Thrawns Guard's ANH E11 blaster build

[Thrawn's guard]

Another small upgrade using a screw from Tino's completion set.

 

Taking the counter I carefully drilled out the resin cast screw on the side of the counter and installed a real screw.

 

 

 

 

I have one of Tino's real counters on the way so once this arrives I will remove the front section of the resin counter and connect it to this rear resin section.

 

I also spotted that I have a couple of small resin bubbles to repair (See the last photo above). I'll do that the next time I have some green stuff to hand.

Edited November 4, 2015 by Thrawn's guard

[Thrawn's guard]

I am at last making some progress with the painting of the scope. After masking off the ends of the scope with masking tape I sprayed the scope with two coats of black primer before applying several coats of a metallic brass effect paint. The brass effect paint isn't quite what I was expecting but I think that it will serve it's purpose.

 

I also need to better sand down the green stuff repairs on the feet.

 

 

Tomorrow I will look to apply a flat black finish over the top before reassembling the scope i.e. inserting the prisms and lenses.

 

With regard to reattaching of the front section of the scope to the middle section I am aware that there is supposed to be a very narrow recess.

 

 I will look to recreate this by gluing small strips of thin plastic, (Perhaps a spare margarine tube will be sacrificed), between the two sections before filling the gap around the edges with green stuff.

 

Whilst the green stuff is still soft I will force a recess around the edge with some thin wire..........Unless anyone else has a better idea. I'm always open to suggestions.

Edited November 4, 2015 by Thrawn's guard

[Thrawn's guard]

Thankfully I have made some good progress with the scope build today.

 

Having applied 2 coats of flat black paint over the bronze and allowed it to dry I collected all of the pieces that I needed to put the scope together, cleaning the lenses and prisms in the process.

 

 

The front lens housing was then glued in to the front section of the scope.

 

 

I test fitted the front section of the scope on to the central section and marked through the 2 holes for the side screws. I then drilled in to the central section of the scope at these mark positions to allow me to drop the side screws through the end section and in to the central section of the scope (Doing this strengthens the joint between the two as the screws act as pins.

 

 

 

After drilling I washed the central section to ensure that there was no resin residue inside and positioned the prisms in to the central section of the scope. I then dropped the front section in to position and inserted the screws.

 

 

At this point one of the two small screws, (see the picture below), was fouling the edge of the top prism the therefore wouldn’t drop in to the recess. I used a Dremel with a cutting disc to shorten the screw.

 

 

I then fitted the small front lens, glued the front and central sections together and also glued the 5 screws in to position.

 

I was initially intending to place a small thin section of plastic between the front and central section of the scope  to provide a gap but when I tried this I found that it looked better without.

 

The front section of the scope is only pushed in to position, though it is a reasonably tight fit, at this stage as I still have to fit my scope cross hairs in to the lens. Once fitted I will glue the sections together, fill the gap with green stuff and paint.

 

I have decided to try to print a selection of cross hairs on to the transparent film and see how they look whilst installed. Unfortunately it appears like I will have to buy 100 A4 sheets (Hopefully that will be a job for early next week).

 

Anyway on to the fun stuff. Here are a couple of shots of the scope before weathering and a couple looking through the scope.

 

 

 

 

Edited July 30, 2015 by Thrawn's guard

[allan1313[TK]]

That scope is crazy good...Awesome work. That is some ingenious stuff right there.

[Thrawn's guard]

Thanks very much Allan the scope has been a project in itself but one that I have enjoyed working on.

 

 

Tonight's update is only a short one as I have visitors staying for the weekend so time is a little limited.

 

I have tried my had at a little weathering. I have tried not to over do it so hopefully I have achieved a natural used look.

 

This effect was done simply but lightly sanding off the flat black with a fine, (No 400), sandpaper at locations such as edges where I image the most wear and tear to occur.

 

 

 

 

 

Can i ask for people's honest opinion ?

 

I also need to get a white crayon for the scope text trick.

 

I'm now just waiting for the overhead projector film to arrive so that I can print off a number of scope cross hairs and trial them to see which I think works best though I guess this is more a case of personal preference anyway. I will then glue on the front section, smooth the joint with green stuff and paint.

[hupspring[TK]]

I think your scope turned out great! I don't like a lot of weathering, and you did a good job keeping it at a good amount. I will probably do a similar amount or even less on mine.

[Twnbrother]

good job... I like the way it came together.  To me I would do a little less weathering, but it still looks great.... it just a personal preference

[Thrawn's guard]

Thanks for the feedback on the weathering of the scope.

 

I may tweak this a little later when I see how it relates to the blaster once painted.

[Thrawn's guard]

I am in the process of looking at the bolt and ejection port guard and have a couple of questions if anyone is able to help.

 

 

1) What is the width of the ejection port guard ?

 

2) What is the length of the ejection port guard ?

Edited August 2, 2015 by Thrawn's guard

[Thrawn's guard]

I decided that whilst I waited for the transparent sheet to arrive for the cross hairs it would be nice to see some of the parts for this blaster start to come together. To that end I decided to look at connecting the trigger to the receiver.

 

Firstly I placed the handle in the correct position on the receiver using the marks on the DD kit and then draw around using a sharp pencil. An additional line was then drawn to indicate the centreline of the handle.

 

 

A hole was then drilled through the base of the handle, (Which will later be hidden using green stuff), and in to the receiver. 3 additional positions were marked off on the centreline of the handle and receiver at 30mm spacings where I intended to reinforce the joint by pinning it.

 

 

 

The pins were formed by cutting 15mm lengths of steel bar (The small steel bars provided in the counter shown on the first page of this thread). Holes were then drilled in the handle and receiver and the holes in the receiver filled with green stuff.

 

 

 

A screw was cut to 18mm long so that it could fix through the front hole in the handle and in to the receiver but wouldn't project in to the interior of the barrel. I also test fit the pins to make sure that the holes were deep enough so that once the pins are installed they wouldn't prevent the 2 sections from fitting together.

 

 

Whilst the green stuff was still soft I pushed the pins halfway in to the holes in the handle and removed the spare green stuff that was pushed out of the hole. The idea of this is that it provides some tolerance to allow you to ensure that the holes in the handle and receiver line up and then once dried will provide a solid fix.

 

 

 

I then lined up the pins with the holes in the receiver, pushed the two sections together and tightened the screw (I have not glued at this stage just in case of any issues that I come across later.

 

Edited August 4, 2015 by Thrawn's guard

[Thrawn's guard]

I just wondered what peoples initial thoughts were regarding the different cross hairs I have been playing around with.

 

Any feedback/thoughts would be much appreciated.

 

I also have Twnbrother's cross hair to look at.

[T-Jay[TK]]

In my opinion 1 to 8 do look quite real and 9 to 11 appear very futuristic. But all of them look good.

 

I think it only comes down to personal preferences of the individual builder... Thanks for sharing this nice collection / overview.

[sylverbard[TK]]

9-11 look more like artillery or aviation sights with elevation markings .

[hupspring[TK]]

I like #8 the best, followed by #7 and #3. They all look good though.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Twnbrother]

I am fond of number 8 and 11.  I think it comes down to the one you like the best.  Good job with the designs.

[Thrawn's guard]

Thanks for all the feedback on the scope cross hairs.

 

I hope to be able to print some off on Thursday if the transparent sheets arrive tomorrow sometime so I will keep everyone up to date with how things are working out.

[Thrawn's guard]

Looking at the rear sight this evening I decided that I needed to sharpen up the details on each side as the cast details were a little untidy.

 

 

I noticed that there was a thin metal part consisting of a circular section with 2 wings in a packet of m3 x 50mm spring loaded wing toggles and that the circular section of this was exactly the correct diameter to replace the resin cast detail.

 

 

I therefore used a circular cutting disk on the Dremel to remove the majority of the wings before tidying up the cut edges using a grinding bit (See the bits used in the photo below).

 

 

I then checked the position of the resin cast details before gently sanding them away.

 

 

Once removed I cleaned up the sight with a damp cloth, allowed to dry and then attached the new metal details using some super glue.

 

[usaeatt2]

10.   Looks like something that might have been manufactured by Sienar Fleet Systems (TIE fighter manufacturer).  I like the futuristic look.  Nice work! 

[Thrawn's guard]

@ Aaron - Thanks for the feedback which is always greatly appreciated.

 

I can also see what you mean about the tie fighter look.

Edited August 5, 2015 by Thrawn's guard

[Thrawn's guard]

I decided to have a look at how the magazine housing fixes to the receiver.

 

I marked out the position of the housing on the receiver with a pencil and then whilst holding the housing in the correct position I used the 2 holes that I had previously drilled as templates to drill through in to the receiver.

 

I will need to check how much of the fixing screw that I have used will need to be cut off to prevent the screws encroaching in to the internal section of the barrel however it was good to see how things are starting to come together.

 

When i have everything test fitted and checked I will glue the joints but this will be one of the last tasks I look at.

 

Once glued all joints will be filled where needed with green stuff to complete the look.

 

 

[Thrawn's guard]

Hey guys I was hoping to get some advice or suggestions.

 

I have been working on my scope rail this evening and managed to snap it whilst forming the 90 degree bend at the front. I suspect the cut along the inside radius wasn't deep enough.

 

Has anyone looked at repairing a snapped rail perhaps by soldering ?

 

My current thoughts are to try to run a line of solder along the inside radius then grind out a grove along the outside radius. I could then fill the groove with solder and clean up.

[Thrawn's guard]

Using a method that I have seen used by several members on this form to add detail to the wording on the scope I rubbing a white wax crayon over the writing then rubbing off the excess with a paper towel.

 

This is a very quick and easy upgrade.

 

 

[Thrawn's guard]

The next task I looked at was to fix the rear sight in to position.

 

Firstly I held some sand paper around the rear of the receiver and rubbed the rear sight long the length of the receiver in order to form a concave curve to the underside of the scope to match the curve of the receiver.

 

I then used the marks on the DD kit and photo references to position the sight then draw around the sight using a sharp pencil. I also fitted the end cap to make sure that the spacing was adequate to allow it to be installed or removed.

 

 

Taking another section of the steel rod, taken from the counter shown on the first page of this thread, I cut 2 8mm long pins using a Dremel.

 

 

I marked positions on the rear sight for the pins based on the locations where the resin is the thickest. Measuring these positions I then marked out the corresponding locations on the receiver.

 

 

I then used a pin vice to carefully drilled 2 holes in both the receiver and the sight, test fit the rear sight connection and then applied a thin layer of super glue to both parts and pushed them together.

 

 

Finally to ensure a tight fit whilst the glue dried I placed a number of elastic bands around the sight and receiver.

 

Edited August 6, 2015 by Thrawn's guard

[Thrawn's guard]

I think that I have a solution for the snapped scope rail.

 

I'll see if it works and if so add the method to this thread so that if anyone else comes across the same issue there is a solution on this forum.

 

EDIT - All is looking good at the moment. I think when finished it may well be better than the aluminium rail I started working on.

Edited August 6, 2015 by Thrawn's guard

[Thrawn's guard]

As mentioned previously this is the result of my failed attempt to bend the aluminium strip to form my scope rail. I did initially consider attempting to carry out a repair but had concerns with the strength of any such joint.