Research for content in the Completion Sets

[T-Jay[TK]]

As most of you know, I am offering E-11 Completion Sets, containing a lot of required things to add more realism to your blaster builds.
While recently improving the sets to a new version, I also thought about adding some scope lenses. That turned out to be more difficult than expected...
 
This thread is to collect all options we have and to discuss which would be the best for our need.

Edited September 9, 2015 by T-Jay

[T-Jay[TK]]

Option #1: First thing I found were these glass blobs, also called "cabochons".

 

You can get them in shops for self-made jewelry in bunches for surprisingly little money and they are available in many different sizes. Although looking good on first sight,
the dome seems to be too extreme when comparing to an original lens. On closer inspection I found another flaw: when looking at the top, most of them are not 100%
correctly circular rounded, meaning you will get little gaps between the lens and your resin scope. See next image...


                
Summary:

Pro
+ cheap
+ both required sizes available

Con
- extreme dome
- not exactly rounded

Estimated upcharge to include this into the Completion Sets: 1 or 2 bucks.

Edited April 3, 2015 by T-Jay

[T-Jay[TK]]

Option #2: Next item in mind were jewelers lenses. Thanks to Scott (Tusken RTT) for that inspiration.

These are much more expensive than the "cabochons" and available only in very few sizes. I hoped the big 21mm lens would fit in the scope's rear end, while the
12mm lens would be fine at the front. But this would result in having to buy 2 jeweler lenses for 1 scope, which could get pricy for adding these into the Completion Sets.
So I started looking for a version, containing both required lens sizes and was happy as a child to find this:

According to the label, the big lens in this combined unit is 22mm (instead of the earlier shown 21mm lenses). That doesn't cause a problem, but the small lens does!
12mm instead of 10mm is a visible difference. And like Aaron (usaeatt2) once said about the power cylinders, a minor deviation makes the whole thing look off.
With the front lens it's the same. Of course the 12mm lens would physically fit into the scope, but you have to seriously enlarge the opening (rear lens in this pic. is 21mm)



However, as you can see here, Scott (Tusken RTT) managed to fix that problem and get a nice final result - meaning: there are ways to work with these lenses...

Summary:

Pro
+ real lenses with a nice dome
+ precisely cut and rounded

Con
- only one required size available (front lens is 12 instead of 10mm)
- fitting the 12mm-lens makes the scope front look off (or requires additional work)

Estimated upcharge to include this into the Completion Sets: roughly around 8 - 10 bucks!

Edited September 10, 2015 by T-Jay

[T-Jay[TK]]

Option #3: HQO High Quality Optics

Had to spend some money on these (more than I wanted) and ordered several thicknesses to check the different visual appearances and credibility. Even the small
10mm size was available (but very limited and expensive) so I just took one.

     

Summary:

Pro
+ crystal clear lenses with several domes
+ precisely cut and rounded

Con
- just the price

Estimated upcharge to include this into the Completion Sets: roughly around 8 - 12 bucks!


As stated at the beginning, this thread is meant to collect feedback about which of the options would be the best to be included in the Completion Sets. As these sets
are made for the builders out there, you all should decide about this and the "Topic Poll Option" seems to be an ideal way to work this out.
So I activated it for this thread and would be glad if you could vote for your favorite.

If you know additional options to add here, please let us all know.

Thanks in advance to everybody for participating on this poll.

Edited April 3, 2015 by T-Jay

[usaeatt2]

My vote has been cast!  Nice comparisons, Tino!

 

Also takes the fun out of "re-gifting" my cabochons as a brilliantly conceived craft project...

[Dday[501st]]

I think there is no choice here.

 

For someone looking to get a completion set they are already looking to make their build as accurate as possible without buying a real sterling and counter/scopes.

 

As this is the case, there really is only one option. We pay for accuracy and we pay a good amount

[Tusken RTT]

Some great options! How do the HQOs get fitted into the scope? The jewelers are nice and thick to lay in your drilled hole, but the thinner ones it looks like they would be tricky to glue and not get it on the lens.

[T-Jay[TK]]

@ Aaron (usaeatt2) and Derrek (Dday): Thanks for your comments, guys .
 
The reason for this poll is not just finding the best lens (cause we know that's the HQO). The actual question is: what do the people want to be added into the sets?
 
As the HQO will cause the highest costs of all three options, I wasn't sure if the majority would go for that. However, it seems like you are right as the HQO is currently the most voted. Will leave the poll open, so everything is possible...
 

 

Some great options! How do the HQOs get fitted into the scope? The jewelers are nice and thick to lay in your drilled hole, but the thinner ones it looks like they would be tricky to glue and not get it on the lens.

 
Good point, Scott. That will only work with a drilled (or hollowed) scope. The following pictures show how it looked in my build (please ignore what you see in the counter window has been improved meanwhile )

    

 

By the way: The front lens in the last picture is 12mm (2mm too big) and here you can perfectly see, it rests not where the original lens sits. Should be a bit deeper inside.

Edited April 5, 2015 by T-Jay

[T-Jay[TK]]

Thanks to everybody for participating on the poll so far.

 

Would be very happy about some additional opinions to get an even more representative result.

 

Also, the 3 stated options are not meant to be the only ones. Please feel free to share additional ways to simulate the lenses and I will integrate these into the poll.

[sla73]

I would have to agree with others who have commented on the HQO's.

 

If you are keen to make your build look as best as it can, it's not a stretch to go the upgrade on a set and get the HQO!

 

Cheers sla73

[T-Jay[TK]]

Update:  Getting closer to the next version of completion sets
 
Since this poll had been opened, the HQOs seemed to be the favorite choice. Unfortunately the company that sold me the above samples, wasn't able to deliver the amount I needed.
 
So began a very frustrating and time consuming research to find another solution.
 
Long story short: Was in contact with countless people, but either they didn't had both required sizes and amounts, or the price was far too high or the minimum order was 500 pieces or they didn't sell to private persons.
 
Had to go another way and decided to take a closer look at option #2, the jeweler's lens. Ordered one to disassemble and examine it. Here is the result:

 

After seeing all the details now, I don't think the jeweler's lens would be a sufficient option for the blaster builders out there, so I kept searching for other options.

 

When I was close to giving it up, I remembered in the past some people had used lenses from a small monocular. So I ordered one and will post again when it arrives...

[charlesnarles]

Monoculars are a god-send. Perfect sizes and you can keep the lenses in their little housing to add realism to the stepping effect found on the scopes (if you cut off the "front" a la doopy Hasbro conversion and bore out the bigger side). Plus you get a prism to let your scope be functional

Edited August 21, 2015 by charlesnarles

[T-Jay[TK]]

That sounds promising. Can't wait to get it in the mailbox and share the disassembling details here. Hopefully in 1 week from now...

[T-Jay[TK]]

Okay, meanwhile the monocular has arrived and got disassembled. Here is the result:

 

As far as I can see, THIS is the best available option to upgrade the completion sets. It will take a bit time, but there will soon be a new version of these sets...

[MaximusStabby[501st]]

I'd love to grab some of these ^.^

[T-Jay[TK]]

I'd love to grab some of these ^.^

 

Hi Matt, I would recommend to wait until the new version of completion sets is available. Maybe you will like more than just the lenses...   If so, you can PM me and we can still arrange a possible 2nd shipment to you.

 

Side note: I only offer this to Matt, because he recently ordered a V1.9 completion set, just a few days ago.

[Thrawn's guard]

The new completion set sounds very exciting and I can confirm that the lenses from these monoculars are fantastic.

 

I think that you also get an anti reflection coating which adds that little extra bit of realism.

[I'm Batman[501st]]

 

Side note: I only offer this to Matt, because he recently ordered a V1.9 completion set, just a few days ago.

 

He's going to out do us all Tino. (He's grabbing my blaster to get a few crucial measurements too....)

 

No pressure now Matt!

[charlesnarles]

Another cheap option is an as-seen-on-TV product called Zoomies. They're flimsy glasses with plastic magnifying lenses that are about the right sizes, and you get two of each size of lenses per pair. The lenses also have that step-down effect around them. They're clear and give a classic distortion effect around the edges.

 

 

 

 

Edited September 13, 2015 by charlesnarles

[T-Jay[TK]]

Another cheap option is an as-seen-on-TV product called Zoomies. They're flimsy glasses with plastic magnifying lenses that are about the right sizes, and you get two of each size of lenses per pair. The lenses also have that step-down effect around them. They're clear and give a classic distortion effect around the edges.  (...)

 

Scott, that's an awesome find. Thanks for sharing this here.

 

Will see if can get hands on these over here in Germany and if so, I'll do a little comparison to check out, what is best to use in the completion sets...