The Ep. VII Blaster you've been waiting for... (Limited Run)

[hestonkent]

Someone here posted my Etsy listing last month for the 3D printed Ep. VII blaster that I did (which had parts from Germain's blaster, to my discovery): ---------------. And while it was accurate to size, there were several inaccuracies with the paint job and small details that are very hard to get right. 

 

I got tons of requests to do a blaster that would be "501st approved". Happy to announce I finished that version today, and am doing a limited run exclusively for you guys and anyone on the 501st, theRPF etc. 

 

Version without stock: (Updated Jan 26th, 2016)

 

 

 

 

The second is the version w/ stock: (Updated Jan 26th, 2016)

 

 

 

Full album of uncompressed images here for both:---------------

 

Changes made from the Etsy version include Black trigger, addition of black knobs on upper handle, black bar directly above trigger, black knob on the end of the clip, laser label towards the front end, black details around scope holder, white details on the right back end, and of course the addition of the option to buy without the stock. I might be forgetting a few changes, you guys will catch them for sure. 

 

To my knowledge, this is the most accurate build out there, and definitely the cheapest run I've seen for something fully painted/assembled and of this quality. Check out my etsy reviews of the non-501st version, people are pretty happy with them. 

 

How to purchase: 

 

Because this run is exclusively for you hardcore troopers, I am not putting this blaster on etsy where others can find it and am instead selling this run on our website. I want y'all to have priority for this run, is the reason. 

 

You can buy the stock-less version here:------------for $174.99 + $15 shipping. US shipping only, no exceptions. 

 

You can buy the version w/ stock here:-----------for $199.99 + $15 shipping. Again, US shipping only. 

 

You can also buy a version that has a stock that isn't glued into the socket, and comes with the non-stock end cap so you can swap them out to get the non-stock look as well:-----------------for $214.99

 

The non-501st version is on etsy as well for $149.99 if you're interested in that:---------------

 

Turnaround time for the first 20 orders will be 6-8 weeks from purchase. Orders after that may take up to 12 weeks or longer. All orders will be shipped with USPS priority mail. 

 

This run will be limited. I presume I will probably stop at 50 or 60 orders, depending on how quickly I get to that point, if at all. This is a first come-first serve, so the sooner you order the quicker you will get your blaster. 

 

International customers: 

 

I've gotten lots of inquiries from customers overseas, and while I appreciate the interest, I can under no circumstance directly ship to you since there is a risk of customs destroying the prop in many countries thinking it is a firearm. It sounds absurd, I understand, but the risk/reward ratio is far too terrible for me to assume the risk. Google all the instances of this happening, it is strikingly common. If customs decides to seize it, I pretty much have to give you your money back and have to eat the loss. So to prevent that, I will not ship to any customers outside of the US directly. 

 

However I have an idea. If someone else here in the US wants to assume the risk of customs seizing your prop or damaging it during shipment, you can feel free to ship your blaster to them, and have them pay for shipping to you overseas. I am fine with that, but my obligations end as soon as it gets to the US proxy customer. If you have a friend here ship it to you, I am NOT responsible for anything that happens to it after it arrives at your friend's place. 

 

Germain is the ONLY exception to this rule as he doesn't have to buy his blaster. I am shipping him the one seen in the pictures, with the swappable end cap for free. Because the dude is awesome, and his design is amazing and he absolutely deserves to have one of these. That is the ONLY person I will assume that risk for, especially since none of his money is involved. 

 

__________________

 

 

Oh, and one more thing, all 501st/whitearmor/rpf members who ordered from me in the past month or so on etsy will be receiving the stock-ed 501st version instead of the prior etsy version. You know who you are, so just give me a shout on etsy with your order number and I'll go ahead and confirm that for ya. That's my way of saying thanks for being great customers, I suppose.   This only applies to anyone who purchased their blaster before today on etsy, please don't go buy one thinking you'll get the 501st version on etsy, you won't. 

 

So, with that, I can take any questions y'all might have. Is there someone here who can give this the official 501st approval? I tried to have high quality pics in lots of angles to show as much detail as possible for this reason. Also, mods if this is in the wrong area, feel free to move the thread if possible. 

Edited July 1, 2022 by gmrhodes13
photo updated

[375adam]

Looks great Heston I thanked you privately on etsy for doing this project but I wanted to thank you publicly on the board. I can't wait to get both my blasters in!

[v7sg[TK]]

Will these be finished? Or in kit form?

[375adam]

They are finished

[hestonkent]

Will these be finished? Or in kit form?

Fully assembled and finished. 

[375adam]

Best deal going!

Edited January 23, 2016 by 375adam

[Griffin-X[TK]]

Not too bad. I'm working on one now for myself using 100% of Germain's (The5thHorseman) awesome model. My goal is for it to look nothing like a 3D printed blaster. I'm an OCD blaster guy.

 

A couple of things that jump out, and really just minor paint things: the back scope rail and front site point should be silver too. The back of the tactical stock is rather rough and looks 3D printed. There is also a black part behind the trigger that appears to be missing. Again, minor stuff and could easily be tweaked.

 

 

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g88/griffinx1/TFA-E11D/final_10_zpspkju392e.jpg

 

 

http://i21.servimg.com/u/f21/12/31/04/96/modifi10.jpg

 

Overall, looks pretty cool and a good price too!

Edited March 14, 2021 by gmrhodes13
photos updated gmrhodes13 2021

[hestonkent]

Not too bad. I'm working on one now for myself using 100% of Germain's (The5thHorseman) awesome model. My goal is for it to look nothing like a 3D printed blaster. I'm an OCD blaster guy.

 

A couple of things that jump out, and really just minor paint things: the back scope rail and front site point should be silver too. The back of the tactical stock is rather rough and looks 3D printed. There is also a black part behind the trigger that appears to be missing. Again, minor stuff and could easily be tweaked.

 

 

Overall, looks pretty cool and a good price too!

 

Thanks for the pointers, I'm going to re-evaluate them and see if I can do some adjustments. Any adjustments made will be updated in the OP and of course make it to the version the buyers get. I would like to realistically get this blaster 501st approved, so accuracy is key! 

 

As for the stock, I could print it vertically to make it where the butt of it is smooth, but part of me kinda likes the rough solid infill pattern. It looks more realistic than the smooth version, because most ARs do have a pattern of sorts to help grip onto your shoulder while shooting. Do we have reference pics of the back of the stock anywhere anyways? It may have to do til the movie comes out to home video for more reference... 

[Griffin-X[TK]]

Thanks for the pointers, I'm going to re-evaluate them and see if I can do some adjustments. Any adjustments made will be updated in the OP and of course make it to the version the buyers get. I would like to realistically get this blaster 501st approved, so accuracy is key!

 

As for the stock, I could print it vertically to make it where the butt of it is smooth, but part of me kinda likes the rough solid infill pattern. It looks more realistic than the smooth version, because most ARs do have a pattern of sorts to help grip onto your shoulder while shooting. Do we have reference pics of the back of the stock anywhere anyways? It may have to do til the movie comes out to home video for more reference...

Thanks for taking my comments as an appreciation of your work and not an over criticism. I think you did a great job and at a fair price too. I know the work involved in doing 3D parts but do not own a printer. Keep it up!

 

For the stock, I don't think you should change anything. My comment is more about the finishing of it. For mine, the print turned out exactly the same, rough and sort of zipper-y. I just sanded it a bit and then used contour putty and XTC-3D to smooth it out. I have a WIP thread going right now so I will get some pics of the finished stock up there soon.

 

I did post a sort of reference pic above from the C7 blaster. The back of the stock is really smooth, but I'm not going that smooth with mine. The zipper lines just say, "hey I was 3D printed", and that's what I want to correct on mine.

Edited January 23, 2016 by Griffin-X

[The5thHorseman[501st]]

I did post a sort of reference pic above from the C7 blaster. The back of the stock is really smooth, but I'm not going that smooth with mine. The zipper lines just say, "hey I was 3D printed", and that's what I want to correct on mine.

Actually, the reference picture above has been taken by me during a troop in Paris near the "Galleries Lafayette". So far, it's the only reference picture I've seen showing the back of the tactical stock. So I modified my design to reflect that. 

My point is, while we can't prove the movie prop has a smooth back, we can't prove either it has texture to it. However, we can prove that at least one promotional blaster has a smooth back. Which is better than nothing .

 

Now good luck with the sale Heston, blasters are looking great!

[Daetrin[Admin]]

So to be clear, are you offering them for sale? If so I'd like to move this to the For Sale area.

 

Also, items in our for sale area have to be in hand. There have already been 2 blaster runs that have gone south because they violated that policy, we will assuredly avoid another.

[Griffin-X[TK]]

Actually, the reference picture above has been taken by me during a troop in Paris near the "Galleries Lafayette". So far, it's the only reference picture I've seen showing the back of the tactical stock. So I modified my design to reflect that.

My point is, while we can't prove the movie prop has a smooth back, we can't prove either it has texture to it. However, we can prove that at least one promotional blaster has a smooth back. Which is better than nothing .

 

Now good luck with the sale Heston, blasters are looking great!

Ah, thanks Germain! That was my bad assumption. And I agree with the assessment you stated. It's a minor detail and I'm not picking his blaster apart. Just wanted to ask the question. Have you received your free blaster yet?

[Griffin-X[TK]]

So to be clear, are you offering them for sale? If so I'd like to move this to the For Sale area.

 

Also, items in our for sale area have to be in hand. There have already been 2 blaster runs that have gone south because they violated that policy, we will assuredly avoid another.

God bless you sir.

[hestonkent]

So to be clear, are you offering them for sale? If so I'd like to move this to the For Sale area.

 

Also, items in our for sale area have to be in hand. There have already been 2 blaster runs that have gone south because they violated that policy, we will assuredly avoid another.

They are for sale, didn't know there was a For Sale area here, feel free to move it there!  

 

In hand as in "In stock"? Sadly none of my products are ever "in stock" because of how often I get orders. I've never had an issue delivering though in the past 300+ orders I've fulfilled in the last 9 months and the near perfect 5 star rating on etsy speaks for that... This is something I do as a full time business, not a hobby. 

[hestonkent]

Ah, thanks Germain! That was my bad assumption. And I agree with the assessment you stated. It's a minor detail and I'm not picking his blaster apart. Just wanted to ask the question. Have you received your free blaster yet?

Germain has not received it yet, but I will be shipping out just after I make a few changes... 

[Griffin-X[TK]]

Germain has not received it yet, but I will be shipping out just after I make a few changes...

That is a very nice gesture. He's a solid fellow.

[bjsavage7[TK]]

Order placed. Hoping this will go better than the last blaster I tried to get from someone else. Lol.

[hestonkent]

Order placed. Hoping this will go better than the last blaster I tried to get from someone else. Lol.

Appreciate the order.  

 

What happened with the other one? 

[bjsavage7[TK]]

Appreciate the order.

 

What happened with the other one?

Well, I probably shouldn't have mentioned that, as it has no bearing on this project, and it's sort of a long story, but here's what a lot of us jumped on and got nothing http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/31014-tfa-ep7-f-11d-blaster-interest-thread/page-1

[hestonkent]

Well, I probably shouldn't have mentioned that, as it has no bearing on this project, and it's sort of a long story, but here's what a lot of us jumped on and got nothing http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/31014-tfa-ep7-f-11d-blaster-interest-thread/page-1

 

Looks like I don't have permission to see the thread. Hmm.. 

 

Did the person you ordered from have a reputation at all, either here or on etsy or anywhere else? Peeking at a few other run threads, there's a striking amount of people buying from just anyone who's selling, reputation or not... I personally wouldn't ever buy anything from someone without a reputation, I read reviews whenever I order stuff online and usually make decisions based off of that. That's why I encourage anyone who's interested to read through our etsy reviews and see for yourself what the customers think of the etsy versions. 

[Daetrin[Admin]]

I've moved this to the sale thread. I'll leave it up to the DL on whether he wants to lock or allow pre-orders to continue.

 

For the other 2 sale threads, people have taken money and not delivered on time. In one case, people are requesting refunds. This is why we normally don't allow pre-orders on FISD, as it has made for uneven seller experiences and our users have lost money to certain people like TE, who never shipped out items.

[I'm Batman[501st]]

I've moved this to the sale thread. I'll leave it up to the DL on whether he wants to lock or allow pre-orders to continue.

 

 

 

I think you've moved the wrong thread. This one is still here.

 

Below one is on the For Sale section

 

http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/35027-tfa-f-11d-3d-blaster-build/

[dak[TK]]

Does anybody know where can I find the holster clips you have in the photo as #4? I am also looking for the end D-ring

[hestonkent]

 

Blaster Update! 

 

Changes made: All silver paint changed to a more accurate silver paint - much more reflective and glossy than the previous aluminum paint, trigger moved forward in the proper place, black large trigger piece added behind trigger, stickers updated on front left side and right mid side (thanks Germain!), white "pill" details added to rear left side to match rear right side, and the inner front sight was changed to silver from the white that it was before. 

 

As far as I know, this is as accurate as it gets without electronics. No changes were made to the stock, however pictures of the blaster with/without the stock uncompressed can be seen here: http://imgur.com/a/9wymt

 

Everyone whose order has not yet been fulfilled, including painted etsy version orders for 501st members, will be receiving this updated version. As well as everyone who orders in the future. Production schedule is looking good, no delays anticipated so far! 

 

If you are just now reading this and would like to order one, check the original post in this thread. 

 

I appreciate any/all feedback if you guys have any!  

[The5thHorseman[501st]]

I love your willingness to update your current offer with extra accuracy enhancements! Blaster looks even nicer than before, and I'm glad those stickers worked out.

 

Just one thing, the rear section of the scope rail (the bridge starting from the rear sight) should be silver. It seems to be white at the moment.