right amount of solder needed a couple of attempts. Finally I used a mini-blowtorch for all works with fitting-solder and flux.

Some connections needed some finishing with keyfiles, sand cloth and abrasive cleaning mat.

But have a look yourself:

The drops of solder at the bottom of the end caps appeared during the soldering... and then I thoroughly removed them. When I checked the pictures of the original cylinders: they have to be there!!

So I ignited the blowtorch again and melted new drops. I´m glad that this is an easy job.


Next thing is cutting the ends of the screws and then zinc plate the Cylinders

>>>To be continued>>>

[Novak Dimon[TK]]

The last days I learned how to zinc plate things like the Power Cylinders.

First I had to find a suitable power source. Unfortunately the railway-transformer of my son, I planned  to use, makes AC instead of DC. So I used an old PC power supply unit.

 

After learning the do´s and dont´s of galvanic zinc plating my Cylinders are looking quite nice:

Today I started to attach the UBER Capacitators.

 

Thats it for today.

More pictures are found in my Gallery: http://www.novakdimon.de/Novak%20Dimon%C2%B4s%20E11/index.html

Kind regards from Germany

Christian

[The5thHorseman[501st]]

Very nice work! And ingenious way to zinc-plated them.

[TK-50101 Blue Snaggletooth[TK]]

great job

[Novak Dimon[TK]]

Hi,
On friday the heart of my future E11 arrived: the deactivated Sterling. It took longer then expected but I wantet to find a gunsmith that makes the deactivation as concealed as possible. The most difficult part here was the deactivation of the trigger mechanism. Because its lengh the Sterling L2A3 is a so called short weapon in germany and the trigger mechanism must be deactivated. Most sellers simply weld the trigger onto the handgrip. I didn´t want it that way but finally I found someone who disabeled the trigger internally so it is invisible and still moving. Even the safety is still working.   But pictures say more then 1000 words.

Thats how it arrived:



Disassambeled and after some cleaning:




 

I´m thinking about puting a thin layer of paint onto the Sterling because the original paint is nearly completely gone. Or should I leave it the way it is? What do you think? I will be happy to read your opinion.

Now I will continue cleaning it and then complete my Power Cylinders.
Best regards from Germany!
Christian

[jkno]

Very cool blaster build!!!

[PlayfulWolfCub]

Really enjoying watching you put the Cylinders together Christian 

 

 

I think your Sterling looks great as it is - some really interesting textures.

 

Maybe leave it unpainted until you have everything assembled, take some good photos of it & then decide if you want to paint it?

 

 

Cheers, Andy