DD full resin blaster kit build

[AgeOfStrife]

The recess in the receiver is just under 1 inch deep now. The mag has about 1 1/4 inch to fit inside, so I sawed about 1/3 inch off the mag to get it to sit snug.

 

I have managed to trail resin flakes into the house a few times after routing or drilling, at least my wife is understanding

 

I'd also recommend doing this before painting the blaster, I'd already put on a primer, metal base, and black top coat. I'll now paint up the mag separately, then add one more black top coat to bring it all together.

 

Dan

Edited July 13, 2015 by AgeOfStrife

[T-Jay[TK]]

LOL. I ran my build on the computer desk right in front of the keyboard. You can imagine that my vacuum cleaner was really busy those days.

 

And after all was finished, I had to vacuum clean the inside of the computer housing, as the vents soaked in that fine resin dust. THAT was a mess...

[AgeOfStrife]

Got the rear stock lock modded too. Cut the outer casing away with a dremel saw blade, then made a new one out of PVC U channel. Cut a ballpoint spring down, drilled a 1mm hole and used some 1mm carbon fibre rod I've had kicking around for years (used some of this for the trigger on the blaster too). Only took a few minutes, should hold the rear cap in place nicely and allow it to be removed if necessary.

 

Added a video on Youtube here:

 

 

Dan

 

[AgeOfStrife]

So close, but not quite finished yet. Still waiting for parts for the counter, but I've put the rest of the blaster together.

 

The power cylinders got a simple mod, adding threads and nuts to both ends and some wire into the gap at the back.

 

The D ring was replaced with a 4mm thick steel chain link which looks far better than the one in the DD kit.

 

It's been painted with primer, then pewter spray (darker than silver), satin black, gloss clear coat, and then satin clear coat (leaving the grip with just the gloss clear coat)

 

 

 

 

Next I'll look at making a stand from clear acrylic while I'm waiting for the laat package from China.

 

Dan

[T-Jay[TK]]

Your paintwork turned out good. I like it. Will you add some black on that screw head in the grip?

 

Hate to say, but it looks like your rear sight is mounted the wrong way

[AgeOfStrife]

I'll add paint to the grip screw and nut when I get the counter mounted. I'll probably have a few little touchups to do around the blaster to finish it off.

 

As to the rear sight, yes it's the wrong way round. Doh! I guess I could file smooth the front half, file ridges into the rear half, and then use GS to add the ring onto the base. I don't think I've got much chance of removing it in one piece to be able to turn it around.

 

Dan

Edited July 18, 2015 by AgeOfStrife

[AgeOfStrife]

Thanks to using a really good epoxy resin glue there was no way to remove the rear sight in one piece. Instead I used green stuff to smooth the front edges, bulk out the rear edge to add ridges to, and add the sight ring into the base. Hopefully it'll look OK when painted.

 

 

Dan

[T-Jay[TK]]

That looks good. Unfortunately you had to do it the hard way, but it paid off. Won't be noticed after painting...

[AgeOfStrife]

I'm still waiting for the counter parts to arrive, so this weekend I've decided to make a stand from some scrap wood I had in the garage. It's really simple but should do the job for now.

 

 

 

The DD counter has been undercoated and given a coat of black, but will be removed and drilled out when the parts arrive, so will look a little different when it's finished.

 

Also used some more wood to make a simple helmet stand, it's just two discs cut with a hole saw and a piece of dowel.

 

 

 

Dan

[AgeOfStrife]

And now the paint is dry I've got a way to display the blaster.

 

 

 

Still need to find a spot to put it on the living room, might need move a few of my figures and DVDs around. My wife has already said that the middle of the dining table is not a suitable place for it

 

Dan

[Thrawn's guard]

Wow great looking blaster build and stand Dan.

 

The only minor comment that i have, and you may decide that it is not of concern to you, is that the fixings used to attach the folding stock to the main body near the trigger assembly are smooth domes on a real Sterling.

 

If you do decide to tweak this you should be able to fill the screw heads in with some green stuff, smooth and apply a little paint.

 

I think that the stand really presents the gun fantastically.

[AgeOfStrife]

I'm aware of the bolt heads, it allows me to remove the stock if needed. I may well fill with green stuff and paint, if I did need to remove it in the future I should be able to dig it out and get a hex bit in.

[AgeOfStrife]

The mechanical counter finally arrived from China

 

It's a bit larger than the resin counter half, so I needed to dismantle it, shorten the numbers overall width from 40mm to 35mm, and rebuild enough of it in a new frame so that it looks close enough to a Hengstler at a Haldane at a glance.

 

I made an outer casing from 5 pieces of plasticard 1.5mm thick, and cut a slot in the face. The clear window piece from the counter was trimmed to fit, including sanding down 5mm the curved part. An inner frame was made from some more plasticard, and holes drilled to allow the for the wheels and the cogs to fit. The cogs will prevent the wheels from moving on their own, but allow the numbers to be changed later if required. The numbers were set to 181408 (I don't have a 501st ID, this is made up from important dates to my family), and inserted into the casing.

 

 

This left a 12mm recess, and the resin counter was sawn and then trimmed to allow the casing to fit snugly, and the screw to mount to the scope rail bracket will hold the casing in place, allowing it to be removed and adjusted as needed. The reset button is just a small piece if plasticard, it doesn't move as the inner frame is in the way, although I may be able to get it to move later.

 

 

I need to tidy up the resin edges and then get it painted, but I think this is as close as I can get to the real thing with £2.29 of parts and some scrap plasticard.

 

Dan

[Thrawn's guard]

Nice work on the counter.

[AgeOfStrife]

The counter is finally done. I've adjusted the inside to allow for a thicker reset button, got the wheels closer together, and if I ever find a strong spring thin enough to fit (needs to be about 2mm diameter, the ball point ones I have are too wide to fit) I can take it apart and have the reset button sprung - it does move, but needs to be pulled out manually.

 

 

 

The small screw on top is from a UK mains plug, was a perfect size match yo the one on the DD resin cast. This screw fits into the internal structure and keeps it in place. On the bracket side a hole goes through the cover and into the resin, so it's firmly mounted. It's had a few coats of black paint, the front half had an undercoat of brass and a little sanding prior to satin varnish to give it a weathered look.

 

 

At this point I think I'm done. I'm happy with the result, and I don't want to risk ruining it by trying to do anything else. Even managed to get it on display in the living room, I think my wife is warming to it

 

I'll try to get some good pictures of the finished blaster later this week, it's got dark here in the UK now and the pics I took earlier are a little blurry.

 

Dan

[Thrawn's guard]

Dan your blaster looks great. I can't wait to see your finished photos.

 

Good tip about the screw in the mains plug by the way. I may well do the same thing.

Edited August 10, 2015 by Thrawn's guard

[AgeOfStrife]

Thanks to Thrawn's Guard's blaster build topic, and a post from Sith Lord in that topic, I've added the electrical contacts to the counter and filed out the undercut below these on the front of the counter.

 

 

 

At some point I need to stop adjusting the blaster and leave it be

 

 

Dan

[AgeOfStrife]

I managed to take some slightly better photos with my camera. I also figured out how to post images inline, I've had to add a rewrite mod to my own website to allow pseudo image URLs as the FISD image handler doesn't seem to check the MIME type in the URL response, it must parse the extension from the URL instead which doesn't work with phpBB forum attachment URLs directly.

 

 

Dan

Edited August 21, 2015 by AgeOfStrife

[Thrawn's guard]

Dan glad to be able to help with regard to the electrical contacts.

 

By the way both the blaster and your stand look fantastic.

 

You've done an incredible job and all that effort has definitely paid off.

Edited September 4, 2015 by Thrawn's guard

[AgeOfStrife]

Looking forward to seeing yours completed, might give me some more details to copy

[T-Jay[TK]]

A very nice looking result, Dan.

 

Love the look of your counter window and scope lenses. Really good!