Thrawns Guard's ANH E11 blaster build

[Thrawn's guard]

Thanks for your kind words and coming from you this means something.

 

I totally agree Mike much of what I have done is also copied from or inspired by other build threads that I have read. In fact I think that this is what makes FISD so great. We all share what we have done and everybody gains. You can see from the builds the constant improvement and innovation.

 

Anyway back to topic. I have taken some photos of the dome head bolt complete with measurements (Conversions to inches provided below).

 

3.75mm = 0.148inch

6.53mm = 0.257inch

6.85mm = 0.270inch

 

 

Diameter of the outer thread.

 

Overall depth of the nut

 

Distance ancross the flats.

 

If you need any more information let me know.

Edited September 14, 2015 by Thrawn's guard

[Thrawn's guard]

Further to my post yesterday here are a few updates of what I managed to work on over the weekend. As usual if anyone has any comments or suggestions they are most welcome.

 

Using a mixture of a Dremel and some clay moulding tools I have cleaned out some of the excess resin in the folding stock to bring out the details.

 

 

 

 

[Thrawn's guard]

As mentioned previously since the charging handle is cast directly from a real handle and the wall thickness of the resin Doopydoos kit is much thicker than the wall of a real sterling the charging handle, if fixed directly to the inner bolt, is too short. Therefore I looked at ways of making a suitable modification.

 

This is what i started with.

 

 

As I had noticed this Issue until after I had glued the resin handle in to the threaded rod any modification needed to be carried out on the tip of the handle. I decided however that the handle would need reinforcing to provide additional robustness so carefully drilled a hole in the tip of the handle so that I could insert a new section of threaded rod (cut from a mechanical screw).

 

 

 

The aim was to increase the length of the tip of the handle by 8mm so that the handle projects out of the receiver by the correct distance.

 

The threaded rod was then glued in to the hole in the end of the handle and green stuff was applied and shaped over the top.

 

 

This is the finished product.

 

[Thrawn's guard]

Another quick modification.

 

Looking at the end of the inner bolt there were two issues that I wanted to improve (I know that it would eb hardly noticeable but I thought that timewise it wouldn’t take very long so why not sort it out). Firstly the end of the bolt shouldn't be solid and secondly the inner section used to form the bolt was slightly smaller than the inside diameter of the outer section of the bolt. Therefore I wanted to seal this up so that it looked like one single part.

 

This is what I started with.

 

 

I then drilled out the end of the inner section off the bolt. 

 

 

Once I had drilled out the end I rolled out a thin roll of green stuff which I then used to seal the gap between the 2 sections.

 

 

When the green stuff had fully cured I applied some gun metal paint (I may add some additional colouring to represent grease at a later date).

 

Edited September 14, 2015 by Thrawn's guard

[Thrawn's guard]

Attaching the counter and scope to the scope rail turned out to take much longer than I had expected.

 

I started out making separate brackets to connect the front and rear sections of the scope  to the rail however found that the brackets kept snapping when I got close to a 90 degree angle.

 

 

After several attempts and much time wasted I decided to have a look around to see if I could find something else to form the brackets.

 

I came across an old DVD recorder in the garage that is waiting to go to the tip. Looking at the case I found that it was a thin but stiff steel so set my mind on cutting suitable sections from the case which already had the 90 degree angle that I needed.

 

 

Taking my Dremel I carefully cut out the basic outline of the steel that i would make my bracket with.

 

 

I then carefully marked out the position of the counter in relation to the receiver. To ensure that i got the correct positions for the fixing hole i taped the brackets to the scope rail using some making tape. This allowed me to play around with the positioning until i was happy.

 

 

Once I had the positions decided I screwed one of the brackets in to the rear resin section of the counter.

 

 

The again before I did too much more work I treble checked the position of the counter when mounted on the rail by comparing it with the blueprints in the FISD reference thread.

 

 

I could then use the brackets as templates to mark out positions of holes that needed drilling.

 

 

I also checked what part of the mounting bracket fixed to the real counter section  could be seen from the side and marked this area out to be remove.

 

 

Unfortunately with 8mm of steel to cut and 3 screws to shorten my Dremel has died (I hope that it is still under guarantee). therefore I had to resource to a handsaw to complete the last cut to remove the notch from the second mounting bracket.

 

 

Anyway finally I had the two brackets which once connected to the scope rail will prevent to two sections of the counter from accidentally coming apart whilst also letting me remove them and change the numbers at a later date if I so wish.

 

Edited September 14, 2015 by Thrawn's guard

[charlesnarles]

Interesting stuff. I like the split bracket idea, no pulling half the counter off when [un]holstering. Good work with a handsaw on that steel too

[Thrawn's guard]

I've also been looking at maybe a Vader lightsaber hilt but the prices for something decent are a bit higher than I wanted to pay.

It's funny you should say this as I have been working in the background on maybe making a ESB Vader lightsaber.

 

Perhaps this will be my next project though I really should start looking at getting some armour.

 

Edited September 15, 2015 by Thrawn's guard

[AgeOfStrife]

If you build that saber hilt I'll be watching your topic like a hawk. I've got access to a .25mm resolution industrial 3d printer at work so may be able to print up some parts, but might be too expensive to do the whole thing.

Edited September 15, 2015 by AgeOfStrife

[Bulldog44[TK]]

Your blaster is looking great. Cool to see another Doopy front sight dovetail channel job. Folding stock details look good too. 

[Thrawn's guard]

I'm glad that you like the details to the front sight and folding stock Brian.

 

I also looked at tidying up the joint at the fork in the folding stock.

 

Below is a photograph of the detail in question that I have been working on and 3D printed earlier this morning, (placed on top of the resin cast detail for comparison) which I intend to install tonight. 

 

Edited September 16, 2015 by Thrawn's guard

[Thrawn's guard]

Chris, its simply fun to watch you building that thing

 

Noticed just one thing: your resin part is parallel to the aluminum part, while the real thing is higher on the side with the pattern and lower on the T-side. Is that something you can still recreate?

I have been re-looking at this end cap catch.

 

The reason that the 'level' was not sloped was that the small screw fixing used to secure the thing spring clashed with the base of the channel.

 

I have since removed the screw fixing but am struggling to glue the metal spring to the resin as the glued bond keeps breaking when the clip lever is pushed.

 

I have tried superglue and araldite so far without success but have seen reference to E6000 glue (I have ordered a tube). Hopefully this glue will be much stronger.

[Thrawn's guard]

The final detail required to the folding stock is to fit the square bracket detail and the connecting tube. I used the aluminium tube provided in Tino’s completion kit however a suitably sized, (10mm diameter), pen could alternatively be used to provide a similar effect.

 

Firstly I set about removing the resin cast ‘square‘ bracket detail using a rotary drill (Cutting disk, engraving bit and sanding bits).

 

 

As I cut away the resin cast bracket I checked on a regular basis to see how the replacement square bracket was fitting.

 

 

Once I had managed to remove all the resin cast bracket I tidied up the channel cut in to the folding stock with a fine nail file.

 

 

 

Finally the square bracket and aluminium tube were glued in to position using some E6000 glue that arrived today (So far it seems very good glue).

 

 

 

Tomorrow I will need to fill in the small gap between the end of the aluminium tube and the cast cylinder tube.

 

[Thrawn's guard]

Another quick update.

 

I glued the front sight guard in to position.

 

[Thrawn's guard]

Hi Guys.

 

I am probably going to have a go at making my own power cylinders and have a couple of questions to get me under-way which I would be most grateful if anyone can answer.

 

1) Are the front and rear caps on the cylinders exactly the same size ?

2) The correct diameter of the cylinders appear to be in the region of about 10mm. Is this the case ?

[I'm Batman[501st]]

I can check my "Andy's Resin ones" for you about this time tomorrow, if no one with metal ones chime in before hand. Haven't checked, but do any of Andy's threads mention the exact measurements?

[Thrawn's guard]

Thanks Ian that will be a great help and will be much appreciated.

 

In the meantime I'll keep looking but I haven't come across any exact dims on Andy's threads as yet. To have a full set of accurate dimensions dimensions would be great but I don't believe that I have seen them in the past.

 

So far I've been looking at trying to scale one dimension from another.

[Bulldog44[TK]]

Check these out. Not sure how accurate they are but they might be a cheap alternative.

http://www.shapeways.com/product/TCZC9LEA2/power-cylinders-for-e11-blaster?li=shop-results&optionId=43698551

[usaeatt2]

Hey Chris, I can hook you up with 1:1 scale paper templates and dimensions...  PM sent. 

 

You're in England...  You should just contact and drive over to Andy's house!!!

 

Aaron 

Edited September 18, 2015 by usaeatt2

[Thrawn's guard]

Looking at the joint between the end of the aluminium tube and the cast resin cylinder there was a gap approximately 20mm long which needed to be filled in.

 

I decided to look for something to fill in this gap with as close a match as possible (This turned out to be a metal effect plastic ball point pen). I double checked the diameter of the pen compared to the diameter of the cast resin cylinder using a digital calliper.

 

 

I then cut out a section of the pen approximately 16mm long using a cutting disk on a rotary drill and placed it in to position.

 

 

Using some green stuff I filled in the gaps at both ends of the infill.

 

 

Once the green stuff has fully hardened I will carefully sand it down flush with the rest of the cylinder. I will post a picture of this once finished. 

[Thrawn's guard]

@ Brian - Thanks for getting back to me I'll have a look at these.

 

@ Aaron - I'll take a look at the PM. Thanks very much for your help.

 

Hopefully at the end of it I will be able to purchase or reproduce some decent power cylinders.

[I'm Batman[501st]]

Hey Chris, I can hook you up with 1:1 scale paper templates and dimensions...  PM sent. 

 

 

 

I hear there's a half decent Blaster Reference around here somewhere... Didn't see the templates and dimensions on there

[usaeatt2]

I've got so much stuff, sometimes I forget I have it unless someone asks for it.  Maybe I could get a contributor badge? 

[charlesnarles]

I just got that/those power cylinders linked to the other day and it's extremely thin in a lot of areas, like the bottom plate and wings FYI. Not sure how they'll hold up to trooping

[Thrawn's guard]

Thanks for letting me know Scott.

 

I have decided to try my hand at making some power cylinders. After all the worst case scenario is that if they are not up to standard I can still go and buy some anyway.

 

I have quite a bit of research to do to decide upon exactly how I am going to do these and then collect the parts but that is half the fun of it anyway.

[Thrawn's guard]

Anyway now on to the exciting bit.......painting.

 

At first it seemed a little  daunting however when I thought about it there is nothing to worry about...............If I make a mistake I can simply repaint over it.

 

I will post some update picture over the weekend to show you all how I get on.