hupspring's Doopydoo's E11 build

[hupspring[TK]]

I ordered my Doopydoo’s kit on June 25 and got it on July 1 - really fast shipping to southern California! I was still finishing up my Rubie’s test build and didn’t want to start anything yet, but I was too excited about getting this kit - I held the barrel on the grip and ran around the house pretending to shoot stuff. I then proceeded to wash all of the parts in soapy water and let them dry on a towel.

 

 

 

I was going to use either scissors or a hobby knife to cut away the excess material on the trigger/trigger guard and the little shield peices, but after reading what happened to Thrawn’s Guard using cutters on the shield pieces, I decided to just use sandpaper. It took a while but eventually I was able to sand the pieces apart.

 

 

Considering how long it took me to finish the Rubie’s blaster, I expect this build is going to take a while since I try to find a little bit of free time here and there to work on it. I’m also waiting to receive Tino’s completion kit before I start on some of the pieces so I can see how everything will go together.

Edited July 19, 2015 by hupspring

[hupspring[TK]]

The first part I wanted to start on was the scope. After working on the Rubie’s blaster, I knew I was going to hollow out the scope and put on lenses since I hated the way the scope looked with solid plastic ends. So I drilled a pilot hole in the middle of each end, and used the rotary tool to start grinding away the scope innards.

 

 

For the lenses, several months ago I bought a cheap iphone magnification lens which didn’t work very well. But it was a pretty good fit for the scope. The larger piece is too small to insert on its own, so I have to keep it in the black casing that it was housed in when on the iphone lens. I also thought about using the idea described by Pablo to cut up a CDROM, but I was having issues with the disc since I used a writable one. The top layer peeled off when I cut it and it was no longer shiny and reflective. I drew a target on the disc but had to cut out several circles since I kept messing up my drawings. I still need to either draw a much better target or print one out on a clear label or something.

 

Edited July 19, 2015 by hupspring

[hupspring[TK]]

My initial goal was to hollow out the entire scope, but with the rotary tool I have I wasn’t able to go more than about an inch deep. I then found some spade drill bits at my parent’s house and tried those out. They worked pretty well but there was no way I was going to be able to hollow out the whole scope without cutting part of it off since the two ends don't line up.

 

 

So I used a small coping saw to cut off over an inch off the front of the scope.

 

 

It was tough getting the scope hollowed out, but I was able to get it to a point I was happy with after using spade drill bits, small metal files and a grinding tip on the rotary tool. I did get too close with the rotary tool on the bottom front next to the foot where it got too thin and a hole appeared, but I can fix that with some green stuff.

 

 

 

Initially I was just going to put a lens at the front and back, and use the round disc with the target drawn on and stick it in the scope. But now I kind of want to make the scope actually work, or at least show what’s in front of you when you look through. The problem I’m having with the iphone lens I’m using is that the large lens in the back will just magnify a couple inches in front of it (the inside of the scope) while the small lens at the front just lets in light. I may end up just doing what I was initially going to do since I would have to set up some kind of mirror system inside for the image to flip, as well as get the image from the front to the back since the holes don’t match up.

Edited July 19, 2015 by hupspring

[charlesnarles]

lol I love the doopy smiley made of parts😉

It's kinda hard to get an image to be magnified and be in-focus without some kind of functional focusing adjustment mechanism like on binoculars etc. Authentic M38/19 azimuths have pretty fuzzy images when they're mounted backwards on blasters.

Flipping the image might be easy with a middle lens if it has the right shape

[T-Jay[TK]]

Hi Richard, you're off to a great start and thanks for mentioning the completion set

 

Just curious if you had any special reason for cutting the scope at THAT place instead of using the seamline for that?

 

The big end has been hollowed very nice, wow! What's the size of your front lens? You enlarged that opening quite a lot.

[hupspring[TK]]

lol I love the doopy smiley made of parts

It's kinda hard to get an image to be magnified and be in-focus without some kind of functional focusing adjustment mechanism like on binoculars etc. Authentic M38/19 azimuths have pretty fuzzy images when they're mounted backwards on blasters.

Flipping the image might be easy with a middle lens if it has the right shape

 

The smiley was an accident at first, I just put the parts down and was about to take a picture when I noticed if I moved them over a little, it would look like a smiley

 

I'm going to have to think about what I want to do with the lenses. It would probably be a lot of work (for me at least) to make the scope even somewhat functional.

[hupspring[TK]]

Hi Richard, you're off to a great start and thanks for mentioning the completion set

 

Just curious if you had any special reason for cutting the scope at THAT place instead of using the seamline for that?

 

The big end has been hollowed very nice, wow! What's the size of your front lens? You enlarged that opening quite a lot.

 

I cut the scope in that spot so that I have a better chance of putting it back together without it looking bad...I'm not that confident in my skills yet, so I didn't want to cut it right on the seam for fear that I wouldn't be able to put it back on and have a good looking seam when I was done. I was thinking that when I glue the parts back together, I could try using bondo or green stuff to make the two pieces look seamless.

 

I also had to enlarge the front of the scope a bit more than I wanted so that the small lens I have would fit (the lens is about 15mm diameter). I may have made it slightly too large (the back of the scope I definitely made too large) but I have a problem making small adjustments and end up overdoing it. Hopefully it won't be that noticeable!

[Thrawn's guard]

Richard you are off to a great start.

 

Hats off to you for jumping in at the deep end and modifying the scope as the first part of your build.

 

I have been putting my scope off and started working on much simpler parts of the build to get used to the material and the tools (I have not worked with resin previously).

 

As you say above where you have holes in the sides of the scope this can easily be fixed with green stuff so it is not something to worry about.

 

I look forward to seeing how your blaster progresses,

[Astyanax]

Following this topic very closely, as I have a new Doopy's as well, and I like your approach!

 

Bill

[hupspring[TK]]

I haven't really done anything with the scope in a while - I tried cutting some small mirrors and setting them up inside the scope to reflect the light from the front so that it reached the back, but the mirrors were probably too small to really do any good, and making them larger wouldn't work as there isn't much room in the scope. So I tried to use the prisms that were inside the iphone magnifying lens that I dismantled. Since the magnifying lens was straight (unlike some monoculars I've seen which look more like the scope) the prisms were shaped a bit weird and didn't really work for sending the light from the bottom of the scope to the top.

 

I'm considering buying a cheap monocular that is shaped similar to the scope and seeing if the prism in that will work better. Thrawn's Guard was able to do this and it came out pretty nice.

 

I also think I'm going to try something different for my target crosshairs - I was going to use a clear piece of plastic and draw on crosshairs, but I couldn't get anything drawn on that looked good (my hands are too shaky for that). So now I'm thinking of using a small piece of wire (the calipers I have say they are 0.48mm diameter) and sticking that inside the scope.

 

 

The above is a test shot of a piece of wire inside near the front of the scope - it's actually entering in the hole I created from being too eager with my drilling (see earlier post #3 above). Ideally I would put the wires around 1.5" from the back lens as the lens would focus on it. I would just use two pieces of wire, sitting perpendicular to one another. I wanted to have a small circle where the wires would cross, but I don't know what I would use for that.

 

I did get my completion kit from Tino, and one of the first things I did was eat the gummy bears (thanks again Tino!).

 

 

 

[hupspring[TK]]

I measured about an inch and a half away from where the rear lens will sit and used a pin vise to drill the small holes for the wires that I'll use for the crosshairs. 

 

 

I didn't manage to put the wires in exactly center but it probably won’t matter. It looks okay in person, but the farther away from the scope you are the harder it is to see the crosshairs.

 

 

It's growing on me though, so I may just leave it like that.

[Thrawn's guard]

Hi Richard and thanks for the mention on your thread above.<br>

I like your idea of the wires to form your crosshairs and hope it works out well for you.<br>

My idea at the moment is to print out on overhead projector transparent film. If this works out well and you are unhappy with the wire solution when it is finished I'm happy to print a selection off and post them to you.

Edited August 22, 2015 by Thrawn's guard

[hupspring[TK]]

Hi Richard and thanks for then mention on your thread above.

 

I like ypur idea of the wires to form your crosshairs and hope it works out well for you.

 

My idea at the moment is to print out on overhead projector transparent film. If this works out well and you are unhappy with the wire solution when it is finished I'm happy to print a selection off and post them to you.

 

Thanks for the offer Chris! I might take you up on it, but for now I'm liking the wires. I'm planning on painting the scope interior flat black (including the wires) so I'll see how that looks. I'll also be keeping an eye on your thread.

[hupspring[TK]]

Continuing with my slow build, I was able to get a little more work done the past couple of weeks. I drilled out the molded screw heads on the front of the scope. For the two inset screws I used a 5/32" drill bit and for the other three, I used a 5/64" drill bit.

 

 

I still need to do a bit more sanding where you can still see the outline of the screwheads. 

 

Next up: I finally opened up the green stuff for the first time to fix the hole I put into the bottom of the scope. This stuff gets sticky! A word of advice - keep some water handy as it really helps to wet your fingers as you are working with it. If your fingers are wet, you are able to move the green stuff around without it sticking to you, making it easier to stay where you want it to.

 

 

I also filled the inside of the rear opening of the scope with some green stuff since I opened it up way too much. After a couple of days, I sanded it down so that the rear lens will sit nice and snug, then did a spray of flat black on the inside of the scope.

 

Then instead of using glue to get the two parts of the scope back together, I stuck some green stuff on one of the halves and squished the two parts together, holding it together with a clamp. This is where I'm currently at with the scope - I'm waiting for the green stuff to finish curing and hopefully it will act as a strong bond...anyone see any issues with doing this?

 

 

Once it's cured I'll sand it down and paint it.

[Thrawn's guard]

Richard I have never used green stuff to stick pieces together like this so don't know how strong the bond will be.

 

I will be interested to know the results but I would potentially be concerned that it may stick the two pieces together but the bond may fail if the scope is bumped.

 

Will you also have access to the inside of the scope as some green stuff will have squished out to the inside of the joint similar to what can be seen on the outside of the joint ?

 

If you can still get in I would use a knife or something similar to remove the excess before it cures.

 

In any event it is certainly worth testing as the worst case scenario is that the joint isn't strong enough and you end up glueing the two pieces together.

Edited August 21, 2015 by Thrawn's guard

[hupspring[TK]]

Richard I have never used green stuff to stick pieces together like this so don't know how strong the bond will be.

 

I will be interested to know the results but I would potentially be concerned that it may stick the two pieces together but the bond may fail if the scope is bumped.

 

Will you also have access to the inside of the scope as some green stuff will have squished out to the inside of the joint similar to what can be seen on the outside of the joint ?

 

If you can still get in I would use a knife or something similar to remove the excess before it cures.

 

In any event it is certainly worth testing as the worst case scenario is that the joint isn't strong enough and you end up glueing the two pieces together.

 

I think I was too excited on putting the scope back together that I totally forgot about putting on glue. I'll probably play with it in a few days and see if it loosens or falls apart.

 

When I put the green stuff on, I mostly put it on the outer half of the rim hoping that when I pressed the two parts together, it wouldn't push too far inside. I forgot to check the inside after putting the parts together so I don't know how it looks in there yet! I'll check on that tonight. If anything, I can just cut the front off again at the same spot and put it together correctly with glue (assuming it doesn't fall apart first).

[hupspring[TK]]

Next up: the folding stock. I cut out the little section on the bottom by drilling small holes all the way through with a pin vise. One mistake I made was not paying attention and making sure I was going through straight - one of my holes was at a slight angle, so when I came out on the other side, it was a little too low and drilled out a part where it should stay solid.

 

I drilled about eight holes along the length of the piece I was removing. Then I used the pin vise to drill from one hole to the next at an angle to try removing the material between the holes (I probably could have done this with the rotary tool but most likely I would have gone too fast and messed something up). I was able to open up most the area doing this until I was able to fit a small metal file in. Then I used files to clear away the rest of the area.

 

 

 

Next I drilled out the holes along the stock, first drilling a pilot hole in the middle of each hole. I used a drill bit to make each hole (the 3/8" bit fit pretty well but is slightly smaller than the hole should be). For the hole nearest the front, I used a spade drill bit and I went very slowly from the top so that when it broke through, it didn't cut any of the handle part.

 

 

 

I then cleared out the top area to fit the small tube from Tino's completion kit. I used a 3/8" forstner bit to drill the areas between the holes, going down about halfway. I then used a grinding bit on the rotary tool to clear out the rest of the resin until the tube fit. I should probably go a bit deeper but I'm not really sure how deep it should be.

 

 

I also starting carving between parts (as shown in the FISD E11 Blaster Reference) to show more definition between parts, but my tools must not be very sharp because not a whole lot of resin is being scraped away. But the little I've done so far does make a difference. 

[UHCoog12[TK]]

Awesome! I'm about to do this bit of the stalk tomorrow. 

[hupspring[TK]]

Since I got the completion kit, I wanted to start drilling out other molded screwheads and put in the real ones. I started with the grip first, drilling out the bottom and gluing in the hex screw.

 

 

Next was the free/lock screw - I used the 3/8" spade bit to drill it out being careful not to go too far. I haven't decided yet if I'm going to cut the head off the screw and glue it in, or just leave it intact and screw it in.

 

 

As I was in a drilling mood, I decided to drill out the molded holes on the bottom of the barrel. I used a normal 3/8" drill bit which worked great, but was slightly smaller than the actual hole. I tried to clean it up a bit with a rounded grinding tip from the rotary tool.

 

 

I still need to cut out the notch on the first hole as I want to have some type of catch on the stock that will stick in there. Or I might leave it and use that spot to glue in a pin that will help hold the two parts together. Decisions decisions.

[hupspring[TK]]

Since I already did some work on the grip, I wanted to finish it and get it out of the way. I sanded down the trigger and fit it in place, then drilled a hole for the pivot through the grip and trigger. I stuck a nail in to test the fit and (after a little bit more sanding on the top) the trigger swung freely.

 

 

I went with the ballpoint pen spring method and measured where the spring would go. I drilled a hole to fit the spring in both the trigger and grip, just a couple millimeters deep to hold the spring, and tested it out.

 

 

It works! Happy with the result, I moved on to the selector switch. I sanded down the bottom, measured where I wanted it and drilled a hole in both the switch and the grip. I used Tino's instructions from his completion kit and cut the nail he provides, using the pointy part for the switch and the part with the head for the trigger.

 

Thinking I was done with the grip, I took these parts out for some painting. I did two coats of flat black primer, then two coats of metallic aluminum. Then I realized I had wanted to carve out some definition on the parts where the trigger and trigger guard go. So I carved a little more definition into the lines separating pieces and sanded off some of the paint - I'll have to repaint that section again later, then mask it off to paint the grip black.

 

 

The last item I worked on was the front sight. I was able to remove excess resin and clean it up with the drill bit that came with my rotary tool. I still need to clean it up further and decide if I want to recreate the housing for the pin or leave the resin one there.

 

[UHCoog12[TK]]

This is really helpful - following someone who is doing the steps I'll be doing when my finishing kit comes in

[T-Jay[TK]]

Nice idea to "glue" the scope with green stuff. Once cured, this gets really hard but to use it as glue, it would have made sense to drill some small holes in both halves, where the green stuff could move into when pressing the parts together. However, the idea is interesting, so please keep us updated if that worked.

 

(...)

 

Dont forget to close the gaps above with green stuff. About the height of the inlay: just eye-size a straight line with the rest of the resin part, but that square knob on the end is slightly bigger, meaning your inlay could move a bit lower there.

 

 

(...)   I sanded down the trigger and fit it in place, then drilled a hole for the pivot through the grip and trigger. I stuck a nail in to test the fit and (after a little bit more sanding on the top) the trigger swung freely.   (...)

 

 

Might be too late already, but I fear your trigger swings too far forward and will touch the inside of the trigger guard. The little spring might also become visible then.

 

If still possible, you could add some green stuff on top of the trigger (where you had sanded) to create a mechanical barrier for the trigger to keep it from moving to much forward...

 

Good job done with your build so far.

[hupspring[TK]]

Might be too late already, but I fear your trigger swings too far forward and will touch the inside of the trigger guard. The little spring might also become visible then.

 

If still possible, you could add some green stuff on top of the trigger (where you had sanded) to create a mechanical barrier for the trigger to keep it from moving to much forward...

 

It's not too late, I haven't put everything together yet (still in the painting process). I did see the issue with the trigger touching the trigger guard - I'll try your advice with a little green stuff at the top.

[hupspring[TK]]

It's been a while since I posted any updates, mostly because I haven't had time to do anything. The last thing I did on my scope was to use green stuff to stick the two sides together, and so far it has held very well. I sprayed the inside of the scope flat black and then sanded down the green stuff. 

 

 

 

I put a couple coats of primer then a couple of bronze, then finished it off with a couple of coats of flat black (allowing drying time between all coats). After it was all dried, I put the lenses in. I had to sand the housing that the larger lens was in so it would fit...it was easier to do that than sand the inside of the scope more since it was already painted. 

 

 

Since there is a lens at either end, light is able to go through the scope, but unfortunately I wasn't able to add additional parts to make it a working scope. Everything I tried just didn't work that well or look good enough for me to keep it. But it still looks pretty good.

 

 

For weathering the scope, I put a bronze layer under the top coat and was going to try the sanding method to show that layer. But every time I tried sanding a spot down, I would do it too hard or something because I would end up with one spot going straight down to the resin. I ended up drybrushing some gold paint (ran out of bronze) onto parts of the scope to get some weathering. I don't think I did the best job, but it looks okay.

 

 

 

I also used the white crayon technique to make the lettering pop, it was a lot easier than I was expecting it to be. It also looks really cool.

 

 

Once all the painting and weathering was done, I put the screws in. I didn't glue or cut any of the screws, I actually screwed them in. They were a pretty snug fit and not loose at all.

 

 

I did use CA glue for the front lens around the edges and totally didn't expect the lens to cloud, but it did. I had to use a q-tip taped to a chopstick to stick inside the scope to wipe the inner side of the lens. I was able to clean the lens off so light can get through again and what's left around the edges just looks like wear.

[hupspring[TK]]

I was also able to do more work on the grip. I fixed the trigger so that it didn't stick out too far by adding some green stuff to the top of it, helping to hold it in place. I painted the parts that should be metal with metallic aluminum then masked those parts off after the paint dried. Then I painted everything flat black, and when that dried I used more blue painters tape to mask off everything else that wasn't the actual grip. Once that was done I painted the grip with satin black (I would have used glossy black but didn't have any). When that dried I took off the tape and added the trigger, trigger guard, selector switch and the free/lock screw.

 

The trigger guard had pins added to both ends. I cut off pieces of a small nail and used a pin vice to drill a hole for the nail to fit in, then glued the nail into place. Then I lined up the trigger guard and drilled holes into the grip and glued them into place there as well. I also did the same with the selector switch. The free/lock screw was just glued into place since I had already cut off the head (I don't remember if I did that on purpose or not, it's been so long since I started working on this!).

 

When I added the selector switch, I was playing around with it moving it back and forth and didn't notice that it was scratching a path, leaving a line of silver. I though it looked pretty cool so I left it as weathering. Other marks were also unintentional but make it a bit more realistic.

 

 

 

I still need to do a little cleanup above the trigger area where the nail is. I might try to countersink the nail head, or just cut the head off, then use green stuff to cover the holes. 

 

The last thing I did was to drill two holes on the top of the grip where it meets the barrel for two screws to act as pins when I attach them together. I'm using the shafts that were cut off the hex bolts that are on the front muzzle.